SOCIOLINGUISTIC CHALLENGES IN TRANSLATING LITERARY DIALECT: A CASE STUDY OF UZBEK PROSE INTO ENGLISH

Abstract

This paper examines the sociolinguistic challenges that arise in the translation of literary dialect from Uzbek into English, with particular reference to Abdulla Qodiriy's seminal novel O'tkan Kunlar (Days Gone By, 1925). Literary dialect, as a sociolinguistic phenomenon, encodes social stratification, regional identity, historical register, and interpersonal power dynamics — dimensions that resist straightforward lexical transfer. Drawing on Labov's variationist sociolinguistics and Venuti's translation theory, this study analyses how dialect markers, honorific systems, and socially indexed speech patterns in the source text are handled in available English renderings. The analysis reveals that translators systematically face four interrelated challenges: the loss of social indexicality, the neutralisation of dialectal variation, the erosion of historical register, and the domestication of culturally specific forms of address. The paper argues that a sociolinguistically informed translation strategy — one that prioritises functional equivalence of social meaning over formal equivalence of lexical items — is essential for preserving the literary and cultural integrity of Uzbek prose in English translation. The findings have broader implications for translation pedagogy and the translation of Central Asian literary heritage.