Liberal Journal of Language & Literature Review
The "Liberal Journal of Language & Literature Review" is a groundbreaking scholarly publication dedicated to exploring and advancing the realms of language and literature from a liberal perspective. Launched in this journal seeks to foster a dynamic intellectual environment for scholars, researchers, and academics to engage in critical discussions, exchange innovative ideas, and contribute to the evolving landscape of language and literature studies.
Discovery Education & Research Institute
Rewriting Creativity: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Creative Writing and Narrative Construction
Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed classic concepts of authorship, creativity, and storytelling through its incorporation into creative writing. The research is critically oriented to explore how the AI-generated text has influenced narrative structures and creative processes by comparing AI-generated and human-written narrative in a comparative approach. The research, based on posthumanism, narrative theory and computational creativity, analyzes the variations in coherence, novelty, emotional richness, and stylistic performance. The set of data will include ten short stories (five created by AI and five by humans), and those will be analyzed in the framework of thematic and stylistic analysis. Results indicate that AI exhibits structural coherence and genre flexibility to the greatest extent, whereas it lacks the experience and emotional depth that human writing has. With the advent of human-AI co-creativity, however, the paradigm of AI as a collaborative agent may shift away from the role of a substitution of the human authors. The research adds value to theoretical arguments by re-inventing the idea of creativity as a distributed process among human and non-human agents. It also notes implications in the pedagogy of writing, digital humanities and ethics in the AI-assisted authorship. The study concludes that AI is not reducing creativity but modifying its modes of production, and that the narrative theory needs to be re-examined in the digital era.
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TRANSLATION STUDIES: CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC TRANSFORMATIONS
This article discusses the changes within the field of Translation Studies, especially in the cultural and linguistic aspect. Translation is a way of conveying meanings, ideas, beliefs, traditions and values between different societies as well as a process of converting words from one language to another. The study is based on the examination of the problem of translation and the confrontation with cultural and linguistic differences, which are presented by the translator in a way that would not compromise the meaning of the source text. It highlights the importance of translation in facilitating communication and understanding between individuals from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. This research is done with qualitative approach of textual and comparative analysis between source text and translated text. It investigates the changes on the cultural expression, idioms, words, sentence structure and grammar levels in the process of translation. It also discusses different translation strategies used by translators to make the text understandable and meaningful for the target audience. The results of the study reveal that both linguistic and cultural adaptation is found in translation. Translators are able to adapt expressions, structures and meanings to the social and cultural background of the target language. The study also shows that translators function as cultural mediators who help mediate between societies via language. The study shows that cultural and linguistic changes play a crucial part in translation and have a considerable impact on cross-cultural communication and the sharing of knowledge.
THE ROLE OF QUEEN BEE IN SUSTAINING SELF-IDENTITY: A FEMINIST STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF SYLVIA PLATH’S CONFESSIONAL BEE POEMS
This study examines confessional “Bee Poems” (3-9 October 1962), written by the American writer, poet, and modern woman, Sylvia Plath. Bee Poems, five in number, are selected texts from Plath’s collection of poems, Ariel (1965), such as “The Bee Meeting”, “The Arrival of the Bee Box”, “Stings”, “The Swarm”, and “Wintering”. To analyze confessions of self-identity by depicting the stereotypical role of queen bee, this paper uses Sara Mills’ Model Feminist Stylistics (1995) as a theoretical framework. The Bee Poems are analyzed at the discourse level with focus on one of its features, ‘Characterization’. The qualitative research method is used with McKee’s (2003) textual analysis based on close reading of the selected texts. This study argues that the pressure of patriarchal forces remains dominant in the life of a poet who identifies with the speaker of the Bee sequence poems and witnesses her struggles to sustain herself as a woman of identity. The male-dominancy suffocates her existence in a way that her life gets changed drastically, especially when she is cheated by her infidel husband, by being involved in an extramarital affair with Assia Wevill. This study concludes that in Bee poems, Plath, disguised in the role of a queen bee, confesses domesticity, sexuality, vulnerability, and finally suicidal thoughts, resulting in the successful suicide attempt as the extreme state of her mind that she finally chooses for herself as the only way out to freedom.
UNCOVERING THE AI PARADOX IN UNDER-RESOURCED ESL CONTEXTS: QUANTIFYING LEARNER ADOPTION, AUTONOMY, AND DEPENDENCY
This present study quantifies the divergent trends of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, development of learner autonomy, and cognitive dependence of English as a Second Language (ESL) learners and teachers in under-resourced higher education institutions (HEIs) of South Punjab, Pakistan. This study adopted a descriptive survey design, validated instrument with 30 items on a Likert scale (Cronbach’s α = .86), and data obtained from 80 respondents comprising 60 students and 20 ESL teachers from public and private universities in Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan during the academic year 2025–2026. The results show that 83% of students and 90% of teachers are active AI users, but there is a clear Monoculture Trap present as 88% of students primarily use ChatGPT with 65% of teachers. An independent samples t-test was used to confirm the difference between autonomy and dependency as being statistically significant (d = 0.91). A regression analysis revealed that the frequency of use of AI accounted for 45% of the variance in dependency scores (R² = .45, p < .001); and there was a significant Pearson correlation between frequency of use of AI and dependency scores (r = −.75, p < .001) with a strong negative relationship. In all measures of critical thinking, students rated the role of AI in critical thinking lower than teachers, suggesting metacognition of the limitations of technology and over-reliance. This study suggests two measurable constructs, learner autonomy and AI-dependency, that are operationalized at the researcher level and can be used to ESL contexts in the Global South that are mediated by AI. The Triple-A Pedagogical Framework (Access, Audit, and Apply) is suggested to be a scalable, evidence-based model for integrating AI into the classroom without sacrificing crucial language skills. Recommendations are provided for curriculum planners, institutional administrators and policymakers in education settings where resources are limited.
Critical Issues Around World Englishes: Ownership, Attitudes, And Pedagogical Implications
The emergence of World Englishes has unsettled long-established assumptions about who owns English, which cultures English represents, and whose norms should guide English Language Teaching (ELT). This qualitative narrative review examines two closely connected debates in the field: the ownership of English and the attitudes directed toward localized non-native English varieties. Drawing on foundational World Englishes scholarship and recent work on English as an International Language (EIL), English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), Global Englishes Language Teaching (GELT), translanguaging, native-speakerism, and decolonial ELT, the paper argues that English can no longer be treated as the exclusive property of Inner Circle native speakers. The review shows that localized Englishes are not failed approximations of Standard British English or Standard American English but historically grounded, socially meaningful, and communicatively functional varieties. Negative attitudes toward these varieties are sustained by standard language ideology, colonial residues, native-speakerism, and institutional assessment practices that continue to privilege Inner Circle norms. The paper contributes to the debate by linking classical World Englishes arguments with current pedagogical developments and by proposing that ELT should move from an Inner Circle-dominant orientation toward a context-sensitive, pluricentric, multilingual, and intelligibility-oriented model. Such a shift requires changes in teacher education, curriculum design, materials development, speaking and listening pedagogy, academic writing instruction, and assessment. The paper concludes that recognizing World Englishes is not a lowering of standards but a more accurate response to the multilingual conditions under which English is now used. Keywords: World Englishes; ownership of English; native-speakerism; non-native varieties; English as an International Language; English as a Lingua Franca; Global Englishes Language Teaching; English Language Teaching.
