Semantic similarities and differences of socio-political lexemes in English and Uzbek official documents
Although Uzbek and English are not genetically related, there exist differences and similarities in their vocabularies. Latin and Greek borrowings play a significant role in developing both languages. In this regard, various linguists’ scientific perspectives are compared and examined, and an analysis has been conducted on how these features have been semantically explored thus far.
The research aimed to investigate polysemy in loanwords of socio-political lexemes. Furthermore, the following objectives were established for analysis: (1) to examine the etymology of loanwords and distinguish Latin and Greek loanwords; (2) to identify intermediary languages and their effects on meanings in recipient languages; (3) to conduct research on a specific semantic domain; (4) to analyze the similarities and differences of lexemes based on the context of official texts.
In this study, official state documents, specifically the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and in English, the laws, orders, and decisions issued by the highest authorities of countries such as Great Britain and the United States of America, are designated as the object of investigation. Contrastive analysis is employed as a method to compare the features of monosemy and polysemy of the borrowings in both languages.
The findings indicated that the English language is geographically and genealogically closer to the Latin and Greek languages, and the proportion of lexical units borrowed from these languages is substantially higher than in the Uzbek language. The research revealed differences between the current meanings of Latin and Greek borrowings in Uzbek and English languages, aspects related to the fields in which the borrowed lexemes were initially used, and the influence of intermediary languages on semantic differentiation. Additionally, it was observed that words actively used in one language are infrequently employed in the other, with their synonymous equivalents being utilized in most instances.