The Study of Similes in Uzbek Linguistics: An Exploration of Their Structural and Semantic Nature

Abstract

The present article provides a comprehensive examination of similes within the framework of Uzbek linguistics, focusing specifically on their structural and semantic properties. As a fundamental cognitive and stylistic mechanism, the simile plays a crucial role in conceptualizing reality and enriching the expressive capacity of the Uzbek language. This research aims to systematically categorize the structural formations of comparative constructions while simultaneously analyzing the semantic domains that dictate the selection of comparative vehicles. Through a rigorous structural-semantic analysis of empirical data drawn from contemporary Uzbek literary texts and everyday conversational corpora, the study identifies the primary morphological and lexical markers of similes, delineating their syntactic functions and semantic nuances. The findings reveal that the structural apparatus of Uzbek similes is predominantly governed by agglutinative affixes and specific postpositional lexical units, which inherently influence the semantic depth and pragmatic application of the comparison. Furthermore, the semantic mapping of comparative vehicles demonstrates a profound ethnolinguistic connection to the natural environment, traditional agrarian lifestyles, and the broader cultural worldview of the Uzbek speaking population. Ultimately, this research bridges classical stylistic approaches with modern cognitive linguistics, offering a nuanced understanding of how comparative thought processes are grammaticalized and semantically structured in the modern Uzbek linguistic landscape.