SEMANTIC REPRESENTATION OF TEMPORAL RELATIONS IN ENGLISH AND UZBEK

Temporal relations constitute one of the fundamental semantic categories through which languages conceptualize and organize events in time. Although English and Uzbek both express temporal meanings through grammatical and lexical means, the semantic mechanisms underlying these expressions differ considerably due to their distinct typological characteristics. English primarily relies on awell-developed tense-aspect system, whereas Uzbek predominantly employs morphological tense markers together with contextual, lexical, and aspectual elements to convey temporal relations. This paper investigates the semantic representation of temporal relations in English and Uzbek from a comparative perspective. Drawing upon functional-semantic and cognitive approaches, the study analyzes how temporal meanings such as simultaneity, anteriority, posteriority, duration, completion, and habituality are encoded in the two languages. The analysis demonstrates that equivalent temporal meanings are frequently realized through different linguistic structures, reflecting language-specific conceptualizations of time. Understanding these similarities and differences contributes to comparative linguistics, translation studies, language teaching, and intercultural communication. The findings also emphasize that temporal interpretation depends not only on grammatical tense but also on contextual and semantic factors influencing the interpretation of events.