THE LINGUISTIC PHENOMENON OF PROPER NOUNS TRANSITIONING INTO COMMON NOUNS IN ENGLISH AND UZBEK LANGUAGES

The transition of proper nouns into common nouns, known as appellativization or deonymization, represents a significant lexical and semantic process in language development. This phenomenon reflects socio-cultural influence, technological advancement, and cognitive mechanisms underlying categorization and metaphorization. The present study investigates the linguistic features, mechanisms, and functional aspects of proper nouns transitioning into common nouns in English and Uzbek languages. A comparative analysis reveals both universal and language-specific tendencies in morphological adaptation, semantic shift, and pragmatic usage. The research demonstrates that deonymization is driven by metonymy, metaphor, frequency of usage, and socio-cultural salience. The findings contribute to lexical semantics, onomastics, and cross-linguistic studies.