Linguistic Codes Research Articles

Through a southern prism: translating Stuart Hall into Spanish

ABSTRACT Translation is an intellectual endeavour that requires engagement with authors and conceptual frameworks from different times and worlds. It is not a neutral or simple task of converting linguistic codes but a situated, partial, and interested process that goes beyond mere intellectual activity. In translating Stuart Hall into Spanish for a Latin American audience, specific challenges and interests arise, as detailed in this article. Three main challenges are discussed: preserving the contextuality and complexity of Hall's writings, resisting the temptation to simplify or academicize his work, and ensuring that translations facilitate meaningful cross-cultural exchanges. The article underscores the importance of understanding Hall's work as an intellectual and political project, deeply rooted in specific historical and cultural contexts, and argues for an approach to translation that remains faithful to these dimensions while making his ideas accessible and relevant to contemporary Latin American readers. Finally, the paper reflects on the political significance of translation, highlighting how ideas can transcend boundaries and enrich local debates. Hall's concepts, such as articulation, context, and conjuncture, are presented as valuable tools for understanding and intervening in the social and political realities of Latin America today. The article concludes by emphasizing the ongoing relevance of Hall's intellectual and political contributions and the need for translations that honour his legacy while engaging with the specific challenges and opportunities of our present moment.

Abigéltől Emerencig: nevek és sorsok Szabó Magda regényeiben

Among numerous other factors, the allegorical or symbolic interpretations of the names of characters and heroes – constructed with the help of our linguistic, literary and cultural codes – play a crucial role in the process of meaning creation in literary works. Magda Szabó’s novels employ similar strategies. This paper examines the name-giving and name-interpreting strategies employed in some of Magda Szabó’s novels (Abigél, Birthday, Tell Zsófika) using the tools of literary and cultural studies. The paper explores potential interpretations based on name symbolism, intertextuality, psychoanalytic and feminist readings, and contemporary cultural codes. It also seeks answers to how the names of characters and the literary, linguistic and cultural context in which they are situated influence the construction of possible meanings.

Linguistic Strategies, Code Choices, and Teaching Methods Among EFL Learners to Overcome Language Friction

When experiencing language friction, English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners use several linguistic strategies to maintain the continuity of their utterances. This phenomenon has an impact on the code choice taken by those EFL learners. This research aims to reveal: (1) linguistic strategies used among EFL learners when experiencing language friction, (2) EFL learners’ code choices when experiencing language friction, and (3) language teaching methods used to help English learners overcome language friction. Conducted in an English language education study program at a university in Indonesia, this research applied the qualitative descriptive method, and involved 4 students and 2 lecturers as participants. Data was collected using observation and interviews. Data were analyzed using procedures proposed by Creswell (2013), including data management, reading and providing memos, describing, classifying, interpreting data, visualization, and representation. This study found: (1) linguistic strategies that EFL learners used to maintain the continuity of their utterances when experiencing language friction were unlexicalized fillers, lexicalized fillers, excessive repetition of a word, lengthening a word, pauses, and code-switching, (2) code choices among EFL learners were code-alternation dan code-mixing, and (3) language teaching methods used to help EFL learners overcome language friction were implementing holistic learning, practicing relevant communicative contexts, encouraging active involvement in the English language community, using technology and digital media in learning, implementing a multilingual approach, providing social and cultural support, and implementing effective training. Understanding of linguistic strategies and code choice in relation to language friction is substantial in English teaching methods because it facilitates communication, promotes learning and adaptation, supports social interaction, and encourages strategic thinking.

Culture shapes how we describe facial expressions

From Darwin through Wittgenstein to contemporary scientific investigations, it has been argued humans tend to view facial expressions through a mentalistic lens. According to this view, when looking at someone’s expressive face, we see emotion and are unable to describe the face in behavioral terms, i.e., name the details of facial movements. At the same time, however, a growing body of work shows cultures in fact differ in the degree of importance they attribute to mental states and willingness to discuss them. Is this variation reflected in the linguistic coding of facial expressions? To explore this, we conducted two facial expression naming tasks targeting mental states and facial movements with speakers of Maniq (Austroasiatic, Thailand) and Polish (Indo-European, Poland), representing highly diverse linguistic and cultural settings. We found that, while Polish speakers conformed with the predicted orientation towards mental states, this did not hold for Maniq speakers. The Maniq were instead oriented towards behavioral aspects of faces, naming them more frequently, more precisely, and with higher consensus, compared to the Polish. These differences are carved into the Maniq and Polish lexicons, suggesting diverse cultures exhibit differential specialization in verbalizing expressive faces.