IMPACT OF RESEARCH ANXIETY ON THESIS PROGRESS AND ACADEMIC PRODUCTIVITY AMONG POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS
Background: Research anxiety is a growing psychological issue among postgraduate students and may negatively affect their thesis progress and academic productivity. The demanding nature of research activities, combined with academic pressure and limited research training, contributes to increased stress levels in postgraduate education. Objective: To assess the impact of research anxiety on thesis progress and academic productivity among postgraduate students. Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted among postgraduate students enrolled in MS, MPhil, and PhD programs. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire comprising research anxiety, thesis progress, and academic productivity scales. A total of 420 participants were included using stratified random sampling. Data were analyzed using statistical software with descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, independent t-test, ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis. Results: The study findings showed that a majority of participants experienced moderate to high levels of research anxiety. Research anxiety was significantly negatively correlated with thesis progress (p < 0.01) and academic productivity (p < 0.01). Regression analysis revealed that research anxiety was a significant negative predictor of both thesis progress and academic productivity. Supervisor support and research experience were identified as positive predictors of academic outcomes. Conclusion: Research anxiety significantly affects thesis progress and academic productivity among postgraduate students. Reducing research anxiety through academic support, supervision, and skill development programs may enhance research performance and timely thesis completion.
DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF NOVELS AND POLITICAL SPEECHES
The present study applies the Critical Discourse Analysis technique to the analysis of how language generates ideology and power in two content areas of Pakistani discourse: political speeches; post-9/11 novels. The former is an analysis of the use of rhetorical devices in pre- and post-election speeches of fifteen Pakistani political leaders. The frequency of persuasive devices was quantified using qualitative content analysis in order to trace the variation within the electoral contexts. The second strand involves a comparative CDA of Home Boy by H. M. Naqvi and The Blind Mans Garden by Nadeem Aslam using the Socio-Cognitive approach of Van Dijk, which focuses on ideological frameworks, power relations and changes in political discourse following September 11. Results in both datasets indicate that language is strategically used to contribute to consent, exert power, and substantiate ideologies. Political speeches reveal contextually conditioned use of rhetorical devices to show the power and enlist the support, whereas the novels depict a significant post-9/11 shift with stereotypic attitudes, ethnic prejudice, cultural alienation, elite power abuse, and resistance of the marginalized groups. Combined, the texts demonstrate that Muslims are targets of hate crimes and derogatory media perceptions and racial discrimination, and how assimilation turns into alienation. The paper emphasizes the cognitive aspects of discourse interpretation and highlights the importance of language in influencing knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, norms, and values in Pakistani socio-political contexts
ANALYZING MORPHOLOGICAL ERRORS BY NON-NATIVE ESL LEARNERS IN ESSAY WRITING: IMPLICATIONS FOR ELT IN PAKISTAN
This study undertakes a systematic analysis of morphological errors present in the essay writing of non-native ESL (English as a Second Language Learners) at the matriculation level in Pakistan, aiming to derive critical implications for contemporary English Language Teaching (ELT) practices. Using a descriptive qualitative research design, the study analyzed a corpus of forty essays written by male students enrolled in a public school setting. The theoretical foundation for the error analysis process was based on Pit Corder's theory, encompassing the stages of error identification, description and explanation, while classification of the identified errors was executed by using Dulay, Burt, and Krashen’s Surface Strategy Taxonomy (omission, addition, misformation, and misordering). Furthermore, to determine the underlying reasons for these linguistic deviations, the Interlanguage Theory (IL) was applied to pinpoint sources internal to the English language system itself. The systematic analysis yielded crucial findings: a high prevalence of morphological errors was observed, with the omission of plural markers (e.g., s/es) emerging as the single most frequent morphological error committed by the participants, significantly impacting the accuracy of their written production across nouns. Subsequent source analysis, guided by the Intralingual framework, definitively established that the overwhelming majority of these morphological inaccuracies originated from intralingual sources, indicating that the errors are primarily developmental—resulting from incomplete rule mastery, overgeneralization or the misapplication of English grammatical rules—rather than L1 interference. This identification of morphological issues, particularly the consistent failure to inflect for plurality, highlights a substantial pedagogical gap within the current ELT context in Pakistani public schools. Consequently, the study advocates for a focused revision of ELT methodology, recommending the integration of explicit, targeted instruction and contrastive practice aimed specifically at addressing and internalizing English inflectional morphology, thereby providing evidence-based recommendations for enhancing curriculum design and teacher training to improve the written proficiency of ESL learners in the region.
Third Culture of Trauma: Haunted Hybridity in Cecile Pin’s Wandering Souls
This paper offers a critical re-evaluation of the classic Third Culture Kid (TCK) theory by arguing that its foundation in systemic privilege is insufficient for explaining the complexities of forced displacement. It contends that the traditional focus on voluntary expatriates must be reconsidered in light of refugee experiences shaped by coercion, loss, and survival. In response, the study proposes a new sociological framework termed the Third Culture of Trauma, which reorients TCK discourse toward displaced populations. This conceptual shift foregrounds trauma as a central force in identity formation under conditions of forced migration. The research is grounded in a primary case study of Cecile Pin’s Wandering Souls (2023), using the novel as a textual site to explore the Haunted Hybridity of Vietnamese siblings navigating life in Britain during the Thatcher era. Through this analysis, the study examines how historical trauma and diasporic experience intersect to shape fragmented yet enduring identities. In contrast to the traditional TCK, having a culture of fluidity and global capital to characterize its mobility, the refugee TCK has a new form of movement that can be described as characterized by the friction of movement by loss and indifference of the bureaucratic system. The research paper discusses the linkages of the spectral presence of the lost through the Trauma Theory and Postcolonial Hauntology in the formation of the liminal identity that is never fully integrated. The analysis of the crisis of Boat People in Vietnam presents the research paper that the architecture created by the refugee is, quite on the contrary, the Third Culture, the locality of unceasing mourning, the place where the fragmented self is manifested amidst the debris of the psychological space. This study therefore redefines the TCK identity as being at home and everywhere and nowhere not through the cosmopolitan prestige, but as a permanent state of fragmented trauma of survival.
Speech Act Realization in Literary Discourse: A Qualitative Study of Goodbye Mr. Chips for Pragmatic Competence Development
Pragmatic competence is one of the most important aspects of second language learning. It helps learners to observe that language performs different functions. Speech act theory, one of the dimensions of pragmatic competency, describes the actual behaviours of speakers based on their communicative intents, such as, making requests, producing apologies and asserting information as described in this theory. Inadequately attending to context variables resulted in pragmatic failure or pragmatic misinterpretation. Although pragmatic competence is an important area of EFL teaching and learning, there continues to be an inconsistency in teaching and evaluation of the input needed to develop pragmatic competence; this study will review an EFL novel, Goodbye Mr. Chips as endorsed by the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board, to determine its efficacy for developing learners’ pragmatic competence as it pertains to speech acts. Qualitative descriptive research approach were used under the lens of Searle’s (1979) taxonomy of speech acts employed to identify the number of speech acts represented (representative, directive, commissive, expressive, and declarative) in a cross-section of the text. This study analyzed their distribution across the text to determine that the text contains a balanced representation of speech acts for the purpose of providing opportunities for developing learners’ pragmatic competence. While the findings of this study found an unequal representation of the various speech act types in the novel, the most frequently occurring speech act types such as, representative and directive were found to be representative and directive. Conversely, the least frequent type (commissive) was identified in the text. Thus, the text provided opportunities for exposure to some types of functions of language, it does not provide a comprehensive range of speech acts necessary to ensure a proper balance of pragmatic competence for the learners. This study has identified the need for the integration of pragmatically rich EFL learning materials to support learners in becoming more communicatively competent.
