Representation of Animals in Urdu proverbs: An Ecolinguistic study of Grade 9th Urdu Grammar book Punjab Curriculum 2025 Edition

Abstract

This paper explores how animals are represented in Urdu proverbs that are taught in the Class 9 Urdu Grammar Book (2025 edition) of the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board by applying the theoretical model of ecolinguistics. The study will be based on the framework of the stories we live by of Arran Stibbe (2015) because it will focus on how the animal-related proverbs in an official educational text create cultural, moral, and ecological meanings to learners in their secondary level in Pakistan. The systematical identification and analysis of twelve animal-related proverbs based on patterns of ideology, framing, identity construction, evaluation, and erasure were carried out under the qualitative descriptive research design. The results can be summarized as the fact that animals are portrayed anthropocentrically, primarily as metaphorical ways of moralizing human behaviour and rarely as living creatures with their own value and ecological functions. Unfavourable representations are also prevalent with domestic, culturally unpopular animals such as the donkey, owl, jackal and sheep whereas positive qualities are mainly applied to strong predators such as the lion. These images strengthen racist and speciesist world views and hide the ecological roles and agency of animals. The analysis also shows that the proverbs are passing along culturally determined stereotypes and not ecologically informed views, thus harshly restricting the possibilities of cultivating empathy, interdependence and ecological responsibility in the minds of the learners. The paper draws the conclusion that although Urdu proverbs are an important resource in terms of cultural and pedagogical importance, their unquestioning use in the textbooks can lead to the continuation of the ecologically destructive narratives. It claims that to have an ecologically conscious curriculum design, either a critical contextualization of traditional proverbs or an ecocentric representation to complement them is necessary to suit language education with the more broad objectives of environmental ethics and environmental sustainability.