This study investigates the structural and semantic stability of Tshivenḓa proverbs through a Construction Grammar-informed morphosyntactic analysis and an examination of variation across oral and digital communication. While African proverbs have long been recognised as repositories of indigenous knowledge and moral instruction, limited attention has been paid to the linguistic mechanisms underlying their resistance to structural change. The study examines how morphosyntactic constraints contribute to the invariability of Tshivenḓa proverbs within Indigenous Knowledge Systems. A qualitative approach was adopted using a corpus of twenty Tshivenḓa proverbs collected from elders, language educators, and cultural practitioners in the Vhembe District of Limpopo Province, South Africa. Data were obtained through semi-structured interviews, cultural discussions, and documentary analysis, and analysed using morphosyntactic segmentation, interlinear glossing, thematic analysis, and Construction Grammar. The findings show that Tshivenḓa proverbs are highly entrenched constructional schemas characterised by clausal economy, noun class agreement, invariant copular constructions, and constrained associative and instrumental morphology. These grammatical features preserve conventionalised form–meaning pairings and limit structural variation across generations. Although contemporary youth discourse and digital communication exhibit truncation, ellipsis, and code-switching, such variation occurs at the level of discourse and pragmatic adaptation rather than within the grammatical structure of the proverbs. The study concludes that the invariability of Tshivenḓa proverbs results from the interaction of morphosyntactic constraints, constructional entrenchment, and cultural transmission, ensuring linguistic stability while accommodating limited pragmatic flexibility.
South Africa’s higher education language policy framework formally recognises indigenous African languages, including Setswana, and mandates their development as languages of teaching, research, and institutional governance. Despite these commitments, Setswana remains marginal in high-status academic domains, with English continuing to dominate disciplinary instruction, postgraduate scholarship, research publication, and institutional administration. This article examines the structural, ideological, and institutional factors constraining the intellectualisation of Setswana within South African universities. Drawing on Critical Language Policy theory and intellectualisation scholarship, the study adopts a qualitative document analysis approach to interrogate national policy frameworks, institutional practices, and existing literature on African language development in higher education. The analysis reveals a persistent policy–practice gap shaped by English-dominant promotion systems, global publication pressures, limited integration of Setswana into disciplinary curricula, and entrenched institutional language ideologies. The article argues that Setswana’s limited intellectual expansion is not a consequence of linguistic inadequacy but of structural design within higher education systems. It concludes by proposing a systemic model of Setswana intellectualisation that integrates policy alignment, disciplinary expansion, postgraduate capacity building, research incentives, and ideological transformation. Meaningful intellectualisation requires coordinated institutional reform that positions Setswana as a legitimate language of advanced scholarship and epistemic authority.
The article is devoted to the analysis of cultural-connotative meanings and senses of words in different languages, considered as cultural information revealed in the course of interpretation. The aim of this article is to identify the cultural meanings contained in the word "blue," to conduct a directed associative experiment (both chain and thematic types), and to describe and classify the types of cultural associations as well as the modes of representation of cultural meanings. The research design reflects the author' s intention to give an overview of the cultural connotations of the concept, to experimentally verify the divergence of cultural associations among speakers of different languages, to perform a multi-layered analysis of the concept “blue” across various cultures, and to relate the cultural understanding of this concept to evaluative categorization. As a result of the analysis (associative experiment, interpretation of cognitive-semantic analysis, evaluative categorization), the features of cultural-connotative meaning were identified: differences in cultural associates elicited by stimulus words in different languages; inadequacy of cultural senses and connotative meanings. Types of cultural associations and their paradigmatic and thematic relations are considered. Ways of representing such meanings in knowledge formats are examined. The novelty of the study lies in establishing the commonality of the cumulative functions of cultural connotations in different ethnic societies, their national-cultural differences, and in identifying inadequate cultural senses of the same lexemes and concepts that are significant in one culture but have no significance in another.
