PHYTONYMIC PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS IN UZBEK AND ENGLISH: A CONTRASTIVE SEMANTIC ANALYSIS
Keywords:
Phytonym, phraseological unit, semantic field, cultural motivation, contrastive analysis, cognitive linguistics, Uzbek, English, figurative meaning, idiom.Abstract
This article examines the semantic structure of phraseological units (PUs) with phytonymic components — that is, idioms built around plant names — in Uzbek and English from a contrastive perspective. Working with a corpus of 106 units (54 Uzbek, 52 English), the study identifies the semantic fields these expressions cluster around, traces the cultural motivations behind their figurative meanings, and maps the points where the two languages converge or diverge. The analysis shows that universal human experiences — the cycles of plant growth and decay, the sensory qualities of flowers and fruit — produce a recognisable zone of semantic overlap across the two languages. At the same time, the agricultural heritage of Uzbek culture and the cultural symbolism attached to specific plants pull the two phytonymic repertoires in noticeably different directions. These findings have implications for contrastive phraseology, cognitive linguistics, and the teaching of idioms in foreign-language classrooms.
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