CONTEXT-DEPENDENT ANTONYMY IN ENGLISH AND UZBEK DISCOURSE: A PRAGMATIC APPROACH

Abstract

This article investigates the pragmatic characteristics of contextual antonymy in English and Uzbek discourse. Unlike canonical antonyms that exist as fixed lexical pairs, contextual antonyms arise dynamically within specific communicative situations and depend on pragmatic interpretation. The study aims to examine how oppositional meanings are constructed in discourse and how speakers of English and Uzbek employ such contrasts to fulfill communicative intentions. The research applies a qualitative comparative approach, analyzing examples from literary texts, media sources, and natural conversations. The findings demonstrate that contextual antonymy is heavily influenced by discourse context, speaker intention, and cultural norms. While both languages share common pragmatic mechanisms, English discourse tends to express contrast explicitly through lexical markers, whereas Uzbek discourse frequently relies on implicit strategies and contextual inference. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of the interaction between semantics and pragmatics in cross-linguistic perspective.

Keywords

contextual antonymy, pragmatics, discourse analysis, English, Uzbek, contrastive linguistics.