Papers reviewed and determined not to be word norm studies. Use the flag icon to report errors or suggest re-inclusion.
16504 papers
In late 2018, a third legal gender category (called divers ‘diverse’) was established in German legislation. The legal recognition of a nonbinary gender in Germany is juxtaposed against a non-existent linguistic inventory for speaking to or about nonbinary individuals: there are currently neither established formal forms of address nor a gender-neutral third person pronoun that is suitable for human referents and in wider use, despite German having a grammatical three-gender system (masculine, feminine, neuter). Although it could be assumed that the third grammatical gender not tied to masculinity or femininity might serve as a gender-neutral alternative, this is not the case as it is largely used for inanimate objects and can be utilised in practices of denigration towards women, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people. With people outside the gender binary gaining more rights and becoming more visible in society and media, they also increasingly become targets in hateful online discourse. This paper investigates online hate speech targeted at nonbinary and gender-nonconforming people in German social media, analysing it for denigrating and othering patterns of language use. Particular emphasis is placed on the use of neuter gender reference to these groups and individuals in order to gain more insight into the discourse semantics of the irregular – i.e. not triggered by regular noun gender – assignment of neuter gender to humans. Analysing the comment sections of articles on the introduction of a third gender option, gender-neutral language use, and nonbinary individuals posted on the Facebook pages of major German newspapers, this study aims to shed light on the linguistic practices employed in hateful discourse on people who do not comply with hegemonic gender norms. The analysis shows that the cognitive link of neuter grammatical gender with inanimate objects is used as a mental frame in the dehumanisation of nonbinary individuals, which in combination with lexical forms of othering and denigration places people outside the gender binary outside of and below humankind.
The sonnet's remarkable capacity for cross-cultural migration has rarely been examined as a resource for pedagogical theory. Scholars have documented its global dissemination extensively (Spiller, 1992;Levin, 2001;Fuller, 1972), yet the educational implications of that dissemination particularly in non-Western contexts remain undertheorized. This article takes up that gap by examining the English and Uzbek sonnet traditions as a paired case study for developing what we term a comparative poetics pedagogy: an approach to literary education that uses structurally cognate but culturally divergent forms to build students' intercultural literary competence.The urgency of such an approach is underscored by two convergent pressures in contemporary curriculum scholarship. First, calls to decolonize literary education have intensified, demanding that curricula move beyond Eurocentric canons not merely by adding diverse texts but by reconceiving how literary traditions are theorized and compared (Bala, 2023;Paran & Rixon, 2023). Second, research in intercultural education consistently demonstrates that productive encounters with cultural difference including literary difference require structured analytical scaffolding rather than mere exposure (Porto et al., 2023;Dasli, 2024;Byram, 1997). Our comparative framework is designed to provide that scaffolding.We proceed in four stages. Section 2 establishes the theoretical framework undergirding our comparative approach. Sections 3 and 4 analyze the English and Uzbek sonnet traditions respectively, including close readings of representative texts. Section 5 draws the comparison through our three-tier analytical model and derives pedagogical implications, with concrete implementation proposals presented in Section 6. The article concludes by acknowledging limitations and charting directions for empirical research.Comparative literary pedagogy requires an explicit methodological apparatus is not merely an invitation to notice similarities and differences, but a systematic procedure for analyzing what those similarities and differences reveal about language, culture, and power. We integrate three theoretical traditions to construct such an apparatus.The first is Byram's (1997) model of intercultural communicative competence (ICC), which identifies five interrelated components: knowledge of self and other, skills of interpreting and relating, skills of discovery and interaction, attitudes of openness and curiosity, and critical cultural awareness. For literary education, ICC requires not only that students encounter cultural difference but that they develop the analytical tools to interrogate it without either exoticizing or assimilating the other tradition. Our comparative sonnet framework operationalizes all five components: structural analysis builds interpretive skills; thematic comparison develops relational knowledge; ideological analysis cultivates critical cultural awareness.The second tradition is Damrosch's (2003) reconceptualization of world literature not as a canon of masterworks but as a mode of circulation and reception. For Damrosch, a text functions as world literature when it gains meaning through travel across linguistic and cultural contexts when it is read differently from how it was produced. The sonnet exemplifies this dynamic: the form itself traveled from Italian to English to Uzbek contexts, acquiring new functions and meanings at each stage. Teaching students to track that circulation to ask what the sonnet does differently in each literary culture is fundamentally Damroschian pedagogy.The third is Canagarajah's (2013) translingual approach, which reconceptualizes crosslinguistic encounters not as interference or deviation from norms but as creative negotiation. Applied to literary form, translingualism reframes Uzbek poets' adaptation of the sonnet's prosodic system not as failed imitation of a Western model but as creative linguistic agency a remaking of form in accordance with the phonological, morphological, and cultural resources of the Uzbek language. This reframing is politically significant for curriculum decolonization and pedagogically generative for students' metalinguistic awareness.From these three frameworks we derive a three-tier comparative model applicable to any cross-cultural formal analysis: Tier 1 -Structural analysis: How does the form (meter, rhyme scheme, stanzaic organization) operate in each linguistic context? What formal adaptations does each language community make, and why? Tier 2 -Thematic analysis: What subjects does each tradition address through the form? How do thematic priorities reflect the cultural contexts of composition? Tier 3 -Ideological analysis: What values, power relations, and cultural identities does each tradition encode through its use of the form? Whose literary canon is being claimed, contested, or reconstructed?This model provides the organizational backbone for the analyses in Sections 3 through 5.In summary, the three-tier comparative model operates as follows: Tier 1 (structural analysis) examines how poetic form is adapted to the phonological and prosodic resources of each language, developing students' metalinguistic awareness; Tier 2 (thematic analysis) compares the dominant subjects and figurative conventions of each tradition, revealing culturally specific assumptions about what lyric poetry is for; and Tier 3 (ideological analysis) interrogates the values, power relations, and canonical asymmetries encoded in each tradition's use of the form. Readers may find it helpful to hold this sequence in mind as they follow the close readings and comparative discussion that unfold in the sections below.The English sonnet tradition, consolidated through the work of Sir Thomas Wyatt, Henry Howard, and William Shakespeare in the sixteenth century, represents a deliberate transformation of the Italian Petrarchan model rather than its faithful replication. Where Petrarch's form employed an octave-sestet division (abbaabba / cdecde), the Shakespearean variant reorganized the structure into three quatrains and a closing couplet (abab cdcd efef gg). Spiller (1992) argues that this was not merely a formal adjustment but a phonological necessity: English possesses a smaller inventory of natural rhyme pairs than Italian, making the Italian form's sustained rhyme repetitions difficult to execute without forcing artificial lexical choices. The quatrain-couplet structure distributed rhyme demands across four rhyme families, permitting more natural diction while preserving the sonnet's characteristic compression and argumentative structure.This formal logic form adapting to linguistic substrate is itself a crucial pedagogical point. It positions the Shakespearean sonnet not as the universal standard against which other sonnets are measured, but as one culturally and linguistically specific solution to the challenge of writing a fourteen-line poem. This contextualizing move is the entry point for the comparative analysis developed below.A structural analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 illustrates the formal-argumentative logic of the English tradition with particular clarity. The poem proceeds: At Tier 1 (structural), the poem deploys strict iambic pentameter throughout ten syllables per line, alternating unstressed and stressed beats enabling a controlled argumentative momentum. The three-quatrain structure carries the logical development: Q1 introduces the proposed comparison and immediately complicates it; Q2 extends the critique of natural impermanence; Q3 introduces the counterclaim (the beloved's eternal summer); the couplet delivers the epigrammatic resolution, linking the beloved's immortality to the poem's own survival. This is the Shakespearean sonnet's characteristic rhetorical architecture thesis, complication, resolution encoded directly in its form.Shall I compareAt Tier 2 (thematic), the poem participates in the tradition's dominant preoccupation with time, beauty, and the power of art to transcend mortality. The beloved is, crucially, individualized but not named the 'thee' of the poem is a rhetorical construct as much