International Journal of Linguistics Studies
The International Journal of Linguistics Studies (ISSN: 2754-2599) is a double-blind peer-reviewed, open-access monthly journal published by Al-Kindi Center for Research and Development. It publishes high-quality articles across the breadth of linguistics, literature and translation research. With its uniquely broad coverage, all published articles are freely available online immediately to anyone, anywhere, with no subscription or access fees, allowing authors to share their research and maximise its impact.
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Constructing Textual Coherence through Pronominal Systems: A Contrastive Study of Albanian, German, and English
This article develops a contrastive analysis of how Albanian, German, and English construct textual coherence through their pronominal and morphosyntactic systems. The study places Arbër Çeliku’s (2009, pp. 19–24) distinction between Coherence A (explicit coherence) and Coherence B (implicit coherence) at the center of its theoretical framework, demonstrating that the three languages differ fundamentally in how they encode referentiality, continuity, and discourse progression. Albanian, as a pro-drop language with a highly developed clitic system, realizes coherence largely through implicit and inferential mechanisms, whereas German and English rely primarily on overt pronominal expressions and expletive subject pronouns. Through a tri-lingual mini-corpus (6000 words) and synthetic media-inspired examples based on contemporary Albanian news discourse (2023–2025), the study shows that Albanian systematically omits subjects, encodes referents through morphology and clitics, and avoids expletive subjects in existential and impersonal constructions. German and English, conversely, maintain explicit subject positions and rely heavily on overt pronouns for coherence. These findings argue for a coherence typology in which Albanian exemplifies a prototypical Coherence B system, and German and English codify Coherence A. The article concludes that a modern theory of coherence must account for languages in which implicit mechanisms, not surface markers, carry the essential burden of textual cohesion.
Albanian, German, English, coherence, pronominal systems, Coherence A/B, clitics, pro-drop
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Annotated Bibliography: Language Attitudes in The Sociolinguistics Setting
Language attitudes are a central topic in sociolinguistics since they reveal how people feel, think, and behave toward different languages, dialects, or speech varieties. These attitudes can influence language use, policy, identity, and even social hierarchy in a sociolinguistic setting. Language attitudes refer to the beliefs, feelings, and predispositions people have about a language or its speakers, and they can be positive, negative, or neutral, which often shape social interactions, educational outcomes, and linguistic change. By analyzing scholars' perspectives on the analysis of human behavior in sociological settings, this paper will identify significant reasons why two generations from the same background behave differently and examine the influence of sociopolitical issues.
Language attitudes, social interaction, vitality, language policies
Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Libyan University Students’ Views on the Value of Lecture-Based Method
Lectures, as a medium of teaching, are still considered an integral part of higher education in Libyan universities. However, the role of lectures has been recently questioned, particularly after the sudden spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. To address this issue, this study aims to establish whether Libyan university students still value the lecture teaching mode as part of their university education. It also examines the factors that encourage students to still attending lectures. Thereby, an online questionnaire consisting of 19 items was circulated to undergraduate and postgraduate students studying in the Department of English at the Faculty of Arts and Languages, University of Tripoli. The study’s findings revealed that students still favor lectures as a method of teaching. Accordingly, 49 respondents considered lectures, as a mode of teaching and learning, essential with various educational, practical, and social benefits. These include elements such as an in-depth understanding of the subject course and direct interaction with peer students and lecturers. Ultimately, the study suggests that, although lectures continue to be valuable in Libyan universities, other innovative teaching techniques and methods can also be used to improve their effectiveness.
Lectures, views, higher education, teaching methods
Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
A Study of Emotional Resonance in Workplace-Based Mocking Humor in Stand-up Comedy
This study examines how mocking humor elicits emotional resonance among audiences in Chinese workplace-themed stand-up comedy. Through meticulous analysis of 21 carefully selected performances from the renowned stand-up competition King of Comedy, the research uncovers two fundamental strategies—self-deprecation and satire—each skillfully executed through three distinct sub-techniques: direct statement, imagination, and comparison. Employing discourse analysis methods, the study demonstrates how comedians artfully transform ubiquitous workplace pressures, such as working overtime and excessive competition, into universally relatable daily narratives. The research further elucidates that self-deprecation effectively bridges social gaps by revealing personal vulnerabilities and imperfections, while satire serves as a powerful tool to externalize blame and validate collective criticism of workplace injustices. These strategies collaboratively evoke audience empathy toward common workplace dilemmas. The study significantly expands the scope of humor research beyond traditional Western perspectives. Moreover, it provides practical, actionable techniques for comedians to enhance audience engagement and emotional connection, offering valuable insights for both academic researchers and comedy practitioners alike.
