Traditional Conceptions of Marriage in French Proverbs Featuring the Lexeme "mariage": Linguocultural and Axiological Aspects

The subject of the present study is the thematic-semantic characteristics and axiological component of French paremiological units containing the component “mariage,” which reflect traditional representations of marriage. The object of the research consists of paremiological units that include the lexeme “mariage,” which serves as the name of the linguocultural concept of “marriage.” The aim of the study is to identify and systematize traditional views on marriage through the analysis of the linguocultural content and axiological parameters of these paremiological units. The work examines key terms related to various scientific approaches to the study of paremiology, emphasizing the role of the linguocultural concept of “marriage” in the French linguistic worldview. Special attention is given to identifying and systematizing culturally significant meanings that reflect the values of the French people and their evaluative attitudes toward the institution of marriage. For the purpose of this research, a corpus comprising 218 paremiological units containing the component “mariage” was utilized. Among these, 165 units were selected using a comprehensive sampling method from 19th-century French lexicographical sources, ensuring the authenticity of the original material and its cultural-linguistic representativeness. To achieve the stated objective, both general scientific and specific research methods were employed: descriptive method, method of classification and systematization, method of lexical-semantic analysis, and methods of linguocultural and axiological interpretation. The scientific novelty of this research lies in the comprehensive analysis of a substantial corpus of non-adapted authentic French paremiological units containing the lexeme “mariage,” which have not yet been the subject of specialized study. As a result of the analysis, a thematic-semantic classification of paremiological units with the component “mariage” has been conducted, identifying subgroups of paremiological units that contain implicit or explicit ambiguous evaluations of various aspects, such as: the necessity of marriage, the feelings of spouses during the premarital period and their evolution within marriage, happiness and unhappiness in the marital union, criteria for choosing spouses and their impact on the quality of marriage, as well as social and material aspects of marriage. The study reveals the semantic content and axiological significance of these paremiological units, which manifest through the interaction of the literal and metaphorical meanings of their lexical components. The practical significance of this work lies in the expansion of the database on French paremiology and the potential use of its materials in the teaching of university courses in linguocultural studies and intercultural communication.

French language, paremia, proverb, marriage, linguocultural concept, axiological aspect, value, evaluation, lexeme, ambivalence