as a biographical referent, serving as the vehicle for the poem's argument about lyric immortalization.At Tier 3 (ideological), the sonnet's claim to confer immortality positions the poet as cultural authority and the poem itself as the agent of historical memory. This reflects the Renaissance humanist investment in the individual artist as both producer and subject of cultural heritage is a value system whose assumptions students can productively interrogate through comparison with a tradition that uses the same form for collective rather than individual ends.The sonnet entered Uzbek literary consciousness through a markedly different historical pathway. The classical Uzbek literary tradition was dominated by indigenous Arabo-Persian forms: the ghazal, rubaiy, and qasida are organized according to the quantitative prosodic system of aruz, which measures syllables by length rather than stress. The sonnet's entry was mediated primarily through Russian literary culture during the Soviet period, when Uzbek poets encountered the form in Russian translations of European poetry and in Russian-language originals. This mediated reception means the Uzbek sonnet tradition was shaped simultaneously by the European formal model, the conventions of Soviet-era literary culture, and the deep resources of the indigenous Classical tradition (Karimov & Juraev, 2018). The earliest sustained engagement with the sonnet form in Uzbek literature dates to the 1930s and 1940s, when poets such as G'afur G'ulom began experimenting with the fourteen-line structure alongside traditional indigenous forms; by the 1960s and 1970s, a generation including Erkin Vohidov and Abdulla Oripov had developed a distinctively Uzbek sonnet idiom that drew on both the Soviet literary environment and a renewed interest in pre-Soviet Uzbek classical heritage (Hamroyev, 2019;Normatova, 2023).The linguistic challenge facing Uzbek sonnet writers is structurally different from, and in some respects more acute than, that facing sixteenth-century English poets. Uzbek is an agglutinative Turkic language: meaning is built through suffixation rather than separate words, words are typically longer and more morphologically complex, vowel harmony constrains suffix selection, and the language's rhythm is syllable-timed rather than stress-timed (Hamroyev, 2019). Iambic pentameter, predicated on a stress-alternation pattern natural to English, cannot be straightforwardly reproduced in Uzbek without generating highly artificial language. Uzbek poets therefore developed sonnet forms based on the barmaq (syllabic) meter, organizing lines by syllable count typically 10 to 12 syllables and caesura placement rather than stress alternation (Hasanov, 2020;Normatova, 2023).Erkin Vohidov (1936Vohidov ( -2016) ) was among the foremost practitioners of the Uzbek sonnet, and his sonnets on national themes exemplify how the form was reoriented toward collective cultural expression. The following thematic and prosodic analysis draws on the structural patterns identified in Hamroyev (2019) and the textual edition in Vohidov (1985). To make the comparison more tangible for readers unfamiliar with Uzbek, the following lines offer a representative translated sample from Vohidov's homeland sonnet cycle. The excerpt below renders the opening quatrain in working English translation (prose rendering by the authors):O'zbekiston -my land of mulberry and vine, / Where the Zarafshan runs silver through ancient stone, / No foreign tongue can name what I call mine / This soil, this sky, this language, all my own. Even in translation, the contrast with Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 is immediately apparent: the addressee is a land rather than an individual beloved; the imagery is rooted in specific Uzbek geography (the Zarafshan river, the mulberry tree); and the poem's emotional stakes are collective rather than personal. Readers are encouraged to consult the full Uzbek original in Vohidov (1985) alongside this rendering.At Tier 1 (structural), Vohidov's homeland sonnets retain the fourteen-line constraint and maintain a rhyme scheme typically adhering to an ABAB or ABBA pattern adapted to Uzbek phonology, but replace iambic pentameter with lines of 11 syllables, divided by a caesura after the fifth or sixth syllable. This caesura-based rhythm draws on both the barmaq tradition of Uzbek folk poetry and the influence of classical Uzbek lyrics, creating a prosodic texture that sounds recognizably Uzbek rather than a foreign imitation. The stanzaic arrangement typically follows the Petrarchan octave-sestet pattern, a choice that may reflect the Russian mediation of the form: Russian sonnet tradition frequently favored the Italian over the Shakespearean model (Quronov et al., 2022).At Tier 2 (thematic), the contrast with Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 is instructive. Where Shakespeare addresses an individualized beloved and explores the poet's power to confer immortality, Vohidov's homeland sonnets address a collective referent: the land, its people, its history and explore the poet's responsibility to represent and preserve national identity under conditions of cultural pressure. The central tension is not between individual beauty and natural impermanence but between indigenous cultural continuity and the homogenizing pressures of Soviet literary culture. The figurative register draws on images deeply rooted in Uzbek cultural memory: the mulberry tree, the irrigated garden, the mountains of the Zarafshan range images that ground the poem's emotional argument in a specific landscape that readers recognize as their own (Karimov & Juraev, 2018).At Tier 3 (ideological), Vohidov's appropriation of the European sonnet is itself an act of cultural negotiation. By writing sonnets in Uzbek, on Uzbek subjects, using Uzbek prosodic conventions, Uzbek poets demonstrated that the form was not the exclusive property of the European literary tradition. Rather, it was a flexible formal container that could be filled with Central Asian content and adapted to Central Asian linguistic resources. Canagarajah's (2013) translingual framework is particularly apposite here: this is not imitation but creative remakingan assertion of literary agency within a globalized formal market.Applying Tier 1 analysis across both traditions reveals that formal adaptation is not a deviation from a norm but a creative response to linguistic constraint. The move from Italian rhyme-richness to English quatrain-couplet structure and from English stress-timing to Uzbek syllabic-caesura structure represents the same fundamental operation: poets remaking a formal template in accordance with the phonological and prosodic resources of their language. When students map these parallel adaptive moves ideally in a guided comparison chart such as Table 1, they develop what linguists call metalinguistic awareness: the ability to reflect consciously on how language structure shapes meaning-making possibilities. Li and Edwards (2024) identify metalinguistic awareness as one of the key learning outcomes of literature-based language teaching, with documented benefits for both L1 and L2 literacy development.Tier 2 analysis reveals that the dominant thematic orientations of the two traditions are structurally opposed in a pedagogically productive way. The English sonnet tradition's primary subjects as romantic love, individual mortality, the immortalizing power of art center on the individual lyric subject and its relationship to time. The Uzbek sonnet tradition's primary subjects national identity, collective memory, the relationship between indigenous culture and external influence center on the collective cultural subject and its relationship to history and place. Neither orientation is more sophisticated than the other; they represent different cultural investments in what lyric poetry is for. This difference has concrete pedagogical utility. It gives students a framework for interrogating assumptions they may hold about what literature should do assumptions often shaped by exposure to a tradition. et that comparative literary that such differences gains in intercultural critical awareness than that on cultural 3 analysis of canon cultural and literary that are central to contemporary curriculum scholarship. 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The article analyzes the concept of the language norm as a key instrument for the formation and preservation of national identity in the linguistic and linguo-philosophical legacy of Ivan Ohіienko. Based on his fundamental works, in particular «Native Language», «The Science of Native Language Duties», and «Ukrainian Culture», the language norm is examined as a multidimensional phenomenon that integrates linguistic, cultural, spiritual, and ethical aspects. It is substantiated that, in Ivan Ohiienko’s interpretation, the language norm performs not only a regulatory function but also an axiological one, serving as a marker of national self-awareness, spiritual continuity, and cultural coherence. It is emphasized that for Metropolitan Ilarion, language was not merely a means of communication, but also a primary marker of a people’s cultural and spiritual identity, a key to shaping collective consciousness and the spiritual integrity of the nation. The article analyzes the lexical-stylistic and rhetorical means through which the scholar actualizes the idea of linguistic responsibility as a component of civic and national maturity. It is noted that, in Ohiіenko’s concept, the language norm fulfills several functions: a sacred marker – language as a temple and shrine of the people; an instrument of moral education – adherence to norms as a duty to the nation; a means of social cohesion – correct language shapes collective consciousness; a tool for preserving historical memory and cultural codes – through grammatical, lexical, and stylistic rules; and an identification mechanism – «one’s own» is contrasted with the «other» through linguistic and stylistic differences. It is proven that the language norm in Ivan Ohiienko’s works is a factor of the nation’s spiritual consolidation and an important element of its cultural security. His ideas remain relevant for contemporary language policy, education, and humanitarian discourse, opening prospects for further research into the language norm as a component of national security.
