A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ANIMAL IDIOMS IN ENGLISH AND OTHER LANGUAGES

Abstract

This article investigates how animal idioms encode culturally salient evaluations in English compared with Russian and Uzbek. Using a contrastive corpus-based approach and componential semantic analysis, we classified idioms by animal image, pragmatic function, and evaluative polarity. Results show partial overlap in metaphorical mappings but systematic differences in connotation, frequency, and register. The study contributes a principled framework for cross-linguistic idiom equivalence.