The Effects of Sheng’ Vocabulary Usage in the Learning of Kiswahili Grammar in Public Secondary Schools in Kenya

Purpose: Sheng’ is a linguistic code based primarily on the Kiswahili structure and grammar with the lexicon drawn from Kiswahili, English and the various ethnic languages of Kenya; that are mostly spoken in towns and other urban areas. The purpose of this paper was to examine the effects of Sheng’ vocabulary on the learning of Kiswahili grammar in public secondary schools in Kenya. Methodology: Krejcie & Morgan sampling table was used to sample the schools. Stratified random sampling, simple random sampling and purposive strategy were used to sample the public secondary schools to participate. Krejcie and Morgan sampling table was used to sample 55 teachers of Kiswahili and 360 students to take part in the study. Data was collected using observation schedules, focused group discussion guides and a writing task for students. Questionnaires and interview guides were used for teachers of Kiswahili. Qualitative data collected was analyzed thematically to generate information that was summarized in graphics and discussed in narrative form. Quantitative data was analyzed with the help of Statistical package for social Studies. Findings: The findings of the study further revealed that Sheng’ vocabulary influenced written Kiswahili grammar as learners wrote Sheng’ words whereas they were expected to write standard Kiswahili. Unique Contribution to Theory, Policy, and Practice: School administrators should come up with a school-based language policy so as to control learners’ language environment. The ministry of education should encourage the culture of drama, music and debate competition among schools. The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development should also ensure language use is stipulated in Kiswahili curriculum and Sheng’ be considered as an independent language code in the country.

Multimodal Analysis of the Spanish Linguistic Landscape in Alabama

The study of linguistic landscapes (LL) examines the use of signage in public spaces, often with a focus on the use of non-majority languages. The main goals of this project are to map, quantify, and analyze signage in Spanish within Tuscaloosa County, AL, an emerging site of Spanish language use which differs from the large urban places often studied in the LL literature. Photographs of public signage in Spanish were taken and uploaded to an ArcGIS Field Maps app to allow for both geolocation of the image and tagging of the image for specific linguistic and visual characteristics, which are subsumed under multimodality. Multimodality refers to the interaction of the linguistic code with other modes of communication such as images, colors, flags, and other cultural objects to make meaning in a given LL text. Within the multimodality framework, we examine the use of Spanish by itself or with English, location of the signage, communicative functions (symbolic, informative), and the combination of multimodal resources to index the actors originating the text and their intended audience.

Code-Switching Used in Indonesian-Japanese Interpersonal Communication: A Sociolinguistics Study

This research analyzed code-switching used during interpersonal communication events between Indonesian and Japanese native speakers who understand both languages. This sociolinguistic analysis examines the phenomenon of code-switching based on socio-cultural and socio-situational. In this study, the data were collected using questionnaires and interviews. Findings have found that several factors underlie code-switching in interpersonal communication: the ability of language participants, speakers' shifting moods and wills, conversational topics, speakers' sense of solidarity, speakers' incapacity to use linguistic codes, and speakers' propensity to use the idea that a first-learned vocabulary (cognitive primacy). The purposes of code-switching in a conversation are to facilitate communication, strengthen the bond between the speaker and the speaking partner, respect one another's cultural backgrounds, facilitate discussion, enhance foreign language proficiency, and serve as a reminder to speakers to address specific topics or provide an answer to a question.

Procedure e metodologie per la conoscenza e il disegno delle architetture della città

The experience in comparative reading the architectural components as of their role in urban interrelationships provides the opportunity to promote some reflections and exemplifications on the relevance of history as a primary reference source along any path of urban growth and architectural evolution; on the meaning of the critical evaluation of the epoch and time progression in the juxtaposition of urban segments; last but not least, on identifying, thanks to the comparative tool of the ‘cross’ reading, and measuring the capability of the city’s structures to know how to develop and actively encompass the stratification that the historical process imposes to dignify and valorise the contemporary city. On the shared assumption that every survey activity is indeed an act involving measurement, geometric reference, structural and technological analysis, historical documentation, and is, above all, an interpretative reading task that seeks to provide a critical and cognitive evalu- ation of the examined architecture, it is fair to state that its primary purpose is to render the architectural qualities of the relevant elements, whether they are analysed as per their individ- uality or as part of the whole organism. By its very nature, the survey activity is committed to translating the continuum of reality into a system of features, traces, and signs, i.e., encoding elements of a linguistic code that is widely shareable and, therefore, transmissible. The tran- sition from the complexity of reality, from the continuum of architectural matter to the com- plexity of drawing sign structure, a challenging operation involving the discretisation of reality and its figurative rearrangement, inevitably implies an interpretative gestation concerning the surveyed object.

