A comparative analysis of the cognitive-semantic features of conceptual metaphors in English and Uzbek

Abstract

The article presents a comparative cognitive-semantic study of conceptual metaphor as one of the fundamental categories of cognitive linguistics based on English and Uzbek linguistic material. Particular attention is paid to the ways reality is conceptualized through linguistic units, the representation of human experience by means of metaphorical models, and the mechanisms underlying the formation of linguistic worldviews in different linguocultural communities. Universal and culture-specific characteristics of conceptual metaphors associated with time, life, emotions, success, difficulties, knowledge, interpersonal relations, and space are compared in English and Uzbek. The study employs conceptual, comparative-typological, cognitive-semantic, and contextual methods of analysis. The findings demonstrate that numerous metaphorical models in both languages derive from universal bodily and cognitive experience, whereas their linguistic realization is substantially influenced by national culture, traditions, values, and social experience. The same conceptual source domain may therefore receive different lexical and phraseological representations in English and Uzbek. Comparative analysis also reveals similarities and differences in the semantic organization of metaphorical expressions. The study emphasizes that conceptual metaphors reflect the interaction between language, cognition, culture, and human experience.