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16504 papers
In the context of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), achieving communicative competence is widely regarded as a primary objective of language instruction. However, English courses designed for non-philological students frequently emphasize grammatical and lexical knowledge, while sociolinguistic competence remains insufficiently developed. This imbalance often leads to difficulties in context-appropriate language use despite acceptable linguistic accuracy. The present study examines pedagogical approaches to developing sociolinguistic competence among non-philological students through TESOL-oriented instruction. An experimental study was conducted in a natural educational environment, where sociolinguistically focused tasks were systematically integrated into English language classes. The results demonstrate that targeted sociolinguistic instruction significantly enhances learners’ ability to select appropriate language forms in accordance with social context, communicative roles, and situational norms. The findings confirm the necessity of incorporating sociolinguistic competence as an essential component of English language teaching for non-philological learners.
A Review of: Frye, J., & Hasler-Barker, M. (2024). “Lady can talk forever...”: Exploring caring discourse in bilingual librarianship. Library & Information Science Research, 46(2), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2024.101301 Objective – To investigate how bilingual reference librarians in a public library express care in their interactions with community members, and to examine whether and how librarians’ linguistic choices reflect authentic caring discourse in multilingual contexts. Design – A case study of bilingual reference desk transactions. Setting – Online. Subjects – A public library in a U.S.-Mexico border town. Methods – Members of the research team digitally recorded approximately 20 hours of reference desk interactions over one week and collected extensive field notes. Bilingual transcribers produced full transcripts, categorized by language use (Spanish-only, English-only, bilingual). The research team examined the transcripts under the guidance of the critical discourse analysis methodology. The researchers used Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework (description, interpretation, and explanation) to summarize interactions, examine linguistic features, and analyze expressions of care in relation to social and cultural contexts. Coding of the transcripts was refined through feminist research practices, ensuring attentiveness, validation, and dialogue across researcher perspectives. Main Results – Caring discourse was infrequent in bilingual reference transactions. Out of 20 bilingual interactions, only 3 contained explicit expressions of care. The caring discourse was mostly brief, primarily delivered in English regardless of the community member’s language choice and often tied to emotional disclosures rather than the initial informational requests. The researchers identified three main categories of caring discourse: commiseration, soothing assurance, and expressions of condolence. These were supported by five conversational devices: interjections, idiomatic expressions, lexical intensifiers, voice modulation (such as whispering), and humor. For example, the librarians used commiseration to acknowledge difficulties with English pronunciation or experiences of discrimination or offered condolence in response to disclosures about illness and loss. Humor appeared occasionally but often reflected discomfort or reinforced stereotypes rather than building solidarity. Although some librarians attempted to show empathy, their responses often revealed underlying deficit-based perceptions. For instance, disabilities were minimized through whispered assurances, implying embarrassment, while older patrons’ struggles with technology were met with dismissive humor about aging. Hispanic librarians also avoided using Spanish with community members who initiated conversations in that language, which created distance and limited deeper connection. The researchers believe these patterns indicated that surface-level caring expressions frequently masked disengagement, callousness, or adherence to dominant cultural norms. Several broader themes emerged: including camouflaged needs, where community members sought emotional support disguised as informational inquiries; the failure of shared identity to guarantee care, as Hispanic librarians sometimes distanced themselves from Hispanic patrons; and the dismissal of patrons’ emotional needs due to inattention or institutional pressures. Conclusion – The researchers believe bilingual caring discourse at the reference desk was often more illusion than reality, reflecting institutional conformity rather than genuine responsiveness to community members. Thus, the researchers recommend using care theory for continued use as a framework for examining librarian discourse, especially in multilingual and multiracial contexts. Additionally, the authors encourage further research to explore other aspects of care such as competence and responsiveness. Librarians need to be prepared to meet both informational and emotional needs, with cross-cultural communication and multilingual skills integrated into education/training and employ improvisation and role-play to practice caring responses. The authors also encourage reflective analysis of language use and advise institutional support to help manage the emotional labor of care.
Focusing on foreign "TikTok refugees" who relocated to RedNote (Xiaohongshu) amid U.S. TikTok policy disruptions, this study addresses a gap in existing research—scholarship on digital migration has largely overlooked language as a strategic resource in abrupt cross-cultural platform shifts, while translingual practice studies often adopt a deficit-oriented lens. Employing qualitative discourse analysis integrated with Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT), Identity Construction Theory (ICT), and translingual perspectives, we analyzed 127 original posts, interactional comments, and 21 semi-structured interviews with purposively selected participants. The analysis reveals that language accommodation on RedNote is a strategic, platform-oriented practice shaped by algorithmic visibility and affective community norms rather than linear convergence or divergence, with users deploying lexical/stylistic convergence, code-mixing, and multimodal translingual practice to construct layered identities such as cultural mediators. Moreover, language adaptation and identity construction form a recursive, co-constitutive dynamic co-shaped by audience feedback and platform ecology. This study contributes to digital communication research by extending CAT to human-platform power relations, reframing translingual practice as agentive identity work, and offering empirical evidence from a non-Western context to challenge Anglocentric biases through a platform-culture dual adaptation model.
This article provides a thorough examination of the critical role that intercultural pragmatic competence plays in contemporary English language instruction. This sophisticated construct extends beyond traditional linguistic knowledge to encompass the nuanced understanding of how language functions within diverse cultural frameworks to convey meaning, intent, and social relationships. Contemporary English Language Teaching (ELT) methodologies have undergone a significant paradigmatic transformation, characterized by growing acknowledgment of the complex interdependence between linguistic structures, communicative intentions, and the sociocultural contexts that shape their interpretation. This comprehensive perspective deliberately moves beyond conventional pedagogical approaches that prioritized grammatical accuracy and lexical acquisition in relative isolation. Rather, it actively promotes a more profound comprehension of target cultures, recognizing that successful communication depends substantially on understanding culturally conditioned expectations regarding appropriateness, politeness, and discourse organization. Central to this evolving pedagogical framework is the systematic integration of communicative language teaching principles. This approach provides substantial theoretical foundations for investigating how cultural norms, social conventions, and contextual factors fundamentally influence language learners’ interpretation and production of meaning in authentic communicative situations. Ultimately, the findings presented herein compellingly demonstrate the imperative of equipping language learners not merely with structural accuracy and lexical diversity, but fundamentally with the pragmatic awareness essential for genuinely effective, contextually appropriate, and mutually comprehensible cross-cultural communication, thereby enabling them to navigate the complexities of international discourse with competence and cultural sensitivity.
Gastronomic advertising in modern communication serves not only as a means of conveying information about a product but also as an instrument for constructing emotional images, appealing to cultural codes, and stimulating consumer behavior. The lexical design of such texts reveals consistent strategic techniques aimed at instant identifi cation of the product category, eliciting positive evaluation, and establishing trustful dialogue with the recipient. Russian- language advertisements demonstrate universal marketing motivators, culturally- historical traditions, peculiarities of word formation, and pragmatic language norms. An important feature of gastronomic advertising texts is their ability to convey national-cultural values as well as integrate verbal and nonverbal (visual) components, forming creolized texts. The analysis of genre varieties in gastronomic advertising has shown that each genre contributes to the comprehensive perception of a gastronomic product.
