Yangi O'zbekiston taraqqiyotida tadqiqotlarni o'rni va rivojlanish omillari
17-to’plam 2-son Mart 2025
85
LINGUA-CULTURAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ENGLISH AND
UZBEK PROVERBS
Azimova Umida
Master’s degree student of TerSU
Tel. number: +998912349694
miss.azimova21@gmail.com
Abstract: This thesis is aimed at to explain the peculiarities of English and
Uzbek proverbs, their differences according to two different nations’ cultures,
compare the proverbs’ structures in English and Uzbek. As English proverbs
contain semantic-syntactic structure, historical, cultural and structural features, it
is essential to differentiate lingua-cultural differences between English and Uzbek
language. In this article, such cases of these two languages are discussed.
Key words: proverb, paremiology, lingua-cultural, translation, target
language, source language, peculiarities
It would appear that nothing could be easier than writing down the definition
of a proverb. “Oxford Dictionary of English proverbs” defines a proverb as a
sentence that has been developed orally and is still used by the people of a region.
Proverb is a brief saying that presents a truth of some bit of useful wisdom. True
proverbs and sayings that have been passed from generation to generation,
primarily by word of mouth. They may also have been put into written form and
proverbs help us to learn English, because they are good example of English culture
and language. Because many proverbs are both poetic and traditional, they are
often passed down in fixed forms. Although spoken language may change, many
proverbs are often preserved in conservative, even archaic form. Therefore, it is
common that they preserve words that become less common and archaic in broader
society. From the perspective of language form, English proverbs and sayings are
characterized by religious structure, concise form, deep moral, bold image, unique
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geography and ethnic characteristics, and from the perspective of cultural
backgrounds, they are associated with religious beliefs, habits and customs, fables
and myth, culture and art. Therefore, it is not an easy job to translate them precisely,
because these characteristics make difficulties for us to translate English proverbs
and if we want to keep the original proverb’s language and taste.
Moreover, because of the differences of religious beliefs, cultures, habits and
customs of English and Uzbek proverbs carry on the different national cultural
characteristics and information. If we don’t know these cultural backgrounds, we
cannot understand the English proverbs’ connotation and cannot translate them
precisely. To our Uzbek people with a little cultural knowledge about English, it is
really difficult to understand and translate English proverbs to the target language.
That’s why some scholars following V.V.Vinogradov thinks that proverbs must be
studied together with phraseological units. Others like J. Casares and N.N.
Amosova states that unless they regularly form parts of other sentences it is
erroneous to include them into the system of language, because they are
independent units of communication. Proverbs not only belong to a language but
also reflect much of its culture. In other words, they are considered to be a
mirror reflecting social -cultural traditions in the most reliable ways. Proverbs
and popular sayings are capsules that contain highly condensed bits of a culture’s
values and beliefs. Proverbs and sayings of different cultures have a lot in common,
but besides there are specific features, characterizing the color of some original
national culture, its centuries, old history. Proverbs and sayings contain deep sense
and national wisdom, which have roots far in the past. They reflect people’s way
of thinking and perception of the world. Proverbs may be universal, besides that
they can be completely unique which only belongs to a concrete nation. For
example, there are such proverbs for which we couldn’t find their corresponding
variants while researching in two languages and they may be linguoculturemes
and may belong to this or that nations only.
For example, the English proverbs, “An unbitten guest knows where to sit.
Who comes uncalled sits unserved”.They indicate that if you visit without an
Yangi O'zbekiston taraqqiyotida tadqiqotlarni o'rni va rivojlanish omillari
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invitation, you are not welcome. The proverb “An English man’s home is his
castle” means that in one’s own home and nodiv can tell you what to do there.
“Home is the father’s kingdom, the children’s paradise, the mother’s world”. It
indicates that home is a place where a father makes up the rules of behavior and
children obey and do everything according these rules and a mother is the
first assistant of a father. They feel free themselves in their home. “Way to an
English man’s heart is through his stomach.” It means that if you want to make a
close relationship with an English man, you should invite him in your house in
order to guest them. “In church, in an inn and in coffin, all men are equal”. All
English men are equal in church, in an inn and in coffin in their life. People may
have different social status, in the above mentioned three cases they are equal.
The Uzbek proverbs, “Mehmonning ketishini so’rama, kelishini so’ra “,
“Mehmon otangdan ulug’ ”. The meaning of the first proverb is that when
your guests are going back, you must be hospitable and invite them to visit again.
The meaning of the second proverb is that your father is very dear to you, but a
guest is dearer to you than your father. So these proverbs express the hospitability
of the Uzbek nation which is characteristic of them. “Bosh omon bo’lsa do’ppi
topiladi.”It means that if you are healthy, one day you will overcome all difficulties
and reach all your targets. “Odam taftini odam oladi.”If you have someone to listen
to your problems and he/she is with you, you are not alone to overcome your
difficulties you face. “Onangni otangga bepardoz ko’rsatma.” The proverb means
that don’t let your mother go up to your father without a make-up. There are many
proverbs about motherland in Uzbek culture, for instance, “Ona yurtim oltin
beshigim”, “Vatan ostonadan boshlanadi”, “O’zbek iskab bo’lsa ham elini topar”
and etc. Uzbek people feel free themselves in their motherland like a child who
sleeps freely in his /her cradle. For the Uzbeks the motherland begins from home
and “ostona”.The Uzbeks love their country even they are far from it, they try to
find a person who is from this nation and make relationship with them.
In conclusion, While the object of lingua-cultural research is language and
culture, the subject of Cultural linguistics is fundamental questions connected
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with the reformative party of communication of language and culture: changes of
language and its units, the cultures caused by dynamics, and also transformations
in structure and changes in functioning the cultures predetermined by language
realization of cultural meanings. Proverbs are one of the main ways for
discovering national - cultural identity and mentality of the nations.
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rd
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The Concise Oxford Dictionary of proverbs. -Oxford: The Oxford
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Turdimov Sh.O’zbek xalq maqollari. -Toshkent: Sharq 2003.
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лексикография». - М.: Наука, 1977
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Воробьев В. В. Лингвокультурология: теория и методы. -М.:
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