Aug 2026· Science and innovation· Vol 5, pp. 38· 0 citations· 3 references
Abstract
This exploratory study examines gendered evaluative expressions in English and Uzbek public discourse from a comparative pragmatic perspective. The analysis draws on an author-compiled purposive dataset of 100 evaluative units, with 50 English and 50 Uzbek items, and focuses on the Attitude subsystem of Appraisal Theory: Affect, Judgment, and Appreciation. The revised analysis treats the corpus as a source-asymmetric exploratory sample rather than as a representative model of either language or culture. Descriptive results show that Judgment is the most frequent Attitude category in both subcorpora (English: 32/50, 64%; Uzbek: 35/50, 70%), followed by Appreciation (24% and 20%) and Affect (12% and 10%). The principal cross-corpus contrast lies not in category frequency but in the contextual values attached to evaluative choices. In the sampled English materials, favorable gender evaluation is frequently associated with agency, competence, leadership, and professional participation. In the sampled Uzbek materials, favorable evaluation more often invokes responsibility, respectability, family relations, moral conduct, and social obligation, while contemporary texts also explicitly contest restrictive gender stereotypes. Because the data were purposively selected and clustered within a limited number of source texts, inferential significance testing is not used. The findings are interpreted as patterns in the sampled discourse rather than as population-level differences between English- and Uzbek-speaking societies. The study demonstrates the value of combining Appraisal Theory with contextual pragmatic analysis while also showing the importance of source matching, transparent coding, and cautious cultural interpretation in cross-linguistic gender research.
Abstract This paper investigates the pragmatic functions of the discourse marker ‘fine’ in American TV series. Based on a corpus of 20 selected dialogues from the COCA television genre, the study employed an integrated theoretical framework including Gricean Pragmatics, Speech Act Theory, and Politeness Theory to analyze each instance of ‘fine’. The initially identified pragmatic functions were first subjected to a validation process by an expert panel of eight Native American English speakers. Subsequently, their acceptability was empirically evaluated through a survey administered to 30 non-native English speakers for comparative insights. The analysis uncovered twenty distinct pragmatic functions, including direct speech acts like Acceptance of Apology and Polite Refusal, and indirect, context-dependent functions such as Dismissive Undertone, Sarcasm, Understatement, and Implicit Threat or Warning. This study demonstrates the multifaceted nature of ‘fine’ and its significant, carefully employed role in shaping communication within the context of contemporary American television. The findings have important implications for how we communicate across cultures and teach languages, especially when it comes to helping non-native speakers grasp the subtle meanings of American English in media.
Assel Zibin, E. Salim, Abdel Rahman Mitib Altakhaineh· Lodz Papers in Pragmatics· 0 citations
As a form of knowledge dissemination aimed at the public, TED talks demonstrate a strong demand for interpersonal interaction within the framework of one-way output. This study, grounded in the interpersonal metafunction theory of Systemic Functional Linguistics, conducts a comparative analysis of TED talks in both Chinese and English versions. It focuses on three progressive levels-the Mood system, the Modality system, and the Appraisal system-examining the stance differentiation between Subject and Finite, the participatory mobilization of interrogative and imperative structures, the graduation features of modalization and modulation, and the attitudinal presentation of affect, judgement, and engagement resources. The results indicate that English talks rely more on explicit grammatical markers and clear graduation scales, with clear stance boundaries and stronger contraction of dialogic space; Chinese talks, on the other hand, convey interpersonal meaning through modal particles, subject ellipsis, and contextual inference, exhibiting higher stance fluidity and more inclusive and mitigating engagement strategies. The differences between the two languages in interpersonal metafunctional encoding are not a matter of superiority or inferiority, but rather different realization paths of their respective linguistic systems and cultural conventions under the same communicative goal.
