ABSTRACTPrevious research into children's comprehension of syntactic structures has investigated early awareness of transitive and intransitive structures amongst monolingual children but research into bilingual children's understanding of the same sentence structures is lacking. This study compared 46 3–5‐year‐old bilingual children who spoke English and an additional language with 64 monolingual, English‐speaking children, in their ability to associate transitive sentences with a causal scene, and intransitive sentences with a non‐causal scene. In contrast to previous studies, the current study used still images instead of videos to create eight trials per structure, increasing the number of trials and testing structure as a within‐participants manipulation. Children's vocabulary and executive function skills were also tested to observe interactions with the sentence comprehension task. Both groups showed the same overall pattern of effects, though the monolingual children were reliably more likely to match the causal scene to a transitive than bilingual children: Older children associated the transitive trials with causal scenes more than the intransitive trials, whereas 3‐year‐olds tended to associate both the transitive and intransitive sentences with causal scenes. Executive function performance did not differ between bilingual and monolingual children and was not related to sentence interpretation, but monolingual children had higher English vocabulary scores and children with greater vocabularies were better able to distinguish causal scenes as a match for transitive sentences. The results suggest that differences in comprehension of syntactic structures are more likely to be related to age and language ability, rather than differences in the number of languages spoken.SummaryBilingual and monolingual children showed similar patterns in their ability to comprehend transitive and intransitive sentences, though monolinguals more reliably associated transitives with causal scenes.4‐ and 5‐year‐olds were better at associating transitives with causal scenes and intransitives with either causal or non‐causal, whereas 3‐year‐olds associated both sentences with causal scenes.Age was a better predictor of differences in interpreting transitivity than the number of languages children speak.No executive function differences between bilinguals and monolinguals were found, monolinguals had larger English verb vocabularies; vocabulary was related positively to causal scene/transitive associations.

The article investigates the pre-modifiers and post-modifiers of three-part noun phrase structures of which the heads are nominalized verbs in Vietnamese and English. 600 Vietnamese and English noun phrase structures from various literary works are used for analysis. The results revealed not only the most and the least popular pre-modifier and post-modifier in the noun phrase structure but also the combination of these modifiers in both languages. The analysis of three-part noun phrase structures enables language users to identify the structure, the components, the word classes easily and to determine the distinctive features of noun phrase structures successfully in both languages. This article plays a theoretical and practical role in Vietnamese and English language research. The findings not only strengthen the theories and suggest future research directions on word classes in languages but also are the scientific basis for recommendations for teaching and learning Vietnamese and English.

This article explores the verb as the semantic and grammatical core of the sentence and argues that verbal predicates have a broader meaning potential than their basic lexical semantics. Drawing on S.D.Kasnelson’s approach, it is shown that a verbal predicate not only denotes an event or state but also encodes a “sentence blueprint” through its valency structure (i.e., a set of semantic slots to be filled by arguments). The paper notes that modern linguistics lacks a universally accepted semantic classification of verbs; therefore, a paradigmatic perspective is employed, distinguishing verbs of activity, state, property, and relation on the basis of invariant meaning. The main focus is the classification of mental (cognitive) verbs into microfields, including verbs of sensation, desire, perception (general perception, visual perception, auditory perception, olfactory perception), attention, emotional experience and attitude, thinking, and memory. The analysis is supported by Uzbek and English examples drawn from literary sources. The study contributes to the systematization of the mental lexicon and provides implications for contrastive semantics, lexicography, translation, and language teaching

Abstract This article examines metonymy within the grammatical domain of morphology ( Janda 2011 ; Brdar 2017 ; Gutiérrez Rubio 2021 ; Kos & Gutiérrez Rubio, this volume), focusing on Spanish denominal verbs ending in - ear derived from body part nouns (e.g., manosear, pestañear ). These verbs illustrate morphological recategorization through an affix that is semantically underspecified, serving primarily to mark a categorial shift. They parallel English denominal verbs formed by conversion, as in “I was anxious to get inside and nose around her house,” where the noun nose functions as a verb. The referential domain of body parts reflects fundamental human experience, providing a conceptual basis for verb formation and interpretation. As Kövecses and Radden (1998: 60) argue, the ease of creating and processing such verbs stems from common metonymic patterns. Specifically, verbs like manosear and pestañear instantiate a primary metonymy, where a body part stands for the action it performs: mano (“hand”) for touching, pestaña (“eyelash”) for eyelash movement. Both cases exemplify the broader metonymic schema BODY PART FOR ACTION, with hands and eyelashes functioning as Instrument and Theme, respectively. The analysis draws on dictionary definitions supplemented by corpus data to illustrate authentic usage. Findings suggest that Spanish verbs derived from body part nouns not only reflect cross-linguistic tendencies in the semantic extension of body part terms but also reveal language-internal variation shaped by cultural factors. This study thus contributes to understanding how metonymy motivates morphological processes and highlights the interplay between cognitive mechanisms and linguistic structure.

