Awareness of contemporary lexical change for professional competence in English language education.

Influential languages such as English reinvent themselves and prosper. The ongoing developments taking place in such dynamic languages make it imperative for language users to be up-to-date and be familiar with the changes affecting the language they are professionally involved with, more so those involved with its instruction. Languge change, especially lexical change, may be observed from various sources

A survey of factors contributing to language change in English, with special reference to lexical change

The purpose of this paper is to create awareness among language users of the need to be current with our knowledge of lexis. Older and contemporary dictionaries as well as popular reading materials were used to investigate lexical change.It was found that certain lexical items had acquired additional meaning. Some were gradually being replaced by others. There was variation between varieties of English. Some were becoming old-fashioned in the modern context. Words which were considered formal are also being used casually. Certain vocabulary items were unpredictable in meaning. It was also found that there were many euphemistic, non-sexist and new coinages

Survival of the minority Kristang language in Malaysia

Kristang, also known as Malaccan Portuguese Creole, is spoken by a microscopic minority of Catholic Christians who are descendants of Portuguese colonizers and Asian settlers in Malacca, a famed port which was coveted by major European powers. Because the very small size of the Kristang community, the language is struggling to survive.Its lexifier is mostly Portuguese as it was used then,with some Malay vocabulary. The minority language may yet be maintained, thanks to the perseverance of the remaining members and the Government which recognizes their distinct identity

The language of Islamophobia in internet articles

Islamophobia, the hatred for and fear of Islam and Muslims, manifests itself physically, politically, culturally and linguistically, besides in other forms. From the linguistic perspective, many words have been coined to perpetuate prejudices against Muslims and Islam. Islam and Muslims are often found in collocational use in the most derogatory and irresponsible way. Islamophobic terms from the internet have been identified for a rational and objective discussion to combat Islamophobic discourse

The contribution of languages of Muslim-majority speakers to English vocabulary

The English language owes a debt of gratitude to numerous languages, those with whom the British colonizers came into contact through colonization and trade, and also with those whose languages are spoken by a large number of people. Examples of the former are Bengali, Hindi, Hausa, Malay and Urdu. The examples of the latter are Arabic, Mandarin, Persian and Turkish. When we think of the Muslim contribution to the vocabulary of English, it is mostly Arabic, Persian and Turkish that comes to one‟s mind. Not much is known about the lexical items from Swahili, Fulani, Wolof and Tatar, for instance. This study is an attempt to discover the various vocabulary items from languages of Muslim-majority speakers that have found their way into the international lingua franca and thus used internationally and regionally. Their use is authenticated through influential dictionaries and online content. A sizeable number of such words have indeed become part of English and are used in the print and electronic media. These words, though from the sources of Muslim-majority languages are used by both speakers who use English as their primary and secondary language. These words fill a lexical gap experienced in the English language which has only become richer, not poorer, by lexical borrowing of the languages in question

Target culture teaching in the English as a second/foreign language classroom

Culture learning leads to awareness of cultural practices in both individualistic and collectivist societies. To withstand culture shock, L2 learners need to be exposed to the L1 culture with the help of illustrations, dialogues, etc. A grade 10 textbook is used to demonstrate linguocultural teaching which advocates teaching of target culture alongside the materials used in the classroom. Cultural knowledge has even come to be described as the fifth language skill. Knowledge of culture sensitivity is part of sociolinguistic competence

Islamophobic rhetoric in the wake of the Orlando mass killing

The paper seeks to identify Islamophobic terms which are directed at Islam and Muslims in a highly pejorative manner. The data was collected from www.yahoo.com/news/us for a duration of one week following the massacre of nearly 50 members of the LGBT community in a gay club in Orlando, Florida, by a single radicalized Muslim of Afghan descent. Articles related to the tragic incident which appeared in the above mentioned website were perused for Islamophobic language. It was found that there is a tendency to overgeneralize Islam and its followers on the basis of the actions of a few radicalized individuals and organizations which abused Islam by their activities which were not condoned by the religion. The lexical collocation of words including Islam and other religious terms were used without a proper understanding of what they really meant and showed much bias towards Islam and its followers