Temporal Dislocations: Non-linear Time, and Postcolonial Anxiety in Tayeb Salih’s Season of Migration to the North
The study attempts to analyse the significance of Tayeb Salih’s novel ‘Season of Migration to the North’ by examining its non-linear temporality, highlighting temporal displacement as a tool for depicting the anxiety and disjuncture of identity associated with the postcolonial experience. Through a qualitative analysis of the novel within the paradigms of postcolonialism and narrative theory, it becomes clear how memories, flashbacks, and circular distortions have disrupted the linearity of time. The analysis reveals that the novel employs temporal cycles and interruptions in which past and present merge, reflecting the psychological turmoil of postcolonial individuals. Memory proves to be the key tool for blurring the boundaries of time, through which colonial history invades the characters’ present experience. Using the characterisations of Mustafa Sa’eed and an anonymous narrator, this study demonstrates how disrupted temporality reflects inner conflicts, culture shock, and historical trauma. Overall, it is argued that non-linear temporality is not only a structural technique but a means by which linear historiography associated with imperialism can be critiqued. In this way, the study makes an important contribution to scholarship on postcolonial literature by exploring how form and theme intersect within a postcolonial context.
Assessing The Key Writing Skills Challenges Faced By Bs Nursing Students And Detect The Frequency Of Errors Found In Their Writing Samples: An Evidence From A Public Sector University In Sindh, Pakistan
While English is an important part of the university culture, with often more papers published in English than the students' own language, most students still see it as a second language and therefore there can be a gap in their target level and their actual level. Perhaps the most pronounced of these gaps is in academic writing, where simply being able to use proper language is often not sufficient as additional skills such as structuring ideas, forming and arguing a thesis and following conventions of fields are required. This challenge is even more pronounced in professional disciplines such as nursing, where writing is closely tied to academic outcomes and future clinical practice. Assignments, reports, examinations produced by BS Nursing students are based on clarity, accuracy and coherence which prepare them to manage professional documentation in healthcare units. This study adopted a mixed-method research design by combining qualitative and quantitative approaches to examine the writing problems faced by BS Nursing first semester students. It also included an experimental element to assess the effectiveness of writing instruction for ESL learners. Data was collected using multiple tools to ensure accuracy and depth. Focus group interviews were conducted with both students and teachers to explore writing challenges and teaching practices. The findings revealed a second major dimension of the problem: the writing of students lacked coherence, organization, and development of ideas. Few students knew how to build a paragraph, their sentences devoid of topic sentence, evidence and proper transitions. The findings also suggest that writing skills deficits can adversely affect student academic success and their future professional practice as nurses.
In-Between Homes: Hybridity, Ambivalence, and the Construction of Diasporic Subjectivity in The Escape
This paper discusses the short story Qaisra Shahraz titled The Escape. The story was published in 2009 in the collection titled “The Concubine and the Slave-Catcher: Stories From Around the World”. It explores the emotional world of an elderly immigrant, Samir, who has been living in Manchester for decades. Struggling to attain inner peace and existential stability especially after the death of his wife in the host land. He attempts to escape to Pakistan to visit familiar places with familiar people in search of emotional comfort; however, he fails to find psychological settlement in any geographical space. The story is analyzed through the postcolonial theoretical perspective of Homi K. Bhabha, particularly through the concepts of hybridity, ambivalence, in-betweenness, unhomeliness, and negotiated diasporic identity. These theoretical constructs are important for understanding migrant subject formation within postcolonial spatial and psychological displacement. The paper argues that Samir’s continuous search for selfhood and inner peace reflects the condition of fragmented postcolonial migrant consciousness. The study concludes that Samir’s journey toward finding home does not lead to absolute belonging in either homeland or hostland but results in a negotiated and ambivalent diasporic subjectivity, where identity is reconstructed within third-space cultural and emotional spaces. Thus, the narrative represents the existential condition of the migrant subject who exists within postcolonial psychological and spatial uncertainty. Keywords: Diasporic identity; Hybridity and ambivalence; Unhomeliness; Migrant psychology; Third space; Belonging and displacement.
A Pragmatic Analysis of Speech Acts and Conversational Implicature in the Dialogues of Thomasina and Septimus in Arcadia
This study investigates the use of speech acts and conversational implicature in the selected dialogues of Thomasina Coverly and Septimus Hodge in Arcadia. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of speech act theory proposed by John L. Austin and John Searle, and conversational implicature developed by H. P. Grice, the research aims to explore how language functions beyond literal meaning to construct interpretation, characterize individuals, and develop thematic concerns. A qualitative research design is employed, focusing on close textual analysis of selected dialogues. The findings reveal that representative and directive speech acts are the most frequently used, reflecting the intellectual and pedagogical nature of the interaction between the two characters. Expressive and commissive acts contribute to emotional depth and relational continuity, while declarations are minimal due to contextual limitations. The study further demonstrates that conversational implicature is a key mechanism in meaning-making, with frequent flouting of Gricean maxims generating indirect, implied meanings. The interaction between speech acts and implicature yields layered, context dependent interpretation, requiring active engagement from the audience. The analysis also shows that characterization is largely constructed through linguistic choices, with Thomasina’s direct and inquisitive language contrasting with Septimus’s indirect, ironic, and controlled communication style. These pragmatic features also reinforce major themes of the play, including knowledge and uncertainty, order and chaos, time and irreversibility, and the relationship between emotion and intellect. The study concludes that a pragmatic approach offers a deeper understanding of the linguistic and dramatic complexity of Arcadia, highlighting the sophisticated use of language in Tom Stoppard's works. Keywords: Pragmatics, Speech Acts, Conversational Implicature, Characterization, Thematic Analysis
Beyond Anthropocentrism: Dwelling, Apocalypse, Wilderness, and Nonhuman Agency in Richard Powers' The Overstory
This article examines how Richard Powers' The Overstory reconstructs the relationship between human beings and the natural world through Greg Garrard's ecocritical concepts of dwelling, apocalypse, wilderness, and animals or nonhuman life. The study responds to a critical gap in literary scholarship in which environmental themes are often discussed in broad terms without a closely specified conceptual frame and without a systematic mapping of those concepts across one primary text. A qualitative textual design was adopted, and the novel was read through close analysis supported by a structured coding dataset derived from the article outline and organized into thirty analytical units. Each unit identified narrative segment, character or focal emphasis, ecological issue, anthropocentric system under critique, ecocentric perspective, nonhuman element, narrative technique, and interpretive finding. Descriptive summaries were then developed from the coded units in order to clarify recurrent patterns without reducing the analysis to a statistical study. The findings show that apocalypse and dwelling operate as the dominant conceptual pair, while wilderness and nonhuman agency serve as concentrated sites of ethical intensification. The novel repeatedly turns forests from passive scenery into active presences, exposes anthropocentric institutions as forms of perceptual and moral failure, and reimagines home as coexistence rather than possession. The article argues that The Overstory does not merely depict environmental crisis. It reorganizes scale, attention, memory, and obligation in ways that promote an ecocentric understanding of human-nature relations. Through Garrard's framework, the novel emerges as a sustained literary response to ecological devastation and as an imaginative model for environmental ethics grounded in attentiveness, interdependence, and shared planetary accountability. Keywords: Ecocriticism, Richard Powers, The Overstory, Greg Garrard, environmental crisis, anthropocentrism, ecocentrism, nonhuman agency
UNDERSTANDING METACOGNITIVE SKILLS THROUGH SELF-EFFICACY AND PERSONALITY TRAITS AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS
Effective learning and academic self-regulation are largely dependent on metacognitive skills, but there are significant differences in students' abilities to control cognitive processes. This difference may be explained by motivational beliefs and personality traits. The study adopted a quantitative cross-sectional design and involved 360 college students from both public and private institutions. Standardized self-report measures were used to test the academic self-efficacy, Big Five personality traits, and metacognitive skills. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were performed to analyze the data. The metacognitive skills were greatly and positively predicted by academic self-efficacy. Extraversion and openness to experience were positively related to metacognitive skills, whereas neuroticism was negatively related to them. There was no significant predictor of conscientiousness and agreeableness. The personality traits and the metacognitive skills were partially mediated by self-efficacy. The results not only revealed a connection between motivational and dispositional factors but also showed that these factors play a joint role in metacognitive development and support interventions that increase self-efficacy to facilitate self-regulated learning.
