A structural and semantic analysis of English and Russian proverbs denoting "intelligence," "wisdom," "stupidity," and "fool" through the prism of the collective evaluation of two linguocultural ethnic groups

This article presents a comparative structural and semantic analysis of English and Russian proverbs conveying the meanings of "intelligence," "wisdom," "stupidity," and "fool." The study aims to identify and systematize the meanings of these proverbs and to uncover the collective evaluations associated with the cultural identities of both nations. The author categorizes and analyzes the core meanings of the proverbs, revealing how both cultures perceive intelligence, stupidity, and fools; how they evaluate the key qualities distinguishing the intelligent from the foolish; and the characteristic behaviors and interactions of these individuals within a social context. The results can be applied in pedagogical practice, specifically in the teaching of Englis, as well as used as material for compiling dictionaries and as a basis for a more in-depth comparative study of proverbs within this thematic group. The article employs descriptive and comparative methods, structural and syntactic and functional-stylistic analysis as well as elements of linguocultural analysis. The analysis of proverbs while examining their syntactic structure, lexical content, phraseological meaning, and figurative devices that reflect the specific nature of the national worldview has made it possible to identify the underlying values ​​influencing the behavioral patterns characteristic of members of both linguocultural communities. Common expressive techniques found in both English and Russian proverbs include the use of metaphors, hyperbole, allegory, comparisons, contrasts, irony, paradox, and antithesis. English proverbs tend to deal with abstract concepts and lean towards an aphoristic style; while they often employ expanded sentence structures, they also feature inversion, ellipsis, antithesis, and alliteration. Russian proverbs are characterized by greater concreteness, frequently utilizing everyday, visual imagery, colloquial vocabulary, and archaisms, as well as infinitive constructions, generalized-personal sentences, repetition, ellipsis, and rhyming endings. The meanings of English and Russian proverbs largely coincide; at the same time, both languages ​​contain unique meanings which reflect, on the one hand, the English pragmatic approach to assessing the consequences of stupidity and their attention to class distinctions, and, on the other, the Russian focus on the moral aspect of the issue and attitudes toward practical religious observance.