This article presents a linguistic and cultural analysis of the representation of women in selected Setswana proverbs, utilizing Womanism as the theoretical lens. The study explores whether these proverbial expressions function to reinforce patriarchal ideologies or alternatively reflect empowering constructions of womanhood rooted in African cultural contexts. Grounded in the principles of Womanism—as articulated by Alice Walker—the framework situates African women lived experiences at the center of analysis, with emphasis on community perception, marriage and motherhood, and strength and leadership. Employing a qualitative content analysis methodology, the article undertakes a close linguistic examination of Setswana proverbs, paying attention to lexical choices, metaphorical constructions, and pragmatic functions. The analysis seeks to uncover how gendered meanings are encoded, transmitted, and maintained through proverbial discourse within Setswana speech communities. Findings indicate that while many proverbs reflect entrenched patriarchal ideologies and linguistic marginalization of women, others encode ambivalent or subversive meanings that gesture toward female agency and resilience. The study argues that Womanism provides a culturally grounded and linguistically sensitive framework for deconstructing gender ideologies embedded in African oral traditions. It further contributes to the broader discourse on the intersection of language, gender, and culture in African linguistic contexts.
This study investigates the influence of learners’ mother tongues on the acquisition of English as a First Additional Language (EFAL) among Grade 1 learners in South Africa’s rural Klein Letaba Circuit, Limpopo Province. Guided by Cummins’ Interdependence Hypothesis and Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory, the study employs an interpretivist qualitative design involving eight purposefully selected Grade 1 teachers from multilingual classrooms. Semi-structured interviews were thematically analysed to identify patterns of phonological, grammatical, and lexical transfer, alongside teachers’ pedagogical responses. Findings reveal that learners frequently transfer L1 sound systems and grammatical structures into English, resulting in predictable decoding, pronunciation, and syntactic errors. Teachers report that strategic translanguaging—purposeful alternation between English and local languages such as Xitsonga, Tshivenda, and Sepedi—enhances comprehension, pronunciation, and learner engagement. Teachers’ narratives further highlight that bilingual scaffolding affirms cultural identity, reduces cognitive load, and strengthens early literacy development, despite persistent shortages of bilingual resources and limited professional development. The study concludes that mother-tongue-based bilingual instruction is not a remedial strategy but a foundational approach for promoting equitable literacy and cognitive growth in multilingual contexts. Its originality lies in situating translanguaging pedagogy within rural African classrooms and illustrating how teachers operationalise bilingualism under material and ideological constraints. By offering classroom-level insights, the study contributes to national conversations about South Africa’s 81% reading comprehension crisis, as reported in PIRLS 2021. Although based on a small, context-specific sample, the findings provide transferable implications for multilingual education policy and EFAL pedagogy across rural African settings.
Malta’s localization practices largely rely on inclusive subtitles in English or Maltese, a combined translation–accessibility solution that delivers linguistic, cultural, and sensory access in line with a universalist approach. This article reports an in-depth reception study designed to gauge Maltese viewers’ tolerance thresholds for taboo and other categories of sensitive language in inclusive subtitles, with the aim of corroborating or refining local subtitling guidelines. Drawing on clips from US English TV shows streamed on Netflix, respondents compared paired subtitled versions that employed four distinct strategies—attenuation, equivalent impact, omission, and aggravation—across varied genres, contexts, characterizations, and functions of taboo language. The online survey combined immediate reactions with subsequent, more reflective responses; qualitative findings were analyzed alongside demographic variables (age, gender, education, locality). Contrary to expectations derived from earlier work suggesting general acceptance of vulgar expressions, results indicate a clear overall preference for attenuation strategies for expletives irrespective of taboo category or narrative context. Complete omission emerged as the favored approach specifically for blasphemous language. As for sensitive language concerning sexual orientation, race, and mental health, participants initially preferred the less derogatory renditions, though this preference was less pronounced than with other taboo categories. Notably, when respondents were prompted to focus on these sensitive topics and reflect, their responses shifted and became more contemplative, producing subtler and more varied stances. Responses also became more nuanced when participants considered a hypothetical policy on vulgar language in Maltese inclusive subtitles. These findings support targeted adjustments to local guidelines, emphasizing attenuation for expletives and omission for blasphemy, while recommending context-aware policies for other sensitive categories.