DOUBLE MARGINALIZATION AND BEYOND: REPRESSION OF WOMEN IN NADEEM ASLAM’S THE GOLDEN LEGEN
This research paper conducts a feminist analysis of Nadeem Aslam’s novel The Golden Legend (2017). The study is grounded in feminist literary theory, which challenges historically and socially constructed gender hierarchies that render women as subordinate, irrational, and the “Other” in relation to men. Drawing upon key feminist thinkers from Mary Wollstonecraft and Virginia Woolf to Simone de Beauvoir and contemporary theorists, this paper examines how literature both reflects and perpetuates patriarchal structures. The novel is set against the backdrop of religious extremism and minority persecution in contemporary Pakistan, making it a significant text for feminist inquiry. The study is qualitative in nature, employing an interpretative method to analyze secondary data collected from the novel, research articles, journals, and theoretical texts. The findings reveal that The Golden Legend portrays a society that imposes strict, specific norms upon women, including mandatory modesty, restriction of movement to the domestic sphere, and primary assignment to kitchen and household chores. Any transgression of these norms leads to social ostracism or violence. Furthermore, the novel demonstrates the concept of double marginalization: women are oppressed not only on the basis of gender but also, in the case of non-Muslim characters such as Helen and Nargis (Margaret), on the basis of religious minority status. Religious extremism is shown to deny widows the right to remarry, while patriarchal honor culture justifies honor killings based on unconfirmed rumors. Additionally, government officials and state policies act as further agents of repression, as seen when a widow is forced to forgive her husband’s killer. The study concludes that feminist literary theory provides a robust framework for exposing the multiple, intersecting systems of oppression that constrain women’s lives. In The Golden Legend, the repression of women is not monolithic but operates through the interlocking mechanisms of patriarchy, religious fundamentalism, and state authority. The novel thus serves as a powerful critique of how gender-based, religious, and institutional forces collectively deny women their fundamental rights and agency.
Feminism and Racism in Morrison's Novels God Help the Child and The Bluest Eye: A Comparative Study
This paper presented a comparative literary study of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye (1970) and God Help the Child (2015), and how Morrison builds and critiques the intersection of feminism and racism in her literary works over the past 50 years. The paper drawn on Black feminist theory, Kimberlé Crenshaw's concept of intersectionality, and postcolonial theories to showed that Morrison's texts consistently revealed how race and gender operate as mutually reinforcing dual systems of oppression that inflict different forms of psychological, social and physical trauma upon Black women and girls. While The Bluest Eye dramatized the internalization of white beauty standards as a form of racial self-annihilation in mid-20th century America, God Help the Child revisited these dynamics in a neoliberal context of today characterized by colorism, childhood trauma and the commodification of beauty. Through textual analysis, the paper found that Morrison's female narrators—Pecola Breedlove and Bride—find themselves in worlds shaped by the same colonial logic, but that they respond in different ways. The paper also highlighted Morrison's use of narrative structure, voice and symbolism as feminist critique. The research concluded that reading Morrison's novels in conversation with each other highlights her consistent commitment to foregrounding the black female subject, and the psychology of living on the intersection of racial and gender subordination.
Metaphorical Construction of Human Rights: A Comparative Analysis of Pakistani and American Political Speeches
This research shows that how political leader use metaphor in their speeches when discussing Human rights. Although, Human rights are universal right but understand and express differently across different cultures. Using conceptual metaphor theory, developed by Lakoff and Johnson, this research analyses four major political speeches delivered between the time period 2021 to 2025, two from Pakistan (Imran Khan and Shahbaz Sharif) and two from American leaders (Joe Biden and Donald Trump). This research identifies metaphorical pattern as Pakistani leader predominantly use religious and emotional metaphor while framing rights as divine responsibility and national struggle. Meanwhile, American leaders emphasize war, and journey metaphors framing right as community responsibility and collective progress. This comparative analysis shows that supposedly universal human rights language is fundamentally shaped by culturally specific metaphorical frameworks.
Trauma and the Postcolonial Global South: A Study of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun
This article examines how Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun represents collective trauma in the postcolonial Global South through a focused framework that joins Frantz Fanon’s concept of colonial psychic violence with Stef Craps’s critique of Eurocentric trauma theory. The study responds to the tendency in trauma studies to privilege individualized and event-centered models of injury that do not adequately explain forms of suffering produced by colonial history, civil war, social dislocation, hunger, silence, and fractured nationhood. Using qualitative textual analysis, the article reads the novel as a layered account of historically rooted trauma rather than as a narrative of isolated psychological shock. An analytical dataset of eighteen coded scene-units was used to organize the reading around narrative phase, trauma trigger, representation mode, embodiment, displacement, memory, and postcolonial issue. The results show that the novel distributes trauma across the entire narrative arc, though the war phase carries the heaviest burden of coded injury. Trauma appears as both collective and intimate, and it is repeatedly mediated through displacement, attritional deprivation, compromised masculinity, gendered harm, broken domesticity, and unresolved mourning. The coding pattern indicates that the novel stores injury in fragmented memory more often than in explicit declaration, while bodily suffering is frequently rendered through depletion and interruption rather than spectacle alone. The article argues that Adichie’s narrative challenges narrow Western assumptions about trauma by showing that postcolonial suffering is cumulative, historically sedimented, spatially mobile, and socially transmitted. It also argues that narration itself becomes a limited but meaningful practice of survival, archive, and ethical witness in the aftermath of violence. Keywords: Trauma, Postcolonial Literature, Global South, Half Of a Yellow Sun, Frantz Fanon, Stef Craps, Biafra, Memory.
Between Awareness and Action: Ecocritical Discourse in Pakistani Secondary-Level English Textbooks
The urgency of ecological crises in the world, such as climate change, pollution, and the loss of biodiversity, has foregrounded the importance of environmental education in the formation of ecologically responsible citizens. In ESL settings like Pakistan, English textbooks at the secondary level serve as both language teaching tools and as vehicles of environmental ideology. The present research has explored the eco-pedagogical discourse of the English textbooks of Grade 9 and 10 of the Punjab Textbook Board and has examined how ESL learners perceive the environmental content of the textbooks. The study used a mixed-methods research design and employed Ecocritical Discourse Analysis (ECDA) as a methodological framework, which is grounded in the framework of Stibbe (2021) to analyze textbook discourse in five analytical categories: lexicalization, agentively and transitivity, modality, evaluation, and framing. A structured close-ended questionnaire with 20 items on Likert-scale items was distributed among a sample of 100 secondary school students in district Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan. Thematic analysis of the textbooks showed that the most common ecological content in the textbooks was related to pollution and anthropocentric themes. Eco-centric perspectives were very low in frequency. The results of the questionnaires showed that although 78 percent of students agreed that environmental content was present in their textbooks, only 40 percent of them thought that the content encouraged critical thinking among the ESL learners, and only 35 percent of them considered the content to be locally relevant to their context. Moreover, 55% of the participants said that they were motivated to take care of the environment due to their exposure to this material. All these findings indicate that despite the fact that eco-pedagogical content is available in the reviewed textbooks, it is mostly descriptive, anthropocentrically oriented, and not sufficiently based on local ecological realities, limiting the ability of learners to develop critical ecological consciousness. The research suggests a more eco-centric and contextually relevant approach to environmental content in Pakistani ESL curricula.