This article explores the linguistic representation of notional values and national mentality in Uzbek newspaper advertising texts. Focusing on the historical development of advertising discourse in both English and Uzbek contexts, the study highlights their distinctive features shaped by cultural and social factors. Particular attention is paid to the lexical, semantic, and pragmatic means through which value concepts and mentality are expressed in Uzbek print media advertisements. The findings demonstrate that advertising language serves not only as a persuasive tool but also as a reflection of cultural identity and societal norms. Keywords: Advertising Discourse, National Values, Mentality, Uzbek Newspapers, Linguo-Culture, Pragmatics, Cultural Identity.
Prompts used to elicit film interpretations, evaluate Italian essays for conspiratorial content, translate the conspiracy dictionary, generate syntactic complexity corpora, and extract lexical sophistication norms; complete list of Italian dictionary terms used for lexical conspiracism assessment; alternative three-dimensional prompt for evaluating conspiratorial content with correlation matrix comparing metrics; moderated regression analyses examining whether textual quality affects conspiracy content detection; correlation matrices between conspiracy-related variables and narcissism and attachment style measures for Studies 1 and 2; and correlation coefficients between conspiracism, conspiratorial content, and LIWC dictionaries.
Introduction: Blood flow restriction (BFR) walking elicits improved fitness, but participants often report higher ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) and pain during BFR walking compared to non-BFR walking. The primary aim was to investigate how multiple BFR walking exposures might affect RPE and pain. Methods: 14 healthy, trained participants completed three BFR walking sessions on separate days. The treadmill speed that elicited 3/10 RPE while BFR was not applied was determined and that same speed was used during all BFR walking sessions. Participants walked for 15 minutes at the predetermined speed while 60% limb occlusion pressure was applied bilaterally to the thighs. RPE (0-10) and pain (0-10) were recorded during each minute of exercise. Two-way repeated measures analysis of variance determined if session (1-3) and/or time (1-15 minutes) affected RPE or pain. Statistical significance was established at p<0.05. Results: RPE was higher during session 1 compared to session 2 (minutes 8-15, 4.4±1.4 versus 3.6±0.8). RPE was higher during session 1 compared to session 3 (minutes 3-5, 3.5±0.7 versus 2.9±0.6; minutes 7-15, 4.3±1.3 versus 3.5±1.1). No significant differences were observed for pain. Conclusion: Participants might tolerate BFR walking better after completing two BFR walking sessions as lowered RPE responses were observed.
This study pioneers the application of forensic linguistics to investigative interviews in Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing enforcement. It aims to identify and systematize the specific linguistic and discursive strategies used by suspects to construct deceptive narratives, thereby developing an evidence-based analytical framework for this underexplored domain of environmental crime. Employing a qualitative case study design within an interpretivist paradigm, the research analyses a corpus of 15 authentic, anonymized investigative interview transcripts from concluded IUU fishing cases in Indonesia. Data were analyzed using a multi-stage forensic linguistic protocol, combining deductive coding informed by established deception markers (e.g., hedging, narrative inconsistency, pragmatic deflection) with inductive thematic analysis to identify context-specific strategies. Analytical rigor was ensured through analyst triangulation and thick description. The analysis reveals a consistent “Four-Pillar” model of deceptive discourse in IUU investigations: 1) Lexical-Pragmatic Evasion (e.g., pervasive hedging, passive constructions, deictic distancing); 2) Narrative Manipulation (e.g., chronological inconsistencies, lack of sensory detail for illicit acts, overly rehearsed formulae); 3) Pragmatic-Discursive Deflection (e.g., failure to answer questions directly, attribution of agency to external forces, appeals to norms); and 4) Socio-Linguistic Masking (e.g., strategic use/omission of technical jargon, feigned linguistic misunderstanding). These interconnected strategies function to obfuscate truth, diffuse responsibility, and exploit the technical and multilingual context of fisheries operations. This study is the first to conduct a dedicated forensic linguistic examination of deception within IUU fishing investigations. It moves beyond generic deception detection models by constructing a context-specific framework that accounts for the unique technical, legal, and operational realities of maritime environmental crime. The research provides both a theoretical contribution to forensic linguistics and a practical, actionable toolkit for enhancing the investigative and prosecutorial processes in fisheries law enforcement.
Background. Modern conceptual possibilities of linguistic and stylistic analysis of a literary text provide for a comprehensive multidimensional study of the full potential of a work of art. From this perspective, a work of fiction is interpreted both from the standpoint of purely literary analysis, which reveals the peculiarities of the figurative and ideological plans of the text, the extralinguistic context of the cultural, historical and conceptual fields, and from the standpoint of the possibilities of deep comprehension of the language structure of the text, determining the connection and relationship of linguistic units from different levels, which in their totality implement a specific strategy of the aesthetic concept of the work. The primary goal of linguistic analysis is to detect and interpret the language phenomena present in a literary text, considering both their semantic content and contextual usage. The purpose. The purpose of the study is complex. First of all, it lies in the necessity to identify the features of the analysis of a poetic text. Next, to determine the place of idiostyle in linguistic research, Furthermore, to find out the main characteristics of idiostyle, and reflect the outcomes on linguostylistic analysis of the writer's poetic works. Methods. The work uses the following research methods: linguistic analysis: a detailed study of the vocabulary, syntax, phonology, and morphology of a poetic idiostyle; stylistic analysis: a study of the use of stylistic devices, such as similes, metaphors, allusions, and other figurative devices; comparative analysis method. Results. The study of idiostyle can be carried out by identifying individual-authorial deviations from the general rules and frameworks of literary text organization followed by their subsequent interpretation of these deviations through the prism of the worldview foundations that determine an individual-authorial style (a system of values and norms that are unconditionally acknowledged by the individual, personal life experience, philosophical views, etc.). The analysis of existing approaches to the study of idiostyle has shown that it is manifested primarily in the author’s choice of the work’s genre and only then in the selection of particular linguistic means, so-called idiostyle markers, which allow the author to achieve his communicative goal. Idiostyle is created by textual means at all levels of the language (phonetics; graphics, spelling, punctuation; morphology; syntax; stylistics), as well as by cultural references. Discussion. There are three dominant approaches to describing the concept of idiostyle by linguistic and linguistic stylistic elements. To be more precise, idiostyle is considered to be a set of linguistic and stylistic means that are peculiar to a particular author. From the perspective of communication stylistics, idiostyle is viewed as an extralinguistic term that also stems from the author’s unique self-expression, although the field of study is a certain text, it is its lexical component. The widest approach is the understanding of idiostyle in the aspect of inclusion in its composition of linguistic and extralinguistic factors, determined by linguistic means and author’s individual creative features. In our work, we define idiostyle as a framework of meaningful and structural linguistic elements typical of the texts of a specific author, which ensures the individuality of linguistic expression manifested in these works.
