DIALECTAL LEXIS AS AN ESSENTIAL SOURCE FOR ENRICHING THE LITERARY LANGUAGE

This article examines the role of dialectal lexis as a vital source for enriching the literary language, with a particular focus on the Uzbek linguistic tradition and comparable processes in other major languages. Dialects preserve lexical units that have been lost, marginalized, or never codified in the standard variety, and therefore function as a living archive of semantic, morphological, and cultural resources. Drawing on descriptive, comparative-historical, and sociolinguistic methods, the study analyzes pathways through which dialectal words migrate into the literary norm: literary creativity, lexicographic fixation, terminological need, and media diffusion. The paper argues that a measured, scientifically grounded integration of dialectal lexis expands the expressive capacity of the standard language, strengthens national identity, and supports terminological development in rapidly modernizing domains. The findings are relevant to linguists, lexicographers, translators, educators, and language-policy specialists working on the dynamics of standardization in multilingual societies.