Morphological Integration of English Lexemes in Urdu: An LPM-Based Analysis of Plural Formation
This study examines how speakers borrow and integrate English words into the Urdu lexicon, focusing on phonological and morphological changes and retaining meaning. Urdu is an extraordinary language that includes several other languages within it. It continuously involves lexical resources mainly from English, Persian, Arabic, and other sources. During the plural making in Urdu, certain particular suffixes are added to the singular form of a noun. In addition, plural making in Urdu is highly affected by the grammatical context and gender of the noun or word. However, there are specific irregular plurals that do not follow these structures. This research is based on investigating different morphophonemic patterns and adaptations that occur in the formation of a word in the Urdu language using the lexical phonology and morphology theory presented by Kiparsky. The application of pluralization rules in adopted nouns, the addition of affixes, and the effect of Urdu morphology on adopted lexical items are analyzed. Using a qualitative descriptive approach, a dataset of approximately 1000 lexical items was collected from natural speech interactions among native Urdu speakers in the Gujranwala region. The study analyzes morphophonemic adaptation patterns in pluralization and demonstrates that English loanwords are systematically integrated into Urdu through native plural markers such as /ẽ:/, /jɑ̃:/, /e/, and /õ:/. The current study's findings elaborate on how the adopted words are structured to align with the Urdu morphology and enrich the Urdu lexicon and its linguistic identity. Plural formation is primarily governed by phonological compatibility and gender assignment, supporting LPM’s stratified model of lexical processing. Naturalization of foreign words provides insights into how media and technology influence Urdu-speaking communities’ everyday communication. Investigating morphophonemic adaptations of English loanwords in Urdu is indispensable for theoretical knowledge and understanding of sociocultural blend, linguistic change, language interaction, and the evolution of Urdu in the world. This study is confined to the lexical level, and other researchers could analyze the post-lexical stratum with a larger corpus and other sociolinguistic factors.
BREAKING THE BARRIER: FROM STUMBLING TO SOARING IN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (EFL) READING
The transition from mechanical decoding to deep conceptual understanding remains a primary hurdle for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners, often resulting in a "stumbling" reading experience where cognitive resources are exhausted by the technical demands of the language. This article, "Breaking the Barrier: From Stumbling to Soaring in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Reading," explores the cognitive bottlenecks that hinder literacy and evaluates the effectiveness of fluency-building interventions such as Repeated Reading and Prosody training. Through a mixed-methods analysis of intermediate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students, the study identifies a significant "automaticity threshold" demonstrating that when word recognition becomes subconscious, mental bandwidth is liberated for high-level synthesis and inferential reasoning. Ultimately, the research suggests that by prioritizing rhythmic phrasing and automaticity, educators can dismantle the barriers to comprehension and empower learners to achieve a "soaring" state of fluid, meaningful engagement with complex texts.
A FEMINIST STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF CONTEMPORARY FICTION USING SARA MILLS’ FEMINIST STYLISTICS FRAMEWORK AND TEXTUAL ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES
This research paper conducts a feminist stylistic analysis of contemporary fiction using Sara Mills’ feminist stylistics framework. The study examines how gender ideologies and patriarchal norms are embedded, reinforced, or challenged in literary texts through systematic analysis at three interconnected levels: the word level, the phrase/sentence level, and the discourse level. Drawing upon key concepts such as naming strategies, semantic derogation, transitivity, presupposition, focalization, subject-object positioning, and fragmentation, the paper reveals the mechanisms through which language constructs and perpetuates androcentric worldviews while also highlighting instances of female agency and resistance. The analysis is applied to selected contemporary works, including Monica Ali’s Brick Lane, Margot Lee Shetterly’s Hidden Figures, Naomi Alderman’s The Power, and Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. These case studies demonstrate how linguistic choices influence character construction, narrative perspective, and reader positioning. The paper further discusses global and intersectional dimensions of gendered discourse, particularly in Pakistani and Kuwaiti narratives, and explores linguistic mechanisms of control such as passivization and negation. Ultimately, this study underscores the political nature of feminist stylistics as both an analytical tool and a transformative practice that encourages resistant reading and challenges systemic gender inequalities in literature and society.
CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF THE BULLEH SHAH’S POEM KAR KATTAN WAL DHYAN KURRE (کر کتّن ول دھیان کُڑے)
Kar Kattan Wal Dhyan Kurre (کر کتّن ول دھیان کُڑے) is a famous symbolic Kaafi written by the legendary Punjabi Sufi poet Bulleh Shah. This study explores the intersection of spiritual pedagogy and social defiance in Bulleh Shah’s iconic poem, “Kar Kattan Wal Dhyan Kure” (Focus on Your Spinning, O Girl). Using the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the research deconstructs how Shah employs the domestic metaphor of the spinning wheel (Charkha) to challenge the rigid sociopolitical and patriarchal hierarchies of 18th-century Punjab. By repositioning the "domesticated" female figure as a seeker of divine truth, Shah subverts traditional power structures and religious orthodoxy. The analysis reveals how his discourse transforms a simple household chore into a radical act of spiritual resistance and self-actualization. Ultimately, this paper highlights how Bulleh Shah uses vernacular language to democratize mysticism, bridging the gap between the mundane and the metaphysical to incite a silent revolution of the soul.
CODE SWITCHING PRACTICES AMONG MULTILINGUAL COMMUNITIES: SOCIAL IDENTITY AND LANGUAGE CHOICE
This research paper examines the multifaceted phenomenon of code-switching within multilingual communities, tracing its evolution from an early structuralist "deficit model" to its contemporary recognition as a sophisticated, rule-governed communicative strategy. By synthesizing historical trajectories, structural morphologies, and sociopsychological frameworks, the study explores how language alternation serves as a critical tool for constructing social identity, establishing in-group solidarity, and managing interpersonal distance. Key theoretical models, including Carol Myers-Scotton’s Matrix Language Frame (MLF) and Markedness Model, are utilized to explain the grammatical regularity and rational motivations behind linguistic choices. Furthermore, the paper investigates the impact of digital transformation on multilingual practices, identifying platform-specific "digital dialects" and the emergence of translanguaging on social media. Finally, the study highlights the institutional importance of code-switching in legal, educational, and medical domains, concluding that the integration of multiple linguistic systems is essential for navigating complex globalized social landscapes.. Keywords: Code-switching, Social Identity, Sociolinguistics, Matrix Language Frame (MLF), Digital Communication, Multilingualism, Translanguaging, Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT).
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS ON THE USE OF TRANSLANGUAGING IN EFL CLASSROOM
Translanguaging plays a pivotal role in multilingual classrooms. In most of the cases Pakistani students tend to switch languages during teaching and learning process. The researcher explored the perceptions of students on the use of translanguaging in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms in Baluchistan. The current study is based on the Translanguaging Theory, proposed by Gracia and Li wei (2014), which presents a comprehensive overview on multilingual practices in the pedagogical context. This theory unveils the strategical linguistic usage by teachers and students in order to teach and understand the difficult concepts, classroom participation and to deduce the meaning by analyzing the context. The sample of the present study included 400 students participants (251 male and 149 female) from two districts of Baluchistan. A survey was conducted through 50 questionnaires for students’ responses. The findings of the present research reveals that the purposeful use of translanguaging for learning English in the Pakistani context is an effective strategy for students. Further, this study will have important implications for representatives, practitioners, and researchers in the field of English linguistic and literature.