The article addresses the issue of the development of the Russian language in the first quarter of the 21st century, particularly the problem of composite formation in language transfer. The relevance of the topic is due to the combination of linguistic and extralinguistic factors: the interest of Russian linguists in the causes of language changes and the content characteristics of the recent years in the history of the Russian language, the rapid growth of the tourism industry and hospitality in Russia, the increased use of foreign vocabulary in the Russian language due to globalization processes, and the ongoing search for new concepts to fill the resulting gaps. The subject of the study is a group of compound nouns – quasi-composites with the initial component "травел- / трэвел- / тревел-", which is derived from the English verb "travel". It has been established that only 2 quasi-composites with the considered foreign element have been recorded in modern linguistic dictionaries, 7 in the National Corpus of the Russian Language (the main subcorpus), and 47 in scientific, advertising, and tourism discourse texts. Based on contextual usage, the definitions of the collected quasi-composites are formulated, and units with different meanings are identified (травел-формат / трэвел-формат / тревел-формат; травел-программа / трэвел-программа / тревел-программа and others). Quasi-composites are marked, both according to the borrowed model, in which the components are derived from English (тревел-райтер / трэвел-райтер; трэвел-шоу / тревел-шоу, etc.), and according to the contaminated model, in which the first component is derived from English and the second component is derived from Russian (трэвел-передача / тревел-передача; трэвел-услуга / тревел-услуга, etc.). Quasi-composites with graphemes "Э / Е" in the initial foreign-language element are more preferable and competitive in written communication. The author concludes that it is necessary to establish uniformity in the spelling of quasi-composites with the element "травел- / трэвел- / тревел-" and to conduct a complete inventory of these compound words.

ABSTRACT Direct electrical stimulation (DES) during awake craniotomy is the gold-standard for language mapping; however, conventional tasks (e.g. counting, object naming, reading) provide limited sensitivity to grammatical and sentence-level processes. The present study introduces the first intraoperative application of the English Verb and Noun Test for Perioperative testing (VAN-POP), a sentence-based paradigm designed to probe object and action naming with finite verbs in past and present tense. VAN-POP was administered to four UK English-speaking patients undergoing awake craniotomy for WHO grade II-III gliomas involving frontal, temporal, or parietal regions. Language-positive sites were identified in three patients, and real-time monitoring revealed language disruptions in three patients. DES elicited action naming disruptions in two patients. Middle and inferior frontal stimulation induced tense errors and verbal-visual paraphasias, whilst angular gyrus stimulation induced speech arrest. During resection, three patients exhibited action naming disruptions, including semantic and morphosyntactic errors, anomia, and delays. Postoperatively, no patients showed clinically significant deficits requiring speech and language therapy. These findings demonstrate that VAN-POP is feasible for intraoperative use and increases sensitivity to grammar-related cortical sites beyond conventional mapping approaches. Incorporating finite verb production within DES protocols may improve delineation of language networks, supporting better preservation of function.

This study explores the use of modal verbs in Pakistani and American English through a corpus-based analysis of data drawn from the Global Web-Based English (GloWbE) corpus. The study examines five modal verbs—must, should, may, might, and would—through a comparative analysis of their semantic, pragmatic, and collocational patterns in the two English varieties. Based on the frequency counts, concordance lines and collocational analysis, the study demonstrates that Pakistani English is more likely to be used in formal registers whereas American English is more conversational. There are also differences in collocational patterns that bear the cultural and practical impacts in both varieties. The findings provide an empirical evidence of regional variation in modal verb usage, contributing to the fields of World Englishes and Corpus Linguistics. Moreover, the study provides pedagogical implications in teaching English language based on the findings of the research, emphasizing the role of contextual and regional sensitivity in teaching and learning modal verbs. The study emphasizes the significance of corpus-based approaches in investigating authentic language use across different varieties of English.

