NEGATIVE EVALUATIVE OPPOSITIONS IN THE SEMANTIC FIELD OF JUSTICE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ENGLISH AND UZBEK

Abstrak

This article offers a comparative study of the English lexemes injustice and unfairness and the Uzbek lexemes adolatsizlik and zulm, which together form the negative evaluative pole of the semantic field of justice. The study aims to identify similarities and differences in their semantic structure, evaluative character, and cultural-pragmatic load. The material is drawn from explanatory dictionary definitions and their contextual uses, and is analyzed through componential analysis, semantic field analysis, and the identification of lexical-semantic oppositions. The results show that in the English pair the evaluation rests mainly on the violation of norms and equality, while in the Uzbek pair it additionally depends on the presence of force, the position of the victim, and moral-religious condemnation. In particular, zulm carries a higher intensity and a stronger active-agent component than adolatsizlik, and the English pair has no fully matching equivalent for it. The findings may be useful for comparative semantics, translation studies, and lexicography