This article analyzes the relationship between gender linguistics and slang in English and Uzbek languages, focusing on how gender influences speech styles, lexical choices, and the formation of informal language. It examines the sociolinguistic factors that shape gendered communication patterns and explores how slang functions as a marker of identity, group belonging, and social interaction, particularly among younger speakers. The study also considers the impact of globalization, digital technologies, and social media platforms on the development and spread of slang in both linguistic contexts. Special attention is given to how traditional gender norms influence language use in Uzbek society, while English demonstrates comparatively more flexible and less rigid gender distinctions in informal communication. Furthermore, the article highlights the increasing convergence of slang usage across genders due to the influence of online communication, where linguistic boundaries are becoming more fluid. The comparative analysis reveals both similarities and differences in how gender and slang interact in English and Uzbek, showing that while cultural and social factors continue to shape language use, modern digital environments are gradually reducing traditional linguistic constraints.
The paper examines newly discovered lexical substitutions in the Life of Saint Theodore the Studite, edited by Nil Sorsky. This Life originally belongs to the ancient translations from Greek made by South Slavic scribes in the territory of Old Rus’. It is shown that, in the Life edited by Nil, among the majority of lexical substitutions, which are freely differentiated into groups, there are examples of lexical improvements that require particular consideration. Such exclusive substitutions include corrections of translator’s errors based solely on the Church Slavonic context of the extract (изложенїе – низложенїе), the introduction of Slavic explanations to Greek words preserved in the text (ѥпитимиꙗ – запрѣщениѥ) in accordance with the traditions of the Athos-Tyrnovo school of book reading, as well as the replacement of lexical and semantic archaisms with the synonyms commonly used in the 15th – 16th century texts (позоръ – позорище, притъча – ѡбразъ). It has been established that a striking feature of the lexical revisions carried out by Nil is the desire to adapt the original text to the perception of a scribe of the late 15th – early 16th centuries. The discovered lexical substitutions enable the conclusion that the Sorsky ascetic, undoubtedly guided by the lexical norms of the new Svyatogorsk translations and taking into account the development of the Middle Russian variant of Church Slavonic, approached the correction of each lexeme individually.
In this paper we introduce an example-based method for exploring dependency treebanks that is based on principles of vector symbolic architectures.It leverages key properties of this framework to provide fast and flexible search capabilities, since all combinations of query parameters can be compared with a given parse tree in parallel via a single vector operation.The framework also allows for graded similarity and the natural integration of various kinds of information, such as word embeddings.After some background on the framework and an explanation of our implementation, we provide a few examples of the system's output and draw comparisons to similar applications.
The aim of the study is to gain a systematic understanding of the linguocultural aspects of the linguistic mechanisms that construct social norms, power relations, and models of sociality in the folk song texts of the village of Krasny Yar, Ufa District, Republic of Bashkortostan, revealing their connection to the discursive and social practices of the local community. The article examines the specifics of critical discourse analysis (CDA) in the tradition of N. Fairclough as a tool for linguistic analysis that links the linguistic features of a text with its sociocultural context. The subject of the study comprises lexical-semantic, syntactic, and discursive means involved in the representation of social hierarchies and identities. The novelty of the research lies in the first attempt to integrate the classical methodology of CDA and linguocultural tools with the corpus of folk songs from a specific local tradition, which allows moving from a philological and ethnographic description to an analysis of folklore as an active discursive practice that transmits social reality. As a result, the key discourses represented in the songs have been systematized: the discourse of patriarchal power, the discourse of social stratification, and the discourse of the community’s interaction with external institutions; the role of folk songs as a tool for the symbolic maintenance of order and the articulation of latent social tensions has been determined.
The COVID-19 pandemic has radically transformed the English language introducing new lexical terms, semantic changes, and pragmatic norms that are still effective in the post-pandemic world. This scientific review explores new tendencies in writing English after the pandemic and concentrates on the definition of vocabulary, discourse, and pragmatic adjustments in social, professional, educational, and digital environments. The paper summarizes recent linguistic studies to examine the way in which communication driven by crisis made the formation of neologisms, borrowing, compounding, and semantic recontextualization faster. Keywords of health, risk, remote interaction, and digitalization became used not only in specialized registers but also daily and the meaning of already existing words has been broadened or metaphorical. In addition to the use of lexis, the review identifies shifts in pragmatic practices such as the changes in politeness strategies, the manifestation of uncertainty and empathy, and the taming of crisis sensitive discourse in institutional and interpersonal communication. The heightened use of digital platforms has continued to affect turn taking, modality and interpersonal stance, transforming the rules of formality and interaction. As well, the English after the pandemic is indicative of the wider sociocultural change including increased attentiveness to mental health, work-life separation, and group responsibility, which linguistically are marked by evaluative and stance-marking categories. There are also pedagogical and applied implications in the review that the English language teaching and the professional communication training programs need to consider such changing norms. In spite of increasing attention, studies in this field are still disjointed, with little longitudinal and cross-cultural studies. This review finds that the post-pandemic English is a new stage of linguistic adaptation under the influence of the world crisis experience, which can contribute to the useful conclusions about the interconnection between the linguistic change, social unsteadiness, and communicative stability.
This paper examines the phenomenon of translingual writing and code-switching in contemporary South Asian Anglophone literature, analyzing how writers from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh deploy multilingual textual strategies to represent the linguistic realities of postcolonial societies. Through close readings of works by Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Mohsin Hamid, and Shehan Karunatilaka, the study identifies distinct modes of translingual practice, including lexical borrowing, syntactic calquing, script-switching, and strategic untranslatability. The paper argues that these practices constitute a politics of language that challenges the monolingual norms of Anglophone literary culture and asserts the legitimacy of multilingual consciousness as both a literary subject and a mode of literary expression.
