Establishing Insider Status to Resolve Problems: Unveiling Chinese lǐmào among Insiders

This study advances counter-extremism efforts by examining the mechanisms whereby incitement texts function as networks of bonds and obligations, shaping bonding dynamics within terrorism and polarisation contexts. It conceptualises incitement texts, in the Hallidayan sense, as functional semantic units, and incitement itself as a relational, intersubjective activity embedded in convergent and divergent bonds and pro-ingroup obligations shaped by contested ideologies, identities, and actions. Inciters strategically select discourse semantic structures to establish these bonds and obligations. Using systemic functional linguistics (SFL), and insights from communication accommodation theory (CAT), the study employs a relational-semiotic approach to analyse eight incitement texts by Osama bin Laden and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, identifying three key processes: communion, alienation, and coercion. Convergent bonds sustain communion and shared identities, while divergent bonds promote alienation and conflictual relationships and challenge intergroup rapport. Coercion extends these bonds, positioning violence as a moral obligation and act of care, vigilance and authentication of identity and belonging (i.e. deontic bonds) around which members of a group are invited to converge. The findings reveal how inciters manipulate attitudinal meanings—explicit, invoked, or provoked—to reinforce cohesion, intensify polarisation and urge violence. This process involves bond construction mechanisms (e.g. lexical metaphor, attribution to symbolic authority, intertextual allusions, iconisation, kinship terms, register-specific terms, and inclusive pronouns) and obligation-building tactics (e.g. recommendation, doctrinal authorisation, warnings, and commands). By embedding incitement within dynamic networks of bonds and moral justifications, the study illustrates how linguistic strategies prime attitudinal meanings to forge bonds, deepen polarisation, and coerce into violence. It also showcases how dangerous speech legitimises violence and strengthens identity fusion, offering critical insights for a communicative approach to counterterrorism that develops counter-narratives to reduce extremists’ persuasive appeal. This article also extends SFL work on bonding and CAT work on pre-emptive accommodation in asymmetrical, ideological communication.

The Chinese people's commune, as we know it, is on its way out. The possibility of an across-the-board radical restructuring of the has been under discussion in Chinese political and academic circles for the past few years.' Carefully monitored keypoint-type experiments in decommunization have been conducted around the country. And the 1982 state constitution makes it clear that the distinctive feature of the people's commune-its merger of political, social, economic, and governmental functions within a single comprehensive organization-will be discontinued. There is to be a deliberate separation of economic authority and governmental power at the local level (zheng she fenkai). Township governments (xiang zhengfu), the rural local administrative form of the early 1950s, are to be reestablished to handle civil affairs and routine state administration (Zhang Youyu et al., 1982).2 The term commune will be preserved for the time being but will refer to the various collective economic enterprises, companies, shareholders' committees, service bureaus, market brokerage units, and corporate planning and management committees that are now taking shape in the

This study investigates the use of kinship terms for addressing family members among native speakers of three Northeast Asian languages: Chinese, Korean and Japanese. A comparative analysis was performed with responses from an online survey on how respondents address their parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, focusing on similarities and differences across these languages. The findings indicate that Chinese speakers adhere most closely to traditional norms in using kinship terms to address elder relatives. Japanese speakers demonstrate greater flexibility in their address practices, especially towards their uncles and aunts. Korean speakers exhibit slightly more flexibility than Chinese speakers, but less than the Japanese. Our findings align with the broader tendency of using kinship terms to address senior kin. However, the extent of adherence exhibits variations in each language, reflecting the distinctive perspectives of speakers on interpersonal relationships and their linguistic approaches to them.

The aim of the article is to examine the relationship as well as measure the impact of corporate governance as a strategic plan on capital structure decision of top Bombay Stock Exchange-listed manufacturing firms in India. Panel regression analysis is employed to estimate the relationship and measure the impact of corporate governance, namely, size, meetings, independent director, women director and audit committee meetings, on the capital structure mix (debt–equity ratio) of the sample corporate, during a 10-year period of 2008–2017. The results of study reveal that the components of corporate governance, namely, size, board meetings, independent director, and audit committee meetings have a positive association with the capital structure variable (debt–equity ratio) of the sample manufacturing companies. However, there is a negative relationship between the control variables (ROCE and NWTA) and the dependent variable of the sample corporate. Overall, as per the study results, a statistically significant impact prevails on the capital structure, of corporate governance variables, taken as a whole. This article adds on to the existing study by highlighting a new prospect of relation and influence of corporate governance on capital structure decisions. The statistical findings of the study provide evidence to the corporate sector in deciding the optimum capital structure, affecting its costs and performance, and to the regulatory authorities in framing and implementing corporate governance mechanisms more effectively and efficiently for improving the economy of the country.

