Applied Sciences
| Open Access |
DOI: Etymological-Genetic Classification of Homonyms in Uzbek: Lexical Sources, Language Contact and Semantic Development
Abstract
Homonymy is one of the most complex phenomena in the lexical system of the Uzbek language because identical phonetic or graphic forms may represent lexical units with substantially different meanings and historical origins. This article investigates the etymological and genetic characteristics of Uzbek homonyms and identifies the principal linguistic and extralinguistic mechanisms responsible for their formation. Particular attention is devoted to the distinction between homonyms of common origin and genetically unrelated homonyms formed through lexical borrowing and formal convergence. The research considers lexical units associated with Turkic, Arabic, Persian-Tajik, Russian, French and other linguistic sources. The analysis demonstrates that language contact, phonetic adaptation, semantic specialization, historical semantic change and terminological development have significantly contributed to the formation of homonymic relations in Uzbek. Examples such as had, rang, karam, nafas, ko‘r and xotin demonstrate different mechanisms of homonym formation. A comparative perspective involving English indicates that the historical composition of the lexicon and the intensity of interlingual contact directly influence the productivity of genetically unrelated homonyms. The findings emphasize the importance of an etymological-genetic approach for explanatory and bilingual lexicography, translation studies and the systematic description of Uzbek vocabulary.
Keywords
Homonymy, etymology, genetic classification
References
Hojiev, A. (2010). O‘zbek tili morfologiyasi, morfemikasi va so‘z yasalishining nazariy masalalari. Tashkent: Fan.
Khudjaeva, R. M. (2017). Ingliz tilidagi genetik bog‘lanmagan leksik omonimlar izohli lug‘ati. Tashkent: Fan va texnologiya.
Mirtоjiyev, M. (1963). O‘zbek tilida omonimlarning paydo bo‘lishi [Candidate dissertation]. Tashkent.
Muminov, A. M. (2008). Lexicology of the English Language. Tashkent: Mehridaryo.
Gorelov, V. I. (1984). Leksikologiya kitayskogo yazyka. Moscow: Prosveshchenie.
Crystal, D. (2003). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Lyons, J. (1977). Semantics. Cambridge University Press.
Ullmann, S. (1962). Semantics: An Introduction to the Science of Meaning. Basil Blackwell.
Download and View Statistics
Copyright License
Copyright (c) 2026 Ranokhon Mutalibjonovna Khudjaeva
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain the copyright of their manuscripts, and all Open Access articles are disseminated under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC-BY), which licenses unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is appropriately cited. The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, and so forth in this publication, even if not specifically identified, does not imply that these names are not protected by the relevant laws and regulations.