Edible Wounds, Embodied Histories: The Aftertaste of Ancestry in The Bastard of Istanbul
This paper explores how the female body, food practices, and trauma are entangled in Elif Shafak’s novel The Bastard of Istanbul. It claims that the female body is a battleground and an archive where individual pain and history are stored, transmitted, and contested by female characters in the novel. In the home, the culinary labour, recipes, and communal meals are a narrative language where women control silence, sorrow, and inherited traumas. Shafak shows how the food is not just an ornamentation of culture. It is a form of memory, an affectual technology, which transforms the unspeakable into the sensual, into taste, smell, appetite, and disgust. Reading the scenes of cooking, eating, and bodily response and the depictions of gendered shame, family secret, and intergenerational violence, this study demonstrates how the trauma can be made palpable on and through the bodies of women. The discussion also demonstrates how food routines in everyday life may offer precarious repairing practices, which allow women to bargain their place among disjointed lineages and disputed histories. This article has shown through close textual reading that Shafak uses food and culinary space as a gendered location of witnessing, in which embodied experience is filled with the burden of historical discontinuity, and in which women’s everyday practices can be both the reproduction and resistance of patriarchal and nationalist discourses.
Decoding Digital Talk: Gen Z Understanding of Slang in Digital Communication
Online communication tools such as Whatsapp have changed the way we use language and slang has become the most prominent feature in Generation Z’s mode of communication. The purpose of the study is to establish how slang influences meanings, misunderstanding and interpretation of WhatsApp discourse among Gen Z users. This research is useful as it contributes to digital sociolinguistics in the digital communication environment by way of exploring mean making in informal language and using contextual clues and shared cultural knowledge in the process. The study was designed as both quantitative and qualitative and data collection was performed with a self-administered online questionnaire including open-ended and close-ended questions. The underlying theory for the analysis is based on Grice's Pragmatics to analyze contextual inference and implicature, and Barthes' Semiotics, to dig into slang as culture symbol and code. Results indicate that slang is effective as a communicative tool when both interlocutors can be said to share contextual and cultural knowledge but not particularly efficient in communicating those who do not possess such knowledge. It finds meaning in WhatsApp messages not to be pre-defined but co-constructed through pragmatics-inference and semiotics-interpretation, thus putting into stress the importance of context and cultural identity in the use of digital language. Keywords: Digital Communication, Slang, WhatsApp, Generation Z, Meaning Construction, Pragmatics
Beyond Cultural Essentialism: A Critical Re-evaluation of Muslim Representation in The Kite Runner
This current study examines the representation of Muslims in The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini through a qualitative research approach. Drawing upon Samir Amin’s concept of Eurocentrism and Hamid Dabashi’s notion of the native informer as its theoretical framework, the research critically investigates how the novel constructs Muslim identities within a Western ideological lens. The analysis explores how certain characters reinforce stereotypes of Muslims as violent, irrational, and culturally backward, while simultaneously privileging Western values as progressive and humane. By applying textual analysis, the study highlights how internalized perspectives within the narrative contribute to the reproduction of dominant Western discourses about Islam and Muslim societies. Furthermore, it evaluates the role of the authorial voice in mediating these representations and questions the broader implications of such portrayals in shaping global perceptions of Muslims, particularly in a post-9/11 context. The findings suggest that the novel, while offering a compelling personal story, also participates in a discourse that aligns with Eurocentric assumptions and the logic of the native informer, thereby reinforcing stereotypes and potentially influencing readers' understanding of Muslim identities in a way that may perpetuate existing biases. Keywords: Representation, Eurocentrism, native informer.
Intercultural Experiences as Transformative Paradigm: Reimagining Cultural Boundaries in Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
This research explores how Sherman Alexie views cross-cultural interactions as a means of progress in the contemporary world of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. This qualitative study examines the benefits of acculturation by using the theoretical framework of post-colonialism. By amalgamation of different aspect of civilization, Sherman Alexie contributes significantly to the exposition of meaning and create different opportunities for the community members. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian as a bicultural work provides a means for Native Americans to maintain their Indian identity while embracing the authoritative forms essential to their success in modern society. Alexie used this narrative to expose the Euro-American discourse through interdiscursivity, demonstrating how they initially exploited native cultures before attempting to preserve them. It is a response to Western fiction, and it serves as both a claim and a lesson for the capacity of Europeans to erase it and conceal it under practicality. All of Alexie’s metaphors and words in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian are like bullets. Unlike other English writers, he does not glorify Western civilization. Even though Alexie acknowledge that the assimilationist policies shown in Momaday's or Dove's works are torturous, he still believed that Indians had to employ masters' tools to reverse the binary. The protagonist in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, who suffers from hydrocephalus, does the same. Through hydrocephalus, Alexie challenges the stereotypical conduct of the Western community toward Natives and conveys the notion that native culture has very little chance of survival. The events in the novel are shown through drawings and tiny cartoons for the sake of life. Alexie use colonizer’s language creatively on their own terms to resist the disruptive forces of colonialism. Alexie adopted and adapted writing as a discursive tool against colonialism and as a mimetic response to forced cultural assimilation. Key Terms: Post colonialism, Acculturation, Assimilation, and Tribalism.
A Study of Classroom Management Macro and Micro Functions of Code- Switching as Perceived by the Teachers and Students in Undergraduate Classes
This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of teachers and students regarding the macro and micro functions of code-switching in undergraduate classes at the university level. It explored the functions of code-switching among students and teachers for classroom management at the undergraduate level. It was conducted utilizing the quantitative method. The study population consisted of undergraduate students from both public and private universities in Lahore. Cluster sampling technique was used to collect data from 2 public and 2 private sector universities. Five Likert questionnaires were designed to collect data from 68 teachers and 435 students. The data was analyzed using SPSS. The research findings showed that students had a more positive opinion regarding the role of code-switching in facilitating classroom management as compared to the teachers. Both the students and teachers agreed that code-switching facilitated better classroom communication.
Meditation to Meaning: A Genre-Based analysis of Spiritual Poetic Discourse in A Soul’s Meditation
This paper analyses the modern spiritual poetry in terms of genre, and how meditation becomes meaning in the poetic discourse. Eight poems were discussed in Swales move analysis framework to identify the patterns of spiritual cognition, emotional change, and resilience. The work brings out the interaction of metaphor, symbolism, and syntactic forms in building the spiritual experience. The results have shown that spiritual poetic discourse follows several paths: individual meditation, interpersonal guidance, addressing trauma, and aspirational desire. The analysis also shows that meaning is not a predetermined goal but is created in the process of constant interaction with desire, reflection, and devotion. These observations help in better understanding of poetry as a form of spiritual reflection and psychological insight.
Exploring William C Chittick’s Concept of Spirituality in Elif Shafak’s “The Forty Rules of Love”
Ever since man is indulged in the clutches of violence and injustice, greed and materialism have been the very want of men. No one is ready to adopt spirituality in this age of materialism, it is a high award for Shafak to express on spirituality and spiritual love. This study explores Chittick’s Spirituality in her book “The Forty Rules of Love”. This research paper unveils how Shafak’s novel works not only as a novel but also as literary piece to show spirituality to the materialist society. This study adopts a qualitative research design to tress out the characteristics of spirituality and divine love in the novel of Elif Shafak “The Forty Rules of Love”. The textual analysis technique is used to analyze the texts indepth to know the context of spiritual themes in the book. The study indicates that Chittick’s spirituality has been used by Shafak in every rule of the novel. Moreover, the scholars’ exploration enters into the hearts of readers to show divine love between teacher and disciple. This research work indicates that how Shafak’s novel performs as a spiritual guide for the people of the world. In twenty-first century spirituality has declined in literary works, but some writers uplift to promote humanity. In this paper, the readers are inclined towards spirituality whereas, Rumi and Shams are key figures.