This article analyzes the phenomenon of homonymy in the Uzbek language from a linguistic perspective. The study elucidates the essence of homonymy and, with illustrative examples, identifies its manifestations in Uzbek, including lexical homonymy, contextual (speech) homonymy, affixal homonymy, phraseological homonymy, homonymy between fixed expressions and word combinations, as well as homonymy between fixed expressions and sentences. Furthermore, the types of homonymy – namely absolute (proper) homonyms and conditional homonyms, including homographs, homoforms, and homophones – are systematically described. Particular attention is paid to a comparative analysis of the phonetic, semantic, and functional differences between homophones and paronyms. The article also discusses the role of homonymic units in discourse, their impact on the communicative process, and issues related to linguistic norms. The findings of the study are of significant scholarly value for further in-depth research on homonymy in Uzbek linguistics and for practical application in lexicography and language education
This study analyzes the role of Kazakh proverbs and sayings in Mukhamed Shayakhmetov’s documentary novel “The Silent Steppe.” This relevance stems from the need to understand folklore as an expression of the national mentality, historical memory, and cultural identity of the Kazakh people, especially in the context of repression, loss of national values and rethinking of cultural norms and traditions.The study is distinguished by its holistic approach to the analysis of the proverbs in the artistic structure of the documentary novel, as well as in its examination of the specifics of their translation into Kazakh and English. The study emphasizes proverbs as an integral element of the work’s artistic and ideological content. The purpose of this study is to identify the artistic and semantic functions of Kazakh proverbs in the non-fiction novel, as well as to analyze the linguacultural and translation aspects of translating these proverbs into other languages. The study utilized textual, contextual, and comparative analysis, as well as elements of linguacultural and translation approaches. The theoretical value of the study lies in its in-depth understanding of the role of folklore in documentary literature. Its practical significance lies in the potential application of the results in the study of literary texts, intercultural communication, and the translation of Kazakh phraseological units. It was established that proverbs in the novel serve not only a decorative or stylistic function but also serve as means of characterization, the author’s assessment of events, compositional coherence, and expressions of folk wisdom. Lexical, semantic, and cultural difficulties in translating Kazakh proverbs were also identified, demonstrating the importance of cultural context when interpreting them in a multilingual environment.
This thesis examines the linguistic, semantic, and linguocultural features of expressing aesthetic evaluation in the Uzbek language. Aesthetic evaluation represents a subjective-objective attitude formed through the perception of reality, the understanding of beauty and ugliness, and the interpretation of human qualities. In Uzbek, aesthetic meanings are conveyed through various linguistic devices such as epithets, metaphors, proverbs, idioms, polysemantic words, and evaluative adjectives. The study analyzes aesthetic judgment in relation to physical appearance, inner qualities, morality, behavior, and cultural values. Using Uzbek folk proverbs, literary texts, and lexical materials, the article demonstrates the close connection between aesthetic evaluation, national worldview, aesthetic ideals, and socio-cultural norms. The research presents generalized scientific conclusions on how aesthetic evaluation is shaped in the Uzbek language and its role in the national aesthetic consciousness.
This paper examines how national mentality is reflected through epistemic modality by comparing English and Uzbek. Epistemic markers encode a speaker’s assessment of certainty, doubt, and probability, thereby revealing culturally preferred ways of presenting knowledge. Using descriptive and contrastive analysis, the study outlines key epistemic resources in English (modal verbs and stance adverbs such as must, may/might, probably, perhaps) and in Uzbek (modal words such as ehtimol, balki, chamasi, shekilli, as well as grammatical constructions and suffixes including -sa kerak, -dir, -ekan/-kan, and -ibdi). The comparison suggests that English typically expresses epistemic stance through separate lexical items, whereas Uzbek often integrates evidential and epistemic nuances into verbal morphology. These differences align with discourse norms: English favors explicit speaker positioning, while Uzbek commonly employs mitigated, context-sensitive formulations that support politeness and social harmony. The article argues that epistemic modal analysis provides a productive route for linking linguistic form with culturally shaped worldviews.
Despite their linguistic diversity and global significance, African languages remain underrepresented in research and resources to support NLP. We aim to bridge this gap by introducing AfriSUD, the first large-scale collection of syntactically annotated treebanks for nine diverse African languages spanning major language families and regions across Sub-Saharan Africa. Using the Surface-Syntactic Universal Dependencies (SUD) framework, our community-led effort provides high-quality, native-speaker verified data that capture typological key features such as agglutination and tone. We evaluate a range of models on AfriSUD for part-of-speech tagging and dependency parsing including non-transformer baselines, multilingual pretrained encoders, and LLMs. Our results reveal a significant syntax gap, where models still show clear limitations across the nine languages, suggesting that existing architectures may not fully capture the structural diversity of African-language syntax.
Czech has been part of Universal Dependencies since its first release in 2015. It has also been one of the best represented languages, with the Prague Dependency Treebank being order of magnitude larger than most other UD treebanks. More recently, three other datasets from the Prague family were added and the annotations thoroughly revisited, forming the "Prague Dependency Treebank-Consolidated" (PDT-C). In comparison to the original PDT, PDT-C is more than twice as large, but it is also much more diverse in terms of genres and domains. In this paper, we describe the conversion of the new resource to Universal Dependencies. While the two annotation schemes are relatively similar at the first sight, there are numerous small differences in topology of the dependency structures and in granularity of the POS and relation type inventories. We demonstrate a selection of such differences on examples, discuss the diverging motivations, as well as ways to overcome the differences during conversion. We argue that while PDT is less "universal" and more tightly bound to one language, its multi-layer annotation is rich and provides all information needed for basic UD trees, and much more.
Czech has been part of Universal Dependencies since its first release in 2015. It has also been one of the best represented languages, with the Prague Dependency Treebank being order of magnitude larger than most other UD treebanks. More recently, three other datasets from the Prague family were added and the annotations thoroughly revisited, forming the "Prague Dependency Treebank-Consolidated" (PDT-C). In comparison to the original PDT, PDT-C is more than twice as large, but it is also much more diverse in terms of genres and domains. In this paper, we describe the conversion of the new resource to Universal Dependencies. While the two annotation schemes are relatively similar at the first sight, there are numerous small differences in topology of the dependency structures and in granularity of the POS and relation type inventories. We demonstrate a selection of such differences on examples, discuss the diverging motivations, as well as ways to overcome the differences during conversion. We argue that while PDT is less "universal" and more tightly bound to one language, its multi-layer annotation is rich and provides all information needed for basic UD trees, and much more.
Crafting effective academic titles is a challenging task that requires balancing informativeness, conciseness, and reader engagement. This paper investigates titles produced by master’s students of Linguistics at the Faculty of Letters and Humanities of Sfax (FLSHS) and compares them with research article titles written by expert authors and with AI-generated alternatives. The study aims to evaluate students’ titles in relation to expert norms and to explore the potential of Large Language Models (LLMs) in academic title generation. A corpus of 659 titles, including master’s dissertations, research articles, and AI-generated titles, was analysed quantitatively and qualitatively using a synthesised model based on Ken Hyland and Zou (2022) and Swales and Feak (2012). The findings show that students adhere more closely to academic title conventions by producing informative and lexically dense titles, whereas expert authors prioritise reader engagement. AI-generated titles, although capable of producing useful lexical content, rely heavily on formulaic expressions and often fail to recognise the genre-specific conventions of academic discourse. They tend to be longer, more clausal, and more question-based than human-crafted titles. The study suggests that AI tools can serve as valuable brainstorming resources in academic writing pedagogy when their output is critically evaluated and adapted by users.
