Comparative semantic analysis of Russian and English sayings and proverbs

The authors of the article present a brief comparative semantic analysis to define the similarities and differences between Russian and English proverbs and sayings, studying not only their semantic meaning, but also literary perception and understanding. The authors emphasize the subjectivity of perception and pay attention to the individual association of images common to two different cultures. The originality of this work is not only in the comparative assessment of Russian and English proverbs and sayings, but also in the definition of similarities and differences in the perception of the worldview of the two cultures, in an attempt to understand the reasons for this difference, as well as the causes and consequences of different approaches to the understanding of life facts. The authors point out the connection of the unknown with the already known, and this unknown is precisely a metaphysical approach to the already known stylistic techniques. A classification of folk sayings is built on the specific examples and the hypothesis about interaction of the national mentality and cultural-historical development is put forward. The authors emphasize that proverbs and sayings are not only a cultural achievement, but also a means of comparative cultural and linguistic analysis.

comparative analysis, metaphor, sayings, proverbs, literary features, imagery.