SEMANTIC AND COGNITIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF ASSOCIATIVE REACTIONS TO THE CONCEPT OF “FRIENDSHIP” IN THE UZBEK AND RUSSIAN LANGUAGES

Abstract

This article presents a contrastive analysis of the semantic and cognitive features of associative responses related to the concept of “friendship” in Uzbek and Russian. It examines semantic groups of associations, their conceptual content, evaluative features, and connections with cultural factors. Uzbek and Russian lexical examples associated with trust, loyalty, affection, support, sincerity, and devotion are used to illustrate the semantic field of friendship. The article also considers how knowledge about friendship is organized in the minds of language speakers, how semantic relations connect associative responses, and how cultural representations may be reflected in language. The comparison aims to distinguish universal values associated with friendship from potential language- and culture-specific patterns.