Organization of the Mental Lexicon in Uzbek-English Bilinguals: A Neurolinguistic Perspective

This article examines the organizational principles and functional mechanisms of the mental lexicon in Uzbek-English bilinguals from a neurolinguistic perspective. The mental lexicon — a fundamental linguistic construct referring to the specialized storage of words, their meanings, and interrelationships in the brain — remains insufficiently understood with regard to its structure and operation in individuals who speak two languages. The study critically reviews principal models of bilingualism theory, including the Revised Hierarchical Model (RHM), the Distributed Feature Model (DFM), and the Inhibitory Control Model. The typologically significant differences between Uzbek and English (agglutinative versus analytic structure, word order, lexico-semantic networks) exert a direct influence on the formation of the mental lexicon in those who acquire both languages simultaneously. The article also discusses the interpretation of neuroimaging data obtained via fMRI and ERP, as well as the manifestation of lexical access and lexical encoding processes in the bilingual mind. The research opens a new methodological direction for Uzbek linguistics and demonstrates the necessity of expanding the national scientific base in the field of bilingualism.