Motivational factors play an important role in language learners’ learning and achievement. While a lot of research has been done on various motivational aspects of second language learning, less research has been done on motivation and mindsets specific to the pragmatics of second language learning. This study investigated the effect of collaborative learning, as compared with individualized instruction, on Iraqi EFL learners' pragmatic performance and pragmatic motivation and how learners' growth pragmatic mindset could predict their pragmatic performance. Following quasi-experimental and correlational designs, the study used a discourse completion test to collect data on learners' pragmatic competence and questionnaires to collect data on their pragmatic motivation and pragmatic mindsets. This study employed a quasi-experimental design with three groups (collaborative, individual, control) and a correlational analysis to examine mindset. The results of the study indicated that collaborative learning had significant positive effects on EFL learners' pragmatic performance and pragmatic motivation and that EFL learners' growth pragmatic mindset could significantly predict their pragmatic performance. Based on the findings, it is suggested that teachers adopt collaborative learning strategies in textbooks and classroom instruction to promote language learners' pragmatic competence and pragmatic motivation and assess learners' pragmatic mindsets at the beginning of instructional courses involving pragmatics.
How do we know we used the right word in a sentence? The standard answer invokes grammatical rules, context, usage, and logic—but this article argues that the process of reasoning is guided by sensations. Human individuals experience sensations—not the molecular or neural mechanisms that produce them. Therefore, meaning arises from the sensations that words prompt, not from words themselves. Thinking operates through patterns of sensations, most below conscious awareness, while those that rise to consciousness guide the process by signaling alignment or conflict with patterns from past experiences. To explain this process, the article proposes the sensory schema framework, which investigates how sensations are organized at a more fundamental level than image schemas and conceptual metaphors in cognitive linguistics. Analysis across diverse domains—language, mathematics, science, art, and everyday behavior—reveals that sensory experience is inherently structured as products of intensity and extent, the core mechanism by which embodiment shapes conceptual knowledge. This cross-domain consistency demonstrates that patterns cognitive linguistics identifies within language reflect universal organizational principles of sensory experience. The article synthesizes core ideas from previously published works and demonstrates how the framework generates testable predictions for empirical research while offering applications in language acquisition, computational linguistics, and clinical assessment.
Guttural consonants in Arabic are characterized by articulation with an elevated larynx, a configuration that extends its influence to adjacent sounds. This coarticulatory effect produces measurable acoustic consequences, particularly in the formant structure of neighboring vowels. The present study investigates the relationship between larynx height, coarticulatory direction, and voicing in shaping the articulatory and acoustic modifications associated with guttural contexts. Using X-ray imaging, we examined the positional variations of the larynx during the production of the three short vowels /a, i, u/ adjacent to guttural consonants. Complementary acoustic analyses were conducted to evaluate the extent of formant shifts and changes in formant spacing induced by guttural spread. The findings indicate that guttural consonants exert a significant influence on vowel articulation and acoustics, with the magnitude of this effect strongly modulated by larynx height and voicing. By contrast, the direction of coarticulation (CV versus VC sequences) exhibited a comparatively weaker influence. Overall, the results provide clear evidence that laryngeal adjustments play a central role in the articulatory and acoustic properties of vowels in guttural environments. This study further demonstrates the utility of X-ray imaging for examining complex articulatory phenomena, offering valuable insights into the interplay between laryngeal movement and vowel acoustics in Arabic.