Abstract This paper presents a novel treebank-driven approach to comparing syntactic structures in speech and writing using dependency-parsed corpora. Adopting a fully inductive, bottom-up method, we define syntactic structures as delexicalized dependency (sub)trees and extract them from spoken and written Universal Dependencies (UD) treebanks in two syntactically distinct languages, English and Slovenian. For each corpus, we analyze the size, diversity, and distribution of syntactic inventories, their overlap across modalities, and the structures most characteristic of speech. Results show that, across both languages, spoken corpora contain fewer and less diverse syntactic structures than their written counterparts, with consistent cross-linguistic preferences for certain structural types across modalities. Strikingly, the overlap between spoken and written syntactic inventories is very limited: most structures attested in speech do not occur in writing, pointing to modality-specific preferences in syntactic organization that reflect the distinct demands of real-time interaction and elaborated writing. This contrast is further supported by a keyness analysis of the most frequent speech-specific structures, which highlights patterns associated with interactivity, context-grounding, and economy of expression. We argue that this scalable, language-independent framework offers a useful general method for systematically studying syntactic variation across corpora, laying the groundwork for more comprehensive data-driven theories of grammar in use.
The phenomenon of lexical borrowing plays a central role in the evolution of languages, reflecting cultural interaction, globalization, and social development. Both modern English and Uzbek have adopted a significant number of foreign lexical items, many of which undergo notable semantic changes after being integrated into the recipient language. This study investigates the patterns and mechanisms of semantic shifts in English and Uzbek loanwords, with particular emphasis on processes such as semantic narrowing, semantic broadening, amelioration, and pejoration. Examples drawn from literary works, media sources, and academic texts demonstrate how borrowed words adapt to local linguistic and cultural contexts. The analysis reveals that English loanwords generally preserve their original meanings due to global standardization, whereas Uzbek loanwords often experience substantial semantic modification influenced by local usage, social factors, and cultural norms. This research provides insight into the dynamic nature of lexical borrowing and its role in language development.
The review is devoted to the analysis of the textbook by O. Mykytiuk and I. Farion «Language and Linguists: The Establishment of the Norm», which corresponds to the curriculum of the course «Ukrainian Language for Professional Purposes», currently studied by students of all specialties. It is demonstrated that, by virtue of its content, systematically implemented through the general didactic principle of scientific rigour, this publication meets the standards of a scholarly educational edition. Particular attention is paid to the main object of the scholarly and didactic exposition – the phenomenon of the language norm in its multifunctional representation. The textbook justifiably prioritises a multidirectional interpretation of orthographic norms through a diachronic-synchronic lens. Emphasis is placed on the conceptual dominants of fifteen thematic units and their specific informational content, which enables the tracing of key stages of Ukrainian glottogenesis – from ancient times to the present – as well as significant milestones in lexicographic and terminological studies. The authors also reveal the lexical, phraseological, and word-formation richness of the Ukrainian language, highlight the specificity of its phonetic and grammatical structure, and outline the development of its stylistic system. The originality of the work is further determined by its linguo-personalised component, represented by narratives about precedent linguistic (linguistic-scholarly) personalities, including P. Berynda, M. Smotrytskyi, O. Potebnia, P. Zhytetskyi, B. Hrinchenko, O. Syniavskyi, A. Krymskyi, O. Kurylo, I. Ohiienko (Metropolitan Bishop Ilarion), B. Antonenko-Davydovych, O. Tykhyi, O. Horbach, S. Karavanskyi, O. Ponomariv and V. Nimchuk. High praise is also due to the linguodidactic support materials, through which the authors – employing both traditional and innovative educational methods – promote the development of life and professional competences of future specialists, as well as the cultivation of an intellectually mature, spiritually rich, educated, linguistically cultured, patriotic, and Ukraine-centred personality.
Gendered language use in professional contexts continues to shape how authority, expertise, collaboration, and inclusion are enacted in everyday organizational life. Workplace communication operates within structured institutional environments where linguistic choices are constrained by genre conventions, hierarchical positioning, and expectations of professionalism. This study presents a corpus-based investigation of gender-indexed variation in English workplace discourse across multiple communicative genres, including emails, meeting transcripts, and internal reports. The research examines whether systematic differences emerge in lexical selection, grammatical patterning, and pragmatic strategies, and how these differences interact with organizational roles and power relations. Drawing on principles from register analysis, functional communication theory, and computational corpus linguistics, the study adopts a quantitative design that integrates frequency analysis, keyness statistics, collocation patterns, and multivariate modeling. Gender is treated not as a fixed linguistic determinant but as a socially mediated variable shaped by institutional norms and discursive expectations. Particular attention is given to how hierarchical status may amplify, neutralize, or reconfigure gender-associated tendencies in language use. The methodology is presented as a single integrated framework detailing corpus construction, annotation procedures, statistical modeling, and analytical validation. The findings demonstrate that while certain lexical and stance-related patterns display measurable gender-linked variation, these differences are significantly moderated by role, communicative purpose, and organizational power structures. In several instances, professional register constraints reduce divergence, suggesting that institutional discourse exerts a normalizing effect on linguistic expression. The study contributes a structured reporting model for large-scale corpus research on gender in workplace communication and offers implications for fostering inclusive and critically aware language practices within professional environments.
We release a sentence-level genre layer for Universal Dependencies as a separate, joinable dataset, computed across UD revisions and linked back to the underlying treebanks via a release-aware composite key comprising treebank, split, sent_id, and UD release metadata.The annotations are derived rather than authoritative and are accompanied by provenance and uncertainty indicators, enabling downstream users to choose appropriate precision-coverage trade-offs and to re-run the pipeline as UD evolves.To support both parity tracking and deployment-oriented interpretation, we report results under two complementary regimes: a fixed-partition setting aligned with earlier protocols, and a language-grouped 10-fold generalisation setting that highlights cross-language heterogeneity and anchor sparsity as operational constraints.The resulting resource is intended to make genre a practical control variable for UD-based experimentation, including genre-stratified evaluation and training data selection for POS tagging and parsing, where performance varies substantially across text types.Finally, we note that reduced genre spaces aligned with recurring robustness profiles (e.g.transcribed speech versus interactional web/social text versus edited prose/news) appear pragmatically useful, but should be treated as a community coordination task implemented through explicit, versioned mapping tables.
This paper presents a novel treebank-driven approach to comparing syntactic structures in speech and writing using dependency-parsed corpora. Adopting a fully inductive, bottom-up method, we define syntactic structures as delexicalized dependency (sub)trees and extract them from spoken and written Universal Dependencies (UD) treebanks in two syntactically distinct languages, English and Slovenian. For each corpus, we analyze the size, diversity, and distribution of syntactic inventories, their overlap across modalities, and the structures most characteristic of speech. Results show that, across both languages, spoken corpora contain fewer and less diverse syntactic structures than their written counterparts, with consistent cross-linguistic preferences for certain structural types across modalities. Strikingly, the overlap between spoken and written syntactic inventories is very limited: most structures attested in speech do not occur in writing, pointing to modality-specific preferences in syntactic organization that reflect the distinct demands of real-time interaction and elaborated writing. This contrast is further supported by a keyness analysis of the most frequent speech-specific structures, which highlights patterns associated with interactivity, context-grounding, and economy of expression. We argue that this scalable, language-independent framework offers a useful general method for systematically studying syntactic variation across corpora, laying the groundwork for more comprehensive data-driven theories of grammar in use.
