WORDPLAY COMPARISON IN ENGLISH AND UZBEK LANGUAGES: A CROSS-LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS

This article presents a comprehensive comparative analysis of wordplay in English and Uzbek languages, examining how typological differences between these languages shape creative linguistic expression. English, as an analytic language, predominantly exploits lexical ambiguity, homophony, and polysemy for wordplay, while Uzbek, as an agglutinative language, leverages morphological flexibility and suffixation patterns. The analysis synthesizes findings from 30 scholarly sources covering phonetic, semantic, and morphological dimensions of wordplay, cultural and pragmatic contrasts, and translation challenges. Key findings reveal that while both languages employ similar high-level wordplay categories, including puns, phonetic devices, and semantic ambiguity, the structural resources and cultural contexts fundamentally differ. English wordplay frequently features irony, understatement, and lexically-centered puns, whereas Uzbek wordplay draws on oral tradition, rural imagery, and morphological creativity. Translation between these languages poses significant challenges due to structural incompatibilities and culture-bound references, requiring adaptive strategies that prioritize functional equivalence over literal rendering. This study contributes to cross-linguistic humor research and provides practical insights for translators, language educators, and comparative linguists.