This study examines the types and functions of reporting verbs (RVs) in L2 undergraduate academic writing and elucidates first language (L1) academic proficiency's impact on verb choice. The data were collected from literature review sections of English and Czech-medium master's theses authored by economics students whose first language is Czech. The study combined corpus-based and contrastive approaches. RVs were classified based on their discourse functions, and tense and voice grammatical categories were identified. Findings indicate that a weaker academic proficiency in the native language may lead to a reduced capacity to utilize rhetorical devices and express one's stance effectively in L2 English learner writing. Limited academic proficiency in L2 English-medium theses was suggested by a restricted vocabulary of RVs and inconsistent use of grammatical patterns. Both L2 English and L1 Czech-medium theses displayed a notable tendency to use non-committal verbs, avoiding making strong textual judgments.

In lexicology and specialised terminology, there is ongoing debate about whether there are hierarchical semantic connections between the individual meanings of a polysemous word-term, with a generalised, common component (invariant) in the plane of language paradigmatics and differential variable meanings (semes) in the plane of speech syntagmatics. The article argues that there is a generalised, core meaning of a prefixed verb (invariant, common to all), and other variants, i.e. numerous variable senses. New meanings of prefixed verbs and their senses, which arose as a result of semantic transformation or reinterpretation of existing nominations, are revealed. It is proven that the essence of the process of metaphorisation and metonymisation of English prefixal verbs-terms lies in changing their primary meaning by including new differential semes in their semantics, which modify meanings. During semantic transformations of a prefixed verb-term, new numerous senses, becoming actualised, open up new deep semantic layers that fill the prefixed verb-term with extraordinary professional content. It is emphasised that in practical application, as derivative and cognitive-semantic mechanisms, metaphor and metonymy are a way of simplifying, economising and highlighting the generalised invariant meaning of the English prefixed verb-term. The article asserts that stylistic tropes as a linguistic fact are a category of thinking and a process of expanding meanings and forming senses, and are a cognitive way of creating a mechanism of prefixal verb terms in specialised English-language texts. In conclusion, it is noted that stylistic figures, metaphor and metonymy, are factors in the creation and evolution of English prefixal verbs and cause, firstly, the emergence of new formations and, secondly, new senses of already existing units. The metaphorical and metonymic process consists in the mental perception of one conceptual phenomenon through another, because stylistic tropes as a linguistic fact are a category of thinking and a process of expanding meanings, forming senses, and a cognitive way of creating a mechanism of prefixal verb-terms in specialised English-language texts. Thus, at the present stage of development of linguistic thought, research focuses on several key issues related to the cognitive essence, functions and stylistic possibilities of metaphor and metonymy in the explication of semantic transformations and cognitive mechanisms of prefixal verb-terms.

General Background Vocabulary mastery is a fundamental component of English language learning, supporting learners’ abilities in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Specific Background Junior high school students often experience difficulties in acquiring and retaining verbs and nouns when instruction relies on conventional memorization-based approaches. Knowledge Gap Existing studies emphasize interactive media, yet limited attention has been given to tangible, game-based visual tools that integrate categorization and contextual use of vocabulary. Aims This study aims to examine the use of Word-Guess Bouquet as an interactive medium for learning English verbs and nouns among junior high school students. Results The findings indicate that the implementation of Word-Guess Bouquet supports students’ vocabulary mastery by encouraging active participation, collaborative learning, and contextual application of words. Students demonstrated improved ability to distinguish and use verbs and nouns during learning activities. Novelty This study introduces a bouquet-shaped visual learning medium that combines guessing, classification, and contextual sentence use within a game-based format. Implications The results suggest that integrating creative, student-centered media such as Word-Guess Bouquet can support vocabulary instruction in EFL classrooms and provide practical insights for teachers seeking interactive alternatives to traditional vocabulary teaching. Keywords : Word-Guess Bouquet, Vocabulary Learning, Verbs and Nouns, Junior High School, Interactive Media Key Findings Highlights Interactive bouquet-based media supported students’ active engagement in vocabulary learning Learners demonstrated clearer differentiation between verbs and nouns during activities Game-oriented visual tools encouraged collaborative and low-anxiety classroom interaction

