LEXICAL AND OCCASIONAL MEANINGS OF PHYTONYMS IN CHARACTERIZING PEOPLE IN ENGLISH AND UZBEK

Abstract

This article investigates the lexical and occasional meanings of phytonyms—plant-derived lexemes—in the characterization of human traits in English and Uzbek. The study highlights how lexical meanings, being stable and dictionary-fixed, serve as a semantic foundation for figurative extension, whereas occasional meanings arise dynamically in specific contexts, especially in fiction and spoken discourse. Using semantic, pragmatic, and comparative-typological approaches, the research explores how both English and Uzbek employ phytonyms to denote physical, psychological, and social characteristics of people. The findings demonstrate that while the figurative extension of phytonyms reflects universal cognitive tendencies, culture-specific occasional meanings emerge from ecological, historical, and socio-cultural contexts. This duality illustrates the richness of figurative language, the stylistic role of phytonyms in literature, and the challenges of translating occasional meanings across languages.