Abstract This study analyzes six Japanese election rally speeches delivered in 2025 to address two research questions: (1) which rhetorical strategies leaders employ to elicit affiliative audience responses (e.g., applause, cheers, laughter), and (2) how these strategies co-occur with distinct emotional appeals, including anger, fear/anxiety, enthusiasm, and pride. Central to the discussion is the proposition that political speeches are a form of dialogue between the speaker and the audience, and that emotional appeals employed during political campaigns significantly influence electoral judgment and behavior. The results indicate a potential shift in campaign persuasion strategies in Japan, wherein politicians increasingly prefer to address political and policy issues, rather than utilizing discourse to reinforce their social networks and foster a sense of belonging to a particular group. Additionally, distinct emotions such as anger, fear, and enthusiasm are found to be intrinsically linked to rhetorical devices used by political communicators.
Unlike high-end globalization, the global flows of people and goods (e.g., between global-South nations) constitute a major type of low-end globalization. Such low-end globalization results in mobility, superdiversity, and grassroots multilingualism. Boasting many international tourists and traders, Bangkok is a dynamic trade, business, and tourism hub and multilingual contact zone. This study explores the sociolinguistic aspect of grass-roots communication emerging from the author's ethnographic observations of two malls in central Bangkok that orient towards foreign tourists/traders: the MBK center (with many Middle Easterners) and Indra Square (with many Nepali-Burmese salespeople and Indian/South Asian buyers). The study illustrates the dynamic, flexible, pragmatic, and embodied nature of grass-roots communication as jugaad, where various multimodal and multisemiotic means are strategically deployed as meaning-making resources. These include using named languages (e.g., English, Arabic, and Hindi), translanguaging (e.g., Hinglish), and using calculator, Google translate, and gestures. This study contributes to scholarship in (grassroots) multilingualism in our superdiverse societies in the 21st century beyond the elitist use of language (e.g., using perfect English). This study argues that while English remains important overall as lingua franca, other languages (e.g., Arabic and Hindi) also carry important capital in the linguistic market as far as low-end globalization is concerned
In the Philippines, social media has become a significant tool for political discourses and socio-civic movements, especially with the "forced" shift to online interactions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This research contextualizes the political and electoral landscape in the Philippines as it looks into the mediated political participation among Filipinos by analyzing the determinants that shape practices of online political engagement. Guided by Casemajor et al.'s (2015) concept of participation as a form of mediated political action, twenty-four in-depth interviews with Filipino voters during the 2022 Philippine national elections were conducted to explore the nature of political participation in a mediatized milieu. Findings reveal varied ways by which an individual's networks and the available information from media sources influence their political participation online. Beyond the determinants identified by literature, social realities as observed by the voting population also influence their mediated political participation. This study exposes that which seems invisible: that massive digitalization, both the technologies and communicative practices, is changing human society. While the digital sphere has allowed a more engaged citizenry, it has also become an arena for mis-, dis-, and malinformation as actors exploit the space for conversation.
This study analyzes six Japanese election rally speeches delivered in 2025 to address two research questions: (1) which rhetorical strategies leaders employ to elicit affiliative audience responses (e.g., applause, cheers, laughter), and (2) how these strategies co-occur with distinct emotional appeals, including anger, fear/anxiety, enthusiasm, and pride. Central to the discussion is the proposition that political speeches are a form of dialogue between the speaker and the audience, and that emotional appeals employed during political campaigns significantly influence electoral judgment and behavior. The results indicate a potential shift in campaign persuasion strategies in Japan, wherein politicians increasingly prefer to address political and policy issues, rather than utilizing discourse to reinforce their social networks and foster a sense of belonging to a particular group. Additionally, distinct emotions such as anger, fear, and enthusiasm are found to be intrinsically linked to rhetorical devices used by political communicators.
