TRANSLATING EMERGING LEXICAL INNOVATIONS: NEOLOGISMS IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH AND UZBEK MEDIA

Abstract

The proliferation of neologisms in contemporary media discourse reflects ongoing linguistic innovation driven by globalization, digitalization, and sociocultural transformation. These emerging lexical items present significant challenges for translation, particularly between typologically distinct languages such as English and Uzbek. This study investigates how neologisms are rendered in English–Uzbek media texts by focusing on translation shifts rather than fixed strategy categories. A corpus-based approach was employed, analyzing 40 neologisms collected from English-language media sources and their Uzbek equivalents. The analysis reveals that translation processes frequently involve structural, semantic, and pragmatic shifts, rather than direct equivalence. The findings indicate that translators actively reshape meaning through processes such as generalization, explicitation, and cultural substitution. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that the degree of shift is influenced by factors such as domain specificity, audience expectations, and the level of institutionalization of the neologism.