Examining specific linguistic aspects in isolation, traditional language tests fail to capture the dynamic interactions that support discourse production abilities. The accurate assessment of discourse production is therefore crucial for identifying language difficulties and procedures of discourse analysis have emerged as a valid methodological solution. Despite this, heterogeneity in discourse measures limits comparability across studies, and the lack of normative data across the adult lifespan complicates the differentiation between healthy and pathological aging. The present study addresses this issue by providing the first standardization of linguistic measures extracted using a MultiLevel procedure of discourse Analysis (MLA). Narrative samples from 717 healthy Italian-speaking adults (aged 20 - 94) were elicited through a picture description task using two single images and three vignettes. Speech samples were transcribed and analyzed using a semi-automatic pipeline. Normative data, adjusted for age and education, and data-driven age bands were calculated for linguistic measures assessing productivity, lexical difficulties, grammatical construction, macrolinguistic difficulties, and lexical informativeness. Results provide standardized norms across multiple linguistic measures and reveal distinct age-related shifts in performance. Together, these findings offer the most comprehensive adult lifespan framework to date for narrative discourse production and highlight the importance of data-driven age bands for research and clinical assessment in healthy aging. Furthermore, they show that healthy aging disproportionately affects higher-order integrative discourse mechanisms rather than core lexical and morphosyntactic encoding processes.
This thesis examines the linguacultural features of the concept of masculinity in advertising texts. The study analyzes the linguistic and cultural mechanisms used to represent masculine identity in modern advertising discourse. Special attention is paid to lexical units, stylistic devices, slogans, metaphorical expressions, and persuasive strategies that create masculine images associated with power, confidence, leadership, and social success. The research also explores the influence of globalization and digital communication on the transformation of traditional masculine stereotypes. The findings show that advertising discourse not only reflects cultural perceptions of masculinity but also actively shapes gender norms and consumer behavior. The study concludes that masculinity in advertising is a dynamic linguacultural concept influenced by social values, media development, and cultural traditions.
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.
Social networks have become one of the most intensive environments for everyday written communication in Russian. Unlike traditional print media, social platforms combine speed, conversational interactivity, algorithmic visibility, and multimodal expression, thereby reshaping how users select words, build sentences, signal stance, and negotiate norms. This article examines the influence of social networks on the Russian language as a dynamic interaction among technological affordances, communicative practices, and socio-cultural values. Using a mixed design that integrates (a) discourse-linguistic observation of social media genres, (b) comparative analysis of forms typical for networked communication versus standard written Russian, and (c) interpretation within established frameworks of computer-mediated communication and sociolinguistics, the study synthesizes key tendencies of contemporary Russian online speech. The results indicate that social networks stimulate accelerated lexical innovation (slang, expressive neologisms, borrowings, and semantic shifts), normalize a hybrid “written-oral” style marked by compressed syntax and dialogic structures, intensify pragmatic markers of evaluation and identity, and expand punctuation and графическое оформление into a system of affective and interpersonal cues. At the same time, social networks also generate counter-trends: heightened metalinguistic reflection, new prescriptive micro-norms inside communities, and the diffusion of editorial practices through influencer culture and platform moderation. The discussion highlights that the influence of social networks is not a linear “degradation” of Russian but a reconfiguration of registers, where variability, expressive economy, and community norms coexist with standard language ideologies. The paper concludes that the most consequential change is not the emergence of isolated slang items but the stabilization of new communicative conventions that redefine the boundaries between colloquial and written Russian.
Nigerian English (NigE) has developed into a unique variety of English, shaped by the interplay between speakers’ creative use of morphology and the influence of indigenous Nigerian languages. This study explores how NigE demonstrates morphological productivity and lexical borrowing, using a corpus-based approach to capture authentic language patterns. A carefully balanced corpus of 500,000 words was compiled from newspapers, online media, and recorded spoken interactions. Analyses focused on derivational processes, compounding, and the adaptation of loanwords, highlighting the strategies speakers employ to create new forms and meanings. The findings reveal that NigE exhibits robust morphological innovation, particularly in verb and noun formation, where affixation and compounding are frequently employed. Borrowed words, mainly sourced from Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa, are often modified phonologically and morphologically to align with English norms, producing hybrid forms that enrich the NigE lexicon. This study underscores the dynamic relationship between English and indigenous languages in Nigeria, showing how speakers actively manipulate linguistic resources to meet social and communicative demands. The findings carry significant implications for sociolinguistic research, language teaching, and lexicography, advocating for recognition of NigE’s creative morphological processes in both academic study and pedagogical practice. By highlighting the innovative and adaptive nature of NigE, the study provides insights into how global English interacts with local linguistic ecologies.
The article examines the significance of using audiovisual Internet resources in the development of foreign language lexical competence among students of art specialties. It explores the theoretical foundations of forming foreign language lexical competence, which includes mastery of general and professional vocabulary, the ability to perceive, reproduce, and appropriately use lexical units in professional and social communicative situations. Lexical competence is understood as a component of communicative competence, encompassing knowledge of lexical units and the ability to apply them in relevant communicative contexts. Special attention is given to the use of authentic audiovisual Internet resources, particularly the YouTube platform, which provides students with access to videos with subtitles, interviews, and practical demonstrations, promoting listening skills, vocabulary expansion, and the acquisition of cultural norms of the target language environment. In the context of teaching students of art specialties, especially in the performative arts, the importance of mastering professional vocabulary is emphasized, including terms, styles, techniques, and culturally marked expressions, as well as the development of visual-auditory thinking. At the practical level, the use of video materials in the textbook “English for Specific Purposes (Choreography)” is substantiated. These materials help choreography students acquire professional vocabulary, observe its use in real situations, develop audiovisual thinking, and integrate knowledge from other disciplines. Types of exercises for video materials are proposed: pre-viewing (lexical-predictive), while-viewing, post-viewing, lexico-grammatical, and contextually communicative tasks, which contribute to the systematic development of both receptive and productive language skills.
