256 AMERICAN Journal of Language, Literacy and Learning in STEM Education www. grnjournal.us AMERICAN Journal of Language, Literacy and Learning in STEM Education Volume 03, Issue 03, 2025 ISSN (E): 2993-2769 Considerations on The Classification of Imitation Words (on The Example of The Works of Tog‘Ay Murod) Nuraliev Golibjon Kurbanboyevich Samarkand State University Urgut Branch Assistant of the Department of “Methodology of Language Teaching” golibjon.nuraliyev77@gmail.com Abstract. General Background: Imitative words in the Uzbek language have traditionally been classified into two categories based on internal structure: imitative words for sound and for action- state. Specific Background: Prior linguistic analyses have mainly focused on these two divisions, overlooking other potential imitative forms. Knowledge Gap: Existing classifications do not account for imitation directed at linguistic units themselves, such as lexemes, phrases, or stylistic expressions, limiting a full understanding of their structural diversity. Aim: This study aims to expand the internal structural classification of imitative words by proposing a third group: imitative words for language units. Results: Through analysis of literary examples, particularly the works of Tog‘ay Murod, it was found that many words—such as non-pon, kasal-pasal, and qishloq-pishloq—demonstrate imitation of linguistic units by phonetic alteration and repetition, especially involving the consonants (p), (m), and (s). These imitative forms serve semantic functions like generalization, emphasis, or abstraction. Novelty: The research introduces a previously unrecognized class of imitative words that replicate language units rather than sound or state, and argues for their recognition as a distinct subcategory within Uzbek linguistic studies. Implications: Acknowledging imitative words for language units enables a deeper understanding of stylistic devices in Uzbek and provides a refined framework for studying word formation, semantics, and colloquial usage patterns in Turkic languages. Key words: imitative words, figurative words, sound imitation, state imitation, language unit imitation, paired words, phonetic repetition, Uzbek linguistics. Introduction Imitative words are traditionally studied in two large groups: 1) Imitative words for sound. 2) Imitative words for action-state (figurative) words are studied. [3.7-9] The existence of imitative (figurative) words in our language, along with sound, action-state, and language unit, is emphasized in the book “Interaction and Migration Cases in the Paradigm of Word Groups”. In particular, the book makes the following observation: “If we analyze the cases we currently consider as double words with a new perspective, we will see that imitative words are not only imitations of sound and movement but also of linguistic units, that is, words such as non-pon, qip-qizil, katta-matta, ertan-mertan, to‘lab-po‘lab, chalob-palob in our language are also figurative words formed from the combination of imitation and word and blurred. Words that imitate a linguistic unit as double words never give a concrete meaning and never appear in the mailto:golibjon.nuraliyev77@gmail.com 257 AMERICAN Journal of Language, Literacy and Learning in STEM Education www. grnjournal.us language as lexemes, and they try to prove our idea that any word can be imitated by adding the sounds (p) and (m) to it in the right places.” In addition to the fact that all units in our language are imitated by adding one (p) or (m) sound and repeating them, some words are imitated by changing the sound (s) and repeating them: Pul - sul, patir-satir kabi. In words starting with a vowel, these sounds are added, and in words starting with a consonant, the phenomenon of sound exchange occurs, resulting in the creation of imitation words for a language unit. In linguistics, such units are studied as paired words. In particular, in A. Khojiyev's book "Combined, Paired, and Repeated Words in the Uzbek Language," such units are included in the category of paired words, and the first component is divided into two: paired words formed through phonetic changes: The first is shown, paired words in which the first sound has changed, and several examples are given: non-pon, meva-cheva, burda-surda, etc. The second is that one consonant sound is added; examples are given: irim-sirim, onda-sonda. [5.60] The fact that the first part of the words imitating a language unit are words that are used alone in our language can be cited as one of the aspects that distinguish such units from paired words. The part that has undergone phonetic changes and is repeated does not mean anything and does not occur alone in the language. The part that has undergone phonetic changes and is repeated only helps to add vague meanings to a certain word, such as generalization, emphasis, abstraction, interpretation, and softening. The fact that the second part of the words imitating a language unit, conditionally, does not mean anything concrete and is not used as an independent word in our language can be cited as another aspect that distinguishes such words from paired words. The main difference between such units and paired words is that all words in the language can be added to the language unit depending on the speech situation. At the same time, it is observed that language unit imitative words are mainly used in colloquial and artistic styles, and in some cases in the journalistic style. Such words are almost never used in scientific and official styles. With this feature, it can be said that words that are considered language unit imitative words also have the right to be included in the category of imitative words. METHOD Imitative words of a language unit also have two types of formation: 1) Imitative words of a language unit formed as a result of the repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of a word, mainly with the consonant sounds (p), (m), (s); 2) Imitative words of a language unit formed as a result of the repetition of a single consonant sound, mainly with the sounds (p), (m), (s) in words beginning with a vowel. In our language, in some cases, imitative words of a language unit are also formed because of the participation of the consonant (ch): such as meva-cheva. 