Language has long been considered uniquely complex in the animal kingdom; however, animal research over the last decade has begun to challenge some long-standing premises about exactly which language capacities are uniquely human. The task of resolving why and how complex communication systems evolve, particularly human language, has manifested in a rich multi-disciplinary field, which relies on accurate empirical and comparative assessment of natural animal communicative capacities. For example, comparative models of relevant gene and brain functions will remain limited without cracking the animal communication code. To achieve this, empirical research needs an updated, quantitative and comparative framework that distinguishes combinatorial systems from simpler ones. We offer such a framework by integrating new work, demonstrating diverse meaning-bearing combinatorial signalling strategies in natural animal communication, into cross-disciplinary theoretical frameworks. We detail four major mechanistic transitions which we argue offer both evolutionary and ontogenetic routes from non-combinatorial communicators, that mainly rely on single signal utterances, to generative combinatorial signal users, that mainly rely on combinatorial, meaning-based utterances. These transitions are measurable and predictable: (i) signal combination versatility; (ii) signal combination learning and conventionalization; (iii) message expansion through combinatorial mechanism diversity and versatility; and (iv) message expansion through syntax involving linear or hierarchical rules. We offer testable hypotheses for each transition and propose that species demonstrating combinatorial Transitions (i) and (ii) will be prime candidates for testing Transitions (iii) and (iv), where generativity can emerge. We also point to future methodological tools to assess the meaning of signals and their combinations in signal utterance-to-context mapping analyses. Critically, we argue that simply having research on different species is not enough - testing evolution of language theories requires comparative research across species and ontogeny, based on relatable, quantitative measures. To date, only humans demonstrate meaning-based, generative communication. However, recent discoveries, particularly of combinatorial versatility in chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and bonobo (Pan paniscus) vocal sequences, open the possibility of generative communication in other species. Whether such traits are human-unique can no longer be assumed but must be tested.

ABSTRACT This article examines how postgraduate supervisors at a Norwegian university faculty engage in collaborative problem-solving during a peer group mentoring (PGM) conversation. Based on a detailed case study of one PGM session selected from 18 sessions observed over a year we unpack the conversational dynamics framed within a specific PGM model. Initial analysis of these sessions revealed a notable tendency wherein participants’ presented problems underwent substantial changes during the conversations. This tendency is documented in detail in the studied case. By employing interaction analysis and the concept of “communicative projects” we explore the conversation's purpose and the influence of the PGM activity type as a contextual factor. Drawing on dialogical theory, our analysis documents how PGM-conversations expand from single utterances to episodes of talk, as well as how these episodes relate to the social context. Findings suggest that the PGM model contributes significantly to participants’ engagement and productivity in the conversations.

This study applied the Speech Act Theory by Austin and Searle to analyze verbal cyberbullying on TikTok comments toward Rachel Zegler, who took a role as Snow White and classified it into several categories and subcategories of illocutionary acts. This study utilised a descriptive qualitative approach to analyze linguistic forms of verbal cyberbullying in the data. The data collected through documentation and observation of several contents related to Rachel Zegler. The analysis result shows that the domination of expressive (insulting) acts occurred in the verbal cyberbullying data collected, with a total of 25 utterances (50%). Assertive (stating) acts became the second most dominant with a total of 7 utterances (14%), followed by assertive (asserting) with 4 utterances (8%), assertive (complaining) with 3 utterances (6%) and assertive (criticizing) with 2 utterances (4%). While the least dominant acts were assertive (predicting) and (comparing), directive (requesting/demanding) and commissive (committing), with each having a single utterance (2%). This study reveals that most people used expressive (insulting) acts in doing flaming as a form of verbal cyberbullying on TikTok. This research contributes to raising awareness among digital media users about the importance of the use of appropriate language in fostering constructive criticism and promoting healthier online interactions.

This research presents a comparative jurisprudential study between Sunni and Imam Shiite perspectives on issues related to marriage and divorce, examining key topics such as guardianship, witnesses, the contractual formula (ṣīgha), irregular (heretical) divorce, and triple divorce pronounced in a single utterance, the requirement of witnesses in divorce, and temporary marriage (mutʿah). The study systematically analyzes points of agreement and disagreement between the two schools, employing an inductive and analytical methodology to evaluate the legal evidence. Primary jurisprudential sources from both traditions are critically examined, with careful attention to textual verification and comparative analysis. The findings indicate that the majority Sunni position upholds the necessity of a guardian, witnesses, and a verbal formula in marriage contracts. Regarding divorce, the study concludes that the most jurisprudentially sound position aligned with the objectives of Islamic law (maqāṣid al-sharīʿah) is that irregular divorces (ṭalāq al-bidʿah) are invalid and that a triple divorce pronounced simultaneously counts as a single revocable divorce. This view is consistent with Prophetic precedent (Sunnah) and the practices of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs. Furthermore, the research argues for the obligatory nature of witnesses in divorce, based on the explicit Quran injunction.