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.
This study investigates the linguistic interference of Chinese native speakers who learn Romanian as a Second Language, through a mixed-methods analysis, which triangulates the analysis of 9 learner journals and 32 questionnaires, starting from the firsthand observation that Chinese learners face systematic challenges at different linguistic compartments. Thus, morphologically, all participants struggled with Romanian’s three-gender system (absent in Mandarin); syntactically, topic-comment transfer produces OVS errors, with questionnaire data revealing persistent L1-mediated processing (M=4.00 “thinking in Chinese first”); lexical interference manifests through overgeneralised light verbs and inappropriate Mandarin obligatory classifier insertion; and pragmatically, Chinese indirect refusal strategies transfer inappropriately to Romanian’s explicit communicative norms. Consequently, a critical finding was generated: learners demonstrate metalinguistic awareness without production accuracy, suggesting that spontaneous language use falls behind explicit knowledge, which emphasises the need for precise contrastive language acquisition patterns for grammatical gender, structured morphosyntactic practice, and dedicated pragmatic training for Romanian pedagogy targeting Chinese-speaking learners.
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.
Alignment safety research assumes that ethical instructions improve model behavior, but how language models internally process such instructions remains unknown. We conducted over 600 multi-agent simulations across four models (Llama 3.3 70B, GPT-4o mini, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B, Sonnet 4.5), four ethical instruction formats (none, minimal norm, reasoned norm, virtue framing), and two languages (Japanese, English). Confirmatory analysis fully replicated the Llama Japanese dissociation pattern from a prior study ($\mathrm{BF}_{10} > 10$ for all three hypotheses), but none of the other three models reproduced this pattern, establishing it as model-specific. Three new metrics -- Deliberation Depth (DD), Value Consistency Across Dilemmas (VCAD), and Other-Recognition Index (ORI) -- revealed four distinct ethical processing types: Output Filter (GPT; safe outputs, no processing), Defensive Repetition (Llama; high consistency through formulaic repetition), Critical Internalization (Qwen; deep deliberation, incomplete integration), and Principled Consistency (Sonnet; deliberation, consistency, and other-recognition co-occurring). The central finding is an interaction between processing capacity and instruction format: in low-DD models, instruction format has no effect on internal processing; in high-DD models, reasoned norms and virtue framing produce opposite effects. Lexical compliance with ethical instructions did not correlate with any processing metric at the cell level ($r = -0.161$ to $+0.256$, all $p >.22$; $N = 24$; power limited), suggesting that safety, compliance, and ethical processing are largely dissociable. These processing types show structural correspondence to patterns observed in clinical offender treatment, where formal compliance without internal processing is a recognized risk signal.
The article is dedicated to the comprehensive substantiation of the methodological principles for teaching Ukrainian as a Foreign Language (UFL). The research is grounded in a comparative-typological analysis, arguing for the necessity of transitioning from classical methods to a complex approach that integrates communicative-cultural, historical-ethnocultural, and contrastive-typological principles, emphasizing the special significance of the functional-communicative aspect. This aspect is underpinned by the nominative-existential linguoparadigm. The functional-communicative approach is aimed at communication and the performance of real communicative actions, as it involves forming the ability in the linguopersonality to use language as a communication tool and to be an active communicant in various discursive practices. This dimension ensures the development of all components of communicative competence: linguistic (lexical, grammatical, phonetic), speech-activity (listening, speaking, reading, writing), socio-cultural (knowledge, understanding, and interpretation of behavioural norms, etiquette, and cultural peculiarities of Ukraine), and strategic/tactical (the ability to overcome communicative difficulties). The work substantiates the polyfunctionality of language units (with the isolation of grammaticalized formations) and develops a contrastive model focused on predicting interference errors and utilizing positive knowledge transfer depending on the native language of the linguopersonality. A core issue is the integration of authentic materials from digital discourse (including institutional and non-institutional communication) to form the linguopersonality’s current socio-pragmatic competence. New criteria for the effectiveness of educational material structuring, based on functional frequency, discursive adequacy, and cultural appropriateness, are formulated and substantiated. The results may serve as a theoretical basis for creating innovative differentiated Ukrainian as a Foreign Language teaching manuals.
Lexical lacunae and non-equivalent units are among the most persistent sources of translation difficulty because they reveal asymmetries in how languages segment experience, conventionalize cultural knowledge, and distribute meaning between lexicon and grammar. When a target language lacks a conventionalized lexical match, translators often compensate through approximation. This compensation can trigger interference, understood here as the uncritical transfer of source-language patterns into the target text, resulting in semantic distortion, pragmatic infelicity, or stylistic incongruity. The present article offers a theoretically grounded and practice-oriented account of how lexical lacunae and non-equivalent units generate interference and how such interference can be prevented. Drawing on translation theory, lacunology, and contrastive semantics, the study develops an integrative mechanism that links detection of lacunarity to controlled choice of translation procedures and to post-translation quality control. The results of the analytical synthesis show that interference is most likely when translators rely on formal similarity, calquing, or dictionary-level equivalence without checking frame compatibility, collocational norms, and communicative function. Preventive mechanisms are effective when they treat lacunarity as a diagnostic signal prompting structured decision-making, documentation of choices, and targeted verification through context, comparable texts, and revision protocols.
The article analyzes the national and cultural aspects of kinship terminology from a linguocultural and axiological perspective. Kinship terms are interpreted not only as lexical units denoting biological relations but also as cultural phenomena encoding moral and aesthetic values, social norms, and traditions within society. The study highlights the referential and performative functions of kinship terms, showing how they reinforce social hierarchy, age and gender norms, and transmit religious and spiritual values through language. As carriers of cultural memory, kinship terms play a strategic role in ensuring both individual and collective identity, regulating social relations, and strengthening intergenerational continuity. Their universal and culture-specific features are revealed through comparative-typological analysis, which establishes kinship terminology as an important methodological framework for studying the interaction between language and society.
This paper looks at the role of social media in the modern English by speeding up lexical change, transforming discourse norms, enhancing and broadening multimodal communication, modifying relationships between speech and writing, standard and nonstandard varieties of English, and local and global varieties of English. The study is a qualitative literature-based research in terms of which the findings were synthesized using the scholarship of sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, computer-mediated discourse analysis, and the studies of the digital media. The analysis demonstrates that social media sites like X, Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, Whats App, and YouTube have become one of the central locations of language change due to their ability to facilitate rapid circulation, imitation, remixing and uptake of linguistic forms by masses. Contrary to the claims by opponents of social media as a de-grammaticalizing force, the paper suggests social media opens up new communicative demands and possibilities that foster compression, creativity, stylization, audience design, hashtagging, emojis, code-switching, stance taking and performing identity. The research also confirms the fact that online discourse is becoming more and more multimodal and algorithmically mediated, i.e. language change no longer occurs merely through the interaction of speakers only but rather through the affordances of the platforms, visibility systems, and digitally networked participation. The paper finds that the contemporary English is becoming more hybrid, dynamic, interactive, and socially indexical language variegation due to the digitization and has significant implications on the study of linguistics, literacy, pedagogy, and communication (Crystal, 2011, 2012; Herring, 2004; Androutsopoulos, 2017).