Stand-up comedy; Workplace; Mocking humor; Emotional resonance; Discourse analysis
Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
From Markers to Dynamic Augmentation: Modalities and Outcomes of AR in Language Teaching
This review synthesises post-2020 empirical research on augmented reality (AR) in foreign and second-language education to identify prevailing trends, modalities, pedagogical outcomes, and barriers to classroom integration. Following PRISMA-guided selection, 25 peer-reviewed experimental studies with a minimum of 50 participants each were analysed from ERIC and Web of Science. Results indicate that AR is primarily implemented as marker/vision-based experiences but also appears in NFC, location-based, and emerging dynamic-augmentation formats. Across educational stages, AR consistently enhances student motivation, engagement, and positive attitudes toward language learning; evidence for reliable short-term gains in specific linguistic outcomes is mixed, though several studies report improved vocabulary retention and promising applications in phonetics and discipline-specific contexts. Key research foci include general learning effects, vocabulary acquisition, teacher and student perceptions, pedagogical proposals, and methodological innovation such as AR-supported storytelling and CLIL-integrated gamification. Major obstacles to effective adoption are limited teacher digital competence, device and connectivity constraints, potential mobile-device distractions, and heterogeneity in study designs and intervention duration. The review concludes that AR holds pedagogical promise as a multimodal, situated learning tool but requires targeted teacher training, institution-level resourcing, and more rigorous, longitudinal research comparing AR modalities and isolating pedagogical variables. Recommendations include expanding studies on location-based and dynamic augmentation, exploring AR for specific competences (e.g., pronunciation, ESP), and prioritising scalable teacher-development pathways.
Augmented Reality; Language Education; Educational Technology; Multimodal Learning; Teacher Digital Competence
Representing Islam: The Portrayal of Religion and Gender Through Fiction in Travel Literature
This study investigates Western orientalist viewpoints in the promotion of non-Western tourism destinations. The research focuses on narratives produced by Western advertisers which incorporate themes of religion and superstition. The study aims first to identify orientalist ideologies embedded within promotional discourse. Additionally, it examines the power dynamics exerted by advertising entities over both the Western tourist and the local Moroccan population.
Orientalism, discourse, tourism advertising
Copyright (c) 2025 International Journal of Linguistics Studies
The Role of Machine Translation in Language Learning and Teaching
Online machine translation tools have the potential to revolutionize the teaching of foreign languages. The efficiency and accuracy of translation are approaching human capabilities. Apart from translating letters and sentences, there are also machines that can translate speech, and they come in different varieties. Speed, multilingual compatibility, and mobility are some of this technology's benefits, but it also has drawbacks and affects users. Despite its numerous accuracy issues, machine translation is currently unable to fully replace humans. It is easy to apply machine translation once we are aware of its benefits and drawbacks. After all, users can comprehend and use the words correctly without the need for machine translation if they increase their language proficiency. This study was based on the most recent journals. The process of converting written content from one language to another is termed translation. Oral translation likely originated when humans first sought to communicate, while written translation can be traced to the earliest documented texts. Although various factors contributed, the 18th century, coinciding with the Industrial Revolution, represents a significant advancement in the field of translation.
Machine Translation, MT Translation, Teaching and Learning
A Cross-cultural Study of Humor Intensity in Chinese and English Family Jokes: A Large Language Model-Based Approach
Humor is frequently conveyed through jokes, with family jokes serving as a particularly insightful medium that reflects both humor-creation techniques and culturally embedded perspectives on familial relationships. This study develops a computational model based on Large Language Models (LLMs) to quantify humor intensity in Chinese and English family jokes, focusing on three key indicators: ambiguity, sentiment, and incongruity. Our analysis reveals a 3:1:1 weighting among these factors, underscoring ambiguity as the most influential determinant of humor intensity. The sentiment score of Chinese family jokes showcases a more pronounced polarity. Chinese and English family jokes share similar incongruity structures, but the Chinese family jokes tend to combine both semantic contrasts and plot reversals. English family jokes often have higher ambiguity scores than Chinese family jokes, which typically demonstrate this effect depending on multiple factors such as plot and cultural background. This study elucidates cross-cultural variations in humor design preferences and cultural conceptions of family through a comparative analysis.
