Language Use In Context Research Articles

FUNGSI REGISTER PENGGEMAR BUNDA CORLA DALAM INSTAGRAM (KAJIAN SOSIOLINGUISTIK)


 
 
 
 Register is a language variation that is adapted to the context of language use. This study is a study of the function of Bunda Corla's fan register in Instagram which was studied with sociolinguistics. The research aims to find several things, namely the register function. Researchers used a qualitative approach with descriptive analysis. This study uses three methods, namely the method of data collection, data analysis, and presentation of data analysis. Data collection uses a written method. Data analysis uses register analysis, which is to analyze the specific vocabulary used in a particular job or community. The method of presenting the results of data analysis is an informal method that uses words that are easy to understand. The results of the study show that the functions of the register of Bunda Corla fans in Instagram in sociolinguistic studies include: 1) emotive function, 2) conative function, 3) referential function, and 4) fatigue function.
 
 Keywords: : register, instagram, sociolinguistics
 
 
 

Measuring Chinese Undergraduate English Majors’ Motivation to Learn Translation in Higher Education Translation Courses

Many studies have suggested that Chinese English majors tend to have a lower level of motivation to learn translation due to the conventional teaching method still prevalent in many a translation classroom. In this regard, from the standpoint of instruction, a translation course design that employed motivation as a central concept of the design may have positive impacts on students’ motivation to learn. Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is known for its efficacy in making meaning-oriented choice in language use in context. And since translation is about recontextualized meaning transfer, a teaching method integrated with SFL may be motivating for students to learn translation. Grounded on SFL and guided by Keller’s ARCS Motivational Design, a new genre-based method was proposed. This study aimed to explore effects of an SFL guided genre-based method and the conventional method on Chinese students’ motivation to learn translation. Two intact groups were selected as the Experimental Group and the Control Group, each consisting of 37 students. The Experimental Group was instructed using the genre-based method while the Control Group using the conventional method. A motivation questionnaire adapted from Keller’s Course Interest Survey was administered to both groups’ students before and after the pedagogical intervention. Data collected from the survey were analyzed using ANCOVA test in SPSS (Version 25). The results show that students in the Experimental Group scored significantly higher mean in overall motivation and four constructs of the ARCS Model, namely, Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction after they were taught using the genre-based method in comparison with their counterparts in the Control Group. The findings indicate that in general, the genre-based method is effective in enhancing students’ motivation in learning translation. Therefore, future translation instructors may consider adopting the SFL-informed genre-based method as an alternative pedagogical tool to motivate students to learn translation.

Threat, Empathy or (Polite) Request? The Pragmatics of Administrative Letters in Cameroon English

Text types constitute a rich source of data for the investigation of pragmatic and cultural-specific features of language use in non-native contexts. Based on a small corpus of 62 administrative letters written in Cameroon between 2005-2008, this chapter investigates how the following speech acts are expressed in these letters: (1) seeking compliance/collaboration, (2) giving directives, (3) issuing threats, and (4) expressing solidarity/best wishes. The basic question the chapter addresses is how the illocutionary act of expressing the above four speech acts is viewed: threats, empathy or request (polite) request? The politeness theory with its related pragmatic empathy concepts is employed to analyze the data. Preliminary findings reveal that many of the propositions expressed in the letters may be interpreted as potentially face-threatening because they are direct request without redress. Further, there is generally a lack of empathy for the reader, and these in itself show that politeness is generally lacking. However, the conclusion is that these interpretations hold sway only if we ignore the pragmatics of the sociocultural and historical context of language use in Cameroon. The study concludes that much work still needs to be done to illuminate this aspect of language use in administrative letter writing in Cameroon English.

Regulation and Control: What Bimodal Bilingualism Reveals about Learning and Juggling Two Languages

In individuals who know more than one language, the languages are always active to some degree. This has consequences for language processing, but bilinguals rarely make mistakes in language selection. A prevailing explanation is that bilingualism is supported by strong cognitive control abilities, developed through long-term practice with managing multiple languages and spilling over into more general executive functions. However, not all bilinguals are the same, and not all contexts for bilingualism provide the same support for control and regulation abilities. This paper reviews research on hearing sign–speech bimodal bilinguals who have a unique ability to use and comprehend their two languages at the same time. We discuss the role of this research in re-examining the role of cognitive control in bilingual language regulation, focusing on how results from bimodal bilingualism research relate to recent findings emphasizing the correlation of control abilities with a bilingual’s contexts of language use. Most bimodal bilingualism research has involved individuals in highly English-dominant language contexts. We offer a critical examination of how existing bimodal bilingualism findings have been interpreted, discuss the value of broadening the scope of this research and identify long-standing questions about bilingualism and L2 learning which might benefit from this perspective.