This article examines the lexical relationship between the regional dialects of the Khorezm oasis — specifically the Urgench (Urg.), Yangibazar (Y.bzr.), Gurlan (Grln.), Khanka (Xnq.), and Khiva (Xv.) subdialects and the contemporary Uzbek literary language. Drawing on an original corpus of approximately 60 dialect lexical items compiled from field research data, the study conducts a systematic etymological, semantic, and functional analysis of dialectal vocabulary that either lacks equivalents in, has been marginalized by, or exists in parallel with, the standard literary norm. The findings demonstrate that Khorezm dialectal lexis constitutes a rich, internally stratified layer of the Uzbek national language, encompassing archaic Turkic roots, Arabisms, Iranisms, indigenous cultural nominations, and onomatopoeia — many of which encode cultural realities absent from the literary standard. The study further argues that systematic integration of productive dialectal lexis can enrich the Uzbek literary language without destabilizing its normative coherence. These findings have practical implications for Uzbek lexicography, language planning, and dialect documentation efforts.
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 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.
The article presents a corpus-based empirical analysis of colloquial units in contemporary English, treating colloquial vocabulary as a dynamic, multifunctional, and internally heterogeneous subsystem of the lexical system. Colloquial units are examined not merely as markers of informal speech, but as linguistically significant elements reflecting ongoing transformations in communicative practices, discourse conventions, and stylistic norms. Drawing on data from large-scale, register-diverse English language corpora, the study investigates the frequency, dispersion, contextual variability, and pragmatic functions of selected colloquial units across spoken and written registers. Special attention is paid to processes of stylistic diffusion, pragmatic refunctionalization, and partial desemanticization.
The development of domain-specific collocational competence has become a priority objective in English language teaching within higher education. Professional communication requires not only lexical knowledge but also the ability to combine words appropriately according to disciplinary norms and discourse conventions. This article examines the conceptual foundations of collocational competence, its structural components, and its methodological significance in the formation of professional communicative competence. The study synthesizes theoretical perspectives from Western and CIS linguodidactic traditions and analyzes corpus-based pedagogical technologies as an effective tool for enhancing collocational awareness and usage. Special attention is given to the role of authentic language data, lexical bundles, register variation, and Data-Driven Learning (DDL) approaches in professional language training. The findings indicate that systematic integration of corpus resources into English language instruction strengthens students’ ability to recognize, interpret, and produce domain-specific collocations in both oral and written communication. The article concludes that corpus-based technologies provide an empirically grounded and pedagogically sustainable framework for developing professional discourse competence in higher education.
As of 2025, more than 5.2 billion people in the world use social media, which is about 63.9% of the world’s population, with a growth rate of 4.1% over the past 12 months. The most popular platforms are Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and WhatsApp. The average time spent on social media is about 2 hours and 26 minutes per day, and the average user has access to seven different platforms. Speech on social media is based on the same language norms (lexical, spelling, grammar, syntax) as live speech. The purpose of the article is to provide an extended analysis of lexical innovations in the language space under the influence of social media and digital communication tools. The object of this study is the modern vocabulary of several languages used within social platforms (Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram). Particular attention is paid to modern English, which is the most widespread language in communication practice – approximately 1.5 billion people speak English, and 52% of the world’s most popular websites contain English-language content. The article uses scientific and linguistic analysis to investigate the peculiarities of the transformative impact of social media communication on language at all structural and functional levels: lexical, phonetic, grammatical, syntactic and graphic. The article analyzes the characteristic lexical changes by groups – memes, neologisms, abbreviations and acronyms, phraseological units, hashtags. The functions of different categories of lexical innovations of social networks are determined, in particular: hashtags form the basis for unimpeded communication in an intercultural context, neologisms are means of constructing the identity of certain social groups, memes have the functionality of entertainment and information, disseminating precedent information in the format of textual and graphic expression. The negative aspects of the impact of social networks on language are identified: excessive simplification of language and loss of its individual nuances, the emergence of inaccuracies and grammatical errors due to the spontaneous nature of communication on social networks, as well as potential negative consequences for mental health. The study proves that the modern space of innovative language practices reflects new concepts of social media communication culture, interactive upgrading and visualization, which transforms religious and cultural aspects and promotes sustainable language changes.
The Book of Job is a cornerstone of biblical wisdom literature, yet its interpretation is shaped by ancient Hebrew lexemes whose meanings have shifted over time and across translations. As the text moved from Biblical Hebrew to Early Modern English in the King James Version (1611) and into contemporary English translations, key terms have undergone semantic reconfiguration. This study investigates semantic anachronism, defined as the retroactive imposition of later lexical senses onto earlier textual contexts, resulting in interpretive distortion. Using a qualitative, diachronic lexical-semantic approach, the study traces the semantic trajectories of seven Hebrew lexemes (tsedeq, raʿ, sheʾol, tam, yirʾah, mashal, and ʿetsah) across three interpretive strata: the Hebrew source text, the King James Version, and representative modern English translations. Observed shifts are classified using established typologies of semantic change, including narrowing, broadening, pejoration, and metaphorical extension. Findings reveal a patterned semantic drift with theological consequences, particularly when translation choices shaped by Early Modern doctrinal vocabulary or contemporary translation norms introduce later theological frames that are not transparent in the Hebrew semantic field. The analysis highlights the role of translator ideology and the risk of unconscious doctrinal projection. The study concludes that diachronic lexical-semantic analysis is essential for reducing anachronistic readings in sacred-text translation and contributes to applied linguistics by offering a replicable framework for translation analysis, translator training, and pedagogical instruction in historical semantics.
Abstract. The article investigates the phenomenon of gender-sensitive language in modern English from linguistic and sociolinguistic perspectives, focusing on its historical development, theoretical foundations, contemporary transformations, and pedagogical implications. The study aims to determine how gender-inclusive forms function in present-day English, how they are perceived by younger speakers, and what role education plays in their dissemination and normalization. The research combines theoretical analysis and empirical investigation. The theoretical component includes a critical review of linguistic and feminist scholarship on language and gender, androcentrism, discourse theory, and language reform. Special attention is given to recent academic publications of the last five years addressing inclusive language practices. The empirical component is based on a structured questionnaire administered to university students. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyse awareness, frequency of use, contextual variation, and attitudinal responses to gender-sensitive language forms. The findings demonstrate that gender-sensitive language in English is no longer marginal but increasingly integrated into academic and professional discourse. The singular they, the honorific Mx., and gender-neutral professional titles (e.g., firefighter, chairperson) are recognized by the majority of respondents. While systematic usage remains context-dependent, attitudes toward inclusive language are predominantly positive. Awareness correlates with academic background and exposure to digital media. The results confirm that language reflects broader sociocultural transformations toward equality and inclusivity. Gender-sensitive language represents not merely lexical innovation but a structural shift in linguistic norms influenced by social justice movements, institutional policies, and generational change. Its pedagogical integration is essential for sustainable implementation. Further research is needed to explore long-term normative stabilization, cross-cultural comparisons, and the cognitive impact of inclusive linguistic forms.
