Expression Plane of English Idioms in Gender Semantics Studies

Abstract

In recent years gender studies have become connected with language studies, because language reflects, records and transmits social, cultural and gender differences. Idioms in any language transfer underlying ideas, principles and values of this particular society or culture, so they are considered as the main source for gender studies in linguistics. This paper deals with corpus-based studies of English idioms with gender components. The authors analyze the expression plane of English idioms and give a model representation of English gender-marked idioms. The method of identification of key lexical items has been applied. As a result, the dominant gender lexical items in English gender-marked idioms have been identified and ranked on the basis of their frequency. The authors have also revealed the most/least common gender components and gender oppositions in English idioms.