CONCEPTUAL REPRESENTATION OF TRUST AND DISTRUST THROUGH PAREMIOLOGICAL UNIT

Abstract

This article explores the linguo-cognitive nature of the concepts of trust and distrust through Uzbek paremiological units, particularly proverbs and sayings, which serve as important carriers of national consciousness and cultural memory. The study focuses on identifying the semantic, cognitive, and linguocultural features of these concepts within the paremiological system of the Uzbek language. In the course of the research, the semantic structure of the concepts was analyzed by distinguishing their nuclear and peripheral components, as well as by revealing their associative and evaluative meanings reflected in folk wisdom. The analysis demonstrates that trust and distrust are represented in Uzbek paremiological units as complex cognitive formations closely connected with moral values, interpersonal relations, social behavior, and traditional worldview. Proverbs and sayings expressing trust often emphasize honesty, loyalty, sincerity, faithfulness, and mutual respect, whereas paremiological units related to distrust reveal notions such as suspicion, betrayal, deception, caution, and social alienation. These oppositional concepts form an important axiological system reflecting the ethical norms and life experience of the Uzbek people.