Abstract: The prevalence of power distance in Confucian heritage contexts has been well documented, yet the impact of this cultural value on rhetoric has not been extensively explored. To address the gap in our current understanding of cultural influences on rhetoric, language to assert authority or make a proposition (modals and epistemic stances) and pronouns to express an author’s relationship with their reader (pronoun deixis) were tallied and... [...] Read more

Abstract: This study aimed to examine memes from a linguistic and cultural perspective, focusing on humor expressed through English and Arabic captions in memes collected from Facebook and Instagram. Using a mixed-method approach that combined quantitative and qualitative methods, corpus linguistics was employed to collect 60 memes—30 Arabic and 30 English. The study sought to highlight the similarities and differences in the methods used to express... [...] Read more

Abstract: The portrayal of migrants in the media is frequently shaped by a variety of discursive strategies aimed at influencing public perception. This study examines the discursive strategies employed by two prominent Turkish newspapers, Daily Sabah and Duvar , and the underlying ideologies that drive the selection and utilization of such strategies. The theoretical framework guiding this study draws upon Reisigl’s (2017) model, providing a... [...] Read more

Abstract: Pottery making among the Awajún has historically been a feminine practice that intertwined technical expertise, symbolic prestige, and community legitimacy. In recent decades, however, this practice has been reshaped by market-oriented logics and "cultural rescue" initiatives that have altered its original meanings and social functions. This study explores how the transformation of traditional Awajún pottery, historically a ritual, feminine,... [...] Read more

Abstract: This paper analyses how people negotiate representations of other cultures in the media, in particular those traits that can be considered controversial in the sense of generating strong opinions and opposing stances. A news story about an Egyptian television channel run by Egyptian women journalists wearing the niqab (Maria TV) was used to stimulate debate in four focus groups. Although most of the participants initially criticized the... [...] Read more

Abstract: The present study analyses two Parliamentary Acts on the subject of domestic violence: the Spanish Organic Law 1/2004 on Comprehensive Protection Measures against Gender Violence and the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 from the United Kingdom. The analysis of the texts (organised into two corpora, SPA and UKA respectively) was carried out in three different stages, the first one consisting in the automatic processing of the two... [...] Read more

Abstract: This study examines ideologically driven intertextual borrowings in political discourse in light of political events related to the Middle East. Its primary concern is to explore the ideological struggle and power relations governing the production of political text. For this purpose, this study analyses a variety of texts on the Middle East in both Arabic and English. These texts are analyzed through a multi-dimensional approach of Critical... [...] Read more

Abstract: Reflexivity, the critical self-examination of one’s role in the research process, has become increasingly central as researchers navigate positionality, power, and methodological bias when working across diverse sociocultural and linguistic contexts. Yet, intercultural research often overlooks the affective, relational, and embodied dimensions of collaboration that shape how knowledge is produced. This paper examines how transnational,... [...] Read more

Abstract: This study presents a contrastive analysis of the Graduation subsystem within Appraisal Theory, examining the strategic deployment of Force and Focus resources in newspaper editorials from two sociocultural contexts: Saudi Arabia (Asharq Al-Awsat, Arabic) and the United States (The New York Times, English). While existing Appraisal research has largely emphasized Attitude and Engagement, the role of Graduation in shaping persuasive discourse... [...] Read more

Abstract: This study investigates the framing of the Gaza conflict on social media in Jordan and its impact on public opinion. By employing qualitative methods, it explores the emotional, political, and ideological underpinnings of digital discourse through in-depth interviews with Jordanian social media users, journalists, and political analysts. The findings reveal that online conversations predominantly center on humanitarian and moral matters;... [...] Read more

Abstract: This study examines the use of suggestion speech acts in Instagram comments, with particular attention to how Saudi EFL users demonstrate pragmatic competence in digital communication. Drawing on Martínez Flor’s taxonomy of suggestion strategies, the study analyzes 103 suggestion-oriented comments selected from an initial dataset of 150 Instagram comments. A mixed-methods design was adopted: qualitative analysis was used to classify... [...] Read more