Large Language Model; Natural Language Processing; Humor Computation; Family Joke
Linguistics Properties of Adjectives in Iraqw
The main focus of this study was to investigate linguistic items representing adjectives in Iraqw, a southern Cushitic language spoken in Manyara region and in some parts of the Arusha region. The study was conducted in Babati district council, specifically in Daredakati and Gajal villages. Sentence questionnaires were used as the main method of data collection, complemented by extraction from written materials and elicitation methods that included Iraqw narrations and songs. This study was qualitative, guided by the prototype theory proposed by Elianor Rosch in (1970s) and involved five respondents who are native speakers of Iraqw and competent in Kiswahili. Adjectives are classified based on their prototypicality. This study employed three criteria for word categorization: semantic, morphological, and syntactic. The researchers found only 44 prototype adjectives, 10 derived from adjectives and nouns, 11 flexible adjectives, 10 cardinal numbers, four quantifiers, and two represented by nouns, and concluded that Iraqw adjectives form an independent word category.
A Quantitative Study on Academic Texts from an Interdisciplinary Perspective
Measurement studies on the syntactic complexity of academic texts have been widely conducted. Using a quantitative linguistic approach, this study explores the syntactic features of academic texts from an interdisciplinary perspective by analyzing the dependency distance (DD), mean dependency distance (MDD) and dependency types of academic texts from different disciplines in a self-constructed corpus. The corpus includes 400 abstracts of parallel comparable academic texts from eight disciplines authored by native and L2 writers. Research findings indicate that: 1) Both native (L1) and second language (L2) authors’ academic texts exhibit a highly consistent distribution of dependency distances, following a long-tail distribution, , which suggests constraints imposed by human working memory. 2) Across all disciplines, abstracts written by L2 authors have significantly longer Mean Dependency Distance (MDD) compared to those written by L1 authors, indicating the significant impact of native language background on the syntactic complexity of academic texts. 3) Within the same language background, there are significant differences in dependency types across different academic disciplines, reflecting specific emphases in how authors express their research findings across disciplines. These findings further reveal the correlation between MDD and disciplinary contexts.
The Impact of Linguistic Perspectives through Literature and Translation Studies: A Review Study
This study examines the interplay between linguistic theories and their application in literary and translation studies. Employing a qualitative methodology, the research analyzes existing studies through coding and thematic analysis, classifying them based on the degree of integration observed among linguistics, literary, and translation. The results indicate a more pronounced influence of linguistic frameworks within translation studies than literary studies. This disparity can be attributed to the intrinsic link between translation and linguistic principles, necessitating translators' engagement with grammar, syntax, semantics, context, and morphology. This suggests that the practical application of linguistic theories is more readily apparent in translation, where linguistic structures are actively manipulated and adapted. Further research is warranted to explore the potential impact of linguistic perspectives on diverse fields beyond literature and translation, such as management and medicine. This could involve investigating how linguistic analysis can inform communication strategies, cross-cultural understanding, and the interpretation of complex texts within these domains. Such interdisciplinary investigations could reveal valuable insights into the pervasive influence of language across various fields of study.
