Balochistan Journal of Linguistics

Investigating Post-Focus Compression in the Saraiki Language

Muhammad Hamza Razzaq — 2024-10-24

This study investigates the manifestation of post-focus compression (PFC) in the saraiki language, a member of the Indo-Aryan language family. Through an analysis of fundamental frequency, syllable duration, and intensity patterns, the study reveals that Saraiki do not possess post-focus compression. Specifically, while there is a slight increase in fundamental frequency in sentence-initial focus positions, a noticeable decrease is observed in medial word focus positions. Similarly, syllable duration shows a minor decrease in sentence-initial focus positions but a significant increase in medial word focus positions. Despite these observed patterns, statistical analysis indicates that the differences in prosodic features between post focus and neutral phrases do not reach significance. This study was conducted to verify the hypothesis that post-focus compression is spread vertically in language families and all the languages that have post-focus compression originated from a single proto-language. The findings of this study indicates that Saraiki do not possess PFC.

Modeling Lexical Organisation and Access: Bilinguals and Multilinguals

Bushra Ashraf — 2024-12-30

This article attempts to present a comprehensive account of models of lexical organisation and access to understand bilingual and multilingual language processing. The increasing number of bilingual and trilingual speakers has given rise to the question of how these speakers manage, control, and access multiple languages. Linguists, philologists, and psycholinguists turned to investigate how multiple languages are organised and accessed in the mental lexicon of bilinguals and trilinguals. It not only traces the earliest attempts to understand the bilingual language processing but also discusses various contemporary models including both the hierarchical models, and the computational models by identifying the interrelationship between the factors that influence lexical organisation and access in the mental lexicon. The nuanced understanding of bilingual and multilingual lexical organisation and access has practical implications for the multilingual society at large like Pakistan and linguistic and pedagogical implications in particular where teachers and students both take advantage of their linguistic competence of multiple languages.

A Descriptive Study of Pashto Diphthongs

Shakir Ullah — 2024-12-31

This paper investigates the Pashto diphthongs of the Yousafzai dialect spoken in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the standard dialect of Pashto, widely spoken in the province. The data were collected from the native speakers in audio recordings to determine whether the dialect allows diphthongs. The fifteen hours of audio recordings covered various topics over 20 days. During the analysis of the audio recordings, it was found that the Yousafzai dialect allows diphthongs based on the lexical items. Then, the identified words were designed into the minimal set of Pashto diphthongs. The twelve native speakers were asked to pronounce the words of the minimal set to verify the identified diphthongs. Subsequently, the diphthongs were verified by Pashto experts (linguists and teachers). Once all the relevant sources confirmed that the Yousafzai dialect of Pashto has five diphthongs /əɪ/, /aɪ/, /ʊɪ/, /əʊ/, /aʊ/, the story of “The North Wind and Sun” was also recorded by the native speakers as supplementary material which also endorsed the study’s analysis of five diphthongs. The findings of distributional patterns show that all diphthongs occur word-initially, medially, and finally. The study further reveals that three diphthongs, /əɪ/, /ʊɪ/ and /aʊ/, occur in mono-syllabic and bi-syllabic words, while two diphthongs, /aɪ/ and /əʊ/ exist in bi-syllabic and tri-syllabic words. It also exhibits that each diphthong glides from low to high positions as /əɪ/, /aɪ/, /ʊɪ/, /əʊ/, /aʊ/. However, languages like English also allow glides from high positions to a low position, such as /ɪə/, /ʊə/, and/eə/ on the vowel trapezium.