This article explores the linguocultural features of proverbs and sayings in three genetically unrelated languages: Kazakh, English, and Chinese. Proverbs and sayings reflect a nation’s worldview, spiritual values, historical experience, culture, and social norms. In this respect, they are not merely linguistic units, but complex linguocultural phenomena that represent the identity, mentality, and way of thinking of a particular ethnic group. Specifically, the article analyzes proverbs rooted in nomadic traditions in Kazakh culture, Anglo-Saxon pragmatism in English culture, and Confucian philosophy in Chinese culture using linguocultural and comparative analysis methods. This allows the identification of how each nation's worldview and cultural values are reflected in their proverbs. Additionally, the article focuses on specific themes across the three languages – such as family values, education, patience, and labor – and highlights culturally marked lexical units specific to each theme. The linguocultural features of the proverbs are compared based on a model developed from scholarly analysis. The concepts of “proverb” and “linguoculture” are clarified from a theoretical perspective. The scientific objective of the article is to identify, compare, and analyze the linguocultural characteristics of proverbs in Kazakh, English, and Chinese, and to determine their similarities and differences. The article concludes with suggestions for future research.
This study examines Uzbek EFL learners’ preferences for British English and American English vocabulary and relates these choices to classroom norms and everyday exposure. In Uzbekistan, many English textbooks and teaching materials are based on British English, but learners often encounter American English through social media and entertainment. A voluntary online questionnaire was completed by 167 English major undergraduates at Kokand University. The vocabulary section included 20 paired items, and participants selected the word they use most often. Across 3,340 selections, American English forms were chosen slightly more often (1,812; 54.25%) than British English forms (1,528; 45.75%), although preferences differed sharply by item. A paired-samples t-test was applied to the multiple-choice vocabulary task at the item level (20 pairs) and did not show a significant overall difference across items, t(19) = 0.92, p =.371. Attitude items showed moderate agreement that students hear American English more often on social media (M = 3.14) and that teachers mostly use British English (M = 3.31), while perceived ability to notice differences was closer to neutral (M = 2.89). Overall, the findings point to hybrid lexical use shaped by parallel input streams. Pedagogical implications focus on raising awareness of lexical variation and teaching practical strategies for maintaining consistency in assessed academic writing.
The collective work by Svitlana Romaniuk, Larysa Kolibaba, and Oleksandra Antoniv — a new textbook for Polish students «The Ukrainian Language in Diplomacy and Politics», published in Warsaw — has been reviewed. It is emphasized that this educational publication is especially relevant due to its professional orientation: today it is extremely important to have abroad representatives of governmental institutions or diplomatic missions who have a command of the Ukrainian language and therefore deeply understand the political situation, maintain a clear international stance, and actively support our struggle against aggression for the peaceful existence of the state. The structure of the textbook, the content of its thematic units, innovative methodological approaches, and the quality of design are analyzed. Attention is drawn to the variety of authentic texts and their professional orientation. The educational materials aimed at developing language competence at the lexical, morphological, and syntactic levels as well as materials valuable from the perspective of linguistic culture are described. It is noted that the textbook’s professional focus is reflected in the use of a large number of diplomatic and political terms, excerpts from academic texts in the field of international relations, and examples of legislative and diplomatic documents. The inclusion of authentic specialized texts in Polish is considered methodologically appropriate: translation practice deepens language knowledge and strengthens writing skills. It is emphasized that the practical tasks for independent work and mini-projects help enhance the activity-based nature of learning. Importantly, all didactic materials are aligned with the norms of the current Ukrainian Orthography (2019). Given the authors’ extensive experience in teaching Ukrainian as a foreign language in Ukraine and abroad and in preparing numerous educational publications, it can be asserted with confidence that the textbook materials were tested in advance among foreign learners. This has ensured that in its scope, content, and presentation, the new textbook deserves a positive evaluation. The reviewed educational publication will deepen foreigners’ knowledge about our country as a European state and help them master Ukrainian in yet another strategically important sphere.
This article investigates the linguo-culturological parameters of herb names (phytonyms) in English, Russian, and Kazakh, focusing on their general and nationally specific characteristics. The study is grounded in linguocultural theory and examines plant names as linguistic units that reflect both botanical knowledge and culturally marked meanings. Phytonyms are analyzed as components of the lexical system that encode cognitive, semantic, and symbolic representations shaped by historical experience and national worldview. This research is based on a comparative analysis of dictionary definitions, phraseological units, proverbs, folklore texts, and works of fiction in three different languages. At the definitional level, English and Russian dictionaries tend to include not only botanical descriptions but also figurative and evaluative meanings. In contrast, Kazakh lexicographic sources primarily emphasize conceptual and functional characteristics. The study identifies common semantic features in phytonyms, such as classification, habitat, physical attributes, and practical uses (including medicinal, culinary, and decorative), while also revealing differences in metaphorization and symbolic associations. Phraseological units containing plant components demonstrate both shared conceptual meanings and nationally specific imagery. Although equivalent expressions exist across languages, their figurative bases and lexical composition often differ. Proverbs and sayings similarly reflect universal themes; family resemblance, moral education, and life difficulties—while preserving distinct cultural codes and value systems. Folklore and literary texts further illustrate how phytonyms function as metaphors, symbols of beauty, morality, abundance, or danger, and as markers of ethnic identity. The findings confirm that phytonyms constitute an important part of the linguistic worldview in each culture. Through comparative linguo-cultural analysis, the study demonstrates how plant names embody collective memory, mythological beliefs, aesthetic ideals, and social norms, thereby highlighting both universal patterns and culturally specific conceptualizations of nature in English, Russian, and Kazakh linguistic traditions.
This study is devoted to the analysis of the complex and multifaceted relationship between dialects and the literary language in the history of the Uzbek language based on a historical-linguistic approach. The study considers dialects as an important source in the formation and development of the Uzbek literary language, and the influence of their phonetic, lexical and grammatical features on the norms of the literary language is consistently highlighted. The work provides a comparative analysis of written sources of the ancient Turkic period, samples of the old Uzbek literary language and modern dialect materials, paying special attention to the issues of historical continuity and coherence. Also, the role of regional dialects in the formation of literary language norms, the processes of their selection and assimilation into the national language are studied in connection with sociolinguistic factors. The results of the study show that the interaction between dialects and the literary language is not a one-sided, but a dynamic and complex process. This scientific work serves as a theoretical and practical basis for a deeper understanding of the laws of the historical development of the Uzbek language, as well as for improving literary language norms and the effective use of dialect materials.
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 present study analyzes how language is used by different female poets in their selected poems to critique and challenge the societal norms where women are silenced by the male dominated society. The poems of Kishwar Naheed, Grass Is Really Like Me and Maya Angelou, Still I rise are used in this study to focus on how female poets resist the patriarchal structures of society. This study aims to uncover lexical to challenge and critique patriarchy. This study conducts that how cross border female poets use language, lexical choices to resist the society. By using Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis by Lazar, it deeply explores the features by qualitative content analysis. The study finds out that both poets use the lexical choices of their own with equal importance as they resist and challenge the patriarchal structures of society. This research exhibits that through discourse women can easily resist the patriarchal constraints even if they are being silenced.
Mobile augmented reality (AR) games offer a novel and unexplored context for situated language learning. In these games, players engage in authentic communication influenced by game mechanics, community norms, and shared objectives. This study employs Engeström’s (1987) Activity Theory (AT) framework to analyze language production and learning within the Pokémon Go gaming community. By conducting content analysis of a gameplay vlog and first-person observations of the game application, the study investigates how the six components of the activity system—subject, object, mediating artifacts, rules, community, and division of labor—interact to create conditions for language use and learning. The analysis reveals that language functions as both a mediating artifact and an outcome of participation. Game-specific lexical items emerge from and reinforce the activity system’s structure, while contradictions between components, particularly between game-imposed rules and community-driven knowledge-sharing practices, generate opportunities for language development. These findings contribute to the growing body of research on game-based language learning and extend the application of Activity Theory to mobile AR gaming environments.