Examining Determinants of Academic Writing Skills Among Female Students in India
Writing is one of the most essential parts of a learner's academic and professional journey. The clarity with writing skills can help a student to express themselves with ease. However, in the course of enhancing the flowability of English writing skills, there are several obstacles observed among students where the language is second in line after its native language. There is several literature found where the issue of recurring errors among students when developing writing skills has been pointed out. The study here has observed the lack of literature focusing on female students in India whose English writing skills consist of errors. In India, although English is highly spoken and written, its fluency in terms of academic requirements is subjected only to a few institutions. The late development of writing skills can lead to several difficulties that would cause an impact throughout a learner's life. Further, in India, the female students, especially in rural areas, are often subjected to traditional norms that could affect their writing skills. To understand the perception of English writing skills among Indian female students and the factors that impact on their intention to learn, the study here has been conducted. With a structured questionnaire designed using secondary sources of literature, a total of 25 items measuring different aspects of writing skills have been provided to the students. Using purposive sampling, a total of 250 respondents are collected and analyzed using different statistical tools. The confidence level among the female students in their writing skills is found to be very low. The chi-square tests show significant association with demographics such as age group, area of residence, and marital status. It is interesting to note that the majority are not willing to add extra courses to evolve their current English writing skills. Going further into the understanding of the major factors contributing to this status, the PCA extracted six underlying factors, representing grammatical errors, peer influence, native impact, technical challenges, unwillingness, and intention. In the multiple linear regression conducted to estimate the impact of the five factors on intention to learn in a statistically significant model, an overall variance of 23.2% is reported. The most significant contributor being peer influence causing a positive impact. Native impact, technical challenges, and unwillingness have a negative impact, while grammatical errors interestingly have a positive impact. From this set of results, a number of implications for the future have been established.
Writing; Grammatical Errors; Skills; English; Peer; Students; India
Translanguaging on Social Media by Educated Arabs
Translanguaging is the ability to move smoothly between the languages that a person knows. A sample of Facebook posts written by a sample of educated Arabs was collected. All the participants are native speakers of Arabic and have a good command of English or French as English/French was the medium of instruction in their major area of specialization such as medicine, computer, and engineering. The study aims to find out whether educated Arabs are capable of communicating equally well in both English/French (L2) and Arabic (L1) especially that Arabic is diaglossic having a standard form used in school textbooks, print material and formal situations and a colloquial form used in daily communication with family and friends. Data analysis showed that most educated Arabs are incapable of translanguaging. They communicate better and are more proficient in English/French than Arabic. Their weaknesses are manifested in their use of slang and Colloquial Arabic rather than Standard Arabic. Many completely ignore Standard Arabic spelling and grammar rules. They spell words the way they pronounce them in their local dialect. Many make agreement, definite article attachment, plural formation, and derivation errors. They code mix, i.e., transliterate English/French words and insert them in Arabic posts (cases الكيسز, schemes اسكيمز, share شير). They do not seem to know the Arabic equivalents of simple general and specialized English/French words (center سنتر, neuro نيورو, maps المابس). They even substitute simple Arabic words with English ones (shoes, fans, café, like, comment). It seems that educated Arabs are unable to think in L1 and L2 simultaneously. Their knowledge of English/French surpasses that of Arabic. They transfer the foreign pronunciation and structures to Arabic. Recommendations for reinforcing the native language and enhancing translanguaging skills are given.
Translanguaging, bilingualism, educated Arabs, social media language, Facebook, national language, foreign language, code-switching
Grammaticalization of Modal Verbs in Bisha Colloquial Arabic
This study investigates modality in Bisha Colloquial Arabic (BCA), examining how various modal forms interact with different tenses, including future, present progressive, past progressive, and present perfect. Data were collected from undergraduate and postgraduate students, social media content, and analyzed to identify modal verbs, particles, and grammaticalized forms conveying meanings of ability, necessity, possibility, and obligation. The findings highlight the grammaticalization of motion verbs, active and passive participles, and nominal forms as markers of tense and aspect, showcasing BCA’s unique approach to modality. Notable findings include the use of amda (امدى) and mada (مدى) for present perfect tense and the transformation of sensory and postural verbs into markers of futurity and present progressive tense. Additionally, modal forms like yigdar (يقدر) and lāzim (لازم) exhibit versatility across multiple tenses, underscoring the flexibility and richness of the BCA modality system. Importantly, the study confirms that the emergence of grammaticalized forms does not eliminate the usage of their original lexical variants, allowing these forms to coexist and further enrich BCA’s expressive range. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of modality in Arabic dialects and offers insights into the syntactic and semantic evolution within BCA.
