American Journal Of Philological Sciences
260
https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ajps
VOLUME
Vol.05 Issue05 2025
PAGE NO.
260-263
10.37547/ajps/Volume05Issue05-70
Proverbs as Figurative Expressions of Values (Based on
Examples from Uzbek Proverbs)
Komilova Gavharoy Ro
ʻ
zimovna
Associate professor, PhD, Alisher Navo’i Tashkent State University of Uzbek Language and Literature, Uzbekistan
Received:
26 March 2025;
Accepted:
22 April 2025;
Published:
24 May 2025
Abstract:
Proverbs demonstrate the harmony between emotional and intellectual cognition, the generalization
of judgments and conclusions, and the expression of axiological processes in natural and social reality. They
figuratively convey the lifestyle, inner world, and viewpoints of the people, reflecting both national and universal
values. Axiolinguistic analysis of proverbs enables the study of values as an integral part of language, the
identification of axiological units, and the elucidation of the communicative and pragmatic features of language.
The expression of axiological lexicon in proverbs, sayings, and wise words, which are examples of oral folk art,
reveals the people’s attitude towards certain concepts
.
Keywords:
Value, evaluation, linguistic consciousness, linguoculture, axiolinguistics, national values, culture,
proverb.
Introduction:
Human life encompasses spiritual,
cognitive, aesthetic, ethical, and economic values.
Because throughout his life, he encounters each of
them; enters into social relationships; ultimately
determines their significance and value and expresses
them in language. He sees, hears, feels, gains
experience, distinguishes between good and bad, and
evaluates every phenomenon, thing, person, and
society in nature. As a result, the significant ones are
positively evaluated and become values. In this
process, material elements are also not overlooked.
Because they serve as the basis for evaluation in the
formation of values. After a natural phenomenon or
thing in nature enters into social relationships and is
evaluated, it becomes a certain value or non-value
through experience. As the knowledge, experience,
and imagination accumulated during human activity
find reflection in his mind, an image of national-cultural
activity arises in the process of this mental
representation. N.F.Alefirenko writes about this: “In
the language, objects that are reflected in the
worldview and are important for representatives of a
certain culture are expressed, and in the linguistic
consciousness, elements that are important for that
linguistic culture are imprinted” [Алефиренко, 2010;
43]. The linguistic worldview is a set of ideas about the
world, ways of understanding and dividing the world,
historically formed in the consciousness of the relevant
language community and stabilized in its language,
which is customary, natural and obligatory for all
speaker
s of this language [Махмудов, 2017; 143].
Therefore, scientists emphasize that the national-
cultural valuable landscape can be imagined as a field,
and conclude that its core is the national cognitive base
[Алефиренко, 2010; 140]. This aspect proves the
connection of axiolinguistics with cognitology. Based
on the above considerations, we analyzed proverbs as
a figurative space for national values.
In any language, the system of values is expressed
through proverbs and fixed phrases chosen by native
speakers, as they encapsulate important truths for the
language users [Karaulov, 2017;52,53]. On the other
hand, despite their linguistic and cultural significance,
proverbs are often observed to be falling out of use due
to their abundance of ancient ethnic characteristics,
archaic motifs, and imagery. Proverbs that reflect
modern cultural concepts and mentality are rare. In
their place, like earlier phrases, new units have
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American Journal Of Philological Sciences (ISSN
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2771-2273)
emerged that verbally reflect the modern national
character, such as advertisements and slogans that
fully capture its image [Loginova, 2016; 33,36].
Furthermore, not all examples of oral folk art can
provide comprehensive information about the values
of the entire population in contemporary culture.
However,
despite
having
acquired
archaic
characteristics over the centuries, the essence of
proverbs and their use in fiction help reveal the value
landscape of the world, including the current priorities
of national values and the value orientations of society.
Thus, the need for evaluation criteria during
communication determines the significance of
proverbs in the relationship between humans and
reality. “Culture... determines what should be
remembered (preserved) and what should be
forgotten”, therefore, proverbs and expressions that
have survived to this day should be viewed not as
repositories of information, but as generators
[Nelyubova, 2019; 7].