Background: Emotion processing is critical in the neuropathology of major depressive disorder (MDD), while its relationship with clinical treatment remains unclear. This study aims to indicate the associations between emotion processing and treatment effects following a sequential dual-site accelerated repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) protocol. Methods: MDD patients were recruited to receive rTMS treatment with four sessions per day for four consecutive days, with stimulation sequentially delivered to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC). Symptoms were assessed at baseline, end of treatment, and week 4 using the Montgomery–Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS), and Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS). Emotional valence and arousal were evaluated with the Affect Rating Task (ART). Results: A total of 51 participants completed the clinical assessments and ART, with two excluded due to missing baseline data in the SHAPS and FSS. The linear mixed-effects models revealed significant improvement in depressive (p < 0.001, d = −0.343) and fatigue symptoms (p = 0.010, d = −0.572) following rTMS treatment. Neutral valence was correlated with MADRS scores at baseline (R2 = 0.096, p = 0.027). In addition, changes in arousal for positive images (p = 0.047, adjusted R2 = 0.097) and neutral images (p = 0.019, adjusted R2 = 0.160) at treatment end were significantly correlated with MADRS improvement at week 4. Conclusions: Our study highlights the association between changes in emotional arousal and improvement in MDD following accelerated dlPFC-dmPFC dual-site rTMS treatment.
Academic writing in EFL contexts remains challenging due to simultaneous demands on content, grammar, vocabulary, and rhetoric. While translanguaging—the dynamic use of multiple languages—has gained attention as a meaning-making resource, its application and limitations in university-level argumentative writing in Indonesia are under-explored. This descriptive qualitative study involved 28 third-semester English Education students at the University of Mataram enrolled in an Argumentative Writing course. Data were collected through classroom observations (three sessions), questionnaires (N=28), and semi-structured interviews (n=5), then analyzed using thematic analysis with triangulation. Students frequently employed translanguaging across writing stages: bilingual reading, mixed-language discussion, L1 idea generation and drafting, tool-assisted translation, and revision. Twenty-six students wrote initial drafts in Bahasa Indonesia before translating. However, they reported difficulties in idea transfer, producing natural English sentences, lexical equivalence, and maintaining focus during language switching. Translanguaging facilitated idea development and reduced writing anxiety but posed cognitive and linguistic challenges in achieving academic English norms. Findings support a shift toward pedagogies that strategically integrate students’ full linguistic repertoires while providing targeted support for L2 accuracy.
Social media platforms, particularly TikTok, have become primary arenas for linguistic experimentation among adolescents, yet systematic analyses of how platform-specific affordances shape lexical and semantic innovation remains limited. This study investigated lexical and semantic variations in adolescent digital communication on TikTok, addressing three research questions concerning the types of lexical innovations, processes of semantic change, and the role of platform affordances in shaping language evolution. Methods: A mixed-methods design integrated quantitative corpus linguistics with qualitative discourse analysis. A corpus of 2,848 TikTok comments was compiled across four major trends (September–December 2024). Lexical analysis identified neologisms, graphical variations, and acronyms; semantic analysis documented broadening, narrowing, metaphoric extension, and pejoration/amelioration; platform affordances analysis examined meme-driven language and intertextual policing. Analysis revealed 15 lexical innovations with 63 occurrences across semantic categories. Neologisms (fr, bestie, delulu) and graphical variations (tryna, cuz, ion) served dual functions of efficiency and identity performance. Semantic shifts included ameliorative broadening (slay, fire), pejoration (basic, cringe), metaphoric extension (era, main character), and reclamatory usage (ghetto). Platform analysis identified 11 meme-driven phrases generating 2,848 occurrences with near-neutral sentiment, and 347 policing instances (12.2%) concentrated during rising and peak trend phases, demonstrating active semantic negotiation through definition, debate, and correction. TikTok functions as an accelerated laboratory for language change where adolescents deploy multiple mechanisms of linguistic innovation simultaneously. Platform affordances fundamentally reshape traditional sociolinguistic processes, with intertextual policing serving as the mechanism by which communities enforce emerging semantic norms. The findings extend communities of practice frameworks to algorithmically-mediated digital environments. Educators should recognize digital language as systematic innovation; lexicographers should develop protocols for documenting ephemeral platform-specific terms; platform designers should account for in-group reclamation practices; and researchers should prioritize cross-platform longitudinal studies to track whether observed innovations represent enduring change or age-graded phenomena.
Language reflects human cognition, particularly in the expression of mental states such as emotions, beliefs, and intentions. This study investigates how English and Uzbek speakers express mental states in everyday speech, analyzing lexical, grammatical, and metaphorical patterns. English favors the direct labeling of mental states through verbs and adjectives, whereas Uzbek relies heavily on descriptive and metaphorical constructions, often involving bodily imagery. Cultural norms and communicative conventions play a significant role in shaping these differences. The findings contribute to cross-linguistic psycholinguistics, intercultural communication, and applied linguistics, providing insights into how cognition and culture influence language.
Данное исследование документирует лексическую систему южного языкового анклава города Алматы в период 1976–1989 гг., с фокусом на жаргонную лексику и её социальносемантические группы. Цель работы — реконструировать и систематизировать региональный жаргон как компонент городской социокультуры, проследить его внутреннюю структуру и влияние на повседневное поведение и межгрупповые отношения. Методология опирается на описательные лингвистические приёмы: сбор лексикограмматических единиц из полевых материалов и устных свидетельств, их кластеризация по лексикосемантическим признакам и сопоставление с контекстами употребления. Лексемы были организованы в тематические группы (обозначения социальных ролей, терминология конфликтного взаимодействия, бытовая урбанистическая лексика и др.), для каждой единицы приведены толкования и иллюстративные примеры употребления, а также пометки о региональной и социокультурной вариативности. Результаты показывают, что южный жаргон Алматы функционировал одновременно как механизм внутригрупповой идентификации и как среда культурной агрессии: с одной стороны, он формировал замкнутую коммуникативную зону, отчуждающую анклав от внешнего социума; с другой — распространял маргинальные нормы и этику на более широкие слои городского населения, что в ряде случаев влекло за собой негативные социальные последствия для присоединившихся индивидов. Исследование выявляет специфические лексикосемантические стратегии, обеспечивавшие устойчивость жаргонной системы (лексическая амбивалентность, эвфемизация, кодификация роли и статуса). Научный вклад состоит в систематизации регионального жаргона для последующего социолингвистического анализа и в разработке методической схемы сбора и кластеризации жаргонных единиц применительно к языковым анклавам. Практическая значимость исследования — возможность использования материалов для историкосоциальной реконструкции городской субкультуры и для разработки программ превентивной работы с уязвимыми молодежными группами. This study documents the lexical system of the southern linguistic enclave of the city of Almaty during the period 1976–1989, with a focus on slang vocabulary and its socio-semantic groups. The aim of the work is to reconstruct and systematize regional slang as a component of urban socioculture, tracing its internal structure and its influence on everyday behavior and intergroup relations. The methodology is based on descriptive linguistic techniques: the collection of lexico-grammatical units from field materials and oral testimonies, their clustering according to lexico-semantic features, and comparison with contexts of use. The lexemes were organized into thematic groups (designations of social roles, terminology of conflict interaction, everyday urban vocabulary, etc.), with interpretations and illustrative examples of usage provided for each unit, as well as notes on regional and sociocultural variation. The results show that the southern slang of Almaty functioned simultaneously as a mechanism of intra-group identification and as a medium of cultural aggression: on one hand, it formed a closed communicative zone, alienating the enclave from the external society; on the other, it spread marginal norms and ethics to broader strata of the urban population, which in some cases led to negative social consequences for the individuals who joined. The study identifies specific lexico-semantic strategies that ensured the stability of the slang system (lexical ambivalence, euphemization, codification of role and status). The scientific contribution consists in systematizing regional slang for subsequent sociolinguistic analysis and in developing a methodological scheme for collecting and clustering slang units in relation to linguistic enclaves. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of using the materials for historical and social reconstruction of urban subculture and for developing preventive programs for vulnerable youth groups.
