SEMANTIC AND CONTEXTUAL ASPECTS OF SYNONYM CHOICE IN TRANSLATION
Keywords:
synonym choice; lexical semantics; context; connotation; register; collocation; equivalence; English–Uzbek translation; pragmatic meaning; translation strategyAbstract
Choosing an appropriate synonym is one of the most sensitive decisions in translation because synonyms rarely share identical meaning, connotation, register, and collocational behavior. This article examines synonym choice from semantic and contextual perspectives in English–Uzbek translation and shows how denotation, connotation, stylistic level, pragmatic intention, and co-text guide lexical selection. In line with the view that meaning is realized in context and that equivalence is functional rather than mechanical, the paper proposes a practical decision logic for translators and illustrates it with everyday Uzbek–English examples. Special attention is paid to graded adjectives (e.g., go‘zal → beautiful/lovely/gorgeous) and to frequent translation risks such as register mismatch, exaggerated intensity, and unnatural collocation. By combining theoretical insights and applied examples, the study argues that professional synonym choice requires contextual reading, awareness of semantic nuance, and justified decision-making rather than dictionary-driven substitution.
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