Deictic expressions are pragmatic elements that present unique challenges in translation due to their strong dependence on context. This study investigates how deictic expressions are used and translated in the English-Indonesian subtitles of Moana’s character dialogues in Moana 2. The analysis is grounded in George Yule’s theory of deixis and Henrik Gottlieb’s framework of subtitling strategies, followed by the application of Peter Newmark’s theory to examine the translation methods applied. Using a qualitative descriptive approach, the study reveals the presence of all five types of deixis, with a total of 320 occurrences: 285 personal deixis (200 first-person, 60 second-person, and 25 third-person), 23 spatial deixis, and 12 temporal deixis. Regarding subtitling strategies, 347 occurrences were identified, covering eight out of ten of Gottlieb’s strategies: expansion (3), paraphrase (133), transfer (63), imitation (18), transcription (1), dislocation (12), condensation (32), and deletion (85). This number exceeds the total deixis expressions because a single utterance may involve more than one strategy. Moreover, 320 translation methods were observed, including word-for-word translation (11), literal (50), faithful (1), semantic (6), adaptation (10), free (24), idiomatic (4), and communicative translation (214). The dominance of the communicative method suggests that the English-Indonesian subtitles in Moana 2 are oriented toward the target audience. This approach appears to facilitate viewers’ understanding of the dialogue more effectively.

The research aims to describe variations in language politeness when interactions occur between speakers and speech partners in the Shireen Sungkar and Oki Setiana Dewi Podcast Episode "Cerita Mertua Makes Me Nangis". The method used in this research is a descriptive qualitative method which in principle describes the manifestation of compliance with the principles of language politeness in the Shireen Sungkar and Oki Setiana Dewi podcast Episode of the Story of My Mother-in-law Makes Me Nangis. The data source for this research is the Shireen Sungkar and Oki Setiana Dewi Podcast on the YouTube channel The Sungkars. The data collection technique in this research is the viewing and writing technique, namely watching the podcast or object being studied and then recording all the conversations in the podcast dialogue that is spoken. The results of this research show politeness in language and contain 10 maxims of Geoffrey Leech's theory in the podcast between Shireen Sungkars and Oki Setiana Dewi, totaling 47 utterances. The podcast has been analyzed based on indicators of language politeness, so it is concluded that all the speech is included in compliance with language politeness, there is not a single speech that is a violation of language politeness because all the speech is included in the polite and very polite categories, of which there are 41 speeches and categories in the polite category. very polite there are 6 utterances. Not a single utterance was found that fell into the category of impolite or very impolite.

The article describes the textual staple naprotiv (on the contrary) from a lexicographic perspective. The relevance of this study is explained by the fact that textual staples, often being multifunctional units, are one of the most important means of text organisation that can be used not only in the text, but also in the utterance. These functions, as well as the range of similar units as such, have not yet been sufficiently studied. The study used the methods of continuous sampling, description, and stratification. It is noted that the word naprotiv is a polyfunctional unit; however, the focus is on the least described function of the textual staple to date. The description takes into account the set of parameters developed by the Far Eastern syntactic school. The approach was chosen because these parameters enable one to provide a multi-aspect description, including the distinctive features of the functioning as well as the semantics of the textual staple, i.e., the key characteristics of the class of units under consideration. The textual staple naprotiv and its variant naprotiv togo (on the contrary) considered in the article have the meaning of opposition, which allows the units to be used in two functional-semantic variants: 1) opposition in its pure form; 2) the imposition of causal relations on the opposition. The textual staple naprotiv (on the contrary) has a rather limited scope (up to 2–3 sentences in the left and right context). Nevertheless, it can be used within a single utterance in the functions identical to those of a textual staple. Typically, naprotiv interacts with other function words and functions in the format of a staple phrase, which determines the variation of punctuation.