Bisha Colloquial Arabic, Modal verbs, Auxiliaries , Active participles, Aspect markers, grammaticalization
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E-Learning: Challenges of Utilizing Weblog in EFL learning Environment
E-learning can enhance learners’ collaboration and interaction synchronously or asynchronously via utilizing Web 2.0 platforms. Yet blog utility in EFL contexts could have serious challenges. So, this study explored the most serious challenges perceived by Yemeni EFL Level-II students, English Department, Faculty of Arts, Ibb University, in 2023-2024 after a semester-long blogging. A quasi-experimental research design was used with an experimental group of 5 males and 10 females who utilized blog for posting their writing assignments and a controlling group of 3 males & 12 females who did so traditionally. A Survey Students Open-ended Questionnaire and Students Semi-Structured Interviews were used for collecting the data. The posttest findings revealed that experimental group performed better than the controlling group confirming that blog substantially developed students’ writing skills. Also, the interview findings showed highly-perceived learning situation, blogging situation, and students challenges. The findings can avoid Yemeni EFL teachers contingent jump-start blogging pitfalls. Further
E-learning, writing skills, digital platform, blog challenges, EFL students
Critical Reflection of Adolescents on Self-Expression Through Multimodal Texts on Social Media
This research is motivated by the low ability of students to represent themselves to the phenomena that occur during learning. This low ability is allegedly due to the lack of student confidence. This research aims to discover how adolescents' critical reflection in representing themselves in adolescent life is influenced by various multimodal texts uploaded on social media platforms. This study investigates how adolescents develop critical self-representation reflection through multimodal texts widely shared on social media. This study uses a qualitative descriptive approach. Data was collected through in-depth participant observation of a group of adolescents who actively use social media. Data analysis in the form of self-representation content uploaded on various mass media platforms. The study results showed that students were more free and confident in conveying critical reflection on the phenomena around them in self-representation in the form of multimodal texts through social media.
Copyright (c) 2024 International Journal of Linguistics Studies
Voice Onset Time Contrasts in Tripolitanian Libyan Arabic Stops
This study aims to investigate the duration of voice onset time of single stop consonants in Tripolitanian Libyan Arabic. It also seeks to identify any potential influence of the place of articulation of these stops and the vocalic context on this duration. Four Tripolitanian Libyan Arabic speakers were recorded while producing 39 monosyllabic words with /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/ and /ɡ/ followed by the vowels /iː/,/i/,/aː/,/a/,/uː/,/u/, /eː/ and /oː/. The duration of positive voice onset time was measured from the release burst to the onset of vocal fold vibration. For negative voice onset time, the duration was measured from the initiation of voicing during the hold phase to the release burst. Results of the analysis show that voice onset time in Tripolitanian Libyan Arabic Falls under two categories. While voiceless stops have a positive voice onset time value ranging from 14 ms to 44 ms, voiced stops have a negative voice onset time ranging from –33 to –60. Results have also revealed that voice onset time varies as a function of the place of articulation of the stop and the quality and duration of the following vowel. As the stop's place of articulation moved from an anterior to a posterior point in the vocal tract, the duration of voice onset time seemed to increase. The duration of voice onset time is longer when voiceless stops are followed by a close vowel, compared to when the stop was followed by a non-high vowel. Finally, voice onset time was longer when voiceless stops were followed by the long vowels /i:/ and /u:/. This tendency was not observed when the stops were followed by /a:/.
Plosives, Voice Onset Time, Tripolitanian Libyan Arabic
Unveiling the Stylistic Features of Tayeb Salih's "Season of Migration to the North: A Postcolonial Analysis"
The book represents the fullest example of stylistic analysis within an important novel in the postcolonial canon-Tayeb Salih's Season of Migration to the North. The research provides a deep linguistic, structural, and thematic insight into how Salih's stylistic options build a peculiar picture of postcolonial themes, cultural identity, and the difficulties and contrasts of cultural exchange. While situating the bilingual narrative, symbolic imagery, and satirical moments of intertextual dialogue and celebration of oral traditions in their historical and cultural context, it proves how such features set the tone and atmosphere of the novel and give further depth to its themes. By doing so, Salih's style refutes and rebukes colonialist discourses, while engaging readers in a critical consideration of postcolonial identity, power relationships, and cultural exchange. These findings underline the continuous popularity of the novel and its status as a strong work of postcolonial literature, with much to offer about the postcolonial condition and its representation in literature.
Bilingual Narrative; Symbolic Imagery; Satirical Moments; Intertextual Dialogue; and Oral Traditions.
