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Abstract

The current research aims to explore how male and female genders are depicted in Urdu and Punjabi proverbs employing the interdisciplinary approach of Cultural Linguistics instead of relying on Critical Discourse Analysis. The contrastive analysis method was used within the Cultural Linguistics and Farzad Sharifian cultural conceptualization model. The analysis of 473 proverbs was conducted by selecting a sample of 50 proverbs, from Punjabi and 50 from Urdu representing the theme of how these two genders specifically male and female were perceived and were compared and contrasted across cultures. The findings of the analysis driven by grounded theory revealed several cultural cognition and metaphors representing both positive and negative aspects of societal perception regarding males and females in proverbs. Furthermore, some proverbs in these two languages required the interpretation of cultural metaphors to understand their underlying cultural cognition and societal perceptions. These results suggested a deeper understanding of these culturally rich expressions by depicting the social standing of males and females. Using contrastive analysis, we recognized patterns of similarities and differences within the proposed cognitive model given by Farzad Sharifian which, helped us analyze comprehension of cross-cultural differences.