Emotion Metaphors In Uzbek: A Cognitive Analysis Of Phraseological Patterns

Abstract

This article examines emotion metaphors in Uzbek phraseology from a cognitive perspective. It aims to identify the main phraseological patterns through which emotions are metaphorically represented in Uzbek and to explain their source domains and cognitive motivations. The study is based on a qualitative cognitive-semantic approach and uses O‘zbek tilining frazeologik lug‘ati as the main data source. A focused mini-corpus of emotion-related phraseological units was selected for analysis. The results suggest that the analyzed material is organized around four dominant models: somatic, heat-pressure, pain-damage, and attachment-severance. Love and affection are mainly conceptualized through inward commitment and attachment, sadness through pain and bodily weakening, anger through heat and emotional disturbance, and hope through connection or rupture. The study shows that Uzbek phraseology reflects an embodied and culturally shaped model of emotional conceptualization expressed through stable figurative patterns.