Discursive Tactics in Political Rhetoric: A Van Dijk Framework Analysis of the Trump-Biden Debate 2024
The present study investigates discursive tactics in political rhetoric employed by President Joe Biden and Trump in their debate in 2024. Van Dijk Framework Analysis (1995) of discursive tactics in political is adopted to study the Discursive Tactics in relation to the Trump-Biden Debate 2024. Findings showed that Biden used a variety of discursive methods, such as reference to presupposed historical circumstances, to attain a high level of persuasiveness. His word choice suggested that he and his government had already embraced an ideological shift and were trying to convince the rest of the country to follow. Moreover, to awaken people’s emotions and desires, Biden engaged with sensitive social issues such as family struggles, young people’s future, social security, economic issues, and so on. The analysis revealed several hidden ideologies adopted by the speaker and his administration, such as new policies for dealing with America’s economic crises, a significant shift in his country’s international strategies, and his support for women’s rights. This study concluded that the speech maintained current power relations, had the essence of a military and strategic success statement, and sent vital military signals with a transitional and future ideological nature.
Political rhetoric, Van Dijk, Discursive Tactics, Biden, Trump
The Poetic Female Persona in Nizar Qabbani's Work versus Contemporary Female Poets
This article draws a comparison between the poetic female persona in Nizar Qabbani's poetry and that in the works of his contemporary female poets. The study focuses on the primary characteristics of the poetic female persona in each, and examines the extent to which Qabbani succeeded in crafting a poetic female persona that resonates with those depicted by female poets of his time. The analysis begins with a definition of the poetic persona, followed by an exploration of the distinctive features of the poetic female persona as written by women. It then delves into the characteristics of Qabbani's poetic female persona and culminates in a comparison between the two.
Poetic Female Persona; Nizar Qabbani; Contemporary Female Poets
A Critical Discourse Analysis of Elements of Influence in Abdul Latif Rashid's Statements
Political leaders use language to persuade and attract audiences and followers. Iraq is considered a prominent mediator to resolve most of the Middle East's critical problems. Iraq's presidents have had a real influence on the international community in addressing some of the suspended issues in the Middle East. The present study aims to investigate the elements of influence in Iraq's president's speech during his participation at the 33rd summit of the Arab League in Manama. The data of the present study is taken from Iraqi President Abdul Latif's speech during the 33rd Arab Summit in Manama. The present study adopts a qualitative research approach through which excerpts from the Iraqi president’s speech are analyzed in light of Fairclough and Weddick (1993). The findings of the present study reveal that three out of the five CDAs strategies are employed, including Referential, Mitigative, and Perspective strategies. It is recommended that more investigations be conducted in areas other than the linguistic area.
CDA, power, ideology, discursive systems, conflict
An Analytical Study of the Recognition of Silent Letters in the Pronunciation of English Words by Baghdadi Arabic Speakers
The phonetic system in English differs to some extent from that of Arabic. Novice Baghdadi Iraqi speakers encounter numerous challenges in pronouncing English words as a result of this. As an illustration, it is common to hear English learners articulate "assign” /əˈsaɪn/ as / əˈsaɪgn / or "kneel," / niːl/ as /k niːl/. The objective of this study is to detect prevalent distortions in the pronunciation of silent letters in English words among Baghdadi Iraqi English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. The methodology employed in this analysis was a qualitative descriptive study. Utilizing purposive sampling methods, a sample of 5 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) novices was chosen from the 1st level of the English Department, Dijlah University, Iraq. These learners were categorized as novice high-level learners (beginners). Analytically descriptive methodology was employed to analyze the data obtained from tests. The findings of this study indicate that EFL novices make errors when pronouncing words that include silent letters such as b, c, d, g, gh, h, k, l, m, n, p, s, t, th, and w. The writers examine three positions of the silent letters in words (beginning, medial, and final), and, by that understanding, it becomes feasible to create valuable instructional resources and teaching techniques to address this matter.
Silent Letters; mispronunciation; EFL Novices; Baghdadi Iraqi
The Pragmatics of Refusing Food Invitations by Jordanians
This study aims to find politeness strategies in refusing food invitations among Jordanians. Brown and Levenson’s politeness theory (1987) is adopted to analyze the Jordanian refusals. The data was collected from English language students at Jerash University. Interviews were prepared to find out the different strategies for refusing invitations. This study revealed that the invitees used indirect strategies to be more polite with the inviters. The most preferred strategies were rejecting by employing religious terms, justified reasons, prayers, promising, ask for forgiveness. This study helps researchers to know the politest strategies used by Jordanians once they refuse invitations. Moreover, it assists them in making comparative research on refusal between Jordanian society and other societies to cover the cultural differences between them clearly.
