The exploration of the discourse-power interplay has been the motivation behind Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) research orientation. CDA analysts have and continue to display vivid interest in the discourse of the dominant groups, particularly politicians, with the objective of describing and elucidating how existing social structures – power abuse, dominance, and inequality – are enacted, reproduced and sustained. While there is a vibrant literature on political speeches, not much work has been done on discursive manipulation as a form of social power abuse and dominance in political discourse from the Ghanaian perspective. This study therefore presents a critical analysis of a political speech by Mohammadu Bawumia, presidential candidate for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), with the aim of investigating how the Vice-President discursively represents himself, the government, and the past government as a strategy for accomplishing his manipulative goal. Drawing on van Dijk’s ideological square framework for analysis, the result shows the use of the macro-strategy of positive representation of the in-group (government) and negative representation of the out-group (opposition or former government), which manifests at all levels of discourse through the use of other minor discursive strategies: positive self-presentation, authority, number game rhetoric, active/passive structures, implication, and presupposition. Key findings include the strategic use of statistics to enhance credibility, the deployment of passive constructions to conceal government failures, and the use of metaphors to dissociate Bawumia from the government’s shortcomings. The outcome of the study implies that political speeches are imbued with covert ideologies, asymmetrical power relations, power abuse, dominance, inequality, and deception, which can only be exposed and resisted through the application of CDA tools. The study therefore recommends advocacy by policymakers and other civil society groups to awaken the consciousness of readers and listeners of political speeches to scrutinize political utterances, given their opaque nature and partisan or ideological functions.

This study explores the external hierarchy of French film discourse, proposing a model that accounts for the elements generating this discourse and its interactions with other discourses within a hierarchical framework. The empirical material includes French films from 1990 to 2024 and elements of film text embedded in advertising, music, media, internet, and online literature discourses. Addressing the limited research on discourse hierarchy in modern linguistics, the study aims to identify and systematize the external hierarchy of French film discourse. The relevance of this research stems from the growing academic interest in film discourse and the lack of dedicated studies on its hierarchical organization. The author introduces a novel model that not only explains the generative elements of French film discourse but also situates it in a broader matrix of interacting discourses. The study employs discourse analysis, alongside theoretical methods such as generalization, synthesis, induction, and deduction. The findings reveal that the external hierarchy is shaped by generative elements – works of art, folklore, historical events, biographical details, and philosophical ideas – which occupy higher hierarchical levels relative to the discourse itself. Film production is also influenced by the socio-cultural context, emphasizing culturally significant elements and suppressing taboo topics. The research further demonstrates that the hierarchy of French film discourse relative to other discourses is mediated by poly-discursive units. These units function within one discourse while bearing content from another, positioning film discourse hierarchically above advertising, internet, media, online literature, and partially music discourses. This study enhances our understanding of the structural and functional properties of French film discourse and its broader cultural implications.

Linguistic studies on media coverage of pandemics and outbreaks in Nigeria, including the COVID-19 pandemic, Ebola, and Lassa fever, have been extensive. However, the linguistic analysis of media reports on the diphtheria outbreak remains underexplored.  This study addresses this gap by examining the lexical choices employed in framing the diphtheria outbreak in Nigeria. Twenty articles from four popular Nigerian newspapers – The Punch, The Guardian, The Vanguard, and The Premium Times – were examined to discover the prevalent frames and associated lexical choices. The articles were collected between January and August 2023, a significant period marked by the resurgence of the disease and extensive reporting on its impact on victims. Using frame theory and lexical priming theory as analytical frameworks, the study identified frames such as health crisis, victim, government response, global aid and response, vaccination shortfall/hesitancy, public health awareness, past antecedent, and collaborative effort. Common lexical choices included terms like “deadly,” “surge,” and “critical situation,” which emphasize fear and urgency. This emotive tone is used purposefully to attract readers’ attention and prime them to interpret the outbreak as an urgent public health issue. Frames like Public Health Awareness and Government Response are concerned with informing the public. Several other frames, most notably Vaccination Shortfall/Hesitancy and Collaborative Effort, serve as a rallying cry. They highlight the need for increased vaccination coverage, collaboration among stakeholders, and public participation in health measures. Through framing and lexical choices, the media shapes public opinion, influences perceptions, and guides individual and collective responses to health issues like the diphtheria outbreak. The relevance of this study lies in its contribution to understanding how media framing and lexical choices impact public health communication, ultimately aiding in more effective health crisis management and public engagement strategies.

