With the rise of streaming platforms like Netflix, viewers now have greater access to language and accessibility features. Audio description (AD) translates visual information into spoken language, enabling access for viewers with visual impairments. To match the experience of sighted audiences, AD must convey all visual cues, including physical appearances. Despite its importance, this area – where accessibility and inclusivity intersect – remains understudied. This paper investigates how Netflix’s AD represents different body types, physiques, and visible disabilities among able-bodied and disabled individuals. Using a qualitative descriptive approach, the study analyses AD in two series, one film, and one documentary to assess clarity, accuracy, consistency, and implications of these descriptions. Findings reveal inconsistencies in describing body shape and size, with such references being rare and often contingent on plot relevance. Descriptions typically appear in contexts tied to body image or physical performance, especially relating to athleticism and (dis)ability. In cases involving disability, AD often describes mobility aids rather than the individuals themselves – an approach that avoids potentially offensive terms but risks reinforcing the taboo around discussing disability. The study suggests that these inconsistencies stem from both linguistic limitations and a reliance on perceived relevance. It concludes that prevailing discourse and stigma around describing human bodies complicate AD practices. Further research is needed to refine AD guidelines, ensuring they reflect the perspectives of both those being described and those who rely on AD.
This study investigates the translation of shared culture-bound expressions in the English version of the Arabic novel The Yacoubian Building and its subtitled film adaptation. A total of 50 expressions found in both the written text (RT) and the cinematic text (CT) are identified and classified into four thematic categories: swearing, idiomatic/proverbial, religious, and address expressions. The analysis examines the use of three translation strategies across these genres: cultural substitution, paraphrase, and literal translation. Cultural substitution is the most frequently used strategy overall and is consistently applied across both genres (RT 32% and CT 30%) and across thematic categories. Literal translation is more frequent in the RT (20%) than in the CT (14%), indicating a greater tolerance for cultural retention in written discourse. Paraphrase, by contrast, is employed more often in the CT (44%) than in the RT (22%), reflecting its practicality in subtitling, where spatial and temporal constraints limit the use of literal or culturally anchored renderings. The findings also reveal that swearing and religious expressions are most often translated using cultural substitution due to their cross-culturally familiar nature, while idiomatic and proverbial expressions are primarily paraphrased because of their deeply embedded linguistic and cultural features. While the translations in both genres are largely successful in conveying meaning, the study recommends expanding the use of cultural substitution in audiovisual contexts to maintain viewer engagement and preserve discursive impact.
This study investigates the sociolinguistic functions of kinship terms within the Marwari speech community of Rajasthan, addressing the gap in research concerning how language structures reflect and reinforce familial and social identity. The primary aim is to explore the cultural context in which kinship terminologies are used, focusing on how these terms encode generational, hierarchical, and gendered relationships. Employing a communication ethnographic framework, the study uses participant and non-participant observation, questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and genealogical diagrams to collect and analyse data from five native Marwari speakers. Findings reveal that Marwari kinship terms are distinctly categorised into consanguineal (blood) and affinal (marital) relations, with both core and peripheral subcategories. The terms incorporate honorifics such as /sa/ and /ɟi/ and reflect gender differentiation through suffixes like /i/ and /ni/. The structure and use of these terms not only establish familial connections but also underscore respect, social cohesion, and the deeply embedded cultural values of the Marwari community. The implications of this study are both theoretical and practical: it contributes to the understanding of how linguistic practices mediate social relationships and identity in traditional communities, highlights the cultural significance of kinship lexicons in language maintenance, and underscores the importance of preserving linguistic diversity in the face of increasing language contact and shift.
This study was motivated by the initial observations of Jordanian people’s distinct use of live (novel) and dead (conventional) linguistic metaphors when they narrate their different sad and happy experiences in natural contexts in Jordan. While there has been sufficient research into metaphor from a cognitivediscursive perspective, there has been a lack of metaphor research that links cognitive analysis with practice. The present study aims to examine if live and dead metaphors correlate with speaker’s types of experiences and find their practical implications. In this study, participants were selected using the convenience sampling strategy. The collected metaphorical expressions from participants went through four analysis stages: transcription, manual identification of metaphorical expressions, inductive coding and interpretation. The present study uses discourse analysis to enrich the practice approach (e. g., effective (in)formal communication). This paper found that people narrating their sad experiences rely on live metaphors more than dead metaphors. This can be attributed to two reasons. Live metaphors serve as rhetorical devices that can attract the addressee’s attention and facilitate articulating sensitive issues more effectively than conventional or dead metaphors. This study thus suggests that live metaphors have a more effective role than dead metaphors in various modes of professional communication such as psychological counselling, politics and debates. This distinction, as revealed by the data analysis, can bear important implications that are worth considering in various fields. Thus, this study recommends communication and rhetoric researchers to investigate how live metaphors can strategically be employed in such modes of communication in various cultures.
