TRANSLATING UZBEK CULTURAL IDENTITY IN "BYGONE DAYS": A COGNITIVE STYLISTIC ANALYSIS

This paper examines how Uzbek cultural identity is rendered in the English translation of Abdulla Qodiriy’s novel “O‘tkan Kunlar”, published in English as “Bygone Days”. Using a cognitive stylistic framework, the study explores how culturally specific concepts, imagery, and narrative voice are reconstructed for an English-speaking readership. Particular attention is given to conceptual metaphor, mental space construction, and the translator’s handling of culture-bound lexical items such as terms for social rank, clothing, and domestic space. The analysis draws on selected passages from the source text and its English translation, comparing how each version guides the reader toward particular cognitive and emotional interpretations. The findings suggest that translation choices at the lexical and structural level significantly shape how foreign readers conceptualize nineteenth-century Uzbek social life, and that certain culturally dense expressions inevitably undergo simplification or reframing in the target language. The study contributes to a growing body of research on literary translation from Uzbek into English and offers insights relevant to translators, literary scholars, and students of cognitive stylistics.