This paper aims at analyzing semantic nuances of modality in Law-Translation focusing on modal verb shall in legal text in English and its translations in Urdu. Ambiguity inherent in the meanings of English modal verbs and the way they are translated into Urdu, create many issues to be explained. Almost all the modal verbs may, might, must, will, shall, should, would, can and could, are commonly used in conveying legal sense but their implications are different and varied. modal auxiliary verbs in English grammar. Punjab laws and their translation is from the Punjab Codes have been used as data. Ant Conc has been employed for gathering statistical values of the most frequent of the modal in the ST. It runs with its various meanings in the legal text and distinguishes it as formal language, a Register. The research has explored an intriguing presence of modal shall and variety of its Urdu translations that significantly resolve the ambiguity found in the use of modal shall. This disambiguates through Urdu translation in legal context, and can bring a propitious convenience for law users. This research unfolds the age-old ambivalence of legal text and brings a solacing opportunity for understanding legal sense with native or local cognition. It opens a new venue for linguists and corpus-based investigations in the field of law.

Abstract This study investigates the pedagogical impact of integrating cognitive linguistics (CL) into concept‐based language instruction (C‐BLI) for teaching English modal verbs. Eighty‐nine Mandarin‐speaking university learners were assigned to one of three instructional conditions: C‐BLI with CL‐based conceptualizations (C‐BLI‐CL), C‐BLI with non‐CL functional grammar explanations (C‐BLI‐nonCL), and traditional definition‐based instruction (control). All groups completed pre‐, post‐, and delayed post‐tests measuring conceptual languaging and cloze‐based modal accuracy. Results showed that both C‐BLI groups outperformed the control group, but the C‐BLI‐CL group demonstrated significantly higher gains in meaningful and systematic languaging, as well as sustained accuracy in modal usage over time. In contrast, the C‐BLI‐nonCL group showed greater verbal explicability but experienced an accuracy decline at the delayed post‐test. The findings support the compatibility of CL and C‐BLI in promoting durable L2 development and suggest that instructional design grounded in conceptual coherence facilitates deeper learning. Implications are discussed for advancing meaning‐oriented grammar pedagogy through concept‐based and cognitively informed approaches.

This study investigates the expression of modality—the linguistic means of conveying certainty, obligation, and speaker attitude—in English and Javanese short stories through a contrastive analysis. While modality plays a critical role in both languages, its realization exhibits notable cross-linguistic differences. Drawing on semantic and pragmatic frameworks, particularly the typology of modality proposed by Palmer (1986) and Nguyen Hoa (2004), this study categorizes and examines epistemic, deontic, dynamic, and intentional modalities. The findings reveal that English modal verbs tend to maintain relatively fixed meanings, whereas Javanese modality is characterized by greater contextual flexibility, often influenced by affixation and nuanced cultural cues. These contrasts underscore the linguistic richness of Javanese and highlight the importance of understanding modality in second language acquisition. The study contributes to the fields of language pedagogy, translation, and intercultural communication by emphasizing the need for accurate interpretation of modality across linguistic and cultural boundaries.

This paper investigates linguistic and translational specifics of English phrasal verbs in technical texts, analyzing translation strategies in Ukrainian. Phrasal verbs constitute specific lexico-grammatical layer of English language, which combines semantic information density with high functionality load. Although phrasal verbs are traditionally associated with informal speech, they are widely used in technical documentation, instructions, and manuals in order to convey operational, procedural meanings. Their polysemy and structural variability make them difficult to translate and can lead to semantic inaccuracy or stylistic inconsistency. The study aims to identify the main types of phrasal verbs used in English technical texts and to determine effective strategies for translating them into Ukrainian. The research material have become a corpus of authentic English technical texts and their Ukrainian translations. The study uses comparative, contextual and structural-semantic analysis to define the frequency of translation decisions. The results of the research proves that the most effective choice of translation is lexical replacement using single-world verb equivalents. It meets the requirements of accuracy, conciseness and stylistic neutrality of technical discourse. Literal translation is applied selectively for phrasal verbs with transparent semantics, while idiomatic and structurally complex constructions require paraphrasing or descriptive translation method. Obtained results confirm the relevance of a functionally oriented and contextual approach to the translation of phrasal verbs in technical texts.

Abstract Previous research has highlighted that supplementing standard group-level event-related potential analyses with assessments of individual variation can enhance our understanding of language-related brain activity. The present study pursues this approach by examining bilingual speakers’ brain responses to morphologically complex word forms in both their native (German, L1) and their second language (English, L2). We tested 108 bilingual speakers using an ERP violation paradigm examining overapplications of regular verb inflections (‘regularizations’) and of irregular ones (‘irregularizations’). We found a striking L1/L2 contrast within the same bilingual speakers, a left-anterior negativity for regularizations in the L1 and a positivity (P600) for both violation types in the L2. Consistent with previous research, individuals’ brain responses were found to vary along negativity-/positivity-dominant effects. However, the crucial L1/L2 contrast in participants’ brain responses to regularizations was stable across individual differences. We conclude that linguistic constraints, that is, violation type and language status (L1 vs. L2), limit individual variability.

