CROSS-LINGUISTIC STUDY OF SPATIAL ADJECTIVES EXPRESSING HEIGHT IN ENGLISH AND KARAKALPAK

Abstract

Spatial adjectives play an important role in describing the physical characteristics of objects and the surrounding environment. Among them, adjectives expressing height are widely used in everyday communication and reflect how speakers conceptualize vertical space. This paper presents a cross-linguistic study of spatial adjectives expressing height in English and Karakalpak. The study focuses on the semantic features and usage of the English adjectives high, tall, and low and their Karakalpak equivalents biyik, bálent, pás, joqarı, and tómen. The research analyzes similarities and differences in meaning, contextual usage, and semantic structure. Special attention is given to how these adjectives describe objects, people, natural phenomena, and abstract concepts. The analysis shows that both languages use vertical spatial adjectives not only in literal meanings but also in metaphorical and figurative expressions. However, the distribution and collocation of these adjectives differ due to linguistic and cultural factors. The results demonstrate that while English often distinguishes between high and tall depending on the type of object, Karakalpak tends to use several adjectives with overlapping meanings depending on context. This study contributes to comparative linguistics and helps better understand how spatial concepts are represented in different languages.