Moreover, values are an important factor of relative
stability in the consciousness of a linguistic individual
belonging to a particular language and culture. Value -
values are stable and, at the same time, relative,
flexible, mobile, and changeable in relation to
individual and social needs [Maslova; 2010; 67]. Under
certain circumstances, a value can transform into a
counter-value.
Proverbs reflect the system of values of the people, and
it has been observed that mythologized language units
also participate in this process. Mythologized language
units are expressed through archetypes and
mythologemes, customs and legends, and traditions.
The basis of a myth is usually an archetype. An
archetype is a stable image that appears in the minds
of individuals and is distributed in culture. The concept
of an archetype was introduced by K. Jung in 1919.
Archetypes express “collective involuntaryness”
inherited from ancestors, not as a result of personal
experience. K. Jung, within the framework of genetic
theory, determines the close connection of archetypes
with mythology. Therefore, mythology is a repository
of archetypes [Maslova; 2001; 37].
Phraseologisms containing the word "non" (bread) as a
component, such as "non yemoq" (to eat bread), "noni
butun" (one's bread is whole), "noni yarimta bo'ldi"
(one's bread is halved), and "non ursin" (may bread
strike you), are based on the archetype of bread as a
symbol of life, livelihood, sustenance, and abundance
[Khudoyberganova, 2016; 55].
Proverbs based on bread are relatively common among
proverbs formed on the basis of household products:
"Non bolasi - non ushoq" (The child of bread is a bread
crumb); "Non bo'lsa bas, O'zgasi havas" (If there's
bread, that's enough; the rest is just desire); "Non qon
bo'lsa, qon - jon" (If bread is blood, blood is life); "Non
ham non, ushog'i ham non" (Bread is bread, and its
crumb is also bread) (wastefulness is an anti-value).
These and similar proverbs express material values that
demonstrate that bread was the main food and was
cherished by the people; In turn, it would not be
incorrect to say that the value of bread among people
has been the foundation for other values. Proverbs
such as “The hungry know the value of bread, the naked
know the value of clothing” and “For a baker, bread is
precious; for a miller, flour is precious” (Non qadrini
och bilar, Kiyim qadrini
—
yalang‘och; Nonvoyga non
aziz, Tegirmonchiga
—
un) indicate that personal values
stem from individual needs and desires. The saying
“Watch how a person with no back pain eats bread”
and the phrase “Bread begged for doesn't fill the
stomach” (Beli og‘rimaganning non yeyishini ko‘r; Tilab
olgan non qorin to‘ydirmas
da non) use the "livelihood"
connotation of bread to evaluate those who live off
others' labor (an ethical value). The value of bread
products among people has shaped the concepts of
“reputation” and "respect" in the minds of native
speakers, manifested in
sayings like “Don't speak
grandly, you'll eat a large piece of bread” (an ethical
value). Economic values are reflected in proverbs such
as “Go, go, be at work; those who don't work crave
bread” and “I wielded the hoe, I bit into bread," where
bread repre
sents sustenance. In “Labor's bread is
sweet, the lazy one's life is sweet," bread signifies
income. The text "If your child is resourceful, they'll
gather bread from the desert" uses bread to symbolize
material prosperity.
In the folklore of various peoples, the four elements of
the creation of the world - water, earth, fire and air -
are widely used as mythological symbols and ritual
elements, and this feature is also characteristic of
Uzbek folk proverbs.
In water-based proverbs, the lexemes river, sea, spring,
and ditch are used in their own and figurative
meanings, emdiving a number of values.
Sh. Turdimov writes about the symbols of the river
reflected in folk songs: “bringing light to the world,
protecting the world”, as well as “the river has the
meanings of purification, baptism, border, abyss, gate
leading to the underworld, flood, danger, fear,
prophecy” [Turdimov, 2020; 110]. The word river in
proverbs embodies moral, socio-economic values:
Human life is river water; Life is water flowing from a
ditch. The natural characteristics of water, such as its
constant flow and impermanent nature, have led to the
assessment of life as a transient process with
temporary space and time. In this proverb, the
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American Journal Of Philological Sciences (ISSN
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2771-2273)
assessment scheme of water → life → transience can
be seen.
