TRANSLATING KINSHIP AND CARE: THE KORPACHA AS CULTURAL SYMBOL

This article examines the translation of korpacha — a traditional Uzbek quilted mattress carrying deep cultural connotations of maternal care, domestic warmth, and communal intimacy — across its key occurrences in O'tkir Hoshimov’s autobiographical novel Dunyoning Ishlari and its English translation Such Is Life. Applying Mona Baker’s theory of equivalence above word level and Eugene Nida’s dynamic equivalence, the study demonstrates that the term resists literal translation because its cultural meaning operates through connotation and narrative context rather than denotation alone. The translator’s decisions to render korpacha through descriptive paraphrase, functional substitution, and contextual adaptation reflect pragmatic strategies aimed at reproducing the emotional effect of the original for English-speaking readers.