Evaluative Language and Emotional Stance in English and Uzbek Literary Texts

Evaluative language is one of the principal linguistic resources through which emotional meaning is constructed, interpreted, and communicated in literary discourse. In English and Uzbek fiction, evaluative expressions perform more than a descriptive function: they reveal the attitudes of narrators and characters, establish interpersonal relationships, convey moral and cultural judgments, and guide readers’ emotional responses. This article examines the semantic and pragmatic characteristics of evaluative language in English and Uzbek literary texts, focusing on emotional stance, interpersonal positioning, contextual interpretation, and the relationship between linguistic choice and cultural meaning. The discussion draws on the appraisal framework, research on evaluative language, and pragmatic approaches to literary communication. Particular attention is given to the interaction of attitudinal vocabulary, intensification, metaphor, irony, and contextual cues. The article argues that emotional stance cannot be adequately explained through the lexical meaning of individual expressions alone; it emerges through the interaction of linguistic form, narrative perspective, communicative intention, and culturally shaped expectations. A comparative perspective on English and Uzbek provides a useful basis for identifying both shared mechanisms of emotional evaluation and language-specific patterns of expression. The article offers a theoretical framework for subsequent corpus-based research into the semantic-pragmatic features of emotionality in English and Uzbek literary discourse.