SLEEP AS AN IMAGE OF THE LIFE CYCLE IN TURKISH AND UZBEK PAREMIOLOGY

Abstract

This study investigates how Turkish and Uzbek proverbs and idioms related to sleep reflect cultural perceptions of life stages, social norms, and psychological values. By employing a comparative paremiological and cognitive semantic analysis, the research examines metaphorical and metonymic representations of sleep, highlighting its symbolic and physiological dimensions across the human life cycle. The findings reveal that proverbs function not only as compact linguistic expressions but also as cultural repositories, transmitting wisdom, values, and social expectations about rest, health, and decision-making. This analysis demonstrates the interplay between language, culture, and universal human experiences, offering insights into ethnolinguistic mentality and cross-cultural conceptualizations of sleep.