Fungsi Register Urban Mama dalam Grup Aimi dan HHBF (Kajian Sosiolinguistik)

Register is a variation of language that is adapted to the context of language use. This study is a study of urban mama registers in the AIMI and HHBF Facebook groups that are studied with sociolinguistics. The research aims to find several things, namely the register function. The researcher uses a qualitative approach with descriptive analysis. The study uses three methods, namely data collection methods, data analysis, and presentation of data analysis. Data collection using the method of listening and note related to the use of urban mom language in conversations in the AIMI group (Association of Indonesian Breastfeeding Mothers) and HHBF (HeathlyHommade Baby Food), data collection was also carried out by in-depth interviews and FGD. Data analysis uses register analysis, which is analyzing the specific vocabulary used in certain jobs or communities. The method of presenting the results of data analysis is an informal method that is using words that are easily understood. The results showed that the urban mama register function in the AIMI and HHBF groups was 1) emotive function, 2) conative function, 3) referential function, 4) fatigue function, and 5) metalingual function.

Onto/Epistemic Violence and Dialogicality in Translanguaging Practices Across Multilingual Mathematics Classrooms

Background: The focus on translanguaging practices in multilingual classrooms can be seen, by and large, as responding to risks of violence entailed in diverse contexts of language use, including the teaching and learning of mathematics. However, the practice of translanguaging alone cannot counteract the hegemonic authority of our relation to language curricula being present through interactions among teachers, students, and researchers, as well as material resources. Purpose: Drawing on Bakhtin’s philosophy of language, we discuss dialogicality as a critical and democratic organizing principle for the pervasive polyphony that characterizes every utterance constituting heteroglossia. Dialogicality reconstitutes our relation to language through the “other” and the need to see any utterance as a nonteleological process among subjects and objects. As such, the aim is to explore how acts of dialogicality may address the potential risks of onto/epistemic violence in translanguaging practices. Focusing on either emergent or orchestrated translanguaging in three European states: Greece, Catalonia and Sweden, we discuss how dialogicality allows for alternative accounts of language use in complex classroom events. Method: Methodologically, we start by encountering the sociopolitical context of monolingual and monologic curricula in Europe, where the three cases we theorize take place, along with our considerations for dialogicality in the realm of translanguaging. Our theorizing-in-practice unfolds a double effort in reading. First, what can we read today as risks of onto/epistemic violence in each of these cases? And second, what is the potential of dialogic translanguaging across the cases and within the boundaries of state monolingual policy and monologic discursive culture of school mathematics? Findings: The present article contributes by discussing dialogicality as a relational onto/epistemology toward addressing translanguaging practices. Concerning the first question, our theorizing-in-practice shares evidence of the inevitable presence of onto/epistemic violence in every utterance. The limited scope of a crude mathematisation process through language appears continuously in mathematics classrooms, serving to place either the object or the subject into fixed narratives. Regarding the second question, our dialogical reading of translanguaging denotes the importance of the importance of minor responding(s) to such moments of violent risk. We understand them as “cracks” in the authoritative status of monolingual and monologic mathematics curricula; we argue that such minor, yet crucial, cracks are of great significance for creating acts of dialogicality from “below,” disrupting the hegemonic authority of an assumed neutral mathematical language. Conclusions/Recommendations: The risk of onto/epistemic violence is inevitable in any discursive and embodied encounter in multilingual mathematics classrooms, including the translanguaging practices. The study suggests that acts of dialogicality become minor responses to violence in ways that both counteract oppressive monologic discourse and open toward a relational onto/epistemology with mathematics, children, teachers, material resources, and researchers. Remembering how Bakhtin insisted that “language is never unitary” and “dialogue” is not a panacea, we emphasize the need for a continuous focus on creating acts of dialogicality with language and discourse.

The development of lemma and meaning in the language variety used by adolescents on social media

This study examines the natural phenomena on the development of lemma and meaning in the variety of languages used by adolescents on social media. Research design was done naturally through the process of observation, taking notes, and writing down the case. The qualitative research appears in the development of the entry which is easily found as a definite phenomenon of linguistic development. The data collection method was carried out by tracing data on the use of various languages on social media. To analyze the data, the researcher uses padan and agih methods. This method is to test the accuracy of classification on the types of language used by adolescents in social media in the development of the entry and or the development of the meaning of the entry. The results showed that the variety of languages on social media is very dynamic, developing, arbitrary, but conventional. The variety of languages indicates the development of new lemmas, acronyms, and walikan. The development of meaning is marked along with the development of the entry in the form of synonyms and the use of the Indonesian language entry in the form of a polysemic. Based on the results of this study, adolescents can be considered a productive period in exploring the language, through direct interaction or social media. Becoming actively productive in language exploration led to a potential for concepting a new lemma and a new meaning according to the context of language use. In addition, this development becomes one proof of the self-existence of adolescence, community characteristics, and also the need for the development of Indonesian vocabulary.