"Land is mother, water is father" and "If water flows in
the ditch, bread won't disappear from the basket" are
proverbs that reflect the value of water in sustenance,
agriculture, and animal husbandry. The economic
significance of water as a provider is shown.
The water of the spring is clear, the wise man’s
conversation. The word spring in the text served to
express the national color. Because the spring is still a
material and spiritual value, sometimes there are
remnants of primitive religion, such as making a wish
and asking for it to come true. Therefore, the
meaningfulness and fluidity of the conversation, like
clear water, attracted the circle to itself as a cognitive
value. Water → revealed the value of content
-essence.
“A cultured person tr
ies to ensure that his speech,
whether
oral
or
written,
is
fluent,
clear,
understandable, and logical. Such situations and events
occupy a special place in the content plan of folk
proverbs” [Akhrorov, 2021; 18]. In the text Knowledge
is the fountain of intelligence, intelligence is the lamp
of life, the value of science that nourishes the mind is
expressed through the mobile semantic “rich source”
of the spring lexeme. Water is a spring → a source, a
foundation.
Yomon yo‘ldoshiga boqmas, Suv –
yuqoriga oqmas; Suv
qattiq yerda to‘xtaydi. Water stops on solid ground.
Humanity observes, studies and assimilates nature.
Changes and movements in nature serve as a
comparison in understanding existence, and as a basis
in the process of evaluation. That is, just as the law of
nature is that water does not flow upwards, the
behavior of bad people is evaluated as an unchanging
iron law. Or if water stops on solid ground and absorbs
into the soil, it represents the vice of stinginess, on the
other hand, the proverb "Water stops on solid ground"
is used to evaluate extremely thrifty individuals in
financial relations.
O‘rdakday suvdan quruq chiqadi, O‘rdak mijoz;
Dunyoni suv bossa o‘rdakka ne g‘am, the duck living on
water and land as a zoomorphic image showed
anthropomorphic (cunning, unfeeling) characteristics.
Images such as "Water → life, life, situation; water →
anxiety, problem" appeared.
Natural phenomena cannot be controlled. These
include floods and losses observed in the spring and
summer seasons. This phenomenon is evaluated by
language users as water → disaster. The appearance of
water is gentle, gentle stone; Let water not flow from
your grave, From your house -
a curse. Water →
disaster.
The thorn drinks water because of the flower. The
flower garden does not consist only of flowers. In
addition, in life there are good and bad people
(hardworking-lazy, smart-foolish, etc.). Sometimes the
bad people live at the expense of the good ones, which
is figuratively expressed using examples. In the
proverb, water represents livelihood, the essence of
life. Water → livelihood.
The ox that came first, drinks the purity of water. The
proverbs emdiv elements of customs that have been
valued by the people for centuries and are not written
down in books. The custom of getting up early in the
villages to get water for daily life still exists. Because the
morning water is clear, clean, and free from all kinds of
waste. So, there is a need for this custom among the
population. The proverb reflects mobility, diligence,
luck and its value in human activity in the example of
the value of customs. Water is embodied as a
metaphorical image of happiness.
“Modern poetry has demonstrated the power of the
people through the image of a river. While in written
poetry the people are likened to the sea, a river, in folk
proverbs, on the contrary, water and the people are
compared in parallel. The people themselves have
assessed themselves even before poets with the help
of proverbs: When the people are agitated, they are a
river, look at the flow of the water, look at the will of
the people” (Xalq qo‘zg‘alsa –
daryo, Suvning oqishiga
qara, xalqning xohishiga qara”) [Sharipova, 2021; 24].
In addition, there are proverbs based on water
attributes such as rain, hail, snow, well, stream, ditch,
lake, sea. Also, in proverbs, the contrast of water and
fire served as the basis for evaluating the image of
mutual relations: Kelin va qaynona -
o‘t bilan suv; O‘t
bilan suv kelishmas.
