International Journal of Language Academy ISSN:2342-0251 DOINumber:http://dx.doi.org/10.18033/ijla. Volume 6/2 June 2018 p. 144 / 165 International Journal of Language Academy Volume 6/2 June 2018 p. 144 / 165 A CROSS CULTURAL INVESTIGATION OF TURKISH, ENGLISH AND GERMAN PROVERBS AND IDIOMS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE DISABLED Türkçe, İngilizce ve Almanca Atasözleri ve Deyimlerde Engellilerle İlgili İfadelerin Kültürler Arası İncelemesi 1 Hayriye BİLGİNER 2 Yunus Emre AKBANA 3 Abstract From a historical perspective, the disabled are considered at the bottom level of social hierarchy. This can be deduced from the occurring proverbs in Turkish, English and German but also from proverbs available in the rest of the world. The stereotypes including expressions related to physical and mental disability such as "blind, deaf, dumb, lame, mad" in Turkish, English and German were investigated within the scope of this study by considering the importance and necessity of several studies related to the disability and the negative positions that the disabled are in. The disability expressions examined in this research were presented with examples from Turkish, English and German languages. These retrieved expressions were attempted to be coded with the corresponding answers through cross-linguistic examination on the basis of three equivalence values; exact, partial and none. This lexicographical study revealed that the examined proverbs and idioms were used in single sentences and implied figurative meanings in terms of stylistics. In addition, it was found that the disability cases were more frequently used within physical expressions than the mental expressions. Based on the proverbs and idioms of English, German and Turkish, the linguistic approaches of these three cultures were compared and reflections of socio-cognitive in macro-level, and language education and translation in micro-level were presented in an attempt to contribute to the field in cross-cultural soundness. Keywords: culture, disabled person, idiom, language, proverb 1 Bu makale 26-27 Kasım 2014 tarihinde Sakarya Üniversitesi ev sahipliğinde düzenlenen “Uluslararasi Sözlük Bilimi Sempozyumu: 21. Yüzyilda Sözlükçülük” sempozyumunda özet metin kitapçığında yer alan “Türkçe, İngilizce ve Almanca Atasözleri ve Deyimlerde Engellilerle İlgili İfadelerin Kültürler Arası Analizi” başlıklı sözlü bildirinin tam metnidir. 2 Dr., Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam Üniversitesi, Fen Edebiyat Fakültesi, Batı Dilleri ve Edebiyatı Bölümü, E-mail: hayriyebilginer@hotmail.com 3 Dr., Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam Üniversitesi, Yabancı Diller Yüksekokulu, Yabancı Diller Bölümü. E- Mail: yemreakbana@gmail.com ArticleHistory: Received 19/03/2018 Received in revised form 19/03/2018 Accepted 07/06/2018 Available online 20/06/2018