International Journal of English Language and Translation Studies

01-08

Authors: Puleng Makholu Letsoela , Lesotho

Naming is not just an act of linguistic labeling by which speakers of a language identify the entities they are referring to in the real or imaginary world. A name is not chosen arbitrarily but is chosen based on a combination of socio-cultural factors. This is because language cannot be divorced from culture, for it is through language that speakers reflect their cultural and sociolinguistic etiquette. This study examines the names of bus stops in Lesotho with a view to unveiling the factors that could have motivated the awarding of such names. Findings indicate that the names could be classified into the following categories: descriptive, metaphorical, experiential and mythological. The study concludes that through the names of bus stops, Basotho narrate their experiences, emotions and belief systems, among other things.

21-34

Authors: Amin Marzban & Shahrzad Chahardahcherik, Iran

Different world languages have a lot of contact with each other and have had different influences on one another. Cognates, words which are similar across two or more languages in some aspects, especially with regard to pronunciation, portray an interesting and relevant aspect of foreign/second language translation and research. This study intended to identify a type of cognate words called false cognates in Persian and English, words which have the same form in two languages but represent different meanings, and tried to study and determine the historical relations between English and Persian words. It also aimed to trace their route back from Proto Indo-European languages to the modern languages. To this end, the related literature was gone through and a sufficient corpus of information has been revealed. Afterwards, authentic monolingual dictionaries in both Farsi and English languages were consulted to provide definitions for the cognates and allow for their cross-linguistic comparison. The findings revealed that most of such problematic cognates with different meanings in Farsi and English as found through this study are likely to be confusing and deceptive for Farsi-speaking EFL learners. The findings also pointed to the need for this line of research to receive more scholarly attention. The study of true and false cognates has some implications for contrastive analysts, error analysts, translators, translation theorists, foreign language teachers, curriculum designers, as well as lexicographers and lexicologists.

49-56

Authors: Nilu Choudhary, India

In many communities, two or more varieties of the same language are used by some speakers in different conditions. Perhaps the most familiar example is the use of the standard language and regional dialect when many speakers speak their local dialect at home or among family or friend of the same dialect area but use the standard language in communicating with speakers of other dialects on public occasions. Charles A. Ferguson (1964) in his famous work on ‘Diglossia’finds that in all the defining languages the speakers regard superposed variety as superior to regional dialects in number of respects. Sometimes the feeling is so strong that the superposed variety alone is regarded as real and the regional dialect is reported ‘not to exist’. This attitude cannot be called deliberate attempt to deceive the questioner, but seems almost a self-deception. Even the feeling of the reality and superiority of the superposed variety is not so strong there is usually a belief that this variety is somehow more beautiful, more logical, better able to express important thoughts, and the like. And this belief is held also by speakers whose command of the said variety is quite limited.

70-79

Authors: Chokri Smaoui & Aicha Rahal, Tunisia

Fossilization is a universal phenomenon that has attracted the attention of teachers and researchers alike. In this regard, the aim of this study is to investigate a supposedly fossilized feature in Tunisian learners’ performance, namely the pronunciation of the /3:/ sound among Intermediate Tunisian English Students (ITES). It tries to show whether ITES pronounce it correctly or whether it is rather often replaced by another phoneme. The study also tries to show the reasons behind fossilization. It is conjectured that L1 interference, lack of exposure to L2 input, and the absence of pronunciation teaching methods are the main factors behind this fossilized pronunciation. Finally, the study tries to apply the audio-articulation method to remedy for this type of fossilization. This method contains many drills that can help learners articulate better, and consequently produce more intelligible sounds.

88-94

Authors: Nirupa Saikia, India

The primary concern of Chinua Achebe, the recipient of the Man Booker International Prize, 2007, was his society, more precisely, the destiny of his people. As the fundamental feature of his novels was social realism, they served as an authentic record of the changing African world. Achebe, perhaps the most authentic literary voice from Africa, wrote not only to record the African, especially Nigerian, life but to analyse the reality experienced by the native people in different times and situations. In his view, the writer must be accountable to his society. To him it was absurd to think of art as a pure and autonomous entity coming into existence by itself in an aesthetic void. Accordingly, his aim was to make his fiction an instrument of awareness seeking to elevate the social reality to a higher level. In this regard, the paper is an attempt to show Achebe’s endeavour to expose the rampant corruption and evil in Nigeria to exert a decisive and positive influence on his people. His faith in female power as an agent of traditional morality is also highlighted in the paper.

109-124

Authors: Veronico Nogales Tarrayo , the Philippines

This paper attempted to draw the image of the Filipino woman as depicted by female protagonists in selected short stories in English (1925-1986) written by Filipino woman authors. Specifically, the paper aimed to answer the following questions: (1) How are female protagonists depicted in the selected short stories written by Filipino woman authors? What are their virtues, vices, passions, and struggles?; and (2) What roles do these female protagonists play in the Philippine society? A virtue displayed by the most female characters is having a sense of responsibility. Most of the woman characters are passionate in preserving their relationship with their loved ones or keeping the peace among the family members. The Filipino woman, in the short stories, has projected varied images which could be categorized as martyr, social victim, homemaker, mother, and fighter. The Filipino woman is a product of her time and milieu – heterogeneous in looks, psyche, and roles in the society.