This study addresses how Javanese kesarasan texts discursively construct cultural legitimacy for traditional herbal medicine (jamu), a practice central to indigenous health knowledge yet often marginalized by biomedical paradigms. By integrating Appraisal Theory with the Mixed Game Model, the research examines the evaluative language and dialogic strategies that negotiate authority between these knowledge systems. A qualitative discourse analysis of eight texts from Panjebar Semangat (2024-2025) reveals that legitimacy is built through a consistent pattern of unhedged positive Affect and Valuation, amplified by Graduation and asserted via monoglossic Engagement supported by communal attribution. These strategies function cooperatively to present jamu as an emotionally resonant, self-evident cultural truth, effectively closing dialogic space to competing perspectives. The study contributes a hybrid analytical framework to discourse analysis and offers practical insights for culturally sensitive health communication that acknowledges the persuasive architecture of traditional knowledge systems.
This study examined audience responses to a Philippine Department of Transportation Facebook post that depicted characters from Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba as part of a public information announcement. Analysis of 1,030 comments revealed two opposing discourses. Supportive commenters interpreted the post as humorous, creative, and appropriate for online communication, while oppositional commenters evaluated it as unprofessional, mistimed, or disconnected from the lived realities of public transportation. These divergent evaluations illustrate how humor and popular culture in institutional messaging do not carry fixed meanings but are interpreted through competing understandings of authority, cultural competence, and everyday experience. The findings show that audience responses are shaped by historically and socially grounded expectations of government communication, demonstrating how digital platforms make visible the broader contexts through which institutional humor is legitimized or challenged.
While much research has explored attitudes toward plagiarism, there has been limited focus on how different socio-cultural groups articulate their criticisms of plagiarism. This paper examines how Chinese secondary school students and editors of student magazines employ interdiscursive rhetorical strategies to critique plagiarism. The data comprises a rare public-facing corpus of published Chinese texts, including reports written by students who exposed plagiarism in compositions published in student magazines, and responses from magazine editors. The analysis centres on the use of figurative language - such as idioms, proverbs, and metaphors; and double-voicing - the use of another's language to convey two meanings at once. These two key rhetorical strategies reveal socio-cultural attitudes toward plagiarism in the data. The strategies are examined for their cultural implications and contributions to broader societal attitudes toward plagiarism. The findings highlight the potential of interdiscursive analysis to inform academic integrity education and pedagogy globally.
In multilingual countries like Singapore, shop signage serves as a prominent site for observing how language is used to communicate cultural, social, and political messages. Building on the original linguistic landscape conceptualization of Landry and Bourhis (1997), this study examines the linguistic environment in Singapore's Chinatown. It adopts a mixed-method approach, combining photographic documentation of 292 shop signage and interviews from 25 shop owners. The aim is to identify dominant languages used on shop signage, analyzing their distribution patterns and investigating factors that influence shop owners' language choices. The findings demonstrate that English and Chinese are the predominant languages on shop signage. The study manifests that bilingual English-Chinese signage is the most prevalent, balancing functional communication and cultural symbolism. Additionally, the study illuminates the factors that influence shop owners' language choices on shop signage. The study further presents how commercial interests, cultural identities, and globalization influence the linguistic landscape in a multilingual setting.
Translanguaging has emerged as a powerful pedagogical tool in multilingual education, yet its emotional dimensions remain underexplored. This study examines how Thai university students perceive translanguaging enjoyment in Chinese elective classes using Q methodology. Fifty-two undergraduate students participated in Q sorting, followed by semi-structured interviews to provide qualitative insights. Factor analysis identified three distinct perspectives on translanguaging enjoyment: (1) emotional engagement, which highlights reduced anxiety and increased participation, (2) cognitive benefits, emphasizing comprehension and metalinguistic awareness, and (3) individualized multimodal strategies, where learners integrate gestures, symbols, and digital tools. Findings suggest that translanguaging fosters both affective and cognitive engagement, reinforcing the role of positive emotions in language learning. The study offers pedagogical recommendations for incorporating structured translanguaging strategies, multimodal resources, and emotionally supportive classrooms. Additionally, policy implications highlight the need for flexible language policies and teacher training programs that embrace multilingualism.
