ANTHROPOMORPHIC FEATURES OF SOMATIC-COMPONENT RIDDLES IN THE ENGLISH AND UZBEK LANGUAGES

Abstract

This thesis examines the anthropomorphic dimension of riddles that contain somatic components in English and Uzbek. It argues that the riddle endows lifeless objects and natural phenomena with parts of the human body – an eye, a mouth, hands, teeth – and thereby turns them into quasi-human figures the listener must decode. The comparison shows that anthropomorphic projection is a shared cognitive habit in both traditions, while the specific organ chosen and the degree of personification differ along cultural lines. The topic is timely for contrastive linguistics, cognitive semantics and the practice of translation.