A study in scarlet: cultural memory of the tropes related to the color red, female countenance, and onstage makeup in the Sinophone world

Abstract In a high-context culture like Chinese, the linguistic code encompasses only part of the message and is incomplete without context. One of the implicit codes embedded in high-context communication is color tropes. Highly recognizable in the Sinophone world, color tropes often manifest themselves in the forms of metaphor, metonymy, allusions, and similes and are often related to the conveyance of emotional content. This paper provides a selection and discussion of such color tropes, demonstrates that color in a language inspires associations and connotations that are often very subtle and determined by deep cultural memory, and, giving several Chinese examples, shows how the primary semasiology of a color term often influences its subsequent semantic extension.

Linguistic coding of the INFIDELITY event. Analysis of verbal and nominal constructions in Mexican Spanish.

El objetivo central de este trabajo es analizar las técnicas lingüísticas que el español de México utiliza para configurar el evento de INFIDELIDAD, es decir, cómo el español mexicano codifica lingüísticamente el evento de INFIDELIDAD. El presente artículo constituye parte de una investigación más amplia, aquí nos centramos sólo en dos técnicas que utiliza el español mexicano para codificar dicho evento, a saber, las construcciones verbales y nominales. El análisis se hace recurriendo a la lingüística operacional, según la cual, la función primordial de las lenguas es la comunicación de significados, donde cada una de ellas los expresa de manera distinta haciendo uso de las estructuras y técnicas que le son propias, así como de la creatividad de sus hablantes al utilizarlas. Para este estudio nos valemos de un corpus heterogéneo tomado de artículos de revistas, textos literarios y del habla coloquial cotidiana, entre otros. Con este artículo pretendemos contribuir a los estudios en semántica, en variación lingüística y en otros temas concerientes a la lingüística en general.

Linguistic Transfer: Case Study

Introduction: This article is part of a descriptive research developed between 2019 and 2022 with the students of the Modern Languages ​​Program of the University of Caldas, Colombia. It deals with the presence of other languages in a base language (language in use) ​​at the scriptural level. Objective: The main objective of the research is to explain the phenomenon of transfer in light of the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic levels and to be able to determine whether or not it is an ungrammaticality, as well as the reasons why this phenomenon occurs in language learning. Methodology: We made use of a method based on a series of interviews with foreign language teachers in Colombia and some surveys of language students. Results: Then a linguistic analysis was applied to a series of written texts where transfer was evident. Conclusion: Finally, it was concluded that the phenomena of transfer and interference do not occur due to the hierarchy of acquisition over learning, nor due to the kinship of languages ​​or similarities between them, but because of the affinities derived from the greater use or contact with the linguistic code.

Modern forms of a prophecy: From written word to audiovisual Internet product

Prophecies contain a unique cultural and linguistic code, which plays an essential role in organizing the linguistic worldview and shapes national consciousness. The article aims to specify the linguistic features of prophecies and identify their modern forms. To achieve this goal, biblical texts were compared with modern prophecies within and outside religion. Due to the phenomenon's complexity, the material selection criteria were flexible. The Canonic Bible was the initial source of the material (4 books of Major Prophets and 12 books of Minor Prophets). The modern prophecies were obtained from 2 collections of written prophecies (157 texts) as well as 10 audio recordings of prophetic sessions (4 hours) and 40 videos (10 hours). We explored prophetic texts and changes in their forms using semiotic modeling. The interdisciplinary nature of the research necessitated the use of the descriptive method, as well as methods of contextual, interpretative, and content analysis to identify the meaning of the linguistic units by highlighting mechanisms of the construction of meaning. The chosen methods helped to identify the meanings of linguistic units, highlighting the mechanisms of constructing meaning, as well as the ethnocultural language code of prophecies. The method of interpretative analysis made it possible to determine the patterns of expression of meaning associated with the system of ideal images and the rules for their transformation into meanings. The results of the study demonstrated a clear simplification of the initial characteristics during the transition of biblical prophecies from written form to an audiovisual Internet product. In addition, the results revealed an obvious displacement of the vector of decoding and interpretation of ethnoculturally-conditioned components. Further research will allow us to build a linguosemiotic model of prophetic discourse to trace ethnocultural and linguistic changes in the form, content, and entire genre of prophecy, which will open up new prospects for the study and interpretation of the phenomenon itself.

