THE LINGUISTIC EXPRESSION OF IRREALIS IN ENGLISH AND UZBEK FOLK NARRATIVES: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Abstract

This study explores the linguistic expression of irrealis mood in English and Uzbek folk narratives, highlighting how grammatical and semantic structures encode non-real, hypothetical, or imaginative situations. Drawing upon a corpus of selected folk tales, including Jack and the Beanstalk and Alpomish, the research employs a functional-semantic and typological framework to compare modal constructions, verb morphology, and discourse markers. The English corpus reveals that irrealis is primarily expressed through modal verbs (would, could, might), subjunctive forms, and conditional clauses, which construct alternate or hypothetical realities. In Uzbek narratives, irrealis meaning is conveyed through morphological markers such as the conditional suffix -sa, particles (goyo, goyoki), and narrative tense modulation. The analysis demonstrates that while both languages use irrealis to signify imagination and moral instruction, the English tradition foregrounds individual agency and uncertainty, whereas Uzbek narratives reflect communal destiny and divine will. The findings contribute to contrastive linguistics, folklore semiotics, and cross-cultural pragmatics by showing how language structure encodes worldview