CONCEPTUAL AND CULTURAL VARIATION IN EVERYDAY METAPHORS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ENGLISH AND UZBEK

Аннотация

This study investigates the conceptual and cultural variation of everyday metaphors in English and Uzbek, focusing on their implications for translation. Drawing on cognitive linguistics and translation theory, particularly the work of George Lakoff and Eugene Nida, the research examines how metaphorical expressions used in daily communication reflect underlying conceptual systems. The analysis distinguishes between universal metaphors grounded in embodied human experience and culture-specific metaphors shaped by socio-cultural context.

Using a qualitative comparative methodology, the study analyzes over 30 metaphorical expressions across semantic, cognitive, and functional dimensions. The findings demonstrate that while universal metaphors allow for direct translation with minimal loss, culture-bound metaphors require adaptive strategies such as substitution, paraphrasing, or functional equivalence. Significant divergences are observed in domains such as emotion, temperature, and food-related metaphors, revealing differences in linguistic worldview. The study contributes to translation studies by proposing a structured model for analyzing metaphor equivalence in everyday discourse and offers practical implications for translators working across typologically and culturally distinct languages.