This study focuses on the development of an algorithm for constructing the vocabulary of a Syrian dialectal multimedia dictionary. The significance of this research stems from the inadequate representation of Syrian dialectal lexicon in existing lexicographical resources. The novelty lies in the creation of a universal model for an Arabic dialectal multimedia dictionary, using the Syrian dialect as a foundation, and in proposing a methodology for utilising film texts as a source of Arabic dialectal vocabulary, followed by the processing of this lexical material. The initial sample of dialectal lexical items comprised 100 words and was subsequently expanded to 1,500. The proposed multimedia dictionary project caters to the needs of diverse user categories by providing, for example, etymological, phonetic, grammatical, and semantic information about each lexical unit, visualisation of its concept, and supplementary semantisation through film discourse fragments. Encompassing both original Arabic words and borrowings from languages such as Syriac, Turkish, French, and English, the dictionary aims to reflect the lexical composition of the Syrian dialect and is geared towards enhancing the systematisation and lexicography of Arabic dialects in general. This endeavour makes a substantial contribution to the fields of linguistics and lexicography, while also promoting the preservation and study of Arabic dialects.
The use of address forms varies from culture to culture according to each society’s sociocultural values and norms. Therefore, the variations in the choice, usage, and understanding of forms of address can create communication problems. This study investigates address forms used in Algerian society between nonacquaintances in different age and gender contexts. It aims to identify the main address categories used to address a stranger and to trace the impact of sociocultural norms and values on their preferences. For this purpose, a discourse-completion task (DCT) was used to collect data from 104 Algerian respondents of different ages and genders which were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The results show that Algerians use a variety of address forms with kinship terms dominating, followed by religious terms. They testify that politeness in Algerian society is established by showing deference and respect to elders and at the same time demonstrating intimacy and closeness to the addressee, which is prescribed by the Qur’an. However, the choice of a term is determined by age, power, gender and distance. The findings reflect the collectivist and Islamic nature of Algerian society. The paper provides new insights into the impact of cultural factors on address forms and contributes to address research, cross-cultural pragmatics, intercultural communication and second language teaching.
В представленной статье анализируется опыт противостояния коренного населения Никарагуа Сандинистскому фронту национального освобождения во время Центральноамериканского конфликта в 1980-е годы. Исследуются причины, побудившие индейцев мискито выступить против центральной власти, а также общая обстановка на территориях традиционного расселения автохтонных жителей в описываемый период. Отдельно затрагивается тема «индейского вопроса» до и после победы Сандинистской революции в 1979 году. Опыт противодействия гегемонии государства со стороны мискито и др. индейских групп при выработке собственной стратегии основывался на истории локальных конфликтов последней трети прошлого столетия. По мнению автора исследования, данный case study можно отнести к успешному проявлению так называемой «низовой геополитики», которая формировалась в рамках критического направления в 80-90-е гг. XX в. В частности, для понимания этого феномена анализировались подходы, разработанные Бернардом Нитшманном и Полом Роутледжем. В ходе проведенного исследования автор приходит к выводу, что несмотря на успешный опыт противостояния государству и получение долгожданной автономии, по мере включения в политический процесс коренное население не смогло обеспечить стабильного развития своих территорий. Виной тому стали, как внешние факторы, так и внутренние противоречия. Подтверждением тому может служить союз в сандинистами, который в итоге не оказал позитивного воздействия на политическое представительство коренного населения на национальном уровне. Авторитарный стиль правления администрации Даниэля Ортеги сделал невозможным дальнейшее сотрудничество индейцев с президентской властью. Тем не менее, «индейский вопрос» в политике все еще остается.
Применение препаратов иммунотерапии в комбинации с химиотерапией показало свою эффективность в рандомизированных исследованиях в I линии лечения метастатического рака желудка. В работе рассмотрен опыт онкологической службы г. Москвы по оценке эффективности пембролизумаба и ниволумаба у больных метастати‑ ческим раком желудка в зависимости от морфологических (CPS, MSI) характеристик.
Цель исследования: сравнить выживаемость без прогрессирования (ВБП) и общую выживаемость (ОВ) в первой линии у больных распространенным раком желудка, которым проводилась иммунотерапия (в монорежиме или в комбинации с химиотерапией) или стандартная химиотерапия с включением оксалиплатина и фторпиримидинов.
