ANALYSIS OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS CONTAINING THE COMPONENT “INTELLECT” IN ENGLISH AND UZBEK LANGUAGES BASED ON THE SEMANTIC FIELD METHOD

Abstract

This article presents a comparative-typological analysis of phraseological units centered on the concept of “intellect” in the English and Uzbek languages. By employing the semantic field method, the study categorizes phraseological units into specific micro-fields, such as “High Intellectual Ability,” “Lack of Intellect/Stupidity,” “Intellectual Maturity,” and “Mental Effort.” The research aims to reveal the linguistic and cultural nuances of how “intellect” is conceptualized in two genetically and typologically different languages. The analysis highlights the extensive use of somatic components ( head, brain, mind in English; bosh, miya, aql in Uzbek) and metaphorical transfers (intellect as light, weight, or sharpness). The findings indicate significant isomorphism in the anatomical representation of mental capacity, while allomorphic features appear in the cultural associations: English PUs often emphasize the speed and efficiency of the mind, whereas Uzbek PUs frequently link intellect with age, experience, and moral character (“Aql yoshda emas, boshda”). This study contributes to the fields of cognitive linguistics, phraseology, and linguoculturology by providing a structured semantic map of the intellectual domain in both languages..