PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS DESCRIBING HUMAN CHARACTER AND APPEARANCE IN ENGLISH AND UZBEK

Abstrak

This article investigates the semantic, structural, and cultural features of phraseological units used to describe human character and physical appearance in English and Uzbek. Although phraseology in both languages is rich and diverse, culturally specific elements play a key role in shaping meanings, connotations, and pragmatic functions. By drawing on comparative linguistics, cognitive semantics, and cultural linguistics, the study identifies the universal and culturebound components in phraseological units. The research is based on descriptive, comparative, and contextual analysis of idioms, set expressions, and stable collocations collected from bilingual dictionaries, corpora, and authentic language materials. The findings show that while English phraseological units often reflect individualism and metaphorical creativity, Uzbek phraseological units tend to emphasize collectivist values, traditional social norms, and anthropocentric imagery. The article also highlights how metaphorical models such as “body parts,” “animal imagery,” and “color symbolism” differ across languages.