1) Imitative words, formed as a result of the repetition of the consonant sound at the beginning of a word, mainly with the consonant sounds (p), (m), (s). Such words, as we have mentioned above, are used in artistic and colloquial styles: Maybe… he was kasal-pasal in his youth? Did probably… accidentally hit his head on a devor-pevorga [6.176-177]. —What if I have Tentak- pentak? —he said. —Otherwise, does a person speak to himself…? The brave party was in a frenzy [9.408]. Hey, bring me some tea [7.75]. Isshkomlarda g’uj-g’uj osilib turgan uzumlari-yu shoxlarda ona quyosh nurida oltinday tovlanib turgan Shirin-shakar meva-chevalari-yu, barcha- barchasi ko’zni oladi [8.236]. We can witness that such language-unit imitations are widely used in a number of other masterpieces of Uzbek literature: If you had not closed the Jadid school, and had said ha-pa at the end of your mouth, they would have written you praise [10.100]. Even if your father does not come, my son, there are probably people who will go to the qishloq-pishloqqa. There is a to‘y- mo‘y somewhere [10.116]. I have nothing else to do, I thought, if there is qog‘oz -mog‘oz, I will 258 AMERICAN Journal of Language, Literacy and Learning in STEM Education www. grnjournal.us go [10.143]. Oftoboyim thought that is a bachcha-machchadir [1.32]. The earth had melted, everything was shilt-pilt mud, and the ridges on the mounds were turning into steam and rising to the sky [1.78]. “We have found such a need in this world, if there were any xa t-patlari from your father in Tashkent or Kokand, my son would gladly take them [1.170]. The still -stubborn young man pushed him and said, “Go, …have you gone jinni-minni?” [1.184]. He must have gone out to Guzar-puzarga,” said my Uzbek mother [1.312]. 2) Words that imitate a language unit formed by repeating a consonant sound, mainly (p), (m), (s), in words that begin with a vowel: O‘-o‘ Jamoliddinov, what a trouble, o‘lib-po‘lib? -says [6.52]. We can see that such words imitate a language unit are also widely used in a number of masterpieces of Uzbek literature: The emish-memish stories of the Otabeks were in the mouths of the people [1.89]. Probably because I did not spare Uncha-muncha something[1.200]. –Hey, is this you, you glutton, Have you lost your faith? Are you angry or at a wedding, Have you drunk Aroq-paroq [2.101]. Sometimes, even in words that begin with a vowel, the addition of the consonant (ch in uzbek) can result in words that imitate a language unit: ...He tells the story of how he and the young man had a apoq-chapoq [1.52]. RESEARCH RESULT and DISCUSSION None of the above-mentioned imitative words have any meaning as separate lexemes, but they seem to embody the meanings of generality, emphasis, surprise, and abstraction. Which of these meanings may prevail depending on the place occupied by the imitative word in the context? In our example, if the generalization semantics prevail in the imitative words such as tentak-pentak, choy-poy, and ha-pa, it is noticeable that the semantics of inference and assumption are stronger in the words such as kasal-pasal, devor-pevor, and the semantics of abstraction are stronger in the words such as , qishloq-mishloq, to‘y-mo‘y, qog‘oz-mog‘oz and bachcha-machchadir. In this example, the shilt-pilt shows that imitative words can also be formed from imitative words. It can be seen that the repeated imitation in the form of a shilt-shilt is given in the form of a shilt-pilt in order to increase the emphasis on the word, to describe the object completely, and to avoid uniformity in the text of the work. In the word imitation of a language unit, the dominant meaning of astonishment is noticeable. Another difference between them and paired words is that even when the word imitation of a language unit is removed from the text, it does not affect the content of the sentence. In such cases, the content of the sentence is only partially narrowed. Word imitation of a language unit mainly serves to expand the meaning of the word. Let us look at this process in our example given above: Probabhly... did he accidentally hit his head on a wall or something similar? The meaning understood from this example is that there is a sense of suspicion that he hit his head on a wall or something similar. When a linguistic unit is expressed by adding a word to it, the suffix in the word structure is transferred to the imitative part. This situation can be observed in some of the examples given above: kishloq-pishlokka, khat-patlari, guzar-puzarga, meva-chevalari. If we remove the imitative part from the linguistic unit, it is natural to express it as kishloqka, khatlari, guzarga, meva-chevalari. There are cases where imitative words for linguistic units are expressed by adding them to all words in our language, depending on the speech situation. For example: non- pon, yurdi-purdi, pul-mul (pul-sul), patir-matir (patir-satir), oz-moz, avrab-savrab, qarab-parab, ish-pish, qish-pish, gish-mish, bash-mosh. In our language, in very rare cases, as a result of the addition or increase of the sound (sh), the phenomenon of the formation of imitative words to a linguistic unit occurs: such as qişık-shiyşık, qalt-shalt. Sometimes, there are cases when the imitative part of such units to a second linguistic unit resembles an independent meaningful word, but they do not have any meaning in a speech situation: such as bash-mosh, lekin-pekin, voy-poy. 259 AMERICAN Journal of Language, Literacy and Learning in STEM Education www. grnjournal.us In compounds involving such imitative words to a linguistic unit, the first part is always a certain independent meaningful word existing in our language. Imitative words to a linguistic unit can also be formed as a result of the repetition of the first syllable of words with certain changes. Such imitative words to a linguistic unit occur in words related to the categories of adjectives and adverbs and create the phenomenon of the gradation of adjectives and adverbs. Let us consider such words on the example of masterpieces of Uzbek literature: The young man, his two faces red, is heard in an inaudible voice … (Cholpon. Night and Day, p. 88). Miryaqub went straight to his house and began to prepare for the journey [10.199]. As he went to bed, his heart was as empty as the nest of a crow that had flown away its young [1.205]. What about the village, there is no sign, The slopes were white, Have we lost our way, day and night? [2.99]. Imitative words, which are formed as a result of the repetition of the first syllable at the beginning of words, do not occur in our speech separately, and when taken separately, they do not mean anything. They only serve the function of adding additional meaning to the base word. It expresses the sign that the word means is stronger than the ordinary one. In our examples above, the word red also expresses the stronger, more than the sign of the red-red sign. Therefore, such units create an increased level of adjectives. The unit of the exact opposite in our second example requires some consideration. Because the suffix -pa was also added to this language unit in the word imitation, which gave the word a stronger emphasis. The exact opposite is a word in its own meaning. A significant change in the increase in the meaning of emphasis in the exact opposite was observed. In this case, the meaning of emphasis seems to have increased, gained intensity. From our considerations, we can conclude that the phenomenon of formation also occurs in imitation words, albeit partially. We use such units very often in our speech. For example: chippa-chin, roppa-rost, kuppa-kunduz, tippa-tiniq, yoppa-yorug. Words imitating such linguistic units are often found in adjective and adverbial word groups. Imitative words are words that have become fixed in speech, are brought to a ready state, and are repeated with a change in one or more of the word components, and do not have the property of expressing a different meaning together. Imitative words are a process that occurs in the process of speech as a result of the replacement of a component of a certain word, the increase in sound, and the repetition of the first syllable of words, depending on the situation of speech, and serves to expand the meaning of the word. There is a head-and-tail combination in our language, and we accept it only in this case. The combined meaning of this unit differs from the meanings that they convey separately. However, both components of this unit are words with independent meanings and, together, retain their meanings to a certain extent. These listed features are the different aspects of this unit from imitative words. As mentioned above, imitative words are characterized by the fact that they are added to all units of the language depending on the speech situation, occur exceptionally, the imitative part does not express any meaning as a separate lexeme, and the imitative part serves only to expand the meaning of a certain unit of language. CONCLUSION 260 AMERICAN Journal of Language, Literacy and Learning in STEM Education www. grnjournal.us If we conclude from the above considerations, it is appropriate to study figurative words by adding another section of imitative words to the words imitating sounds and words imitating actions and states. In conclusion, several scientific grounds can be listed for this. As a result of the replacement or addition of one (p), (m), (s) sounds to all words existing in the Uzbek language, imitative words are formed (in some words, the sounds (ch), (sh) also perform a similar function) ; It is possible to say that the word imitating a linguistic unit does not have any meaning as an independent word; that imitating a linguistic unit serves to expand the meaning of the word; that such units are unique to the Uzbek language only; that even if the imitating a linguistic unit is removed from the text, it has almost no effect on the content of the sentence; that imitating a linguistic unit is always a unit with a certain meaning in the first part. Taking into account the above considerations, it is possible to add another section to the internal structural division of imitating words, imitating words for linguistic units, and classify and study them as imitating sounds, imitating words for actions and states, and imitating words for linguistic units. 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