Temporary ambiguity and memory for the context of spoken language.

Spoken language is interpreted incrementally, with listeners considering multiple candidate meanings as words unfold over time. Due to incremental interpretation, when a speaker refers to something in the world, there is often temporary ambiguity regarding which of several candidate items in the referential context the speaker is referring to. Subsequent tests of recognition memory show that listeners have good memory for referenced items, but that listeners also sometimes recognize non-referenced items from the referential context that share features with items that were mentioned. Predicted or inferred (but not experienced) interpretations of what was said are also sometimes retained in memory. While these findings indicate that multiple items from the referential context may be encoded in memory, the mechanisms supporting memory for the context of language use remain poorly understood. This paper tests the hypothesis that a consequence of temporary ambiguity in spoken language is enhanced memory for the items in the referential context. Two experiments demonstrate that periods of temporary referential ambiguity boost memory for non-referenced items in the referential context. Items that temporarily matched the unfolding referring expression were better remembered than those that did not. The longer the period of ambiguity, the stronger the memory boost, particularly for items activated early in the expression. In sum, the fact that spoken language unfolds over time creates momentary ambiguity about the speaker's intention; this ambiguity, in turn, allows the listener to later remember not only what the speaker did say, but also what they could have, but did not.

Feminatywy w edukacji seksualnej – czy (nie) warto ich stosować?

The paper at issue presents the social functioning of Polish female forms of occupational names (feminativa), as well as their role in the process of sex education, also in relation to perpetration of gender stereotypes. In the first part of the paper, a summary of the historical changes in the usage of feminativa is provided. Next, the usage of feminativa is described in relation to the theoretical basis of sex education, including the development of behavioral patterns. The analysis of linguistic, psychological and psychosexual factors enabled the Authors to show the impact of language on the perception of reality and of the subject’s place within the surrounding environment. Moreover, the Authors conducted the analysis of the role of feminativa in identity construction and in gender discrimination prevention. The paper at issue presents the cultural contexts of language use and its importance for the wellbeing of an individual. Additionally, the paper shows the basis of treating inclusive language as a form of support of the psychological and psychosexual development.

Phasic pupillary responses reveal differential engagement of attentional control in bilingual spoken language processing

Language processing is cognitively demanding, requiring attentional resources to efficiently select and extract linguistic information as utterances unfold. Previous research has associated changes in pupil size with increased attentional effort. However, it is unknown whether the behavioral ecology of speakers may differentially affect engagement of attentional resources involved in conversation. For bilinguals, such an act potentially involves competing signals in more than one language and how this competition arises may differ across communicative contexts. We examined changes in pupil size during the comprehension of unilingual and codeswitched speech in a richly-characterized bilingual sample. In a visual-world task, participants saw pairs of objects as they heard instructions to select a target image. Instructions were either unilingual or codeswitched from one language to the other. We found that only bilinguals who use each of their languages in separate communicative contexts and who have high attention ability, show differential attention to unilingual and codeswitched speech. Bilinguals for whom codeswitching is common practice process unilingual and codeswitched speech similarly, regardless of attentional skill. Taken together, these results suggest that bilinguals recruit different language control strategies for distinct communicative purposes. The interactional context of language use critically determines attentional control engagement during language processing.

A Critical Interpretation on Language and Power

There is a growing tendency among Chinese students to apply concrete theories by scholars with different backgrounds and predilections in Critical Discourse Analysis (hereinafter referred to as CDA) to conduct academic research. Seen from a general picture, CDA regards “language as social practice” (Fairclough & Wodak, 1997) and takes consideration of the context of language use to be crucial (Wodak, 2000). More importantly, CDA takes a particular interest in the relation between language and power. This paper intends to offer a basic overview of the constituent content in the landmark masterpiece Language and Power in CDA’s programme as well as a critical view on this influential book.

The Quest for Signals in Noise: Leveraging Experiential Variation to Identify Bilingual Phenotypes.

