CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS AND TRANSLATION PROBLEMS OF ENGLISH AND UZBEK COMPOUND TERMS IN LEGAL TERMINOLOGY

Abstract

Legal terminology serves as the backbone of jurisprudence, demanding absolute precision and unambiguous interpretation. This article investigates the structural-semantic characteristics and translation challenges of English and Uzbek compound legal terms from a contrastive perspective. Compound words represent a significant mechanism for language economy and precise conceptual mapping in legal discourse. Through a qualitative and quantitative analysis of selected legal corpora, this study identifies structural asymmetries between Germanic (English) and Turkic (Uzbek) linguistic systems. The findings reveal that while English heavily relies on multi-component noun+noun or adjective+noun compounding, Uzbek frequently employs syntactic juxtaposition, possessive constructions (izofat), and descriptive paraphrasing to render these concepts. The paper classifies primary translation pitfalls, such as semantic shifts, functional non-equivalence, and literal translation errors, and proposes optimized translational strategies (e.g., calque, modulation, and transpositions) to achieve functional equivalence in legal translation.