Refuse, pragmatics, invitation, Jordanian
A Paratextual Study on the Communication Model of the English Translations of Cha Jing
Lu Yu's Cha Jing is the earliest, most comprehensive monograph on tea and serves as the foundation of tea culture. The English translation of Cha Jing has played a vital role in spreading tea culture to the Western world. In 1974, Francis Ross Carpenter published the first complete English translation titled “The Classic of Tea in the United States”. In 2009, Chinese scholars Jiang Yi and Jiang Xin completed the translation of The Classic of Tea / The Sequel to The Classic of Tea as part of the Great Chinese Library project. In 2015, Aaron Fisher, an American tea culture expert based in Taiwan, introduced the first electronic version through the e-magazine Global Tea Hut. These three translations offer unique characteristics, providing valuable materials for translation studies. There is currently limited research on the communication models of the English translations of Chajing, particularly the comparative analysis of their paratexts. Examining the paratexts through Gérard Genette's theory, this research adopts a qualitative analysis approach to explore the communication models of the three English translations. Additionally, a comparative analysis using Harold Lasswell’s 5W communication model identifies differences, strengths, and weaknesses in terms of the translator(s), message, channel, readers, and communication effects. The study argues that the paratexts of the English translations reflect the evolution of translation and dissemination models of Chajing across different periods and media. The Carpenter translation and the Jiang Yi and Jiang Xin versions represent two prevalent models in the print media era. The former follows a commercial publishing model, targeting ordinary readers and introducing tea culture comprehensively despite some limitations in quality. The latter represents an academic model, faithfully presenting the original essence to domestic and international scholars yet lacking richness in paratextual elements. Global Tea Hut's translation represents a cross-cultural, new media model initiated by a tea enthusiast community. It targets tea culture enthusiasts with multimodal and interactive paratexts but may lack depth and comprehensiveness. In the current media landscape, the three models can complement each other and collectively promote the global dissemination of tea culture.
The Classic of Tea; English translation; Paratexts; Communication model; Translation Studies.
The Role of Complement/Adjunct Identification in the L2 Acquisition
This study investigates how a learner’s first-language interacts with their developmental sequences. It focuses on morphology and syntax acquisition in learning English as a foreign language (EFL). The current article mainly describes how a learner identifies the head of an English expression and explores the application of Cognitive Grammar. Distinguishing the “head” (the constituent that determines the syntactic category of a word or phrase) from “non-heads” (complements or adjuncts) plays a crucial role in comprehending (and producing) multimorphemic words such as books. To address this issue, we employ Dowty’s (2000) dual-analysis perspective regarding issues of complement and adjunct identification, which allows for a better account of a systematic semantic and syntactic distinction process in learning a foreign language, which initially appears to be at odds with the traditionally assumed unambiguous function of lexical elements.
Research on the Types and Influencing Factors of English Learning Motivation among English Major Undergraduates: A Case Study of Third-Year Students at a University in East China
English learning motivation significantly impacts learning efficiency. This study empirically investigates the learning motivations of 41 third-year English major students through a questionnaire survey conducted at a university in East China. The findings reveal that the learning motivations of English major undergraduates can be categorized into four types: personal interests, future development, experiential background, and social responsibility. Core factors influencing the types of learning motivation include students' personal cultural interests and their academic and career planning. Additionally, learning motivation is influenced by learning experiences, family environments, and social contexts. This research suggests that university English teachers should adopt a student-centered approach to tailor their teaching methods, thereby assisting students in establishing long-term, profound learning motivations. Furthermore, it encourages universities to implement social practice activities aimed at promoting intercultural communication.
