PROBLEMS OF EQUIVALENCE IN TRANSLATING EUPHEMISMS BETWEEN ENGLISH AND UZBEK

Abstract

Abstract. This research explores the semantic structure and thematic categorization of euphemisms in contemporary English within a linguocultural framework. Euphemistic language is closely connected with social conventions, culturally shaped taboos, and communicative practices aimed at politeness, softening expression, and ideological representation. Building on domain-oriented classification approaches developed by scholars such as Keith Allan and Kate Burridge, alongside corpus-based evidence drawn from present-day English media, institutional discourse, and everyday speech, this study classifies English euphemisms into six principal semantic domains: death and dying; illness, disability, and the body; sex, gender, and bodily functions; social status, occupation, and economic life; politics, war, and institutional authority; and religion, morality, and evaluative judgment. The results indicate that euphemistic nomination extends beyond simple lexical replacement, functioning instead as a culturally conditioned linguistic strategy for managing social sensitivity, maintaining interpersonal face, and reconstructing perceptions of reality through language. By proposing a systematic semantic framework, this study advances euphemism scholarship and underscores the dynamic relationship between language, culture, and communicative pragmatics.