Woman in Persian Adages: A Critical Discourse Analysis Approach

The present study aims at analyzing women adages through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis, and comparing them in Amsal o Hekam (Proverbs and Mottos) and Kucheh dictionaries. The corpus of the study consisted of all women-related adages in the two dictionaries. Fairclough's and Halliday-Matison's approach, particularly textual meta-function, were used as the theoretical framework. The research enjoys both qualitative and quantitative elements. The qualitative elements were critical discourse analysis tools and quantitative approach involved calculating the reliability of the questionnaires based on Cronbach's alpha test. 1-Power relations influence women-related adages, and power has been distributed asymmetrically not only between men and women but also among women themselves, considering their social role and status. 2-The ideology dominating the discourse of both dictionaries is suggestive of gender discrimination and inequality and is based on kinship structure. The general trend of women-related adages in Persian dictionaries aims at establishing balance and combatting inequality. However, transformations to social structures are not necessarily concomitant with those of linguistic structures.