LINGUO-CULTURAL AND STYLISTIC ASPECTS OF SYNONYMY AND ANTONYMY IN ENGLISH AND UZBEK PROVERBS ON KNOWLEDGE AND IGNORANCE
Keywords:
proverbs, synonymy, antonymy, knowledge, ignorance, irony, Uzbek folklore, English paremiology, cross-cultural linguistics, stylistic analysisAbstract
This paper explores the stylistic features of synonymy and antonymy in English and Uzbek proverbs related to knowledge and ignorance. By conducting a comparative analysis, the study highlights how these figurative devices convey irony, moral instruction, and cultural worldviews. The findings reveal that English proverbs often employ synonymy to emphasize intellectual empowerment and antonymy to express irony or relativism, while Uzbek proverbs use synonymy to reinforce collective ideals and antonymy to draw sharp moral contrasts, particularly through symbolic imagery such as light versus darkness. The study demonstrates that although both traditions rely on parallel stylistic devices, their cultural resonances diverge: English proverbs display pluralistic perspectives on ignorance, whereas Uzbek proverbs reflect a didactic and community-oriented worldview. The research underscores the role of proverbs as cultural texts that encode wisdom, transmit social values, and provide insight into how societies conceptualize knowledge and ignorance. These findings contribute to contemporary paremiological scholarship and open new directions for cross-cultural studies of language and culture.
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