PUNCTUATION-BASED EXPRESSIVENESS AND EMOTIONAL IMPACT IN LITERARY TEXTS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ENGLISH AND UZBEK FICTION
Ключевые слова:
punctuation, emotional expressiveness, literary discourse, English fiction, Uzbek fiction, stylistic function, psychological characterization, aesthetic impact, comparative linguistics.Аннотация
This article investigates the expressive and emotional functions of punctuation in English and Uzbek literary texts from a comparative linguistic and stylistic perspective. The study focuses on the role of punctuation marks in representing psychological states, intensifying emotional meaning, organizing narrative rhythm, and influencing readers’ interpretation. Using contextual, comparative, and functional-stylistic methods, selected passages from Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart and O‘tkir Hoshimov’s Ikki eshik orasi are examined, with additional reference to Emily Dickinson’s poetic punctuation. The analysis identifies shared expressive mechanisms, particularly the use of interrogative constructions, exclamation marks, dashes, and ellipses to convey psychological tension and emotional involvement. It also discusses differences associated with literary genre, narrative organization, and language-specific writing conventions. The findings suggest that punctuation should be regarded as a context-dependent expressive resource rather than a purely grammatical instrument. Its aesthetic effectiveness emerges through interaction with syntax, lexical meaning, narrative perspective, and the reader’s interpretative activity.
