Methods of Adequate Translation of Ecological Neologisms: A Corpus-Based Study of English and Uzbek Media Discourse

The intensification of environmental discourse in the Anthropocene has led to the rapid proliferation of ecological neologisms across global media platforms. These emerging lexical units reflect profound socio-political, technological, and ideological transformations associated with climate change mitigation, sustainability transitions, environmental governance, and green economic restructuring.
The primary aim of this study is to examine the translation of ecological neologisms from English into Uzbek within contemporary media discourse. More specifically, the research seeks to classify the structural types of ecological neologisms found in English-language media, identify and systematize the translation strategies applied in Uzbek media texts, and evaluate the degree of discursive adequacy achieved in the process of terminological transfer.
Methodologically, the study adopts a mixedmethod corpus-based design. A bilingual corpus consisting of 200 media texts (599,000 words) collected from BBC, The Guardian, National Geographic, Gazeta.uz, Kun.uz, and Daryo. uz (2015–2026) was analyzed. Quantitative statistical modelling, including multinomial logistic regression, was combined with qualitative discourse analysis to identify significant structural, semantic, and genre-based predictors influencing translation strategy selection.
The findings indicate that calque and transliteration dominate in the transfer of structurally transparent and high-frequency neologisms, whereas descriptive translation and functional adaptation are more frequently employed when conceptual clarification and contextual alignment are required.
The study concludes that translation adequacy in ecological discourse depends not merely on lexical correspondence but on discursive integration, conceptual harmonization, and cognitive alignment within the target linguistic system. By proposing a model of discursive adequacy, this research contributes to contemporary translation studies and enhances understanding of ecological terminology transfer in emerging multilingual contexts.