Code-switching is the frequent alternation between two or more languages within a single utterance and is a widespread phenomenon among bilingual and multilingual speakers. In India, more than 250 million people are estimated to engage in code-switched communication, especially blending English with Hindi (Hinglish), making it one of the largest bilingual populations globally, making challenging for developing accurate and robust Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems. Existing ASR models, typically trained on monolingual corpus, struggle with code-switched input due to a lack of large, balanced, and representative datasets—particularly for diverse age groups. Recent evaluations have shown that ASR models experience a relative increase in Word Error Rate (WER) of 30–50 % when exposed to code-switched speech compared to monolingual input. To address this resource gap, we introduce a benchmark Hinglish speech corpus, HiACC, to improve ASR performance in resource-constrained settings. While several monolingual Hindi and English corpus exist, publicly available code-switched datasets remain scarce, and none till date include children's speech. Our corpus fills this gap by providing the first code-switched Hinglish speech dataset with recordings from both adults and children. It comprises 3,318 audio segments from adult participants and 1,858 segments from children, covering 5.24 hours of read and spontaneous speech. The transcriptions include detailed annotations and code-switching tags to assist in linguistic and computational analysis. The corpus is publicly available at [https://zenodo.org/records/15551669], offering segmented audio and aligned transcripts for open research. We also present baseline ASR experiments, which show that standard models trained on monolingual data underperform by approximately 42 % WER on our test set, highlighting the complexity of the task. To our knowledge, this is the first publicly available resource on code-switched Hinglish speech encompassing both adult and child speakers, designed to catalyse progress in this challenging yet important area of speech recognition.

This article examines the oxymoron as an expressive device actively employed by Victor Hugo in the novel «The Man Who Laughs». The study aims to identify the structural, semantic, and functional features of oxymoronic constructions found in the literary text. Special attention is paid to how semantically opposite elements are combined within a single utterance, forming a poetics of paradox typical of Romanticism. Based on analysis of specific passages from the novel, the research identifies lexical-morphological models of oxymorons and their role in creating emotional tension, vivid imagery, and philosophical depth. Oxymoron is considered not only as a stylistic figure, but also as a key component of the author's worldview, conveying the idea of the fusion of opposites in human fate. The material of the study is the Russian translation of the novel, compared with the original French text. The article applies methods of contextual and lingo-stylistic analysis, whose results confirm the significance of oxymorons in the compositional structure and ideological content of the work.

This article appraises a sample request‒response adjacency pair in a conversation between two friends, with a particular focus on how the response pract represents the dialectic of the individual social contexts of the interlocutors. Contrary to what has been established in literature regarding pragmemes as a general situational prototype – a sociocultural concept that usually has several realisations as practs and allopracts – this article argues that a single pract can also call to mind multiple possible pragmemes in the situated context in which it could be appropriately uttered. Using Mey’s (2001) pragmatic acts theory as espoused in his theorisation of the pragmeme, the article elucidates how a single response utterance (a pract) can represent multiple situational prototypes that reflect the dialectic between the social and private conversational goals of the interlocutors. The article argues that the interface between meaning construction and comprehension is not based only on the general social context but also on the dialectical interaction of the individual speaker and hearer’s private contexts as well as salience to their conversational goals that determine how they design their utterances. Findings reveal that pragmemes of REFUSAL, REJECTION, INVITATION, PROMISE, WARNING, ADMONITION, REBUKE, CAMARADERIE, ASSURANCE, OFFER, INFORMATION GIVING, among others, have been instantiated in a single response pract. These findings seem to go beyond Searle’s conceptualisation of indirect speech acts as well as Mey’s perspective on the theory of the pragmeme.

Zero-shot multi-intent detection is capable of capturing multiple intents within a single utterance without any training data, which gains increasing attention. Building on the success of large language models (LLM), dominant approaches in the literature explore prompting techniques to enable zero-shot multi-intent detection. While significant advancements have been witnessed, the existing prompting approaches still face two major issues: lacking explicit reasoning and lacking interpretability. Therefore, in this paper, we introduce a Divide-Solve-Combine Prompting (DSCP) to address the above issues. Specifically, DSCP explicitly decomposes multi-intent detection into three components including (1) single-intent division prompting is utilized to decompose an input query into distinct sub-sentences, each containing a single intent; (2) intent-by-intent solution prompting is applied to solve each sub-sentence recurrently; and (3) multi-intent combination prompting is employed for combining each sub-sentence result to obtain the final multi-intent result. By decomposition, DSCP allows the model to track the explicit reasoning process and improve the interpretability. In addition, we propose an interactive divide-solve-combine prompting (Inter-DSCP) to naturally capture the interaction capabilities of large language models. Experimental results on two standard multi-intent benchmarks (i.e., MixATIS and MixSNIPS) reveal that both DSCP and Inter-DSCP obtain substantial improvements over baselines, achieving superior performance and higher interpretability.