Результаты: Критериям включения соответствовали 194 пациента. Из них ингибиторы контрольных точек (ИКТ) получали 52 пациента (18 — только иммунотерапию; 31 — в сочетании с химиотерапией, пембролизумаб получали 15, ниволумаб — 37 больных). Химиотерапию CAPOX или FOLFOХ без ИКТ получили 142 пациента. Медиана наблюдения составила 29,5 мес. (17,4–62,0 мес.). Мужчин в группах было 55,8 % и 57,7 %, средний возраст — 64,5 и 65,9 лет, ECOG 2 отмечен у 15,4 % и 8,5 %. Другие характеристики также были сопоставимы: CPS > 10 у 69,2 % и 19,7 % (р = 0,0001), MSI — у 26,2 % и 4,9 % (р = 0,009), 2 и более линий лечения получали 36,5 % и 69,3 % (р = 0,0001) соответственно. ВБП в общей группе составила 7,9 мес. и 6,4 мес. (ОР 0,46; 95 % ДИ 0,32–0,67, р = 0,0001), а ОВ — 17,3 мес. и 14,6 мес. (ОР 0,71; 95 %ДИ 0,49–1,04, р = 0,076) соответственно. При проведении однофакторного анализа был установлен только 1 фактор прогноза выживаемости: число органов, пораженных метастазами. В соответствии с этим анализ показал, что при наличии метастазов в 1–2 органах использование ИКТ имело преимущество в ВБП (р = 0,051 и р = 0,001), при 3 и более метастазах преимущество отсутствовало (р = 0,62). Оценивая влияние уровня CPS у больных с MSS фенотипом показано, что при CPS 0–9 преимущества в ВБП (6,1 мес. и 6,9 мес., р = 0,7) и ОВ (8,8 мес. и 14,9 мес., р = 0,39) не было. При CPS > 10 отмечено преимущество при добавлении ИКТ по ВБП (9,9 мес. и 4,4 мес., р = 0,0001), и ОВ 18,2 мес. и 12, 1 мес. (р = = 0,23). Однако при уровне CPS > 50 результаты не отличались. При оценке результа‑ тов лечения больных с MSI показано, что при медиане ВБП 6,6 мес. и 5,2 мес. (ОР 0,48; 95 %ДИ 0,17–1,4; р = 0,165) медиана ОВ у пациентов, получивших ИКТ с или без ХТ, была значимо выше — 24,3 мес. и 11,1 мес., соответственно (ОР 0,4; 95 %ДИ 0,13–1,21; р = 0,11).
Выводы: использование ИКТ в I линии терапии метастатического рака желудка (по сравнению с только ХТ) уве‑ личивает долю пациентов, живущих без прогрессирования 12 и более месяцев, и более чем в 2 раза увеличивает общую выживаемость. Пороговый уровень CPS для назначения ИКТ, возможно, должен составлять > 10. Взаимосвязь эффективности иммунотерапии и экспрессии PD-L1 при раке желудка с MSI опухолями требует дальнейшего изуче‑ ния на большей выборке пациентов. Информация об уровне CPS, наличии MSI и HER2 / neu должны быть известны к моменту обсуждения тактики лечения в дебюте метастатической болезни.
In a thirty-year career as a teacher of English as a foreign and second language, Nik Peachey set up his own online system for producing weekly lesson plans for teachers, focusing on social issues and addressing areas of language use of special value to language teachers wanting to introduce new topics and activities to their classes at different levels of proficiency. Like many of his colleagues, he has moved beyond the use of the computer and the Internet to produce and circulate lesson plans and now has published an online book on the role of artificial intelligence and its applications, such as ChatGPT, in language learning and teaching. Entitled The Manual of AI-Mediated Autonomous Teacher Development, the book is available online. Nik Peachey takes teachers of English through the theory and practice of artificial intelligence in a clear, simple and non-scientific approach which is adaptable to all teachers of foreign and second languages helping them create and develop new teaching materials to interest and involve their students in the learning process.
The study aims to examine how movie titles are translated from English to Vietnamese under the light of the translation methods proposed by Newmark (1988). To fulfil this research objective, the researcher uses a linguistic corpus consisting of 83 pairs of movie titles collected randomly from various sources. Two research methods are employed, including discourse analysis to analyse the linguistic components used in the original and translated titles and translation comparative to compare the linguistic and semantic similarities and differences between the two versions to identify what methods have been used in each title translation. The research findings show that of the eight methods presented by Newmark (1988), only five are employed, including faithful translation, semantic translation, idiomatic translation, free translation and adaptation, together with the two additional ones, including keeping the title unchanged and creating a new title, of which faithful translation has the highest frequency of use, while the least common method is idiomatic translation. The findings indicate that the choice of translation methods depends on the text types and translators’ consideration of the linguistic, semantic and pragmatic transfer in the translation process. These findings partly align with the earlier research of Newmark and other scholars, thereby further consolidating the theories related to translation methods while some new findings are identified as the contributions of this study to the research topic. Based on the findings, some implications have been made on how to translate movie titles in general and other text types in particular.