Semantic Refunctionalization of Arabic-Origin Tourism Terminology in Uzbek and Tajik: A Comparative Structural Analysis

Abstract

This article examines Arabic-origin tourism terminology in Uzbek and Tajik from semantic and structural perspectives within a comparative linguistic framework. The relevance of the study lies in the fact that tourism vocabulary in Central Asian languages has developed not only through modern international terminology, but also through long-standing historical, religious, and cultural contact with Arabic. From this perspective, a number of Arabic-origin lexemes that originally functioned in religious, educational, or architectural discourse now operate as active terminological units in pilgrimage tourism, cultural tourism, and historical-architectural heritage description. The study focuses on ten representative Arabic-origin terms related to travel, pilgrimage, sacred sites, educational monuments, burial places, and architectural components. The aim of the article is to identify their original etymological meanings, their formal realization in Uzbek and Tajik, their semantic evolution in tourism discourse, and their potential for forming productive terminological combinations. The research is based on comparative-linguistic, semantic, structural, etymological, and component analysis. The findings show that these units do not function merely as historical or religious lexical remnants; rather, they constitute an active and productive layer of contemporary tourism terminology. The study also demonstrates that their adaptation in Uzbek and Tajik is not identical, since each language restructures Arabic-origin units according to its own phonetic, morphological, and functional norms. The results are relevant to comparative linguistics, terminology studies, Arabic lexical influence in Central Asian languages, tourism discourse analysis, and specialized lexicography. The study argues that these terms represent a case of semantic refunctionalization, whereby historically religious, educational, and architectural lexemes acquire new terminological functions in contemporary tourism discourse. In this sense, Arabic-origin tourism terminology in Uzbek and Tajik should be understood not merely as a lexical borrowing phenomenon, but as a contact-induced terminological field shaped by cultural memory, heritage interpretation, and discourse-based specialization.