Song and poetic text Bella ciao in a mosaic of languages, cultures and arts

The development of textology and intertextuality opens up new perspectives in the interpretation of famous texts, including the song of the Italian Resistance participants Bella ciao . Its numerous polymodal representations in different languages and arts account for the need to systematize them on uniform methodological grounds. The material of the article is the song and poetic text in Italian dialects and in the common Italian neo-standard, its translations into Romance languages, interpretations in Russian, Caucasian and other languages, as well as multimedia and polychannel versions. The goal of the article is to discuss intertextual, semantic and semiotic parameters of the text; to establish the parameters of internal and external intertextuality of the versions of the original text; and to characterize the precedent phenomena serving as the basis for the development and transformation of their aesthetics. The study aims to build and interpret the precedent links and associations of the song Bella ciao in its intertextual transformations; to determine its specificity in the semiocultural conditions of reading and interpretation and at the same time to evaluate its place in the context of Italian and world culture. The methodology is based on a set of methods at the intersection of linguosemiotic, functional and semantic approaches focusing on such parameters of the text as precedence, variation, correlation of linguistic and non-linguistic codes, comparison of the original and translations, polycode, polymodal and translation transformations. The study has established that, as a result of numerous intertextual transformations, the original text expressing unique Italian cultural meanings acquires new interpretations acting as a starting point or the development of both precedent and new plots. It is used as a polycoded intersemiotic model for the creation of new interpretations and, in the long term, becomes a tool for the preservation and reproduction of cultural memory.

PRESERVATION OF THE LINGUOCULTURAL CODE IN TRANSLATION OF MEMOIRS

This article explores linguistic and cultural codes as comprising symbolic meanings and procedural schemes that shape understanding and expression. These codes include fixed and variable linguistic units, forming structural and semantic patterns reflecting personal thinking. They underpin artistic and literary expressions, modeling cognitive, semiotic, and linguistic perspectives. The study discusses N. I. Zhinkina’s “subject-schematic” code, transforming thoughts into verbal expressions, and Ch. Fillmore’s frame theory, linking words to knowledge structures. It emphasizes the development of conceptual and mental spaces through language and culture, highlighting their roles in organizing knowledge and facilitating communication.

ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЕ РУССКИХ НАРОДНЫХ СКАЗОК В ПРОЦЕССЕ ИЗУЧЕНИЯ ЯЗЫКА И ФОРМИРОВАНИЯ ГУМАНИЗМА У ДЕТЕЙ

Fairy tales of the peoples of the world are a system of moral, spiritual, cultural and linguistic code of a particular people, which is told in a simple, interesting way. Russian folk tales serve as rich material for language learners when studying vocabulary, grammar, syntax, morphology of the Russian language.

An observational study protocol to capture, validate and characterise lucid episodes in people living with advanced dementia receiving hospice care

IntroductionLucid episodes (LEs) in advanced neurodegenerative disease, characterised by a transient recovery of abilities, have been reported across neurological conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Evidence on LEs in...

Encountering alterity: linguistic opacity in modern and contemporary art

This study considers artworks from across the modern and contemporary period (with a focus on the 1940s onwards) where writing is presented as incomprehensible to the viewer. This can occur, for instance, where issues related to cross-cultural interaction are being addressed, or more generally where the issue of encounter with an otherness of some kind has become the content of the work. While the earlier part of the analysis will focus primarily on artists of European or North American origin, artists of non-Western birth will predominate in the discussion of more recent art. Amongst the artists discussed are Paul Klee, Jackson Pollock, Mark Tobey, Lee Krasner, Zhao Wuji, Cy Twombly, Rasheed Araeen, Xu Bing, Oscar Ho Hing-Kay, and Warren Leung Chi Wo. Egyptian hieroglyphics, the Chinese written language, and Arabic calligraphy are linguistic codes to which the article will also refer.

