SEMANTIC SCOPE OF THE TERMS “IRRIGATION” AND “IRRIGATSIYA”: CONCEPTUAL RANGE AND BOUNDARIES OF USE (BASED ON ENGLISH AND UZBEK LANGUAGES)

Abstract

This thesis investigates the semantic scope of the English term irrigation and the Uzbek borrowing irrigatsiya by mapping their conceptual range and by specifying boundaries of use across technical, administrative, and popular discourse. Using a comparative semantic and discourse-oriented approach, the study distinguishes the core definitional nucleus shared by both terms (planned supply of water to land/crops) from peripheral extensions that emerge through specialization (engineering, agronomy, water governance) and through generalization in mass communication. The analysis argues that English irrigation more readily participates in broad water-management collocations, whereas Uzbek irrigatsiya tends to preserve a narrower terminological profile in specialist registers, while still allowing metonymic extensions in policy and media contexts. The paper concludes with criteria for delimiting use in bilingual terminology work and in academic writing.