A Review of "Philosophy of Language: The Basics" by Ethan Nowak
This research project will concentrate on analyzing "Philosophy of Language: The Basics," a contemporary and prominent book on the subject of language philosophy. The study of linguistic philosophy is very significant. The book serves as the primary reservoir of knowledge for the ongoing inquiry. The analysis included several aspects of the book, including its organization, its substance, its merits, and potential areas for improvement. Although the research offers an initial exploration of the subject of language philosophy, it ultimately concludes that the book is realistic in that it only appeals to a small group of highly esteemed scholars who can relate to its content. This is the research's conclusion.
Basics, Ethan Nowak, Language philosophy, Readability
Collocation is a universal term found in any language, yet it has not got much attention. In comparison to other aspects of language, collocation is new to linguistics because of its nature; it is controversial and open to debate in linguistics. This study investigates the use of collocation in short stories and compares old and modern in terms of employing collocations. The paper attempts to answer these questions: What is collocation? What are the major characteristics of collocations? How do different writers present collocations? How are collocations utilized in old and modern literature and what effect do they have in this discourse? For the purpose of analyzing data, the researcher follows a qualitative method and adopts Haussmann’s (1989) model. Tables that cover percentages and frequencies are provided to support the qualitative analysis. Concerning data, four short stories are chosen. The study concludes that ancient and modern writers employ different structures of collocation. However, the Adjective-Noun pattern is used more frequently than others.
Peculiarities of The Progressive, Perfect and Future Formation in Colloquial Arabic
Arabic has three tenses: past, present and future. The past tense refers to actions that took place in the past (كتب kataba He wrote). The present tense pertains to habitual actions, or those that are currently ongoing (يكتب /yaktubu/ He writes). The future signifies actions expected to occur in the future by adding the prefix س /sa/ or the particle سوف /sawfa/ to the present tense form of the verb (سيكتب sa-yaktubu He will write). Arabic also has a perfect and an imperfect aspect, an active participle (كاتب /ka:tib/ writer) and a passive participle (مكتوب /maktu:b/ (written). Stretches of discourse containing the progressive markers عمال عم &باش and active participle forms of sense, motion, and volition verbs as امشي walk, تعال come here, قوم get up; جالس sitting, قاعد sitting, أروح go, سامع hearing, شايف seeing and others were collected from informants and social media posts in order to find out how the aforementioned particles, lexical verbs and participles are used to express the progressive and future aspects in spoken Colloquial Arabic dialects and the grammaticalization process they went through (desemanticization, decategorization, extension and erosion). Data analysis revealed that the particles باش/ماش (will) and هيا (let’s), verbs as خلينا , هيا,امشي , قوم(let’s), express futurity. Other aspectual particles as عم عمال (are), and verbs of motion, posture, volition and sense and active participles express the Progressive Tense. In some cases, active participles of verbs of motion, posture and volition are ambiguous denoting multiple tenses and aspects as Present Progressive, Past Progressive, Present Perfect depending on the context and availability of adverbs of time. In some case active participles undergo a grammaticalization process where they change from a lexical verb to an aspect marker. Results of the study are given in detail.
Tense-Aspect formation, Progressive Tense, Future Tense, Colloquial Arabia, Arabic dialects, grammaticalized verbs, active participles, verbs of motion, verbs of posture, verbs of volition, Aspect markers.
The Semantics of Stative Locative Events in Vietnamese: A Spatial Exploration
This study investigates stative locative event semantics in Vietnamese using mathematical formalism, categorizing events as bijective or surjective based on Figure-Ground argument mapping. Building on Figure/Ground semantics (Talmy, 1975), event structure (Jackendoff, 1990), and predicate syntax (Nam, 1995), bijectives denote one-to-one argument mappings while surjectives permit one argument to map to multiple others. Through analysis of Vietnamese sentences, the study shows bijectives unambiguously localize Figures and Grounds in a one-to-one manner, contrasting with the flexibility of surjectives allowing single Figures to map onto multiple Grounds. This novel bijective/surjective distinction advances understanding of locative event typologies and provides an explanatory model for cross-linguistic analysis. Scrutinizing Figure-Ground mapping as bijective/surjective functions elucidates fundamental differences in stative locative semantics, furthering comprehension of how language encodes static spatial relations through the complex interplay of verbal semantics and argument structure. This integrated formal semantic approach combining predicate logic, set theory and lexical syntax has significant applications in theoretical and computational linguistics, and cognitive science.
Stative locatives, bijective events, surjective events, figure and ground, formal semantics
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