False Equivalent Expressions Containing Head Organ Names in Uzbek and Turkish Languages

Abstract

This study examines idioms containing body-part terms in Uzbek and Türkiye Turkish within the framework of false equivalence. The main aim of the study is to identify idioms that display strong formal similarity but fail to correspond semantically and to reveal the types of semantic divergence observed in such cases. The data set of the study consists of a total of twenty two idioms containing the body-part terms “mouth,” “head,” “tongue,” “tooth,” “eye,” “ear,” and “face,” identified through a systematic survey of Shavkat Rahmatullayev’s Oʻzbek Tilining Frazeologik Lugʻati. The analysis is limited to idioms that appear formally similar in Türkiye Turkish, and semantic comparisons are based on dictionary data. The study adopts a qualitative research design and employs comparative and descriptive analysis methods. The findings demonstrate that false equivalence at the idiomatic level does not exhibit a uniform pattern; rather, it manifests through complete semantic divergence, shifts in semantic focus, and differences in evaluative meaning such as positive versus negative connotations. These results indicate that idioms, due to their fixed and holistic semantic structures, require particular attention in inter-dialectal comparison and interpretation.