Abstract: This study seeks to investigate why speaking out is not viewed positively in certain instances, but, at times, doing so results in both management support for the pitched proposals and improved interpersonal correlations for individuals doing so. Data was collected from two sources: employees and their supervisors of a telecommunication services organization in Indonesia. The data collected from 367 subordinates and 98 supervisors was then... [...] Read more

Abstract: This paper investigates how foreign nationals living and working in Poland evaluate Polish colleagues’ communication in English and its effectiveness in international business. It identifies features of linguistic behaviour attributed to Polish business interactions. Five dimensions of cultural variability (directness, emotionality, power distance, confrontation, critical evaluation) are used as benchmarks and offer an observational framework... [...] Read more

Abstract: For several decades, the use of the internet to frame stories has posed significant challenges for conventional media houses globally, including in South Africa. Moreover, what remains largely unexplored is the impact of using Indigenous languages to cover international events on social media platforms in South Africa. To address this research gap, this study examines the framing strategies employed by the South African Broadcasting... [...] Read more

Abstract: Recent public debates in Kazakhstan increasingly frame school bullying as a growing problem. This study examines how this perception of increase is produced and interpreted within a bilingual Kazakh–Russian communicative context. Drawing on a qualitative corpus collected in 2025—comprising 18 focus group discussions, 100 semi-structured expert interviews, and 154 pre-discussion questionnaires—the study traces communicative repertoires and... [...] Read more

Abstract: The present study explored the pragmatic functions of Mʕliʃ in Jordanian Arabic. The data consisted of 175 tokens of Mʕliʃ compiled from naturally occurring interactions among speakers in the sample. The objective of the present research was to investigate the pragmatic functions of Mʕliʃ through a qualitative discourse-analytic approach, supported by descriptive quantitative analysis. Findings revealed that the Jordanian speakers in... [...] Read more

Abstract: This study aims to design, develop, and evaluate a semantic knowledge graph (KG) and web application that ethically and effectively represents the ethnographic diversity of 375 ethnic groups across Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, and China. Addressing the limitations of conventional Knowledge Organization Systems (KOS), the project integrates semantic web technologies with community-informed data to capture complex relationships... [...] Read more

Abstract: This paper investigates the interplay between language and intercultural communication with a special focus on the importance of working knowledge of foreign languages other than English for a satisfactory experience during longer sojourns abroad. Its authors present a revised understanding of the role of lingua franca English and a local language (here Polish) in intercultural relationships, especially the crucial influence of local... [...] Read more

Abstract: This article explores the experiences of Chinese postgraduate students in a UK university using the lens of rhythmanalysis. This study goes beyond intercultural interactional moments and examines how intercultural experience is organised through temporal, spatial, and emotional rhythms. The data were generated through narrative interviews with four students, and narrative rhythmanalysis was employed for analysis. Findings show that students’... [...] Read more

Abstract: This article seeks to highlight the experiences and agency of KwaZulu-Natal women through the theoretical lenses of African Feminism and the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA), foregrounding intersectional dynamics of gender, class, and rurality. The paper explores how rural women negotiate structural poverty, climate vulnerability, gender inequality, and socio-cultural constraints while exercising agency in livelihood strategies. Hence,... [...] Read more

Abstract: The aim of this study is to explore the role of cultural intelligence in international business-to-business (B2B) negotiations involving culturally diverse dyads. While intercultural competencies have been widely studied, the specific contribution of cultural intelligence, viewed both as a form of intelligence and a practical competence, remains underexplored in negotiation contexts. This study addresses this gap by investigating how cultural... [...] Read more

Abstract: This study examines how Vietnamese postgraduate students interpret (im)politeness during clinical consultations with doctors in English-speaking countries. Drawing on narrative reflective reports from 14 Vietnamese university academics who completed their doctoral studies in TESOL and Applied Linguistics abroad, the research analyzes participants’ retrospective accounts of critical medical encounters in which they evaluated native... [...] Read more

Abstract: This qualitative study investigates the persuasive strategies employed in 100 textual advertisements on OpenSooq, a major online sales platform in Jordan. Guided by Beebe and Beebe’s (2013) model of persuasive communication, the analysis examines how credibility, emotional, and logical appeals are discursively realized in Jordanian digital contexts. Using thematic coding supported by ATLAS.ti, the findings show a marked preference for... [...] Read more