Representation of kinship in korean paremias

Abstract

The article examines kinship nominations in Korean proverbs in order to identify their linguocultural features. First, kinship nominations are classified by degree of kinship: blood relations, marriage relations, marital relations. Then, the functioning of kinship nominations in Korean proverbs is studied. The proverbs representing blood relatives reflect the ontological dichotomy of family relations (parents – children, father – mother, etc.). Nominations of relatives by marriage are built not only by the degree of kinship through husband or wife, but also by seniority – for both men and women. It was revealed that the nominations of the wife are relatively more diverse than the nominations of the husband, they are segmented by origin, as well as by such categorical features as the degree of respect, the character of the wife, her belonging to the institution of concubines, the duration of marriage. The nominations of kinship reflect the patriarchal structure of the multi-generational and extended Korean family.