Abstract: Apraxia of speech (AOS) is a common condition resulting from brain damage causing impairments to speech planning and programming that is distinct from aphasia and dysarthria. Following a stroke, AOS is most often seen as a part of nonfluent Broca's aphasia. Recovery and dissolution of speech in stroke induced apraxia of speech (sAOS) and progressive AOS (pAOS) appear on a symptomatic level to be reversals of each other, but the existing evidence shows that sAOS is distinct from pAOS. This suggests different causes that have relevance for management of pAOS. In this article, we examine the similarities and differences between sAOS and pAOS and conclude that while the two conditions present similarly, certain features differ significantly, which may suggest different mechanisms underlying their manifestation. The role of connected speech as opposed to single word utterances is noted.

This paper identifies a novel function of slurs—compensatory manhood acts (CMAs)—alongside their more widely recognised subordinating, weaponised, and insider/outsider functions. CMAs occur when men perceive their masculinity as being under threat and respond by engaging in hypermasculine behaviours, including the use of misogynistic and homophobic slurs. Drawing on sociological findings, we argue that in their compensatory function, slurs are effective tools to restore status, assert dominance, and maintain hegemonic masculinity. Using a conventionalist framework for speech acts, we argue that CMSAs are illocutionary acts in their own right, separate from but interwoven with other functions of slurs. We conclude by raising the theoretical question of how multiple illocutionary forces can coexist in a single utterance and suggest that illocutionary relativism may provide a fruitful approach to understanding these speech acts.

This study examines the stylistic restoration and representation of Yoruba culture in Wole Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel, focusing on how linguistic choices serve as vehicles for cultural preservation and dramatic expression. Through detailed analysis of the play’s language, the study demonstrates how Soyinka creates a sophisticated dramatic idiom that successfully bridges traditional Yoruba cultural expression and modern theatrical conventions. The study identifies and analyses several key linguistic phenomena, including Yorubanised English, character-specific linguistic patterns, ritual language, and gender-linked discourse. The analysis reveals how different characters’ linguistic choices reflect their positions in the cultural conflict between tradition and modernity, with a particular emphasis on Lakunle’s affected modernism, Baroka’s traditional authority, and female characters’ strategic manipulation of linguistic forms. The study demonstrates how Soyinka’s stylistic choices create a “cultural-linguistic palimpsest” where multiple layers of meaning and cultural reference coexist within single utterances. Gender relations are shown to be mediated through sophisticated linguistic strategies. The findings indicate that successful cultural representation in drama requires the use of new dramatic idioms, which accommodate both traditional and modern modes of expression, and maintain artistic coherence. This study contributes to understanding how dramatic language can serve as a vehicle for cultural preservation while creating compelling theatrical experiences, suggesting new approaches to analysing the intersection of language, culture, and dramatic form in postcolonial contexts. Keywords: Culture; Tradition; Language; Gender; Power; Drama; Yoruba

Taglish is the code-switching or alteration between Tagalog and English within a single utterance. The prevalence of Tagalog-English code-switching in the Philippines results from the widespread use of both languages in Philippine educational institutions. This paper qualitatively analyzes the use of Taglish in spontaneous conversations and interviews in the Philippine magazine show Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho (Your Heartmate, Jessica Soho) to identify the communicative effects of Tagalog-English code-switching in Filipino discourse. The results suggest the prevalence of code-switching as all 17 identified speakers in the study used both Tagalog and English in their speeches at varying degrees. Results also revealed the following communicative effects of code-switching: efficiency, message qualification, linguistic play, emphasis, objectivization, and personalization. Furthermore, code-switching facilitated the speakers’ identity construction, by representing factors such as wealth, success, authority, knowledge, and solidarity.

