Semantic Modeling In Contrastive Lexicology: A Comparative Analysis Of Lexical Units Using Uzbek And Russian As Examples

Abstract

Semantic modeling has become one of the most productive methodological tools in contrastive lexicology because it allows researchers to formalize meaning, compare lexical systems across languages, and describe equivalence, partial equivalence, and lacunarity with higher precision than intuitive translation-based comparison. This article explores how semantic modeling can be applied to Uzbek and Russian lexical units by integrating componential analysis, semantic field theory, and frame-based representation. Relying on dictionary definitions and contextual evidence from digital corpora, the study demonstrates that contrasts between Uzbek and Russian are frequently shaped by differences in lexical segmentation, polysemy patterns, culturally salient frames, and the interaction between lexical meaning and grammatical expression. The results show that a combined semantic model (component + frame + distribution) improves the description of cross-linguistic correspondences, especially in domains where cultural experience is strongly encoded in the lexicon, such as kinship, social evaluation, and emotion concepts. The paper concludes that semantic modeling in contrastive lexicology is most effective when it treats meaning as a structured bundle of semantic components embedded in conventional frames and verified through corpus-based distributional evidence, rather than as a single “dictionary sense” matched to a translation equivalent.