HOW ENGLISH AND UZBEK LINGUACULTURES SEE THE ELEMENTS OF NATURE: "WATER", "EARTH", "AIR" AND "FIRE"

This article looks at how four natural elements: "WATER", "EARTH", "AIR" AND "FIRE" are understood and expressed in English and Uzbek. It draws on idioms, proverbs and metaphors from both languages and compares them through the lens of linguoculturology. The main finding is simple: both languages share some basic metaphorical patterns that come from human bodily experience earth stands for stability, fire for danger, water for deep emotion, air for uncertainty. But when you look closer, the two cultures put different weight on these elements. In Uzbek, water carries the strongest positive cultural charge: it means life, prosperity, purity. Earth is tied to homeland and something close to sacred. In English, fire is more about personal passion and ambition, and air has travelled much further into abstract territory. The article argues that these differences come from geography, from the way people made a living (irrigated farming versus sea trade), and from religious and cultural history.