Purpose: The increasing need for improved quality of financial reporting is becoming a key challenge for stakeholders in the Nigerian corporate setting because of the consistent failure being witness by many organization. The presence of loan loss provision in the banking sector has paved way for managers to manipulate accounting earnings which has compel the need for this research in order to examine factors that could help mitigate or curtail managers’ tendencies to engage in earnings manipulation. Therefore, the study examine the effect of board diversity and audit committee on earnings management of listed Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria. Methodology: Board diversity variables include women director, board ownership, foreign director, board size and board composition, while a composite index of audit committee size, composition and meeting was used to moderate two (women director and board ownership) of the board diversity variables. Earnings Management was represented by Chang, Shen and Fang (2008) model. The population consists of fifteen (15) banks and all were used for the analysis. Secondary data were collected from the annual reports and accounts of the banks for the period 2008-2015. Multiple regression technique was adopted and Stata 13 was used as the tool of data analysis. Findings: The findings revealed that, all the variables before moderation have significant effect on earnings management of banks except for board size. Meanwhile, after moderation, the findings revealed that explanatory variables explained the extent of earnings management better than before moderation. However, among all the explanatory variable used during the moderation, it was only three variables (foreign director, board composition and audit committee) that have significant effect on earnings management. Practical Implications: Based on the above findings, the study recommended amongst others that the percentage of women director, shares held by directors and number foreign director should be increased, while the number of non-executive directors and audit committee should also be improved upon in order to mitigate the tendencies for earnings management in banks. Originality: The use of audit committee as moderating variable and the test of applicability and the usefulness of Chang, Shen and Fang (2008) model in Nigerian Banking Sector.

The aim of this research is to examine the impact of three audit committee characteristics on corporate social and environmental responsibility (CSR) disclosure: the existence of an audit committee, audit committee independence, and audit committee financial expertise. Moreover, this research analyzes the moderating effect of board gender diversity between these audit committees' attributes and CSR reporting. The results of analyzing 13,178 firm‐year observations of non‐financial companies show that the presence of an audit committee and audit committee financial expertise are positively associated with CSR disclosure. However, a higher proportion of non‐executive directors in audit committees has a negative effect on the disclosure of CSR information. These findings suggest that some audit committees' features play an important role in ensuring the reporting of environmental, social, and economic information. Our evidence also indicates that the presence of female directors on boards increases the positive impact of financial expert membership of audit committees on CSR disclosure, while women directors moderate any negative effect of the percentage of independent directors on audit committees on CSR reporting by increasing the latter. In addition, female directors moderate the positive impact of the existence of an audit committee on the disclosure of CSR information by reducing the latter.

In March 2018, the Brazilian National Film Agency - ANCINE announces a call for the financing of featurelength films with an originality: quotas for cisgender or transsexual/transvestite women directors and black or indigenous people. In addition to the traditional regional quotas providing for 30% of the financial resources for the North, Northeast and Central-West regions and 10% for the South region and the state of Espírito Santo, it was included the participation of minority groups in a national call for production support through resources from the Audiovisual Sectorial Fund - FSA, a modality of direct investment. The income of this national fund is delivered via CONDECINE - Contribution for the Development of the National Film Industry, a tax paid by several Brazilian audiovisual sectors whose application is exclusive in the market. That’s why currently it is said that the incoming resources of FSA are self-generated. The call for production support in question presented resources of 100 million reais divided into two modalities: one focused on fiction, documentary and animation feature-length films, without distinction of commercial or artistic objectives; and another focused on feature length fiction, documentary and animation films with an emphasis on an authorial profile and evident artistic purposes. Within the total, a minimum of 45% were directed to quotas. The purpose of this communication is to present the process that led to the decision to include quotas registered from the registration in the minutes of the Management Committee of the Audiovisual Sectorial Fund meetings; the selection’s criteria of projects based on the public call for selective subsidies; and the results achieved. The results will be analyzed not only from the perspective of final approval, but also by evaluating the current state of the films. The assessment gains importance not only from the point of view of the unprecedentedness - it was the first time in 10 years of the FSA operation in which minority quotas were considered - but also from the current political situation in Brazil in which the inclusion agenda is questioned.

Politeness is vital to sustaining harmonious communication, yet its expression and interpretation are shaped by both cultural norms and gender roles. While prior research has examined politeness through either a cultural or gender lens, little is known about how these factors interact within the same cross-cultural context, particularly in everyday family settings. Moreover, studies rarely integrate Western and Chinese politeness frameworks to explore how cultural and gendered norms intersect in real-time, informal interactions. Addressing this gap, the present study investigates gendered politeness strategies in Chinese–Western communication, drawing on the film When a Beijing Family Meets an Au Pair as its primary data source. Using qualitative content analysis of 201 utterances, the findings reveal that both Chinese and Western characters frequently employed positive politeness to reduce social distance and build rapport. Wenjuan and Natalie (female characters) favoured indirect strategies such as off-record and negative politeness to maintain relationships, while Youzhi (male) used fewer politeness strategies and preferred direct speech, reflecting traditional Chinese male communication norms. The Chinese characters displayed modesty, harmony, and indirectness, characteristic of a collectivist style, whereas the Western character emphasised assertiveness and equality, reflecting an individualist style. Overall, the results suggest that women are generally more relationship-oriented, while men tend toward directness and efficiency. These findings highlight the need to consider both cultural and gender dimensions in cross-cultural pragmatics, offering practical insights for intercultural competence development and language education.