Media plays a crucial role in shaping public discourse and reinforcing cultural ideologies, particularly regarding gender representation. In Mandailing society, where patriarchal norms are prevalent, media discourse provides valuable insights into the positioning of women in social and political spheres. This study investigates the linguistic representations of women in local online news media in Mandailing and explores how these discourses either uphold or challenge patriarchal values. Utilizing a Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (CADS) approach, the research combines quantitative corpus analysis with qualitative Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The data consists of 180 news articles published between 2020 and 2025 from four local digital news platforms. AntConc 4.3.1 was used to perform word list, concordance, and collocation analyses to uncover patterns in word frequency and lexical associations. These patterns are interpreted through Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive model to understand how discursive structures reflect underlying social ideologies. The analysis reveals that while the media often depicts women as active agents and supporters of solidarity, it also contains elements that reinforce traditional roles and patriarchal norms. The findings underscore the complexity of gender representation in this local context, suggesting that media portrayals can significantly influence societal perceptions of gender roles, promoting both empowerment and the reinforcement of patriarchal values.
Aim. To identify lexical transformations in the speech of Soviet and Russian football commentators in the context of sociocultural change. Methodology. The analysis is based on archival broadcasts of football matches spanning the period from 1987 to 2024 (featuring V. N. Maslachenko, V. I. Pereturin, V. V. Utkin, and V. S. Stogniyenko). The research employs methods of lexical, discourse, and comparative analysis, as well as elements of the linguistic cultural approach. Results. The findings reveal that political, cultural, and technological factors have significantly influenced the linguistic evolution of sports commentators. The study documents instances of anglicization, stylistic register shifts, and the emergence of neologisms. Research implications. The research traces shifts in commentator speech as reflections of broader sociocultural dynamics. It raises questions about language norms in mass media and introduces previously unsystematized lexical material into the academic study of sports discourse.
The article examines euphemisms used to name disability in Russian and English and interprets them as culturally sensitive linguistic tools that mediate between social norms, institutional regulation and personal identity. Drawing on pragmatics, sociolinguistics, linguistic politeness theory and disability studies, the research analyses how euphemistic nominations emerge, stabilise and shift across media discourse, legal and bureaucratic communication, education, and everyday interaction. The study compares the dominant euphemistic strategies in both languages and shows that disability naming tends to move from direct stigmatized labels to person oriented and rights oriented forms, while simultaneously generating new cycles of avoidance, abstraction and bureaucratisation. The empirical basis consists of illustrative examples from contemporary Russian and English public texts, including official documents, journalistic materials and public awareness communication. The analysis demonstrates that euphemisms of disability form a layered system in which lexical choice reflects competing ideologies, including person first versus identity first language, medical versus social models of disability, and charity narratives versus inclusion narratives. It is argued that euphemisms do not merely soften meaning but actively participate in constructing social reality, shaping attitudes to difference, normality and participation. In the context of globalisation and digital media, disability euphemisms circulate across languages, producing convergence in polite formulas but also local divergences rooted in distinct institutional histories and cultural expectations.
Introduction. The relevance of this study stems from linguistic interest in the cross-cultural description of conceptual value formations, including those of a universal nature, such as moral and ethical values. The novelty of this study lies in its identification of the culturally specific content of the value of "Loyalty/Devotion" in Arabic and English cultures. Methodology and sources. The study utilized corpus linguistics and interpretive discourse analysis. The empirical basis for the study was the Leeds Corpus of Contemporary Arabic; the English corpora COCA (Corpus of Contemporary American English); The British National Corpus (BNC1994; BNC2014) includes texts of various genres. Corpus methods were used to identify the frequency of lexical units representing the concept, describe their collocation profile, analyze contextual meanings, and define a cognitive-propositional model of value. Interpreting the results in the context of Max Weber's theory of social action revealed value implications reflecting behavior patterns characteristic of different linguistic cultures. Results and discussion. It was established that in English linguistic culture, devotion/loyalty is correlated with Weber's goal-oriented rationality, is pragmatically determined, and is oriented toward an external demonstration of commitment, expressed through specific actions and compliance with institutional rules, norms, and laws. In the Arabic linguistic culture, which is oriented toward value-based and rational action, loyalty/devotion is based on intrinsic motivation and a sense of duty, which determine the value orientations of members of the discourse community. Conclusion. The proposed methodology can be used in the analysis of other moral and ethical values in terms of their content and discursive-textual processing, as well as in the cross-cultural study of values to identify their universal and specific features.
Spelling is a foundational literacy skill that supports both word reading and written expression. For students with or at risk of a learning disability (LD), difficulties in spelling often constrain the fluency and complexity of writing, making effective interventions essential. Yet, the conclusions drawn about intervention efficacy depend heavily on how outcomes are measured. This review synthesizes outcome measurement practices across 59 spelling intervention studies conducted over the past five decades. All outcome measures ( n = 233) were coded by type (researcher-developed vs. norm-referenced) and by linguistic level (sublexical, lexical, sentence, discourse) using the Interactive Dynamic Literacy (IDL) framework. Descriptive analyses revealed that nearly four out of five outcomes were lexical, most often researcher-developed lexical-level spelling probes, with comparatively few outcomes at the sentence or discourse levels. Standardized assessments were similarly concentrated at the word level, with the Wide Range Achievement Test–Spelling subtest and Test of Written Spelling most commonly used. Finally, the pairing of proximal and standardized outcomes was inconsistent, particularly among group designs. Taken together, findings highlight a measurement bottleneck: spelling interventions are evaluated primarily through lexical-level accuracy, offering limited insight into whether gains transfer to the higher-level writing processes for students with or at risk for LD.