O‘t bilan o‘ynashmoq tentakning ishi, Yurt bilan
o‘ynashmoq ahmoqning
ishi; There is no fire without
smoke, There is no friend without a friend (the meaning
of the lexeme "passive feeling, emotion"); In proverbs
such as "The fire burns the land it falls on", "The enemy
burns the land it holds", the element of fire, which has
a special place in mythology, was used to assess the
strength of the people, family and love, and the danger
of the enemy.
Stranger's soil is crazy soil; The soil of the native land is
as dear as mother's milk; In the semantics of proverbs
such as Begona tuproq
–
devona tuproq; Ona yurtning
tuprog‘i –
ona sutidek aziz; Tuqqan yerda tug‘ing tik;
Tug‘ilgan yering –
Vataning, Vataning nomusing; Ekin
yerida ko‘karar, Er –
elida the land, that is, the soil, has
become harmonious with the concept of the
homeland.
Dehqonning xazinasi
–
yer, Kaliti
–
ter; Yer boyligi
–
el
boyligi; Yer qudrati
–
dehqon quvvati; Sen yerni yer
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American Journal Of Philological Sciences (ISSN
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2771-2273)
qilsang, Yer seni sher qilar show the place of natural
resources used in agriculture in the life of the people,
and socio-economic values are expressed. Such
proverbs show that land and water have been
considered sacred values for our people, who have
been engaged in agriculture for a long time.
In the proverbs based on stone, the sacred axiologemes
of life and fate are realized. In the proverb Toshga soch,
toleingdan ko‘r (hair on a stone, you are blind from your
fate), the concepts of "forehead" and "fate" are raised
to the level of value. The lexeme "soch" refers to the
seed in the proverb: to scatter grain, to scatter seeds
(don sochmoq, ur
ug‘ sochmoq.).
If we pay attention to folk customs and rituals, we can
see that the lexeme "shokh" expresses both positive
and negative assessments in the text. For example, in
mothers' greetings for their daughters, such as "be
strong as a stone wherever you go" or "be made of
stone," the stone represents the values of "stability"
and "immortality." In the proverb "Shokh ga sokh,
toleingdan kor" (hair on a stone, you are blind from
your fate), mystical values such as the absoluteness of
fate from the beginning and trusting in God are
realized.
In the poem ““Borgan joyingda toshday qot” the
meanings of the lexeme taş are “qattiq”,
“mustahkamlik”, “tinch yashash”, “baxtli bo‘lish”, and
in the sentence “boshing toshdan bo‘lsin” the
meanings of “strong”, “willed” are reflected. In the
lines “Sumalakdan tosh topdim” the stone becomes a
value in the meaning of “hope”, “happiness”, “fate”. In
phraseological units such as “Toshingni ter”, “toshi
og‘ir”, “tosh yurak”, “toshni yoradi”, “oyog‘imga tosh
bo‘lding”, in the expressions “sow your seed to the
stone”, “to throw a stone behind” the stone is
evaluated at the level of supervalue. The expressions
Toshi og‘ir, tosh yurak, toshni yoradi, oyog‘imga tosh
bo‘lding” express antitheses through the figurative
meanings of "misery", "grief-anxiety" and "cruelty"
based on the signs of "heavy" and "hardness" of stone.
Proverbs, as a source reflecting the worldview of the
people, give an idea of their intellectual activity; they
act as a mirror of the spirit of the language and the
specific features of the mentality of the people.
Proverbs reflect the dreams, hopes, thoughts and
conclusions of the nation. They emdiv the people's
assessment of life, man, reality, and life experience.
Each proverb determines the assessment of the time to
which it belongs. Proverbs were chosen as a picture of
the values of the world due to the above-mentioned
features.
As a folklore genre, proverbs possess several distinctive
features. Firstly, a proverb encapsulates a complete
thought, and secondly, it is a judgment that is both easy
to understand and powerfully impactful.
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