Junning Li· International Journal of Edu...· 0 citations
This study examines the attitude resources in six ecologically themed texts from New Horizons College English (4th Edition) from the ecological discourse perspective. Using the UAM Corpus Tool software for annotation and statistical analysis, combined with qualitative and quantitative methods, the study investigated the distribution of attitude resources and the ecological orientation in the texts. Two findings emerged in the results. In terms of the distribution of attitudes, a relatively balanced distribution was observed among affect, judgement, and appreciation, with each subsystem emphasizing certain constituent within itself: the highest proportion of insecurity/security in affect resources reflects editors’ concerns about ecological crises; negative evaluations in judgement resources reflect critical attitude toward behaviors that harm nature; and negative evaluations in appreciation resources express editors’ dissatisfaction with the current ecological situation. In terms of ecological orientation, the three types of attitudes were relatively evenly distributed, with negative resources being used most. In practical implications drawn from the study, it is proposed that textbook compilers should enhance ecological awareness, increase the proportion of texts with ecological beneficial attitudes, and enhance the topical coverage of ecological topics, so as to improve the guidance and enlightening nature of the textbooks in ecological teaching.
Weijia Jin· IRA International Journal of...· 0 citations
The paper presents a cognitive-discursive study of the gendered proverb Boys will be boys with the focus on its actional and metalinguistic dimensions. The main aim is to explore the discursive dichotomy of the dictum, i.e. its role in 1) perpetuating gender stereotypes about men and reinforcing gendered expectations in Anglo-American society, and, more recently, in 2) reflecting and promoting change catalyzed by the gender equality movement. The material comprises 400 examples, including texts from online articles, opinion pieces, blogs, social media posts, and memes spanning the last twenty years. The research methods applied were Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Sociocognitive Discourse Studies (SCDS) methodology, complemented by the linguocultural method, stylistic analysis, sampling and corpus methodology. The comprehensive analysis of the linguistic, cognitive, and discursive profiles of the dictum Boys will be boys suggests that the gender stereotype embedded in the proverb is being challenged and redefined in discourse, both via canonical and recycled (modified) use, resulting in anti-proverbs. The anti-proverbial derivations attest to significant shifts in social norms and encapsulate sociopolitical change.
This qualitative comparative discourse-analytical study examines how selected English-language media texts framed events of the Second Karabakh War through event nomination, agency, attribution, legal-status labels, humanitarian representation, place naming, and verification vocabulary. The primary corpus comprises 69 texts published by 11 Azerbaijani, Türkiye-based, and international outlets between 27 September and 10 November 2020. A separate BBC Reality Check article is examined as a contextual verification case and is excluded from corpus counts. Full reports were consulted for context, while systematic lexical coding focused mainly on headlines and leads, with selected article co-text used in five cases. Article-level coding shows that legal-restorative framing was the most common primary frame in the Azerbaijani subset (18/34; 52.9%) and the Türkiye-based subset (8/16; 50.0%). The international subset was more evenly distributed across diplomatic-outcome and humanitarian frames (5/19; 26.3% each), military-operational and attributional-evidential frames (4/19; 21.1% each), and military-outcome framing (1/19; 5.3%). The article proposes contextual-semantic adequacy as a multidimensional category encompassing denotational fit, agency visibility, evidential calibration, attribution transparency, legal-context explicitness, humanitarian specificity, toponymic transparency, and digital verification. The bounded conflict serves as the empirical setting for a transferable analytical framework. Because the corpus is purposive and heterogeneous, and the verification analysis is based on a single contextual case, the findings describe patterns in the sampled materials rather than entire media systems.
The growing recognition of nonbinary identities has highlighted significant linguistic gaps in gender-inclusive language (G.I.L.), particularly in English. This study investigates attitudes towards and the use of gender-neutral language in the United Kingdom and the United States, focussing on inclusivity and practical linguistic choices. Based on survey data from 128 participants, the research examines the comprehensibility, feasibility, and necessity of G.I.L., as well as strategies employed in written and spoken communication when addressing mixed-gender groups or when nonbinary individuals are present or expected. The findings reveal a continued reliance on traditional grammatical norms, with gender-neutral alternatives and the singular ‘they’ gaining acceptance but facing ideological and institutional resistance. While nonbinary visibility influences linguistic adaptation, respondents primarily modify their language when explicitly engaging with nonbinary individuals, rather than adopting inclusive forms by default. This study highlights how nonbinary individuals remain ‘disallowed identities’ within dominant linguistic frameworks, demonstrating the role of language in shaping social legitimacy. Despite ongoing resistance to linguistic change, gradual shifts suggest that inclusivity is becoming an increasingly relevant concern in contemporary discourse. The findings contribute to broader discussions on linguistic and social recognition of gender nonconformity, emphasising the tension between traditional language structures and evolving identity categories.
Giuseppina Scotto di Carlo· CogniTextes· 0 citations
