Volume 21, Issue 2

This paper examines the influence of gender stereotypes on communication styles, specifically investigating how the gender of Jordanians may affect their selection of compliments on Facebook. The analysis is based on a corpus of 200 compliments and 200 compliment responses collected from the platform. The researchers utilized the model developed by Eslami et al. (2019. Online compliments of Iranian Facebook users. In From speech acts to lay understandings of politeness: Multilingual and multicultural perspectives , 68–92) for data analysis. A mixed-method approach was employed to analyze the data both quantitatively and qualitatively. The results revealed that mixed compliments, which combine verbal and non-verbal elements, were the most frequently used (66 %), followed by verbal compliments (30 %) and non-verbal compliments (4 %). Among both verbal and mixed compliments, explicit compliments emerged as the most prevalent type (73 %). Gender differences were observed in lexical choices and the use of modifiers. Males tended to favor expressions associated with masculinity and social authority, while females used more emotionally driven and aesthetically focused language. These findings suggest that online platforms, such as Facebook, both reflect and reinforce traditional gender roles within the Jordanian society. This analysis could lead to a better understanding of how gender and different cultural backgrounds shape communication styles on social media platforms.

Although there is a wealth of studies on question-asking during clinical settings, scant attention has been paid to patient’s practice of question-asking, especially during Online Medical Consultation (OMC). This study thus probes into the forms, topics, and functions of Chinese e-patient’s question-asking during OMCs. A dataset of 267 examples of e-patient’s question-asking was collected from 44 doctor-patient interactions from Chunyu Doctor. Conventional form (Polar question, Wh-question, Alternative question) and non-conventional form (Sentential fragment, Statement, Response token) were identified and analyzed. Medical questions and General questions were two topics the question-asking concerns. Functionally, e-patient’s question-asking serves as unknown information-seeking, doubted information-verifying, corresponding action-requesting, lay expertise-displaying, and shared decision-making. Furthermore, e-patient’s question-asking is discussed as a deliberate balance between proactive participation and respect for doctor’s superior epistemic access and authorized status.

This paper analyses the potential neoliberal biases found in one of the most influential theories of consciousness in contemporary neuroscience, the Global Neuronal Workspace hypothesis (GNW). Philosopher Catherine Malabou argues that there is a mirroring between managerial discourse and that of contemporary neurobiology. Surprisingly, there is scant linguistic work on the ideological form of neurobiological discourse. In response, I empirically evaluate a specific aspect of Malabou’s claim by using Michael Halliday’s concept of grammatical metaphor to interrogate the particular form of subjectivity implied by the rhetorical and lexicogrammatical construction of the GNW as a concept. This analysis shows that a particular form of grammatical metaphor, dubbed “circumstantial grammatical metaphor” is key to the construction of the GNW and blurs the distinction between the model and the materiality it models. These grammatical metaphors also appear to be involved in the production of broader conceptual metaphors. The results indicate there is evidence for correlations with what Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello call “the new spirit of capitalism” helping naturalise a reduced form of subjectivity.

The present study examines the patterns of speech act in the herdsmen-farmers conflict (HFC) news headlines and interrogates the choice of words and context of the patterns of speech act in the headlines. The study adopts Searle, John. 1969. Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Approach to speech act considering its relevance to the study of news headlines. Six Nigerian newspapers that cover a period between March 2019 and March 2021 were selected. Hundred headlines were sampled from each of the selected newspapers making a total of 600 headlines. Twenty-five were purposively selected for analysis. Four illocutionary acts were identified in the newspapers’ headlines, namely, assertive, commissive, directive, and declarative. The study submits that the headlines are capable of spiraling the conflict, therefore, newspaper writers should use headlines that can help to curb the conflict and readers must also go beyond the headlines because of their sensationalism.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the vernacular toponymy of Kazakhstan and the United Kingdom through analysis of their linguistic (phonetic, word-formation, lexical-semantic) and cognitive-communicative features. By considering the features of vernacular content, phonetic, word-formation, lexical, cognitive, and communicative resources in the Kazakh and English languages are compared. It was determined that the toponyms of Great Britain retained the phonetic nature of the English language and loanwords from French and other languages are rarely used. The examination of word-formation resources shows that in the toponyms of Great Britain, the word-formation elements of the English language were most often used; in the Kazakh toponyms, both Kazakh and Russian word-formation resources were used. In lexical-semantic terms, both Kazakh and English languages had approximately the same indicators. Lexical and semantic groups, such as lexemes associated with spatial relations, the association of people on national, social, and gender grounds, historical names, and people’s employment, are identified. Nominations pertaining to sarcastic and metaphorical linkages were also observed from a communicative and cognitive perspective. The statistics were given in tables. This study can be used to compare toponyms in different structural languages and examine the lexical-semantic, linguistic, and cultural nature of toponyms.

This study explores discourses about the Russo-Ukrainian war as presented in American and British opinion articles featured in the Ukrainian press between March and October 2023. This period was marked by intense debate in Western media concerning Ukraine’s counter-offensive which commenced in early June 2023. Using critical discourse analysis, the research deconstructs the discourses, examining their key elements such as representations defining the nature of the war and its opposing sides, as well as representations of specific aspects of the war that are framed contentiously across the research corpus. These aspects include Ukraine’s deep strikes into Russia, the war’s costs for Russia, territorial de-occupation, and potential pathways to peace. The analysis reveals three distinct discourses: the first portrays the war as an attack on the international order, an imperialist war, and a genocidal war; the second frames it as an unwinnable territorial conflict; and the third defines it as Putin’s war against the West. These discourses resonate with previous findings from before the full-scale invasion in February 2022, while also showing a certain evolution in their framing.

Written by Carsten Roever, Teaching and Testing Second Language Pragmatics and Interaction: A Practical Guide is primarily targeted at second language (L2) teachers, curriculum designers, and test makers who aim to teach and test pragmatic and interactional competence in L2 classrooms. Pragmatic competence is about how the contextual and situational variables affect the interaction. This study examines linguistic appropriacy in communicative contexts. Neglecting this may lead to communicative breakdowns, wherein interlocutors risk being perceived as socially inappropriate or pragmatically incompetent. However, pragmatic and interactional competence have been underemphasized in L2 teaching and testing. The dearth of pragmatics in L2 textbooks and curricula makes this pedagogical guide both urgent and significant. This volume intends to remedy the situation by systemically offering empirically-grounded practical tools and research-based effective techniques for L2 educators and assessment specialists. There are altogether seven chapters in this monograph. They are, in sequence: (1) introduction; (2) pragmatic competence and interactional competence; (3) how to make teaching materials and tests for pragmatics; (4) pragmatics and curriculum; (5) teaching pragmatics; (6) testing pragmatics; and (7) outlook: the future of teaching and testing of L2 pragmatics.