Increasing evidence suggests that bilingualism does not, in itself, result in a particular pattern of response, revealing instead a complex and multidimensional construct that is shaped by evolutionary and ecological sources of variability. Despite growing recognition of the need for a richer characterization of bilingual speakers and of the different contexts of language use, we understand relatively little about the boundary conditions of putative “bilingualism” effects. Here, we review recent findings that demonstrate how variability in the language experiences of bilingual speakers, and also in the ability of bilingual speakers to adapt to the distinct demands of different interactional contexts, impact interactions between language use, language processing, and cognitive control processes generally. Given these findings, our position is that systematic variation in bilingual language experience gives rise to a variety of phenotypes that have different patterns of associations across language processing and cognitive outcomes. The goal of this paper is thus to illustrate how focusing on systematic variation through the identification of bilingual phenotypes can provide crucial insights into a variety of performance patterns, in a manner that has implications for previous and future research.

Plurilingual discourse competence

We present a didactic model for the multidimensional analysis of discourse genres as situated practices, illustrated through the study of a transactional conversation in Spanish. This model represents a basis for developing and assessing the discourse competence of plurilingual adult language learners (Spanish-, Catalan-, French- or English-learning university students) acquiring a minimal competence to participate in academic events (lectures, seminars and workshops), as well as to cope with everyday needs in a foreign city. For proficiency in the use of language in context, students must be aware of the three dimensions which define a discourse genre: the sociocultural, the pragmatic and the textual, each entailing specific criteria and indicators of achievement. Special focus is placed on the sociocultural dimension because of its underlying importance for the teaching and learning of discourse genres. One factor especially relevant in this dimension is the community of practice to which the learners belong as autonomous social agents and in which they critically and consciously engage in learning activities.

“No trolls left behind!”: Using films to address communication apprehension in the English language classroom at Universiti Utara Malaysia

Silence in the English language classroom is a common problem faced by language instructors, especially for students in the lower proficiency classes and instructors see language anxiety as one of the main reasons this is so. The intervention of educational entertainment or Edutainment in the English Language classroom is important to improve the language learning experience of this generation of millennial students. This paper looks at Films to provide not only language learning enjoyment but useful input to students of the lowest level English course at UUM. In this research, intervention in the form of film viewing and activities related to the films was carried out. A class of twenty students from a first level English class weregiven six movies of their choice to watch and conduct activities with in addition to the normal course scheme of work.Through film viewing and activities, students were exposed to language use in context which is supported by visual and linguistic support and storyline. Before and after the intervention, The Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA24) instrument which measures levels of Communication Apprehension was administered. The results of the study shows that students indicated lower communication apprehension levelsoverall and within the subcategories of group discussion, meetings, interpersonal communication and public speaking. Students’ reflections were also positive in nature. The findings of this study concur that language acquisition takes place meaningfully through films by providing comprehensible input and that films are an important medium that facilitate communication and language learning for this generationof students

Social semiotics: communicative and socio-cultural practices. The Russian-speaking contribution to the development of social semiotics in 1970–2000s

ABSTRACT The intensive transformation of literally all spheres of life in modern society stimulates the search for an adequate conceptual apparatus in order to understand these processes. The purpose of this work is to show the possibilities of applying semiotic analysis to social-cultural phenomena and processes, which involves going beyond the traditional limitation of semiotics with linguistic phenomena and the reduction of social semiotics to the pragmatic contexts of language use. At the same time, particular attention is given to approaches and developments obtained in the last quarter of the previous century by Russian-speaking authors such as Yuri Lotman, Georgy Bogin, Aron Brudnyj, Tamara Dridze, Aleksandr Portnov, Vladimir Sulimov, as well as their colleagues and students. The priority function and significance of the developments of the aforementioned authors and schools is specifically associated with the discovery of non-trivial possibilities of the semiotic approach, which goes beyond considering the peculiarities of using language in various social practices for the semiotic analysis of such practices themselves.

A Complete Real-World Theory of Language Should Explain How Iconicity Remains a Stable Property of Linguistic Systems.

Murgiano et al. make a compelling case for studying iconicity in multimodal face-to-face interaction, but they appear ambivalent about the importance of iconicity at the level of the linguistic system. We argue that, rather than decreasing over time, iconicity is a stable property of languages. Understanding how and why this is so is critical to building a complete real-world theory of language that bridges the situated context of language use with language as an evolving symbolic system. An important point for future research is to examine the interface between iconic prosody and the latent iconic features of words and signs that are frozen in the linguistic system.