Reframing Power through Resistance: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Gender in Mirch Masala
Films set in rural contexts reveal how power continues to operate through social hierarchies, gender roles, and cultural practices after political independence. This qualitative study examines power relations in Ketan Mehta’s Mirch Masala (1987), analyzing gender hierarchy, colonial legacies, and resistance within patriarchal society. Drawing on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Feminist Film Theory, this study explores how cinematic discourses constructs and challenges major power structures through visual symbolism, character conversation and narrative progression. Using Fairclough's (1989) three-dimensional model, the study examines micro-level linguistic and non-verbal exchange, meso-level-institutional practices of the authority and control, and macro-level socio-political ideologies that are embedded within the film discourse. Scene-oriented interpretation and thematic coding reveals patterns of domination, submission and defiance, especially focusing on the representation of the collective agency of women against oppressive forces. The findings suggest that Mirch Masala not only serves as a story of rural struggle, but also as a discourse of empowerment, defining power as resistance and solidarity. This research underlines the role of visual narratives in shaping public consciousness about gender, class and social justice, demonstrating cinema as a transformative medium of socio-political criticism. Keywords: Critical Discourse Analysis, Feminist Film Theory, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Resistance and Solidarity, Women’s Collective Agency.
Female Subaltern and Oppression in Shakib’s Afghanistan, where GOD Only Comes to Weep
Afghan women continue to face systemic oppression and marginalization in a patriarchal society, which limits their social, legal, and political agency. Despite international attention, their voices remain largely silenced, and scholarly understanding of their lived experiences in literary representation is limited. This study examines the portrayal of Afghan women as subaltern subjects in literature, highlighting their struggles, social constraints, and resistance strategies. The research aims to reveal how cultural norms and patriarchal structures perpetuate gender inequality and to contribute to feminist literary criticism and postcolonial studies. The study applies subaltern theory (Spivak, 1988) and feminist theory (hooks, 2000; Millet, 1971) to analyze female characters. It also draws on intersectional perspectives to understand the multiplicity of oppression experienced by Afghan women in both domestic and public spheres. A qualitative, interpretive approach was employed. Textual analysis was conducted on key novels and literary works portraying Afghan women, including comparative evaluation of social, political, and cultural narratives. Data were collected through close reading and thematic coding, focusing on oppression, marginalization, and agency. The findings revealed that female characters experience forced marriage, domestic violence, and social isolation. Patriarchal traditions significantly restrict their autonomy and reinforce societal marginalization. The study also identified subtle forms of resistance where women challenge gender norms through personal agency and strategic negotiation. Afghan women are depicted as subaltern voices, whose experiences are shaped by intersecting forms of oppression. Literature provides a critical lens to understand the social and political mechanisms that maintain gender inequality and the resilience of women in challenging contexts. Future research should explore the role of education, policy reforms, and literary activism in amplifying Afghan women’s voices. Integrating subaltern perspectives into feminist and postcolonial studies can further enrich understanding and advocacy for marginalized groups. Keywords: Afghan women, feminism, gender inequality, literary representation, subaltern, patriarchy. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19598324
Construction of Power Relations in Sidhwa’s The Pakistani Bride and Ahmad’s The Wondering Falcon: A Critical Discourse Analysis
This research paper will discuss the discursive creation of power relations in The Pakistani Bride (1983) by Bapsi Sidhwa and The Wandering Falcon (2011) by Jamil Ahmad using the critical discourse analysis framework by Norman Fairclough. The paper explores how the two novels reflect the workings of patriarchal power in tribal societies of the northwestern frontier of Pakistan, where power is exercised not by the state institutions but by informal codes of honor. The comparative dimension sheds light on how various positions of the author yield varying images of power. The domestic horror of the patriarchal oppression in the consciousness of women is revealed through the psychological realism of Sidhwa, the power as a depersonalized force which is rooted in the very fabric of tribal social organization, is revealed through the detached, episodic form of Ahmad. However, despite these differences, both novels uncover that power is achieved to its fullest extent when the victim accepts the reasoning of her domination. The analysis of the research adds to postcolonial feminist critique by applying CDA to situations where power is exercised through kinship networks and not state machineries. The research shows how discourse is the main mode through which patriarchal power is created, reproduced and sometimes challenged. Keywords: Critical discourse analysis, Power relations, Fairclough, The Pakistani Bride, The Wandering Falcon. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19602478
Meaninglessness and Individual Quest in Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
This study examines the theme of existential meaninglessness and the individual quest for identity in Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. The research problem is grounded in the philosophical concern that modern individuals often experience inner emptiness despite material success, religious practice, or social recognition; however, existing studies have not sufficiently explored how this meaninglessness functions as a driving force in Siddhartha’s spiritual development. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyze how existential dissatisfaction shapes Siddhartha’s journey toward self-realization and enlightenment. The study is framed within an interpretivist research philosophy supported by existential theory, which emphasizes subjective meaning-making and lived experience. Moreover, a qualitative textual analysis method is employed to interpret the selected novel, focusing on thematic reading and close textual interpretation. The findings reveal that Siddhartha experiences meaninglessness at every major stage of his life; first, in his privileged Brahmin background, he feels inner dissatisfaction, and subsequently, he fails to find fulfillment through asceticism, Buddhist teachings, and material pleasures. Furthermore, his encounter with the river becomes a symbolic turning point where he begins to understand the unity of existence. In addition, suffering and lived experiences, particularly his relationship with his son and the ferryman Vasudeva, deepen his spiritual awareness. Consequently, the study shows that enlightenment is achieved not through external teachings but through personal experience and acceptance of life’s contradictions. Ultimately, it is concluded that existential meaninglessness is not a weakness but a necessary condition for Siddhartha’s spiritual growth and identity formation. Therefore, it is recommended that future studies explore comparative existential readings of Eastern and Western philosophical novels to further understand the role of meaninglessness in human development. Keywords: Enlightenment, Existential Meaninglessness, Identity Quest, Spiritual Journey, Textual Analysis, Transformative Experience. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19598297
Language, Power and Prestige: A Sociolinguistic study of attitudes among Pakistani University Students towards English language
This research looks into how university students in Pakistan see English and what they think it means in terms of its status as a formal means (thus associated) of being superior to others because of superiority to them, or how much better they are than them on an academic level. Students perceive that when they do not have an adequate command of English (due to low or inadequate levels of education) it consequently has a negative impact on their social status, academic performance and professional qualifications when compared to other students. Using Bourdieu's theory of ‘linguistic capital’, the research has established that proficiency in English within higher education in Pakistan is a significant factor in forming one's identity, developing self confidence through academic success and creating barriers to entry into social hierarchies that exist within Pakistan's many cultural and linguistic populations. The research used a quantitative methodological approach by using a structured (22-item) Likert scale, questionnaire distributed (100) to students attending public and private universities across the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. Overall, there was a significantly positive response (mean approx. 4.5–4.7) regarding the importance of the English language on academic success and (approx. 4.5–4.7) on providing a pathway to professional opportunity, and (mean approx. 4.0–4.5) regarding social prestige. However, there were also ways for this to be negatively impacted by the English language such as having psychological barriers to success established by students with poor English skills (e.g., students feel inferior to their peers, they feel shame due to their accent and they experience a conflict between their own cultural identity with their level of proficiency in the English language). In conclusion, the finding indicates that those who attend English-language schools (whether public or private) have a significant and systematic advantage (in terms of educational attainment and educational attainment compared to those who attend Urdu-language schools) over those who attend Urdu-language schools. Further, there was nearly universal agreement among students of English-language schools on the existence of linguistic discrimination and structural inequity. While there is awareness among participants of the inequalities that exist in Pakistani higher education with respect to English and other regional languages as a result of colonialism, the consensus among participants was that institutions should implement plans to achieve greater levels of linguistic equity (mean score: 4.3 to 4.6). Overall, this research adds to existing knowledge of the interrelationship between language, power, and identity in post-colonial Pakistan by demonstrating that there is still a colonial legacy of linguistic hierarchies within higher education settings today. The outcomes of this research will assist policymakers with creating language policies that encourage balance between the instrumental value placed on English and the value of promoting linguistic diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education in Pakistan.
