DOI: https://doi.org/10.36719/2789-6919/45/108-117
Maftunakhon Abduolimova
Fergana State University
https://orcid.org/0009-0007-1288-0999
maftunaabduolimova777@gmail.com
Linguistic Aspects of Mythological Units in Uzbek and English Languages: Comparative Analysis
Abstract
This research examines the linguistic features of mythological units in Uzbek and English languages, analyzing their structural, semantic, and functional characteristics from a comparative perspective. The study employs a corpus-based approach to identify and classify mythological lexical units in both languages, revealing significant patterns in their formation, usage, and cultural embedding. Results indicate that while English mythological units demonstrate greater polysemy and metaphorical extension into contemporary discourse, Uzbek mythological units retain stronger connections to traditional belief systems and oral literature. Both languages show distinct patterns in word-formation processes when creating mythological terminology, with Uzbek favoring affixation and compounding based on Turkic roots, while English draws heavily from Greek, Roman, and Germanic etymological sources. The functional analysis reveals that mythological units serve not only as cultural referents but also as productive sources for contemporary idioms, metaphors, and conceptual frameworks in both languages, though with differing degrees of semantic transformation. This comparative study contributes to the fields of cultural linguistics, lexicology, and mythological studies by providing insights into how linguistic structures encode and transmit mythological concepts across different language families.
Keywords: Mythological units, comparative linguistics, linguoculturology, Uzbek language, English language, semantic fields, lexical borrowing, cultural metaphors, etymology, conceptual metaphor