Comparative Linguocultural Study of Speech Etiquette and Cultural Values in English and Russian Proverbs

his article explores how English and Russian proverbs encode expectations about appropriate speech and interpersonal communication. Using a comparative linguocultural perspective, it considers the semantic range of speech-related norms, their cultural framing, the people to whom they are directed, and their prescriptive, evaluative, and pragmatic functions. The analysis indicates that both traditions value restraint, concise and meaningful expression, honesty, discretion, and consistency between words and deeds. Excessive talk, boasting, gossip, and lying are generally represented negatively. Nevertheless, the two paremiological traditions differ in the images they employ, the breadth of meanings attached to particular sayings, and the extent to which a norm is expressed as a direct instruction or as a general observation. These similarities and differences demonstrate that proverbs preserve both shared communicative experience and culturally specific ways of interpreting it.