South African Grade 4 learners face persistent challenges in reading comprehension as they transition into English First Additional Language (EFAL) instruction, a problem intensified in rural schools where technological, linguistic, and pedagogical resources are limited. Although digital storytelling (DST) is widely recognised internationally as a promising multimodal literacy strategy, its application within resource-constrained EFAL classrooms remains significantly under-examined. This study addresses this gap by investigating how teachers in rural Limpopo understand, implement, and experience DST. Using an interpretive qualitative case study design, data were generated through semi-structured interviews, non-participant classroom observations, and teacher reflection journals, enabling a rich, triangulated understanding of pedagogical practices. Thematic analysis revealed that DST enhances learner engagement, vocabulary development, and reading comprehension when supported through guided teacher mediation, visual scaffolding, oral explanation, and culturally relevant narratives. To advance the field, this study presents the first DST comprehension model specifically designed for rural EFAL contexts, illustrating how multimodal and sociocultural processes intersect under conditions of infrastructural scarcity. The model demonstrates that adequate comprehension is driven not by technology alone but by strategic teacher facilitation and contextual adaptation. Findings further show that while DST holds strong pedagogical potential, its successful use depends on teacher confidence, digital self-efficacy, and access to low-tech, locally relevant resources. Strengthening teacher professional development, improving rural digital equity, and providing simplified multimodal teaching materials are essential steps toward scaling DST as a viable and context-appropriate comprehension strategy in rural South African classrooms.
In the digital consumer ecosystem, online reviews for infant products serve as a critical locus for risk communication and caregiving identity construction. This study draws on a corpus of 11,435 consumer reviews of baby cribs collected from major Chinese e-commerce platforms to examine how parents linguistically articulate risk perceptions, evaluate product performance, and communicate caregiving concerns. Adopting a mixed-methods approach that combines Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling with manual qualitative coding, the analysis identifies five recurring discourse themes: Odor Risk, Safety Anxiety, Parental Responsibility, Emotional Externalization, and Esthetics & Design. The findings indicate that Odor Risk and Safety Anxiety constitute the most salient sources of parental concern. In particular, sensory cues such as smell, along with installation and assembly experiences, function as key indicators through which parents assess product reliability and potential safety hazards. These cues are frequently embedded in experiential narratives that describe inspection, mitigation, and evaluation processes. Beyond risk assessment, the analysis reveals a consistent narrative pattern in which parents negotiate a transition from initial apprehension to subsequent reassurance through specific discursive moves, including concessive structures and temporal sequencing. Importantly, online reviews are used not only to report product attributes but also to perform responsible parenting roles by demonstrating attentiveness, caution, and care. By foregrounding the interaction between sensory experience, risk evaluation, and affective stance, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of digital parenting discourse in high-involvement consumption contexts and highlights the social and communicative functions of online reviews in infant product markets.
This study explored the impact of Genially-based interactive media, when integrated into a flipped learning model, on the literacy and writing skills of middle school students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). A quasi-experimental design was employed, using pre-test and post-test control groups to examine learning outcomes. The participants consisted of 18 students with ASD, divided evenly into an experimental group (n = 9) and a control group (n = 9). Students in the experimental group were provided with literacy and writing instruction through interactive Genially modules delivered in a flipped classroom format, which allowed them to engage with materials before class and participate in teacher-facilitated activities during class. In contrast, the control group received instruction using traditional, teacher-centered methods. Literacy outcomes were evaluated across four domains: spelling accuracy, handwriting fluency, sentence construction, and guided composition, using standardized rubrics designed for special education contexts. To assess treatment effects while accounting for baseline differences, data were analyzed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The results demonstrated that students in the experimental group showed significantly greater improvement compared to the control group. Specifically, the experimental group achieved average gains of 32% in spelling accuracy, 28% in handwriting fluency, 35% in sentence construction, and 30% in guided composition. These findings suggest that the integration of Genially-based interactive media within flipped classrooms provides a promising approach for enhancing both foundational and expressive literacy skills among students with ASD. The study underscores the pedagogical value of multimodal, digital, and gamified tools, recommending their wider application in special education.
