Context, Addressee, and Sociocultural Factors in The Pragmatic Expression of “Trust” and “Doubt”

This article examines the pragmatic realization of the concepts of “trust” and “doubt” in English and Uzbek from the perspectives of context, addressee, social distance, and sociocultural factors. The study demonstrates that the pragmatic meaning of lexical and syntactic expressions associated with these concepts cannot be determined solely by their dictionary definitions. Their communicative functions are shaped by the speech situation, discourse type, communicative intention, status of the addressee, and culturally established norms. Using comparative-typological, descriptive, contextual-pragmatic, and linguocultural methods, the study analyzes the use of trust- and doubt-related expressions in interpersonal, formal-professional, academic, and conflict-oriented discourse. The findings indicate that expressions of trust may convey solidarity, emotional support, competence, reliability, credibility, and epistemic confidence, whereas expressions of doubt may express uncertainty, caution, mitigated disagreement, criticism, warning, or distrust. The comparison shows that English tends to associate trust with credibility, competence, reliability, and evidence, while Uzbek more strongly emphasizes relational solidarity, respect, loyalty, and interpersonal harmony. The results highlight the importance of contextual and cultural factors for comparative pragmatics and translation.