A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ISOMORPHIC AND ALLOMORPHIC DEVICES OF LINGUISTIC SUBJECTIVITY

Abstract

Linguistic subjectivity is a fundamental dimension of human communication through which speakers encode perspective, evaluation, epistemic commitment, emotion, knowledge, and interpersonal orientation. Although subjective meanings are found across languages, the linguistic mechanisms through which they are realized vary considerably. The present article investigates the isomorphic and allomorphic devices of linguistic subjectivity from a comparative functional-semantic perspective, with particular attention to English and Uzbek. The study distinguishes isomorphic devices, which exhibit functional and partially structural correspondence across languages, from allomorphic devices, which perform comparable communicative functions through formally different linguistic resources. The analysis considers personal and social deixis, epistemic modality, evidentiality, evaluative language, stance, and discourse-pragmatic markers. The theoretical framework draws on major approaches to subjectivity and intersubjectivity developed by Benveniste, Lyons, Traugott, Nuyts, Narrog, Athanasiadou et al., Aikhenvald, Hunston and Thompson, and other scholars. The analysis demonstrates that linguistic subjectivity cannot be reduced to a fixed inventory of subjective forms. Rather, it results from the interaction of linguistic structure, semantic content, discourse context, speaker perspective, and addressee orientation. English and Uzbek demonstrate substantial functional isomorphism in the expression of subjective meanings but significant allomorphism in their morphosyntactic and pragmatic realization. The study argues that a functional-typological approach is therefore more appropriate than formal equivalence for comparative investigations of linguistic subjectivity.