Metaphors in Uzbek

This study, which regards metaphor as a cross-domain mapping in people's conceptual structure that can be realized by linguistic forms, examines metaphors in Uzbek literary texts through Conceptual Theory of Metaphor. The aim of the study is to describe the structure and usage of metaphors and the situation of metaphors in thought in Uzbek. This study also aims to contribute to contemporary metaphor studies in Turkey from the viewpoint of Uzbek. First section presents the aim and scope of the thesis, theoretical knowledge about cognitive linguistics, cognitive semantics, development of classical metaphor theories as from Aristotle, metaphor in Uzbek and Turkish literature, Conceptual Metaphor Theory, other approaches to metaphor, and metonymy. Second section, which presents the methodology of the study, involves the description of the data, methods for data collecting and methods for analyzing the data. Continiuos sections to conclusion include the event structure metaphor which reflects various perspectives of events and states in Uzbek; time passing and time metaphors; metaphors of emotion; metaphors of thought, perception and communication; and the metaphors which occurs people and life as a target domain respectively. The conclusion section of the study evaluates the metaphors and the metaphorical expressions in Uzbek, the situation of these in terms of the Conceptual Theory and to what extend the Uzbek data corresponds with the main assumptions of the theory. Keywords: Uzbek, Conceptual Metaphor Theory, metaphor, event structure metaphors, time metaphors, metaphorical language of emotion, metaphorical language of thought.