Morphographic and Semantic Integration of English-Derived Lexemes in Uzbek Online Media

Abstract

This article examines how English-derived lexical items move beyond initial borrowing and become productive elements of contemporary Uzbek online media language. The study focuses on forms such as startap, bloger, kontent, brend, servis, onlayn and platforma, with particular attention to orthographic accommodation, Uzbek inflection, hybrid combinations and semantic specialization. A qualitative sample of authentic media uses from Uzbek online news is analyzed together with recent scholarship on English–Uzbek lexical contact. The findings show that integration is best viewed as a continuum rather than a binary distinction between “foreign” and “assimilated” words. Graphic reshaping such as startup → startap and blogger → bloger may be followed by regular Uzbek morphology, as in blogerlar, blogerlarga, brendlar and blogerlik, and by productive combinations such as onlayn platforma and IT-brend. Media practice also reveals continuing variation in hyphenation and graphic treatment. The article proposes a four-stage model of lexical integration: uptake, morphographic accommodation, grammatical integration and productive recombination.