The debate surrounding whether Nigerians should be exempted from international English proficiency tests to study in English-speaking countries in the West has gained significant media attention. It is argued that English is already the official language, widely used in Nigeria for government, media, and education, making it the everyday language for many Nigerians. Consequently, they find it offensive and demeaning to mandate English proficiency tests, particularly for graduate students seeking to study abroad. As part of an academic inquiry into the issue, this paper aims to investigate the perceptions of Nigerian graduates regarding international English proficiency tests. This study offers insights into Nigerian graduates’ views, potentially informing educational policy and addressing fairness in international language testing requirements for English-speaking nations. The authors obtained responses through a six-question structured questionnaire and evaluated the perception of Nigerian graduates concerning these tests. Using a quantitative approach, the participants’ responses were analyzed and triangulated by situating them in real-life contexts. The findings indicate that a majority of Nigerian graduates believe Nigerians should be exempted from these proficiency tests due to the prevalence and familiarity of the English language in Nigeria compared to indigenous languages. However, an average of 11% of respondents believe that Nigerians should not be exempted from taking standardised English proficiency tests. This is significantly lower than 89% of respondents who believe that Nigerians should be exempted from these tests. This suggests a reconsideration of English proficiency tests for Nigerians, potentially influencing policy changes in language testing and supporting equitable access to international education. The findings also have broader implications for international educational policies and the recognition of linguistic diversity in a global academic environment.

Yemsa, an Omotic language spoken in Ethiopia, has received limited attention in linguistic research, particularly with regard to its adverbial clauses. The lack of a comprehensive description of Yemsa’s adverbial clauses hinders our understanding of the language’s structure and its place in the Afroasiatic language family. This study aims to provide a detailed analysis of the structure and function of adverbial clauses in Yemsa, exploring their forms, functions, and subordinate markers. The research is based on a corpus of spoken and written Yemsa data, collected through fieldwork and supplemented by existing literature. A descriptive approach is employed to analyze the data, focusing on the morphological and syntactic properties of adverbial clauses. The study reveals that Yemsa adverbial clauses exhibit a range of characteristics, including dependent-person suffixes, temporal markers, and bound morphemes that connect them to main clauses. The analysis identifies five types of adverbial clauses in Yemsa: temporal, locative, manner, reason, and purpose. The findings also show that Yemsa treats aspects in adverbial clauses similarly to main clauses, with the perfective aspect remaining unmarked and the imperfective aspect marked. This research contributes significantly to our knowledge of Yemsa and the Omotic language family, providing new information about the structure and function of adverbial clauses, which is valuable for developing linguistic pedagogical materials for Yemsa. The study’s results have implications for linguistic theory, language pedagogy, and language documentation, highlighting the importance of descriptive research on understudied languages. The study’s methodology and findings can serve as a model for future research on other languages, promoting a more comprehensive understanding of linguistic diversity and complexity.

This study investigates the metaphorical conceptualization of sadness in Wolaita, a language spoken by over 1.6 million people in Ethiopia, from a cognitive-linguistic perspective. Grounded in Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), the research explores how the Wolaita people express sadness through linguistic metaphors and compares these with findings from well-studied languages such as English, Amharic, and Agnwa. The study aims to identify linguistic metaphors for sadness in Wolaita, describe their universal and culturally specific bases, and contribute to the debate on the universality versus culture-specificity of emotion conceptualization. Using qualitative methods, including data elicitation, introspection, and analysis of written and spoken texts, the study examines metaphorical expressions of sadness in Wolaita. Data sources include Wolaita-language textbooks, a bilingual dictionary, idioms, audio-visual materials, and native-speaker intuitions. The analysis identifies conceptual mappings between source domains (e.g., pain, fluid, journey) and the target domain of sadness. The findings reveal that sadness in Wolaita is conceptualized through metaphors such as “sadness is pain,” “sadness is fluid,” “sadness is down,” “sadness is enemy,” “sadness is burden,” “sadness is journey,” “sadness is food,” and “sadness is gift.” These metaphors reflect the Wolaita people’s perception of sadness as an undesirable emotion, with cultural peculiarities such as the use of spoiled foods and impure fluids to represent its intensity. The study demonstrates that although sadness is universal at a basic level, its complex conceptualizations exhibit cultural specificity. This research contributes to cognitive linguistics and emotion studies by providing empirical evidence from an understudied language. It highlights the interconnection between universal human experiences and culturally shaped metaphors, enriching our understanding of the universality versus culture-specificity debate and underscoring the importance of linguistic diversity in emotion research.

The article provides a concise overview of the International Scientific Conference “English Studies in the Third Millennium: New Approaches and Development Trends,” held at the Belarusian State University on October 3–5, 2024 in Minsk, Belarus. The conference brought together over 100 scholars, educators, and researchers from Belarus, Russia, and Oman, representing a wide range of academic institutions. The event, organized by the Belarusian State University, the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Moscow State Linguistic University, aimed to explore contemporary trends in theoretical and applied linguistics through the lens of interdisciplinary approaches such as cognitive linguistics, digital linguistics, intercultural communication, and multimodal studies. The conference featured plenary and sectional sessions, with presentations by leading experts in the field who discussed topics ranging from discourse analysis and linguistic narratives to the role of language in cultural identity and conflict resolution. Researchers also addressed emerging issues in English studies, such as the impact of globalization on linguistic norms, the functional dynamics of English language units, and the interconnection of language and culture. Beyond academic exchange, the conference facilitated cultural and professional networking, emphasizing the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in addressing the challenges of modern linguistics.