This study investigates whether a multimedia mnemonic intervention, designed with cognitive and information design principles, improves the retention of irregular English verbs among adult ESL learners. Using a within-subject pre-post design, participants completed two identical Wordwall memory tests (15 multiple-choice items) separated by a minimum 24-hour interval. Between tests, learners viewed a 5 min 10 s edited music video based on The Beatles’ A Day in the Life, enriched with visual cues to support semantic encoding and dual coding. From 26 volunteers initially contacted, 24 participants (B2-C1; ages 25-55) completed both tests and were analyzed. Mean error rates decreased from 32% to 24% (25% relative reduction), with stronger gains in the in-person subgroup (35% to 20%) than in the remote subgroup (31% to 25%). Mean completion time also decreased from 3:33 to 2:20 (34.3% reduction). These results suggest that well-designed audiovisual mnemonics, combined with an accessible testing interface, can support short-term retention and fluency in irregular-verb learning. Limitations include a small convenience sample and the absence of delayed follow-up beyond 24 hours, which future studies should address.

Research undertaken globally has revealed that English phrasal verbs (EPVs) are one of the most difficult areas for English as a foreign language (EFL) and English as a second language (ESL) learners who wish to advance and have an excellent command of the English language. Through implementing a mixed-method approach, which is comprised of descriptive and analytical approaches, this article aims to provide EFL learners with the knowledge essential for the comprehension and use of PVs.

This study investigates the role of functional verbs in expressing passive voice across Chinese, Japanese, and English, with a focus on the Chinese verb chī ( 吃 ), the Japanese verbs kuu and kurau, and the English verb eat. The hypothesis is that these verbs can convey passive meanings by shifting the subject’s role from agent to patient, even in the absence of overt passive markers. Through a syntactic and semantic analysis, this study reveals that functional verbs in all three languages can assign passive interpretations, often implying undesirable outcomes. The findings highlight the grammatical and pragmatic similarities and differences in the use of functional verbs across these languages, emphasizing their role as a cross-linguistic phenomenon. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of passive voice beyond traditional syntactic markers, offering new insights into the interaction between functional verbs and passive constructions.

Abstract This study investigates an asymmetry in (Mandarin) Chinese-English word-internal code-switching: while Chinese inflectional morphemes readily attach to English verbs, Chinese derivational morphemes are consistently rejected when combined with English lexical bases. This pattern raises questions about how the free morpheme constraint should be formulated in bilingual grammar. Building on the phonetic form (PF) interface condition, as proposed in MacSwan’s [Generative approaches to codeswitching. In B. E. Bullock & A. J. Toribio (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of linguistic code-switching (pp. 309–335). Cambridge University Press (2009)], we argue that the asymmetry is best explained in a lexicalist model that permits post-syntactic affixation. In this approach, inflectional morphology may attach at PF through PF merger, whereas derivational morphology is assembled prior to syntax. The observed asymmetry thus follows from the distribution of morphology across components and the conditions governing the mapping from syntax to phonology. The findings show that derivational timing shapes code-switching, support the viability of lexicalist models that permit post-syntactic affixation, and indicate that word-internal code-switching is permitted under specific interface conditions.

This article analyzes the lexical-semantic and grammatical features observed in the translation of English physiological state verbs into Uzbek. Physiological state verbs denote natural processes occurring in the human body, and their accurate translation plays an important role in ensuring semantic clarity and naturalness of expression. The article provides a comparative study of the semantic scope, usage characteristics, and Uzbek equivalents of verbs such as to breathe, to sweat, to tremble, to faint, and to blink. It is shown that in the translation process these verbs may be rendered either through direct lexical equivalence or by means of contextual reformulation. In addition, the study highlights the influence of verb valency, stylistic differences, connotative meanings, and additional grammatical devices in English and Uzbek. The research findings demonstrate that a comparative analysis and a context-based approach are essential for achieving adequacy, semantic correspondence, and naturalness of expression when translating physiological state verbs. The article serves as a practical guide for translators, linguists, and students engaged in translation studies.