This study examines the construction and distribution of emotions in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians using the Appraisal framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), focusing specifically on the Affect subsystem and its relation to narrative staging. Narratives are typically structured into orientation, complication, evaluation, and resolution, each fulfilling distinct communicative and emotional roles. By analyzing these stages and their affective elements, the research explores the emotional flow throughout the narrative. Understanding emotional progression is essential for revealing how meanings of affect are constructed and distributed within the text. Employing a qualitative research design, data were derived from the novel and validated through expert discussions. Data collection involved document analysis and focus group discussions. The data were obtained from sources selected based on specific criteria. Meanwhile, data analysis followed four systematic steps: domain, taxonomy, componential, and cultural theme analyses. The findings show that emotions are patterned systematically across the narrative. The orientation is dominated by happiness, accompanied by insecurity and satisfaction, reflecting optimism while hinting at tension. The complication sustains positive affects but introduces fear and desire, intensifying emotional conflict. In the evaluation stage, negative affects such as unhappiness and dissatisfaction emerge, balanced by affection and confidence. The resolution blends admiration and affection with traces of insecurity, suggesting partial closure amid unresolved tensions. Overall, the novel constructs an emotional arc that evolves from positivity to complexity, mirroring the protagonist’s negotiation of romance, class, and identity. Emotions function as semiotic resources that shape relationships, narrative progression, and intercultural meaning within the text.
This systematic review examines how linguistic structures influence the interpretation of satisfaction surveys within professional training contexts. Guided by Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and the Theory of Discourse Evaluation (TDE), this study analyzes 39 empirical articles published between 2018 and 2024 in Scopus-indexed journals. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, studies were systematically identified, screened, and synthesized, while the GRADE methodology was applied to assess evidence quality. The findings reveal that linguistic elements, such as ambiguous wording, implicit evaluative terms, and culturally biased phrasing, significantly impact the validity of survey responses. The reviewed literature shows a dominance of quantitative methodologies, with limited integration of mixed-methods and discourse analysis. Three major gaps were identified: the absence of comparative studies on survey models, the lack of research addressing emotional and motivational factors in satisfaction assessment, and the narrow contextual focus on academic and corporate settings. The study emphasizes the necessity of incorporating CDA and TDE frameworks in survey design to mitigate discursive biases and enhance instrument validity. It also calls for linguistic validation practices and the inclusion of socio-emotional dimensions in satisfaction measurement. The review contributes to applied linguistics and training evaluation by providing practical recommendations for survey designers to ensure culturally sensitive, reliable, and methodologically robust instruments. Ultimately, this research underscores that language is a key determinant of data quality in training evaluations and not merely a technical aspect of survey construction.
In this study, the semantic distribution of the clinical collocations "cancer" and "patient," with an emphasis on their medical applications, was analyzed using Hoey' s lexical priming model. A corpus of 1000 medical research articles from leading journals, encompassing approximately 2,576,035 words, was utilized. AntConc software identified high-frequency words, and the semantic loads of collocations of "cancer" and "patient" were categorized using Xiao and McEner's labels. A qualitative analysis further examined patterns of semantic load, clinical collocations, and contextual factors. Cross-validation with a second rater achieved high inter-rater reliability (Kappa = 0.983, p = 0.000). The findings revealed that "patients" typically carry a neutral semantic prosody, reflecting their association with various medical contexts, interventions, and cases without inherently positive or negative connotations. In contrast, "cancer" predominantly carries a negative semantic prosody, strongly linked to serious health risks, adverse outcomes, and mortality. These results underscore the importance of context in medical terminology for effective communication. This study supports Hoey' s theory that repeated exposure to specific contexts primes lexical items for clinical collocation. It emphasizes how context influences the emotional tone of medical communication. The findings have important clinical implications, particularly for enhancing doctor-patient communication, promoting empathetic interactions, and reducing misunderstandings in medical settings.
This study aims to address the challenges of Arabic language learning in junior high schools by integrating Construct 2-based gamification as an assessment method. A quantitative research approach was employed using a true experimental design, specifically a post-test-only design with a non-equivalent group. The sample comprised 38 seventh-grade students from SMP Darul Faqih, divided into an experimental group (19 students) and a control group (19 students). Research instruments included tests, questionnaires, and observation sheets, all validated according to educational measurement theory. Data analysis involved normality tests, reliability as sessments, and hypothesis testing using independent-sample t-tests or Mann-Whitney U Tests. The findings demonstrate that Construct 2-based gamification significantly enhanced students'Arabic language competence,with the experimental group achieving higher average scores compared to the control group (24.26 vs. 19.26).Interactive elements of gamification boosted student engagement, although no significant improvements were observed in listening skills and vocabulary acquisition. These results underscore the importance of a more integrated gamification design to optimize learning outcomes. This study contributes significantly to the development of technology-based assessment methods that align with the needs of the digital era, opening opportunities for integrating gamification into the educational curriculum in Indonesia.