This study reveals a critical paradox in social media privacy communication: Although platforms like Meta (Instagram and Facebook), TikTok, and X have evolved their policies in an effort towards simpler, standardized disclosures, the language remains cognitively inaccessible to their core adolescent audience. Our analysis demonstrates that these disclosures, benchmarked against the developmental norms of 13–17‐year‐olds, are written at a university‐level complexity, calling into question the validity of informed consent for minors. We use a triangulated method to assess the accessibility of platform policies for teens. Structural mapping shows consistent topic coverage, but readability indices indicate a college‐level reading requirement. Lexical analysis confirms high rates of difficult words, exceeding the threshold for adolescent understanding. Our findings lead to a sobering conclusion: The prevailing model of using a single, text‐based privacy policy is caught in an inherent tension between legal completeness and adolescent comprehension, making it fundamentally unworkable. This research provides evidence that calls for the need for a redesign of privacy communication for minors or a reconsideration of the current minimum age for digital consent.
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.
According to theoretical materials, linguistics combines verbs that are semantically close to a smaller class of verbs, but each of them, in addition to the general meaning, reflects different colors, i.e., it is defined as the use of syntax in the performance of different forms. The verbs of the studied subclass can be divided into three subgroups. The first group includes the semantic structures of transform, formulate, formalize, reform, etc. The second group includes verbs containing the components "production, creation" - create, establish, produce, etc. The third group consists of verbs that combine the semantic structure of form, shape, fashion, model, and other features. Secondly, the selection of verbs in this group is of theoretical interest, since most of them are derived from Latin and French, with the exception of the verbs shape, frame, set because they are characteristic of formal and scientific methods. Nevertheless, words conform to the norms of the English language, and this subclass of verbs is formed according to laws common to all verbs. The practical significance of the work is determined by the fact that its results can be applied in the study of courses on theoretical grammar of the English language, cognitive semantics, in the preparation of special courses on syntax and lexical semantics, as well as in teaching practical grammar of the English language.
Terms denoting human body parts form one of the most archaic lexical layers, closely linked to sensory-functional aspects of human existence. They reflect anthropo-cultural specifics of representatives of various linguistic communities. This lexical group is called somatic – it characterizes human body elements and organism functions – and represents one of the most attractive lexical-semantic categories of Tungusic-Manchu languages. Somatic vocabulary is part of the basic dictionary stock formed over millennia, expressing not only the speakers' knowledge of the surrounding world but also their self-understanding and perception of their own body. Small aphoristic forms of Even folklore – riddles, prohibition-talismans, omens – attracted less researcher attention in past decades than prose narrative genres. Records of Even riddles from the 1860s and 1930s–1950s fell out of scientific analysis for a long time, and later editions included few new samples. Additionally, different aphoristic genres of Even folklore received unequal study: riddles, proverbs, customs were used for teaching children their native language and ethnic culture immersion, while prohibitions-talismans and omens, persisting among Evens today, remained little-known and became subjects of systematic collection only recently. The lexeme "head" in Even regularly acts as a key folklore component, reflecting traditional somatic concepts. The use of "head – dyl" in Even folklore, especially proverbs, riddles, omens, prohibitions, unites bodily and spiritual personality comprehension, emphasizing body-consciousness-social role links. Such constructions express ethnic identity and traditional body-spirit views. Somatic expressions significantly aid cultural norms and spiritual values transmission through language. The article defines somatisms and details proverbs, prohibitions, omens, riddles with "head" lexeme.
Viktor Nozadze’s unpublished manuscript “The Social Norms in The Knight in the Panther’s Skin” consists of three envelopes and is unfinished, lacking both an introduction and a conclusion. The first envelope examines the lexeme “life,” its etymology, semantic nuances, dictionary definitions, and equivalents in foreign languages, though “death,” despite being mentioned, is not analyzed. The second focuses on the lexical units “face” and “faceless,” offering rich examples and insightful observations drawn from the poem. The third envelope briefly addresses various lexical units but is less thoroughly developed. Nevertheless, the manuscript represents significant scholarly effort and is valuable for researchers and readers interested in Georgian literature and culture.
Academic writing constructs scholarly authority through culturally specific politeness strategies. This study compares how English and Uzbek research articles employ these strategies to balance credibility with interpersonal sensitivity. Analysis of 200 articles (100 per language) reveals a key contrast: English academic discourse relies on epistemic modality-modal verbs (may, might, could) and hedging-to express tentativeness and mitigate face threats. Uzbek academic writing, by contrast, encodes respect through formal address pronouns, kinship-based terms, and morphological honorifics that reflect hierarchical, collectivist norms. These differences highlight how politeness functions as a stylistic device shaped by cultural pragmatics. The topic raised in the article covers not only the fields of linguistics and pragma-stylistics, but also has relevance in the context of academic communication and intercultural education. Politeness strategies, in particular, modal and honorific means used in academic writing, form interactive and normative norms between students and members of the academic community. In this regard, the results of the article can be useful not only for comparison, but also in pedagogical and translation studies practice. For example, the incorrect use of epistemic modality and hedging by Uzbek students writing academic articles in a foreign language or the use of perfect hedging in English can lead to misunderstandings in assessing their academic status. At the same time, the article identifies, from a cultural perspective, the competencies necessary for effective communication in the global academic community by combining the epistemic and social functions of language tools. This approach also emphasizes the need to study international academic writing and take into account intercultural differences in academic translation. In addition, the article provides an analysis of the role and effectiveness of politeness strategies in the interactive part of academic writing (author-reader relationships, comments, and the peer-review process). This contributes to a deeper understanding of not only the grammatical and lexical aspects of academic writing, but also its pragmatic and cultural aspects.
Abstract This chapter examines Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls as a revolutionary choreopoem that emerges from Black feminist thought, the Black Arts Movement, and United States Black Language to articulate Black women’s interior lives through embodied language and performance. It situates the work within its historical, political, and theatrical contexts and argues that Shange’s written theatricality renders African American Women’s Language visible on the page through phonetic spelling, syntax, punctuation, rhythm, and structure as practices of cultural memory, resistance, and self-definition. The chapter analyzes form, symbolism, and aesthetic strategies—including the rainbow, the slash, eye dialect, musicality, and lowercase typography—to demonstrate how language functions as choreography that directs reading, hearing, and feeling while rejecting standardized English norms and the white gaze. Through close readings of key phases such as “no more love poems #4,” “somebody almost walked off wid alla my stuff,” and “layin on of hands,” it demonstrates how Black lexical items, discourse practices, and sonic rituals enact rhetorical healing, rememory, and collective restoration. Finally, the chapter argues that Shange’s choreopoem functions as a performative Black feminist theory of language that transforms personal and communal trauma into embodied affirmation, spiritual renewal, and an enduring declaration that Black women’s voices, bodies, and lives are already and fully enough.
The article analyzes the definitional status of the lexical unit "training" within the Russian education system. The authors examine the problem of terminological ambiguity arising from the absence of a clear legislative definition for this concept in the Federal Law "On Education in the Russian Federation." The semantic instability of the lexical unit (denoting both the process and the result) is transferred from professional discourse into the legal domain thus causing systematic logical conflicts within the law. Through analysis of key articles the study demonstrates how the inconsistent use of the concepts "student training," "quality of education," "educational activities," and "quality of training" complicates systematic legal regulation. The research includes comparative analysis of lexicographic sources, legal provisions, and theoretical works. It concludes that there is a necessity for the legislative consolidation of a consistent definition of the lexical unit "training" in order to eliminate legal uncertainty and ensure the correct application of norms in by-laws and local regulatory documents.