Every utterance in discourse we produce arises from the interaction of numerous cognitive functions, such as semantic memory, where we store the meanings of words, executive function and working memory as required for maintenance of a discourse goal, and social cognitive abilities, such as mind-reading capacity as required for tuning what we say to what others know or believe. In this way, a single utterance potentially integrates very different cognitive capacities into a basic discourse processing unit. This suggests that discourse processing and management is a very rich phenomenon that requires a multidimensional approach. We propose that a model of discourse management is comprised of three primary components that interact synergistically: (i) dynamicity, (ii) predictability, and (iii) meta-representationality. Cognitive functions play a pivotal role in the underlying processes, contributing to the development and unfolding of discourse. Understanding the correspondence between individual differences in discourse management (i.e., discourse perception and production) and cognitive functions can shed light on the intricate relationship between language and cognition in discourse management, as well as the appropriate psychometric measures to address this complex interaction. This narrative review presents aspects of discourse management, psychometric measures to comprehensively address these aspects. We close with a discussion of challenges and open questions.

The aim of the study is to identify manipulative strategies implemented through the use of collocations, cliches, idioms, and set phrases in the English-language business media discourse. A quantitative analysis of samples collected from publications in "The Economist" was conducted. The research hypothesis proposes that manipulative strategies in the English-language business discourse are realized through the deliberate choice of collocations, cliches, idioms, and set phrases, which serve as tools for shaping public opinion. The study identified five manipulative strategies. It was established that manipulation through imagery-based expressions is the most frequently employed strategy, while evaluative assessments of factual content and manipulation by criticism are less frequent. The least utilized strategies are manipulation through antithesis and generalization, manipulation via vague or euphemistic language constructions. The research confirmed that collocations, cliches, idioms, and set phrases are extensively used in the English-language business media discourse to implement manipulative strategies, and several strategies may be joined within a single utterance. The findings may have scientific implications, particularly for scholars and professionals in media and business communication.

Apraxia of speech (AOS) is a common condition resulting from brain damage causing impairments to speech planning and programming that is distinct from aphasia and dysarthria. Following a stroke, AOS is most often seen as a part of nonfluent Broca’s aphasia. Recovery and dissolution of speech in stroke induced apraxia of speech (sAOS) and progressive AOS (pAOS) appear on a symptomatic level to be reversals of each other, but the existing evidence shows that sAOS is distinct from pAOS. This suggests different causes that have relevance for management of pAOS. In this article, we examine the similarities and differences between sAOS and pAOS and conclude that while the two conditions present similarly, certain features differ significantly, which may suggest different mechanisms underlying their manifestation. The role of connected speech as opposed to single word utterances is noted.

Objectives:In clinical and laboratory settings, speech recognition is typically assessed in a way that cannot distinguish accurate auditory perception from misperception that was mentally repaired or inferred from context. Previous work showed that the process of repairing misperceptions elicits greater listening effort, and that this elevated effort lingers well after the sentence is heard. That result suggests that cognitive repair strategies might appear successful when testing a single utterance but fail for everyday continuous conversational speech. The present study tested the hypothesis that the effort of repairing misperceptions has the consequence of carrying over to interfere with perception of later words after the sentence.Design:Stimuli were open-set coherent sentences that were presented intact or with a word early in the sentence replaced with noise, forcing the listener to use later context to mentally repair the missing word. Sentences were immediately followed by digit triplets, which served to probe carryover effort from the sentence. Control conditions allowed for the comparison to intact sentences that did not demand mental repair, as well as to listening conditions that removed the need to attend to the post-sentence stimuli, or removed the post-sentence digits altogether. Intelligibility scores for the sentences and digits were accompanied by time-series measurements of pupil dilation to assess cognitive load during the task, as well as subjective rating of effort. Participants included adults with cochlear implants (CIs), as well as an age-matched group and a younger group of listeners with typical hearing for comparison.Results:For the CI group, needing to repair a missing word during a sentence resulted in more errors on the digits after the sentence, especially when the repair process did not result in a coherent sensible perception. Sentences that needed repair also contained more errors on the words that were unmasked. All groups showed substantial increase of pupil dilation when sentences required repair, even when the repair was successful. Younger typical hearing listeners showed clear differences in moment-to-moment allocation of effort in the different conditions, while the other groups did not.Conclusions:For CI listeners, the effort of needing to repair misperceptions in a sentence can last long enough to interfere with words that follow the sentence. This pattern could pose a serious problem for regular communication but would go overlooked in typical testing with single utterances, where a listener has a chance to repair misperceptions before responding. Carryover effort was not predictable by basic intelligibility scores, but can be revealed in behavioral data when sentences are followed immediately by extra probe words such as digits.

A multi-level multi-task progressive framework based on relational graph convolutional networks for causal emotion entailment