This study explores the significant role of digital repositories in supporting the teaching and learning of Indonesian literature, aiming to bridge the gap between traditional literary education and modern technological advancements. Through a comprehensive literature review, the research investigates the accessibility, quality, and scope of digital library resources available to educators and students across Indonesia. Digital repositories provide a vast array of literary materials, including digitized texts, critical essays, and multimedia content, which have the potential to greatly enhance educational outcomes by making literature more engaging and accessible. Despite this potential, the integration of these digital resources into the Indonesian literature curriculum remains limited and underutilized. The findings of this study reveal both the opportunities presented by digital platforms—such as wider access to rare and diverse literary works—and the challenges that hinder their effective use, including varying levels of digital literacy among educators and students, inconsistent resource availability, and insufficient institutional support. Additionally, the study reviews strategies for effectively incorporating digital repositories into literature instruction, highlighting the importance of collaboration between educational institutions, libraries, and technology providers. Recommendations emphasize the need for targeted training programs, infrastructure development, and policy initiatives to foster greater adoption of digital tools in literary education. This review also identifies crucial areas for future research aimed at optimizing the deployment and impact of digital repositories in teaching Indonesian literature. Ultimately, the study concludes by discussing important implications for educational policy and library management in Indonesia’s evolving digital landscape.
Small Private Online Courses (SPOCs) have emerged as a promising instructional model in English language education, offering structured, flexible, and scalable learning opportunities within blended or hybrid contexts. This systematic review synthesises 36 empirical studies published between 2015 and 2025 to examine how SPOCs have been pedagogically designed, methodologically investigated, and evaluated in diverse educational settings. The studies were identified through a comprehensive search of Scopus and Web of Science and analysed thematically in terms of methodological approaches, instructional strategies, and reported learning outcomes. Findings reveal considerable methodological variation, including qualitative case studies, quasi-experimental designs, mixed-methods inquiries, and design-based research. Pedagogically, SPOCs were most frequently implemented in flipped classroom models and integrated with skill-specific scaffolding, adaptive technologies, gamified features, and collaborative or reflective tasks. These designs were aligned with communicative and learner-centred approaches to language teaching. Reported outcomes spanned linguistic, cognitive, affective, and behavioural domains, with most studies indicating gains in grammar, vocabulary, writing, and speaking, as well as enhanced learner autonomy, motivation, and metacognitive awareness. The review underscores the pedagogical value of SPOCs when thoughtfully integrated into language curricula and supported by appropriate technological and instructional design. It highlights the potential of SPOCs to personalise learning, support skill-specific development, and promote active, reflective, and autonomous learning. These findings offer timely guidance for educators, instructional designers, and policymakers aiming to enhance English language education in increasingly hybrid and digital environments.
The English Public Speaking (EPS) course in China, despite a relatively short history of just over 30 years, now has become an important English as a Foreign Language (EFL) course in China' s higher education curriculum. This course not only aims to enhance students’ English communication skills for engagement in global communication but also to cultivate their ability to tell China' s stories on the international stage. This study reviews the developement of the EPS course in China from its early emergence to its current status, with a particular focus on how it has been localized to better align with national development goals and students' needs. Initially influenced by Western pedagogical approaches, the course has been adapted to Chinese cultural and educational contexts under the guidance of national policies and educational reforms. Key initiatives, such as the construction of “Golden Courses,” the integration of ideological and political education, and the introduction of the Understanding Contemporary China textbook, have collectively contributed to the formation of an EPS course with distinctive Chinese characteristics. By tracing the localization process of the EPS course, this study reveals how national strategies have steered the course' s development, highlighting its strategic role in cultivating globally competitive talents. This localization experience may also provide insights for other contexts seeking to align public speaking education with national development priorities.
