The article analyzes the structural, semantic, cultural and axiological signs of negative assessment, examines the nationally specific models of criticism, censure, irony and warning in two unrelated languages – Uzbek and Russian.

The authors note that the negative assessment presented in the paremias of the two peoples acts as a complex multicomponent phenomenon, in the structure of which cognitive, cultural, axiological, historical and psychological aspects interact. It functions not only as a means of educational influence, but also as a mechanism for preserving cultural identity, as well as as an important element of folk pedagogy. In proverbs, negative evaluation is transformed into a form of collective wisdom: the criticism expressed in them is not destructive, but performs educational, protective and guiding functions. It is thanks to this universal mechanism that proverbs remain relevant in the 21st century, continuing to influence the formation of the moral consciousness of peoples.