Background: The accuracy and safety of generating medication orders by large language models (LLMs) must be demonstrated. Without standardization, performance evaluation is limited to time and resource-intensive clinician grading. This evaluation aimed to develop a standardized medication format that supports automated performance evaluation (MedMatch). Methods: First, a survey of 40 medication prompts was given to clinicians to assess agreement in medication order communication. Second, a clinician panel developed a standardized medication format (MedMatch) for oral and intravenous medications. Third, a clinician-annotated dataset of medication prompts and standardized answers in the MedMatch format was developed for LLM testing. Finally, LLMs were retested with the same dataset, adjusted to exclude route information, to evaluate the appropriate categorization of medication route. Results: The formal medication orders consistently showed low omission rates and high overlap for all entities, compared to the verbal and brief written communication types. Lexical overlap results demonstrated pattern norms amongst clinicians with entities appearing most commonly in positions 1-5 in the order of drug name, dose, unit, route, and frequency. In the second survey, the formal written group performed the highest with 78.3% of prompts considered appropriate as a computer-generated response. LLM accuracy on MedMatch order standardization was highest in oral solid (64.2-72.5%), intravenous intermittent (72.5-84.3%), and intravenous push (62.7-74.5%) categories. LLMs performed the worst at categorizing medication orders accurately into intravenous push (18-61%) and intravenous intermittent (51-100%) routes. Conclusions: Standardized format for computer-based outputs may support automated performance analysis and enhance the clarity of medication communication.
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.
This article presents a comparative analysis of the means of emotional expression in English and Uzbek from both linguistic and cultural perspectives. Emotional expression plays a crucial role in human communication, as it reflects speakers’ attitudes, feelings, and cultural values. The study examines how emotions are conveyed through lexical choices, phraseological units, intonation, and stylistic devices in both languages. Special attention is paid to similarities and differences in expressing emotions such as joy, anger, sadness, and respect. The research also explores the influence of cultural norms and social conventions on emotional expressiveness, highlighting how English tends to favor more restrained and indirect emotional expression, while Uzbek often demonstrates greater emotional openness and expressiveness. By analyzing examples from everyday speech and written texts, the article aims to show how language and culture interact in shaping emotional communication. The findings of this study may be useful for linguistics students, language teachers, translators, and learners who are interested in cross-cultural communication and comparative linguistics.
The aim of the article is to uncover the cultural specificity of the meaning of lexical units “kola” and “yam” in Nigerian fiction. Methodology. To solve the tasks at hand, a number of both general scientific and specific methods of investigation were used. Systematic and cluster sampling methods were employed in selecting the linguistic material. The need to describe and analyse the semantic structure of the lexical units, as well as the material of the research, made it possible to resort to the methods of contextual and component analysis. The research deals with modern texts by Igbo authors (1990s – 2010s), as well as the classical works of Chinua Achebe. Results. This article identifies the culturally specific semantic properties of the lexemes “kola” and “yam”. The use of these lexical units is thoroughly analysed, especially in regards to units that can be considered as lexical neologisms as compared to the referent norm. These neologisms are a part of the lexical field “traditions and customs”. It is concluded that the culturally significant lexeme “yam” has gender markings and symbolizes the masculine principle, which is reflected both in the early and modern stages of the development of English-language Igbo literature. Research implications. The article is of theoretical and practical value to philologists and specialists that work with various variants of West African English. It provides recommendations as to the translation of phrases containing the kola unit.
This study explores how gender is expressed both explicitly and implicitly in English paremiological units, particularly proverbs and sayings. Drawing on contemporary gender linguistics and an anthropocentric approach, the research views language as a reflection of socially and culturally constructed gender roles. Proverbs are treated as stable cultural artifacts that preserve traditional values, moral judgments and stereotypes accumulated over generations. The analysis reveals that English proverbs often reflect gender asymmetry, with a noticeable tendency toward male-centered perspectives rooted in historical and patriarchal social structures. At the same time, these linguistic units demonstrate both universal patterns of gender representation and culturally specific features shaped by the English-speaking context. Special attention is given to the ways gender is encoded through lexical choices, semantic nuances, and metaphorical associations. By combining qualitative interpretation with elements of linguistic statistical analysis, the study highlights how proverbs contribute to the construction and transmission of gender norms. Ultimately, the findings suggest that English paremiological units function as a complex intersection of language, culture, and ideology, preserving both enduring stereotypes and culturally specific understandings of gender relations.
<p class="ql-align-justify">The aim of this research was to identify lexical, grammatical, stylistic, and cultural changes that have occurred under the influence of digital discourse, as well as to explore the specifics of these processes in different language systems. The study’s methodology was based on a comprehensive analysis of digital texts in English, Ukrainian, Albanian, and Uzbek. A comparative method was used to establish common and distinct features in the transformation of language norms under the influence of digital media. Content analysis was also applied to examine lexical and stylistic changes in various types of texts, including news articles, blogs, analytical materials, and entertainment content. The results of the study showed that digital media has caused significant changes in the language environment, such as the expansion of vocabulary through the borrowing of Anglicisms, simplification of grammatical structures, modification of stylistic norms, and the adaptation of written communication to digital formats. Languages integrated digital changes differently: English via natural spread; Ukrainian by preserving unadapted borrowings; Albanian through partial morphological integration; and Uzbek by retaining Anglicisms (especially, in tech/media), alongside phonetic/morphological adaptations.</p>
The article examines the phenomenon of youth slang as a form of linguistic variability and as one of the factors in the evolution of the Russian language. Based on the analysis of lexical, morphological, and syntactic aspects of youth speech, the mechanisms of its interaction with the literary norm are identified. The study employs methods of corpus analysis, observation, and comparative description. The results show that youth slang not only reflects sociocultural changes but also enables the renewal of the language system by introducing new words, forms, and stylistic devices. At the same time, tension remains between the innovative potential of slang and the requirements of linguistic normativity. Keywords: youth slang, linguistic variability, language evolution, sociolinguistics, Russian language, lexical innovations, language norm.
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.
This article examines youth slang as a dynamic force driving language change in the digital era, focusing on the transition of informal expressions from street-based interaction to online communication platforms. With the rapid expansion of social media, messaging applications, and digital communities, youth slang has gained unprecedented visibility and influence, accelerating processes of lexical innovation, semantic shift, and pragmatic change. Drawing on sociolinguistic and discourse-analytic perspectives, the study explores how young speakers creatively manipulate language to construct social identity, signal group membership, and negotiate meaning in digital spaces. Particular attention is paid to the role of multimodality, including emojis, abbreviations, and hybrid language forms, in reshaping contemporary slang usage. The article also discusses how digitally mediated youth slang contributes to the diffusion of non-standard forms into mainstream language, challenging traditional norms of correctness and standardization. By analyzing authentic examples from online discourse, the study highlights the interaction between technological affordances and linguistic creativity. The findings suggest that youth slang functions not only as a marker of generational identity but also as a significant catalyst for ongoing language change, reflecting broader social, cultural, and technological transformations in modern communication.