Techniques Used by Primary Teachers when Using English as Medium of Instruction in Rubavu District, Rwanda

Rwanda is an endoglossic country where Kinyarwanda is the first language and mother tongue of Rwandans. Since English was implemented as Medium of instruction (MoI), most teachers with Kinyarwanda and French background get challenges due to teaching in a new language. They had a lower level of proficiency in English and shortage of teaching resources. This study aimed at investigating techniques used by Primary teachers when teaching in English as MoI and its impacts on learners’ academic performance of many other subjects which are taught through English. The study was conducted in Rubavu District, Rwanda. The entire target population was 300 people comprised of teachers and head teachers. The researchers sampled 62 persons. Purposive sampling technique was used to sample 10 primary schools according to their geographical location and 10 head teachers respectively. The selection of teachers used stratified sampling technique for 52 teachers, where two strata were considered namely new teachers and more experienced teachers. In data collection, the researchers used questionnaire for teachers and interview guide for head teachers. Both descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used when analyzing the findings. The key findings of 100% (52) showed that they used teaching aids and oral activities. 13.4% (7) of the respondents strongly disagreed that use of code switching for teachers facilitate them as speakers to change linguistic code that maintain or destroy interpersonal relationships when teachers teach in English. Amongst techniques used by primary teachers were, stories in English, English songs, games, code switching, role play and use of charts, pictures and books as teaching aids. However, the teachers did not use poem recitation, impromptu speech, classroom presentations and group discussions when teaching their subjects in English. The study concluded that teaching techniques are still paramount to facilitate both teacher and learner’s betterment of the academic performance in all subjects that are taught in English as MoI. The researchers drew some recommendations to different educational stakeholders such as policy makers including government, ministry of education and many other Educational stakeholders to intensify the in service-trainings on English proficiency to the teachers as their second language with aim of empowering them to be familiar with English and interact with pupils in English through role plays and dialogues. The policy makers have to offer teachers different facilities including teaching aids and other resources to support them when teaching in English as a MoI.

Linguistic Codes for Security and Social Stability in Urhoboland: Implications for the Translator

This paper posits that every language is characterized by linguistic codes needed by speakers for their security, identity, and social stability in today’s doubtless several security issues. In Urhoboland, such codes manifest in spoken and extra-linguistic forms with varying degree of meanings to different people at various times and places. The paper explores, among other conceivable objectives, some salient linguistic codes which the forebears of the Urhobo people did not pass on the younger generations as well as their translatability. The theoretical framework underlying the discussion hinges on Bernstein (1971) sociolinguistic theory of language codes which is cognate with language use. Taking cognizance of Urhobo believe systems, their social-cultural and religious practices continue to exert considerable challenges in translation studies as well as their importance to the people in contemporary times. Moreover, a large corpus of interviews and participant observation methods subsist in gathering and analysing relevant data for the research. Finally, the paper concludes that all linguistic codes in Urhoboland manifest themselves in socio-cultural contexts through which the people gather experiences for concentration, attention, and as a panacea for staying out of trouble

Translanguaging as a Counter-Narrative in EFL Practice

While concerns over inequalities of multilingualism – a real phenomenon in multilingual countries due to the positive attitudes toward English as a global language – should not be overlooked, there are occasions especially in a classroom context where multilingual speakers defy the exclusive use of English, and instead creatively mix the English language with their own mother tongues, resulting in translingual Englishes (Dovchin, Sultana & Pennycook, 2016). In this paper, I will show that despite the strict imposition of the English-only-policy in schools in Indonesia – a source of inequalities in learning and teaching in the country – both students and teachers manage to surreptitiously translanguage their interactions using varied linguistic codes for achieving successful communication in a class interaction. I see their translingual Englishes as a strategic practice initiated by the teachers to not only open up a space for them to reveal their real multilingual identities, but also to legitimize these identities. Finally, in teacher-dominated classrooms where students often keep silent and are unwilling to initiate a conversation and to argue over a controversial issue, translanguaging is a pedagogically useful practice for encouraging students to negotiate tensions that might occur in their effort to grapple with their learning of English. Thus, a focus on the ‘unequal’ in the classroom also leads to uncovering translingual spaces where efficient teaching and learning are facilitated, and multilingual identities affirmed.