Title: Interlingual Analysis of Legal Vocabulary through a Lexico-Semantic and Ontological Framework in English and Uzbek Law
Authors: Khujakulov Sunnatullo
Volume: 9
Issue: 10
Pages: 35-45
Publication Date: 2025/10/28
Abstract:
This study explores the interlingual analysis of legal vocabulary in English and Uzbek through a lexico-semantic and ontological framework. The research aims to identify and interpret structural, semantic, and conceptual disparities between equivalent legal terms in the two languages. By integrating principles of legal linguistics, translation studies, and ontology-based modeling, the paper investigates how legal meaning is constructed, categorized, and transferred across languages and legal systems. The lexico-semantic component focuses on synonymy, polysemy, and contextual variation in legal terminology, while the ontological approach structures these terms within hierarchical and relational models to reveal their conceptual dependencies and domain-specific functions. Data are drawn from legislative texts, legal dictionaries, and bilingual law corpora, ensuring both linguistic and juridical representativeness. Comparative analysis demonstrates that English legal vocabulary, shaped by common law reasoning, emphasizes precedent-based conceptualizations, whereas Uzbek legal terminology, rooted in civil law traditions, reflects codified, definitional precision. The findings highlight the importance of aligning semantic fields through ontological mapping to achieve semantic interoperability and accurate legal translation. This interdisciplinary approach contributes to developing more precise bilingual legal databases and enhancing computational applications in multilingual law. Ultimately, the research underscores that a combined lexico-semantic and ontological analysis not only bridges linguistic and legal gaps but also supports the standardization and harmonization of legal terminology in cross-linguistic contexts, thereby advancing the practice of comparative legal linguistics and digital jurisprudence.