16-19 Universal Transfer of Word Meaning – Metaphor and Metonymy 16 AMERICAN Journal of Language, Literacy and Learning in STEM Education www. grnjournal.us AMERICAN Journal of Language, Literacy and Learning in STEM Education Volume 3, Issue 6, 2025 ISSN (E): 2993-2769 Universal Transfer of Word Meaning – Metaphor and Metonymy Bobokalonov Odilshokh Ostonovich Associate professor (PhD) of Bukhara State University, Uzbekistan o.o.bobokalonov@buxdu.uz Rozikova Sabina Student Abstract. In this article we study one of the stylistic devices as metaphor and metonymy. Comparing and studying Russian and French, we see that French is filled with metaphors, almost consists of them. Metaphors and metonymies exist in it not only as a means of expression, although the most important, but also as grammatical means of constructing sentences. Key words: metonymy, stylistic device, lexicology, language change, metonymic transfer. Introduction Metaphor and metonymy are universal in that they exist in any language, both written and unwritten, in all functional styles of speech. They constantly arise in the speech of any individuals. Despite the universality of metaphors and metonymies, they manifest themselves differently in different languages. Some words in one language may have a direct meaning, in another language - a figurative one. Also, the number (weight) of uses and formations of metaphors and metonymies in different countries is different. Different degrees of erasure of a particular meaning can also be observed in different languages. When using a word in one meaning or another, we imagine both concepts, both the original and the new. We feel and understand what meaning the word should acquire, that meanings can change in one context or another. All this is the use of a word outside its main meaning. Using figurative meanings, speech takes on a more expressive form, it is more emotionally colored and affects a person more strongly than the direct meaning. With frequent use of a figurative meaning as a means of expression, its emotional coloring decreases, and may completely disappear. Sh. Bally notes 3 steps on the scale of erasing images: 1. A concrete, sensory image. (awakens the imagination) 2. An emotional image. (no concrete content, but the emotionality remains) 3. “Dead”, faded images. (the transfer of meaning is revealed only etymologically). Metaphor and metonymy are based on comparison. A person can compare the known with the unknown, and this is his attitude to objective reality. Methodology Metaphorization is most often applied to commonly understood words and objects from a person's environment. In Russian and French, these words form the same lexical groups. (body parts, family ties, clothing, etc.) Sometimes, among metaphorical names, we observe many coincidences. For 17 AMERICAN Journal of Language, Literacy and Learning in STEM Education www. grnjournal.us example, parts of mechanisms are most often called body parts, and stationary devices are named after animals. The names of animals are widely used to describe people's characters. So, a fox - renard, in both Russian and French has the same meaning - cunning. (etc.) However, quite often, within one lexical-semantic group, metaphorical and metonymic uses of words do not coincide. For example, the Russian word drozd is never used as a metaphor or metonymy, but in French there is a phrase "fin merle" (where merle - drozd) - a scoundrel; hello "beau merle" - an unpleasant person. Just as the French word corbeau (raven) – priest and businessman, are not typical for the Russian word raven. It is difficult to explain such selectivity of language, because it does not even depend much on the frequency of use of a particular word, as mentioned earlier. For example, hippopotamus and rhinoceros are exotic and rarely discussed animals, both for Russia and for France. The metaphorical use of the word hippopotamus means a fat and clumsy person in both languages, but the metaphorical use of the word rhinoceros exists only in French, denoting a person with a big nose. Words with the same direct meaning in different languages can be used in different metaphorical statements. For example, aigle - eagle, in French is used to mean a great person (writer, commander), and in Russian this word is used to mean a brave person. Different words can be used to express one metaphorical concept. For example, brebis - sheep (metaph.: Christian soul, meek woman, innocent soul). On the contrary, similar words can have different metaphorical meanings. For example, mouton - a meek person (sheep); blind, imitator, stupid, stubborn (ram); imaginary, prisoner (hen). The figurative meaning of a word is clearly expressed when it is used to form new words or phraseological units. The difference between the figurative meanings of a word leads to the fact that the derivative meanings of words and idioms diverge. For example, the word tail and queue. Their direct meanings almost completely coincide according to dictionaries, the word appendage is present in both definitions. However, in Russian there is a limitation in using the metaphorical meaning of this word, since by definition, an appendage is a movable part, and in Russian we would never call a fixed part of something a tail. In French, the situation is different, and using the example of la queue d`une casserole (the handle of a frying pan), we see that the word tail has the meaning of a fixed appendage. Also, the Russian word tail has a metaphorical meaning of constant presence, of something behind (to walk tail-wise), the French word queue does not have such a connotation. In French, there is a separate word for this meaning - ombre (shadow). Different understandings of words with the same direct meaning are also manifested in phraseological units that include them. For example, the words bag and sac have a similar direct meaning, but in phraseological units they take on different meanings: an empty bag will not stand (meaning: without action there will be no result) and donner le sac à qqn (to fire, to expel, to force