Concepts of TIME and LIFE in Russian and Uzbek Proverbs: A Comparative Linguocultural Analysis

This paper presents a comparative linguocultural analysis of the concepts of TIME and LIFE as verbalized in Russian and Uzbek proverbs. The study draws upon V. I. Dal's collection “Proverbs of the Russian People”, an anthology of Uzbek proverbs, as well as materials from the author’s personally compiled card index of Uzbek paremias. The research employs contrastive methods alongside linguo-conceptual and cognitivediscursive approaches. It is demonstrated that conceptual similarities in the representation of temporal perceptions stem from the conditioning of time perception by human activity patterns in the world, primarily labor practices, the expression of the universal conceptual metaphor 'time is a resource', and the foregrounding of the axiological component in the reception of time within both Russian and Uzbek linguocultures. For both Russian and Uzbek proverbs, the interdependence of conceptions of life and time has been identified. Particular attention is paid to delineating conceptual convergences in the apprehension of the life course, which manifest themselves in perceiving life through the prism of human labor and via the image of path, road, or journey, as well as in activating religiousmythological representations of life as God's gift and the existence of afterlife. The use of ethnospecific nominations within the composition of proverbial units is also commented upon.