THE CONCEPT OF 'AGE' IN NATIONAL CULTURE: TRADITIONAL AND CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES.
Keywords:
age; life cycle; chronological age; relative age; age hierarchy; linguistic conceptualization; cross-cultural analysis; globalization; digital age; idiomatic expressions; sociolinguistics; semiotic system; terminological evolutionAbstract
This study examines the concept of age as a multifaceted phenomenon within linguistic, cultural, and socio-anthropological contexts. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives, the research traces the evolution of age-related categories from traditional, institutionally fixed hierarchies to their modern, dynamic reconfigurations shaped by cultural, social, and technological determinants. The analysis highlights how linguistic expressions, idiomatic constructions, and terminological systems reflect societal perceptions of age, encompassing both chronological and socially constructed dimensions. Comparative observations from Russian, English, and Uzbek contexts reveal that age serves not only as a temporal measure but also as a marker of social status, cultural identity, and generational roles. Furthermore, globalization, digitalization, and demographic shifts have expanded the semantic field of age, generating new nominative units, transforming existing terms, and reshaping discursive practices. The findings underscore the importance of viewing the age phenomenon as a multilayered semiotic system, whose lexical-semantic and pragmatic components evolve in parallel with socio-cultural change.
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