This study analyzed the website contents of 10 Japan-based study abroad agencies to examine how Japanese students are encouraged to study English in Hong Kong. The deductive content analysis revealed that the agencies (mis)represent Hong Kong as (1) a former British colony with English being used "throughout the city", (2) a global education hub that thrives on and produces elite English-speaking youth, and (3) a Mandarin-speaking city economically flourishing with the rise of China. The study also found the city was marketed with nearly no reference to Asian and pro-Japan hospitality. This study discusses the significance of examining the present and future of Hong Kong's English study abroad market which is situated in the increased competitiveness of the Philippines and Singapore, the continued western English/education supremacy, the shifting linguistic and national identity development in the city, and its new relation with the rest of the world.
This study examines how English-, Malay-, and Chinese-language newspapers in Malaysia represent the local LGBT community. Drawing on the Discourse-Historical Approach, 167 online news articles published in 2023 by The Star Online (English), Harian Metro (Malay), and China Press (Chinese) were analysed. The Star Online appears to take a relatively inclusive stance, incorporating diverse terms and occasionally quoting LGBT individuals while balancing progressive narratives with sociopolitical sensitivities. In contrast, Harian Metro tends to frame LGBT issues through moral and religious lenses, often portraying those who renounce their identities as examples of repentance. China Press presents a broader range of perspectives, offering both supportive and critical views without anchoring itself to a fixed ideological stance. Compared to Harian Metro, both The Star Online and China Press appear to provide more space for civil society and international voices. These distinct patterns highlight how language in news reporting operates not merely as a tool for communication but as a mechanism for negotiating ideological boundaries. Collectively, these findings shed light on how multilingual news reporting reflects differing ideological positions shaped by Malaysia's complex sociocultural and political contexts.
This study analyzes the queerbaiting phenomenon that expresses an ambiguous queer relationship without confirmation in two films, Song Lang (Vietnam) and A Balloon's Landing (Taiwan). Combining narrative analysis, visual discourse, and fan community feedback, the research indicates that elements (light, dialogues, and character motivations) are used to evoke romantic emotions between male characters. In a different sociopolitical context, Song Lang reflects the reticence of a conservative environment through cai luong, dim lighting, and silence. A Balloon's Landing represents freer expression after Taiwan's legalization of same-sex marriage but still maintains ambiguity to appeal to wider audiences. Findings show that queerbaiting is not simply a narrative device, but a cultural strategy influenced by law, censorship, market expectations, and active viewer interpretation. The study expands the queerbaiting framework into East and Southeast Asian context, emphasizing the role of meaning-making by the audience community in shaping a contemporary Asian queer cinema space.
Existing scholarship demonstrates that international films portraying human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) often distort the realities and social values of people living with HIV or AIDS (PLHAs) through stigmatizing representations. I used semiotic analysis to examine how the HIV and AIDS trope is presented in two Filipino media texts from the past decade: Kalel, 15 (2019) and Positive (2013). My research draws on Barthes’s rhetorical strategies as a theoretical framework to analyze how the sampled texts, functioning as a double-edged sword, legitimize or deconstruct hegemonic narratives such as pangmamata (stigma) and pagsasantabi (discrimination). I propose two additional strategies (i.e., antagonization and dissension) that emphasize explicit and confrontational portrayals intended to incite negative emotions toward minorities or even fellow viewers, in contrast to Barthes’s subtler mechanisms. The paper concludes by unpacking the significations embedded in the sampled texts and reappropriating HIV destigmatization through the lens of indigenous Filipino values, particularly kapwa (shared identity) and hiya (sense of propriety). Importantly, this research’s findings highlight the need for a collective commitment to inclusive, equitable, and decolonized understanding of PLHAs in popular media.