This article explores the communicative-pragmatic parameters of online communication and examines the processes of language transformation within the digital environment. In recent years, the rapid development of information and communication technologies has significantly influenced the ways individuals interact, leading to the emergence of new discourse forms and linguistic practices. The study focuses on how pragmatic factors such as intention, context, audience, and interaction strategies are reshaped in virtual communication spaces. Special attention is given to features such as brevity, multimodality, interactivity, and the use of non-verbal elements (emojis, abbreviations, and symbols), which contribute to meaning-making in digital discourse. Furthermore, the research highlights how digital platforms facilitate the transformation of language at lexical, syntactic, and stylistic levels, resulting in hybrid linguistic forms and innovative communicative norms. The paper adopts a descriptive and analytical approach, drawing on examples from social media, messaging applications, and online forums. The findings suggest that online communication not only modifies traditional pragmatic structures but also creates new conventions that reflect the dynamic nature of language in the digital age. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of modern linguistic changes and offers insights into the evolving relationship between language, technology, and communication.
Abstract Native‐speaker norms continue to dominate English language education, reinforcing hierarchies that marginalize diverse Englishes and sustain linguistic injustice in contexts like Thailand. This qualitative study examines the impact of Global Englishes (GE)‐oriented pedagogy on undergraduate students' engagement with linguistic norms, identity, and structural inequality. Data were drawn from semi‐structured interviews and reflective journals with 21 students across seven Thai universities and analyzed using inductive qualitative content analysis. Findings indicate four interrelated areas of transformation. First, students showed early signs of ideological reorientation toward linguistic equality, challenging internalized native‐speaker norms and affirming English as a shared, pluricentric resource. Second, participants reported sociolinguistic empowerment, articulating increased confidence in localized English use and rejecting deficit‐based framings of accent and grammar. Third, students began to develop critical awareness of linguistic inequality, identifying how language standards function as gatekeeping mechanisms that intersect with racial and geopolitical hierarchies. Finally, they offered pedagogical and curricular critiques, exposing the exclusionary logic of monolingual norms and advocating for more inclusive materials and assessment practices, while also acknowledging institutional resistance to change. GE‐informed pedagogy shows potential to unsettle dominant language ideologies, yet its impact is constrained by institutional adherence to native‐speaker norms. Addressing these constraints requires systemic reform in English language teaching curriculum, assessment, and teacher education.
This article explores the tagging and categorizing of emotional vocabulary within the English and Uzbek languages by analyzing lexical‑semantic fields, cultural variation in emotional expression, and cross‑linguistic alignment strategies. Drawing on recent comparative studies, it examines how emotions are identified, categorized, and aligned across these linguistic systems, highlighting key semantic and cultural nuances that influence linguistic representation, cognitive metaphor, and translation. The study concludes that universal emotional concepts exist in both languages, but lexical richness, metaphorical structures, and cultural norms shape distinct organisation and categorization within their respective lexical fields.
This study undertakes a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of a pioneering public interview with Dr. Awan, a transgender physician and activist in Pakistan, to investigate the linguistic construction and legitimization of a professional Khawaja Sira identity. As an indigenous South Asian gender category often localized within the transgender spectrum, this identity is examined within a complex socio-legal and cultural landscape. Drawing on Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional model, the research examines the discourse across textual, discursive practice, and sociocultural levels. The analysis demonstrates that the participant strategically employs feminine Urdu verb inflections and specialized lexical registers to establish a distinct grammatical third space. Through sophisticated intertextuality, the discourse integrates authoritative sources, including the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act (2018), World Health Organization medical protocols, and indigenous Sufi spiritual frameworks, constructing a hybridized legitimacy that draws simultaneously on legal, scientific, and spiritual authority. Strategic omissions, such as the avoidance of Western clinical terminology, reflect careful contextualization for a Pakistani public sphere. The findings indicate that this discourse constitutes a direct ideological intervention, contesting the hegemonic gender binary by framing it as a colonial imposition and repositioning the Khawaja Sira identity within authoritative local epistemologies. This research illustrates how discursive practice functions as a critical site of resistance and identity validation, offering a nuanced framework for understanding agentive identity construction in contexts shaped by majoritarian norms and theological influence.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the development of digital technologies and the expansion of internet communication have led to the formation of a new type of verbal interaction that has a significant impact on all levels of the language system, primarily on vocabulary. In the digital environment, the Russian language demonstrates a high degree of dynamism, which is manifested in intensive processes of lexical renewal, changes in the semantics of existing lexemes, and transformations of stylistic norms. These processes determine the relevance of linguistic analysis of internet discourse as an independent object of scientific research.
This article offers a contrastive examination of gender-inclusive language guidelines issued by universities in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Drawing on a corpus of 287 institutional documents – 122 in German, 34 in Italian, and 133 in English – the study identifies and quantifies specification and neutralization strategies recommended for administrative and pedagogical discourse. After manual annotation, strategies were coded into a database, enabling statistical comparison across languages and nations. Results show that German-speaking institutions favor gender-marked neographies and pair forms, whereas Italian guidelines privilege binary splitting and feminine derivation, with neographies largely proscribed. English documents overwhelmingly promote lexical and pronominal neutralization, including singular they and neopronouns, and eschew specification entirely. Legal framing – especially the recognition of a non-binary civil status in Germany – emerges as a key predictor of neography uptake. Despite divergent prescriptions, all guidelines condemn the generic masculine and seek inclusive representational equity. The paper concludes that cross-linguistic variation in inclusive strategies reflects structural properties of the languages, local legal contexts, and institutional ideologies, and argues for heightened intercultural dialogue in developing future policies. These findings contribute to sociolinguistic theory by evidencing how macro-social variables interact with grammatical typology to shape emergent language planning norms and practices.
Everyday aversive experiences, such as a crying infant or the sound of construction, are not life-threatening, yet they can strongly shape affective experience and physiological state. While most affective imagery research has focused on fear and anxiety, the mechanisms underlying imagery of mild, everyday aversive events remain underexplored. Across five experiments, we systematically investigated behavioral and physiological responses to aversive and appetitive mental imagery. Experiment 1 revealed robust corrugator EMG potentiation but comparatively weaker autonomic responses during aversive imagery compared with audiovisual and auditory stimulation. Experiments 2 and 3 identified key methodological factors that determine imagery potency, including imagery duration, instructional focus, and prompt design. Using an optimized paradigm, Experiment 4 demonstrated coherent changes across subjective valence and arousal ratings, EMG corrugator potentiation, heart rate deceleration, and skin temperature decreases for aversive compared with appetitive imagery, with effects modulated by individual differences in imagery vividness. Experiment 5 confirmed that these effects reflected genuine affective experience rather than semantic knowledge of the prompts. Together, these findings establish baseline physiological and subjective markers of everyday aversive imagery in typical young adults and emphasize the critical role of paradigm optimization in eliciting reliable affective imagery responses. By shifting focus from extreme to everyday aversive experiences, this work provides a framework for studying heightened sensitivity to ordinary stimuli in both basic and clinical contexts.