TKACHIK O. GENDER STEREOTYPES IN THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING FOLKLORE

"Gender stereotypes in the English-speaking folklore." - Manuscript. Thesis for Candidate degree in Philology. Speciality 10.02.04 - Germanic Languages. - Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University. - Kyiv, 2008. The dissertation is devoted to a complex study of gender stereotypes verbalization reflected in different types of English folklore texts (nursery rhymes, proverbs and fairy tales). The paper is based on the functional methodology integrating structural, semantic and cognitive aspects in analising language units. The concepts MAN and WOMAN are viewed as complicated cognitive frame structures involving knowledge about such gender-marked folklore characters' features as their subjective nomination, typical activities, intellectual, moral, physical and emotional qualities. The folklore heritage has been proved to have a high proportion of stereotype-forming / reflecting characteristics which play a substantial role in categorisation of gender referred reality. The means gender-marked folklore characters are presented show androcentristic socially determined gender-specific behaviour patterns, which correspond to the masculine prototypical role of an active social individual and the female prototypical role of a mother, wife, housewife.