DIGITAL CODE-SWITCHING AND IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION: A CORPUS-BASED ANALYSIS OF URDU–ENGLISH HYBRID LANGUAGE USE ON SOCIAL MEDIA IN PAKISTAN
This study examined Urdu–English code-switching on social media in Pakistan through a corpus-based analytical framework to explore its linguistic patterns and role in identity construction. In multilingual digital environments, code-switching has emerged as a dominant communicative practice, particularly among youth, where Urdu and English are frequently integrated within single discourse units. A structured corpus of social media texts was developed and analyzed using quantitative and descriptive linguistic techniques to identify patterns of hybrid language use, functional motivations, and identity-related expressions. The findings revealed that code-mixed language use is the most prevalent form of digital communication, with intra-sentential switching being the dominant structural pattern. Results further indicated that code-switching serves multiple functions, primarily identity expression, emotional articulation, and social alignment. The study also highlighted that users strategically employ Urdu for cultural and emotional depth, while English is used to signal modernity and global identity. These patterns confirm that digital code-switching is not random but a systematic and socially meaningful linguistic behavior. The study concludes that Urdu–English hybrid language use plays a significant role in identity construction in Pakistan’s social media discourse. It also underscores the need for advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) models capable of effectively processing code-mixed and low-resource language data
Tween’s Resilience in the Face of Parental Divorce in Big and Little Questions (According to Wren Joe Byrd)
This study investigates how contemporary American novel, Big and Little Questions (According to Wren Jo Byrd) (2017) represents the impact of parental divorce on the female tween’s resilience. The text is analyzed through Belsey's qualitative and interpretive textual-critical lens and guided by Ungar's socio-ecological theory of resilience. The study examines the divorce induced adversity, gaps, silences and binary oppositions and how the tween negotiates her relevant cultural resources to fill the gaps and silences and dismantle the binary oppositions to achieve resilience. This analysis reveals that the gaps and silences reveal unspoken cultural pressures and constrained resources which the tween fills culturally relevantly through self-reliance, metacognition, secrecy, confessions of parental divorce, relational validation of pain and her acceptance of two home reality. Likewise, she resolves the adversity of conflicting hierarchies through restructuring her concept of family and big and little things, fibbing, alienation, accepting divorce, externalizing her trauma through culturally relevant resources of diary and dictionary, and acknowledging parental, peer, and communal anchor. The study concludes that tween’s literature holds significant potential for illuminating the socio-ecological dimensions of resilience. Keywords: Parental Divorce, tween’s adversity, Social-Ecology, Tween’s Resilience, cultural relevant resources, Middle Grade Fiction
Investigating the Effectiveness of the Text Structure and Self-Regulated Strategy Instruction for Improving Pakistani University Students’ ESL Writing Skills
The study aims at investigating the effectiveness of the Text Structure and Self-Regulated Strategy Instruction for improving Pakistani University Students’ ESL writing skills. A total of 135 students were divided into three different conditions Text Structure Instructions (TSI), Self-Regulated Strategy Instructions (SRSI), and The Control group equally. TSI includes the descriptive Text structures specifically with explanatory lectures on other text structures. SRSI followed the SRSD model that includes self-regulatory writing strategies. The Control group used the conventional teaching writing techniques. After the intervention of six weeks, results were compared using t-test. TSI and SRSI as compared with traditional writing techniques outperformed and showed better results. Unlike the traditional group of this study, TSI and SRSI put a significant impact on the writing outcomes of the students. TSI impacted the organization in the essay writing of the learners and SRSI improved the quality of essay writing of the students. Furthermore, the linguistic and textual analyses show that the learners taught through TSI and SRSI methods have shown improved syntactic complexity, better organization of essay writing, and lexical variations. Keywords: Self-regulation, Text Structure, Writing Instruction, Writing Outcomes.
FROM FEMINIST EQUALITY TOWARDS STRATEGIC MISANDRY: IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN IN GONE GIRL
This study provides a detailed critique by applying the radical feminist perspective in the development of female agency and misandry in Gone Girl (2014),focusing mainly on Amy Dunne and she redefines power dynamics between genders in a relationship. This research uses qualitative textual analysis and using the film itself as a main source of data, exploring Amys rejection to reformist feminist ideals and expectations of women traditionally, leading her position created by misogyny, per formative femininity, and patriarchal pressures. The analysis brings forward that misandry in the film is not simply based on irrational hate, but rather works as a calculated reaction to the ongoing marginalization, disposability, and exclusion from narrative control within marital systems. By presenting the image of the "Cool Girl," Amy creates an image of self-defining and centered on control, resistance, and dominance in storytelling. Additionally, this study adds to feminist literary and film criticism presenting how female agency can be formed by rejecting traditional ethics when equality seems unattainable within a patriarchal system
STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF YATCHANI MYTH NARRATED IN GILGIT: MYTHEMES, BINARY OPPOSITIONS, AND SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE
Myths are ancient narratives often revolve around gods, heroes, and supernatural beings, reflecting the cultural beliefs, values, and collective consciousness of society. This study aims at identifying the underlying structures, binary oppositions and their symbolic meaning in the Yatchani myth, one of the most famous Shina myths in Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan. The study employed the structuralist methodology, drawing upon Levi-Strauss's framework of mythemes, as the fundamental units of mythological analysis, and binary opposition to interrogate the Yatchani myth’s underlying structures and its deep cultural logic through textual analysis. This qualitative study classified various mythemes into events, characters, deaths, and spatial settings which possess algebraically triadic structures. These structures have been further categorized in Evental mythemes, Symbolic mythemes, Actantial mythemes and Spatial mythemes. In close collaboration, these mythemes suggest the significance of the overall structure of the Yatchani myth. Both the identified binary oppositions and the above structured mythemes in the myth found aligning with Levi Straussian universal model, however, some of the mythemes inversely suggest an indigenous hermeneutics to unfold the meanings of these underlying structures. Significantly, the interplay of the identified structures reflects the tapestry of history and Shina cultural milieu of the region. Keywords: Yatchani, Myth, Structuralism, Levi Strauss, Shina
Lacanian Psychoanalytical Study Of Changez: The Protagonist Of The Reluctant Fundamentalist
This study seeks to offer a Lacanian psychoanalytical insights into Changez, the protagonist of novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. This study applies key concepts from Jacques Lacan’s theoretical framework exploring Changez’s psychological transformation through the lenses of the Imaginary Order, the Symbolic Order, and the Real Order, highlighting his shifting sense of identity in response to cultural displacement and ideological clash. Initially linked with the Symbolic order of American capitalist success, Changez gradually witnesses alienation from it that leads to rupture that exposes the instability of his Self. The study further investigates the role of desire, the gaze, and the “Other” in shaping his subjective Self, particularly in the view of post-9/11 socio-political scenario. The paper, through close textual reading, argues that Changez’s journey mirrors a struggle between conflicting identities and hidden desires, finally revealing the fragmented nature of the Self. The research highlights the relevance of Lacanian theory in understanding identity, power, and psychological conflict in current postcolonial literature