An Analysis of Syllable Patterns in Gojri Monosyllabic Words

Nabeela Khalid — 2024-12-31

Gojri is an Indo Aryan language, commonly used in mountainous regions of Pakistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir. The aim of this study is to examine the syllable patterns and phonotactic limitations of Gojri monosyllabic words to better understand their phonological structures. It is investigated that Gojri exhibits a variety of syllable structures, including V, CV, CVC, CCV, CCVC, and VC, with CVC being the most frequently used. The research examines the onset, coda, and nucleus patterns in these syllables, revealing the use of both single consonants and consonant clusters in the onset and coda positions. Notably, consonant clusters follow the Sonority Sequencing Principle (SSP), where the second consonant in a cluster is more sonorous than the first. The study also identifies phonotactic constraints, particularly in the permissible combinations of consonants at the onset and coda positions, such as the restriction of certain consonant sounds like /h/ and /v/ in these positions. Through a detailed analysis, this study highlights the systematic nature of Gojri's syllabic structure while providing insights into the phonological patterns that govern monosyllabic words in the language. Further research could explore the phonotactics of disyllabic words and the influence of regional languages on Gojri syllable patterns.

Exploring Learners' Views about Learning English Language through English Poetry at Graduate Level

Arif Khan Masood Masood — 2024-12-20

This paper explores English language learner’s perception of learning English language through English poetry at a graduate level. Since poetry has great variety, it is a powerful tool for learning any language. It is a qualitative study in which phenomenological research design was used. The data were collected through a focus-group interview followed by non-participant observation. The findings show that poetry is great for learning English language. It helps students to increase their vocabulary, sentence structure, pronunciation, reading skills, etc. Possible future tasks and suggestions involve cross-cultural research, follow-up studies, technical knowledge and enhanced teaching concepts. Teachers and educators can go on extending language-related activities where students can enhance their language interaction with other languages, the culture, and even research and development in this line to build more practices and educational prospects.

From Script to Screen: The Role of Transcreation in Movie Titles

Sumera Anwar — 2024-12-31

Films are a beloved and globally recognized form of media. Movie titles are integral yet understanding them can be challenging if they are not in the local language. Interdisciplinary process of transcreating is used to translate movie titles from English to Urdu or Hindi, showcasing linguistic and cultural variations with a touch of humor. This method creatively reinterprets titles, offering an alternative to literal translation. By using qualitative methods, 15 movie titles were purposively sampled and analyzed within the framework of Chesterman’s (2016) translation strategies, encompassing syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic dimensions transcreating patterns of variance highlight transcreation's distinct aspects. Beyond linguistic accuracy, this process ensures cultural localization, maintaining the original style and visual impact. The primary aim is to investigate the translational strategy called transcreation with cultural references in mind, bridging cultural gaps innovatively while preserving original meanings. Chesterman’s (2016) translation strategy theory, which categorizes strategies into syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic, is applied to explore transcreation's depth. This article emphasizes that transcreating movie titles is interdisciplinary, fully reflecting the linguistic and cultural dimensions of the source text.

The Search for Narrator in Oscar Wilde’s The Nightingale and The Rose

Muhammad Ibrahim Khokhar — 2024-12-31

The study is based on a search for narrator in Oscar Wilde’s “The Nightingale and The Rose”. In the notion of modern narratology, narrator is one of the most important divisions in the structure of narrative. It refers to the “the entire set of ways in which a story is actually told” (Herman & Vervaeck, 2005, p. 80). It can be explained more that the narration is actually the voice or the source that tells the story. Further, the narrator is the actual figure that tells the story in a narrative. It can be said that the narrator puts the events or the happening into words and tells the reader how an event takes place, what is the setting or the background view, who is the character and how that character looks or behaves. The study explores the various types and properties of narrators and justifies that the narrator is an important in the story or novel. Further the study is based on the qualitative method of research that is considered very suitable for the analysis of various literary texts and involves the interpretative method that is considered to be the proper method for the literary texts. In this research study, the researchers have searched for the narrator in the Oscar Wilde’s short story “The Nightingale and the Rose.” For this analysis, they have adopted the method from Herman & Vervaeck’s (2005) book Handbook of narrative analysis. This method involves the search for narrator on two grounds i.e. temporal relations which the time of narration and the time when actually the event takes place and the visibility of narrator in which character acts either ‘covertly’ or ‘overtly’.