RELIGIOUS PLACE NAMES AS REPRESENTATIVES OF LINGUISTIC WORLD PICTURE ON EXAMPLES OF UZBEKISTAN
Abstract
This article explores religious place names in Uzbekistan as linguistic representations of the cultural and spiritual worldview of Uzbek-speaking communities. Drawing on the theoretical framework of the linguistic world picture and employing methods from linguocultural and cognitive linguistics, the study analyzes how sacred concepts are embedded in toponyms through metaphor, historical reference, and cultural symbolism. A corpus of over 100 religious place names was compiled from official dictionaries, historical records, and ethnographic sources, with particular focus on names containing honorifics and religious terms such as hazrat, bobo, imam, and nur.
The findings reveal that these names function not only as geographic identifiers but also as cognitive and cultural markers that reflect ancestral reverence, divine presence, and collective religious memory. Conceptual metaphors such as LIGHT IS DIVINITY and ANCESTORS ARE GUARDIANS structure the way sacred space is linguistically perceived. Regional variation in naming patterns highlights the influence of historical religious traditions and local linguistic practices. Furthermore, the study demonstrates how religious toponyms contribute to national identity formation and heritage preservation in contemporary Uzbekistan.
By examining religious place names through a multidisciplinary lens, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of the relationship between language, belief, and spatial cognition in the context of Uzbek culture.
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