someone). Different shades of meaning of words can also have different terminology. The French word mère is used both in colloquial speech and in scientific and technical speech (carte mère - motherboard; fusée-mère - the first stage of a multi-stage rocket). In Russian, in scientific terminology, there is the word uterus, which is a reference to the word mom, but has its own meaning and scope of use. In French, metaphors are used more than in Russian. This is even seen in the example above, using the word mère, as the progenitor of everything, is used in different areas of use, that is, metaphorically, comparing some things with a mother, without giving the word its own name. This reflects the general patterns of word formation in the two languages. In Russian, the same concept can take on new forms of expression, and in French, a concept can be expressed by an old, but rethought word. Rethinking a word is comparing its characteristics with an existing concept, that is, searching for a metaphor or metonymy. Word formation in Russian and French are slightly different, in Russian, verbal transformation prevails, and in French, denominal. Consequently, the basis of Russian word formation is the function of an object, and the basis of French word formation is the external similarity 18 AMERICAN Journal of Language, Literacy and Learning in STEM Education www. grnjournal.us with another, already known object. (скрепка - what they fasten with; trombone - скрепка, similar in appearance to a trombone). Despite the prevalence of one or another word-formation form, there are also others. French word-formation carries the functionality of the object (miroir – miroiter), and in Russian, word-formation can only be found based on a comparison of external features (свинячит – to look like a pig). In French, even in everyday terminology, which does not imply beautiful speeches and artistic expressiveness, metaphors are much more common than in Russian. (la pomme de terre "earth apple" - potato; baleine "whale" - strong excitement). Also, there are often cases of different figurativeness of the name of the same concept. (hernie, bague d'étambot, arête vive). One of the common types of metaphor is the comparison of an inanimate object with an animate agent. This phenomenon is characteristic of the French language, and such a style is called animism. Manifestations of animism are different. They can also be subject to different degrees of erasure on the Bally scale. In compound French terms, the definition is often expressed by a verbal adjective of active meaning, which depicts the independent action of the object, and in Russian, the definition is expressed by a passive participle, that is, the object is subject to action from the outside, or a relative adjective formed by a noun and showing the purpose. (floating forest - floating forest). Many French expressions in texts and in speech are etymologically metaphors, and they are more figurative than in Russian. (Place of miracles - théâtre de féerie). Very often there are discrepancies in verbs; the French metaphor corresponds to the Russian verb in its literal meaning. (La rivière décrivant une longue courbe… "a river describing a long curve - a river, having formed a large bend ...). Animism also flows into the grammatical structure of the French language. The function of the subject is most often performed by an inanimate noun and abstract concepts. In Russian, such a noun is usually a secondary member of the sentence (la bouteille a perdu son bouchon - the cork from the bottle was lost). Even in artistic speech, translators are not afraid to eliminate such a subject, since this will not affect the individual style of the author, because the French construction of the phrase depends on the general tendency of the language, and not the style of the author. Metaphor is one of the most important means of expressiveness of speech. Unlike the Russian language, where words with half-erased imagery are often used, living metaphors are used in French. The imagery of the word is preserved if it is used both literally and figuratively, because the image is made up of the whole picture. If the word etymologically goes back to metaphor, but is used only figuratively, or only literally, then there is no complete picture and the imagery of this word is weakened. Comparing and studying Russian and French, we see that the French language is filled with metaphors, almost consists of them. Metaphors in it exist not only as a means of expression, although the most important, but also as grammatical means of constructing sentences. We also talked about metonymy. It is also common in French. Metonymy is characteristic of both languages, but in Russian the name of the object to which the properties of another are transferred will formally differ from each other, and in French the names of the transferring and receiving objects most often coincide in form, differing only in meaning. (kozhanka - leather jacket; cuir - cuir). French names of a metonymic nature are often associated with various kinds of ellipses. (bateau à vapeur generates un vapeur). Conclusion Comparison of direct and figurative means of designation in French and Russian shows that metaphors and metonymy are more characteristic and important in French speech. The word- formation system directs the French language to use metaphors and metonymies. In Russian, there are various affixes, which is one of the main ways of word formation, this obscures the figurative 19 AMERICAN Journal of Language, Literacy and Learning in STEM Education www. grnjournal.us nature of the name. In French, direct and figurative meanings are not separated by external form, they exist in one word. Such semantic conversion corresponds to morphological conversion, which is also characteristic of the French language. There are productive types of phraseological units based on metonymy, in particular synecdoche. Where the Russian language uses word-formation means, the French language uses metaphor and metonymy. 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