A Contrastive Analysis of English Phrasal Verbs and Their Uzbek Lexical Equivalents

This article examines how selected English phrasal verbs correspond to Uzbek lexical and phraseological expressions. Its objective is to describe semantic correspondence, contextual variation, and structural differences between the two languages. The study uses a qualitative descriptive and contrastive approach with a reported analytical sample of 30 English multiword verbs. Contextual examples are compared in terms of meaning, grammatical structure, collocation, and functional use. Four overlapping analytical dimensions are distinguished: direct lexical correspondence, one-to-many correspondence, context-dependent correspondence, and multiword or phraseological rendering. The illustrative comparisons show that the same English form can require different Uzbek equivalents across senses. For example, take off refers to removing clothing or an aircraft leaving the ground, whereas break down expresses mechanical failure or analytical division. English particle placement also differs from the Uzbek constructions used to express comparable meanings. These observations suggest that lexical equivalence should be established at the level of a contextualized sense rather than through a single translation assigned to an entire English form. The contribution is a descriptive framework for organizing English–Uzbek correspondences; the categories are not treated as mutually exclusive frequency classes. Practical implications include teaching meanings with contextual examples and presenting grammatical behaviour alongside translation. The analysis does not establish the prevalence of individual correspondence patterns or demonstrate learning gains. Its limitations include a small qualitative sample, incomplete documentation of item selection, and the absence of independent validation of Uzbek equivalents. Future research should provide a complete item inventory and use bilingual corpus evidence and learner data to test the proposed descriptions.