IMPLICATURES IN FOURTH GRADE STUDENTS’ BOOKS OF THE 2013 CURRICULUM REVISION EDITION AT 2016

This study is focused on implicatures in fourth-grade students’ books of the 2013 curriculum revision edition in 2016. It aimed at identifying the forms of implicatures and the background contexts which were found in the students' books of the 2013 curriculum theme 6 and theme 9 for the fourth grade of elementary school. This study used implicature theory based on Grice's perspective which distinguished implicatures based on their types, namely conventional implicatures, and unconventional implicatures. In addition, this study also examined the conventional implicatures and conversational implicatures that arise as a result of speakers not obeying the maxims in the principle of cooperation and the maxims contained in the principle of politeness. References to other theories were the context of speech situations and the context of language use. The method used was a qualitative descriptive method. The data collected was in the form of words or written speech. The data was obtained from the fourth-grade elementary school students' book of the 2013 curriculum revised edition in 2016 in two integrated thematic books, namely; theme 6 (Cita-citaku) and theme 9 (Kayanya Negeriku). The results showed that the implicatures found in the sixth and ninth theme students' books were conventional implicatures and non-conventional implicatures. In the student book theme 6, there were 7 conversational implicatures found and in the student book theme 9 found 8 conversational implicatures. Besides that, the researcher also found 4 conventional implicatures in the students' book theme 6 and 8 other conventional implicatures in the students' book theme 9. The maxims that were violated based on the principle of cooperation were the maxim of quantity, the maxim of quality, and the maxim of relevance. Besides that, the context behind the speech event was in the form of background knowledge that is both understood by the speakers and their speech partners. The context of the purpose of the speech that was found is entirely influenced by the themes proclaimed in each book.

Who should apologise: Expressing criticism of public figures on Chinese social media in times of COVID-19

Previous studies on public opinion expression in communication, political science and discourse analysis are restricted to a censorship-/counter-censorship frame and focus their analysis on events with political agendas. This study explores netizens’ discursive practice by focusing the analysis on netizens’ language use in context per se, rather than from a censorship/counter-censorship viewpoint. It adopts a discursive pragmatic approach to examine a ‘mundane’ trending topic regarding a dispute between two public figures rather than ‘major’ events with acute social and political agendas. This study present evidence that Weibo users criticise public figures through indirect discursive strategies, including parody of name, constructed dialogues and rhetorical questions. It also highlights two prominent sentiments in Weibo public spheres during the COVID-19 pandemic – cyber nationalism and binary opposition between China and the rest of the world. The online backlash against Fang demonstrates how easily netizens can change their views towards a certain event.

LANGUAGE ECOLOGY AND DOMAIN: COMPARISON BETWEEN SASAK AND BAJO LANGUAGE RESISTANCE IN LOMBOK (EKOLOGI DAN RANAH BAHASA: KOMPARASI KEBERTAHANAN BAHASA SASAK DAN BAHASA BAJO DI LOMBOK)

This study aims to map the choice of Sasak and Bajo languages by their respective speakers and to map land and sea ecology trends in both. The language ecology is a reference for the thinking of this study, considering the language ecology is related to the thoughts of language speakers and the context of language use. In addition to the concept of language ecology, the concept and study of language survival in several contexts of language use are the reference of this study. Through participatory survey methods and content analysis it was found that the Bajo language was more consistent in the realms of communication than the Sasak language. This condition is proven by the portion of Bajo language usage which is always more dominant in all domains compared to other languages. Both of the phenomena above show that marine ecology is very strategic in supporting the survival of the Bajo language in the sphere of communication of its speakers. On the other hand, terrestrial ecology with its various dynamics causes the inconsistency of Sasak speakers to maintain the language of Sasak in some domains.

Examining authenticity from an ELF perspective: the development of listening test papers in Hong Kong (1986–2018)

Abstract The present study examined the degree of situational and interactional authenticity in Hong Kong’s listening examination papers throughout the history of colonisation and globalisation (1986–2018) with reference to world Englishes and particularly English as a lingua franca (ELF) research. By means of a detailed content analysis, the evaluation of situational authenticity was based on the context of language use (e.g., speech event type, nature of interaction, identity and accent of interlocutor) in the audio samples, while the evaluation of interactional authenticity centred on the speaker’s use of communicative strategies. Our findings suggest that the speech samples generally reflected the changing situations of language use over time by increasingly adopting dialogue (rather than monologue) and locally/globally relevant language use contexts, but only included native-speaker and (from 2012) Hong Kong English accents as speech models. Despite the lack of non-standardness and speakers of different cultures in the speech samples, there were numerous instances of explicitness strategies relevant to ELF interactions throughout the sample, probably owing to the intent of the listening examination to highlight key information for the candidates. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of these trends in listening paper design for the future development of English language teaching from an ELF perspective.