언어에 반영된 인간-자연 관계 인식의 생태언어학적 비교- 한국어와 위구르어 동물 속담을 중심으로

Abstract

This study conducts a comparative analysis of metaphorical expressions involving “horse” and “cattle” in Korean and Uyghur proverbs to examine how the two discourse communities perceive the human-nature relationship from the perspective of ecolinguistics. A total of 213 proverbsin Korean and 86 in Uyghur that include “horse” and/or “cattle” as core semantic elements were selected for analysis. These were collected from major Korean and Uyghur linguistic sources, including field research and oral data obtained directly from native Uyghur speakers. The analysis applies a qualitative discourse approach based on Stibbe‘s ecolinguistic framework, focusing on three categories: metaphor, frame, and human-nature relationship. The results indicate that Korean proverbs tend to use horses and cattle primarily as tools to describe human social order and emotions, often associating them with concepts such as competition, hierarchy, efficiency, and moral instruction. This reflects an anthropocentric worldview in which nature is positioned as a utilitarian object subordinate to human authority. In contrast, Uyghur proverbs portray horses and cattle as co-agents capable of emotional interaction and ethical care, emphasizing values like reciprocity, moderation, coexistence, and affective responsiveness. In this worldview, nature is not a resource to be exploited but a partner in a shared ethical relationship with humans. This study demonstrates that proverbs are not merely expressions of folk wisdom but serve as condensed linguistic artifacts encoding a community’s worldview and ecological sensibilities. It also shows that ecolinguistic analysis can be extended to traditional oral genres such as proverbs. In particular, by incorporating Uyghur—a language rarely explored in ecolinguistics—this research contributes to the cross-cultural expansion of the field and provides an academic foundation for its application in language education and environmental ethics.