Department of English Language and Literature
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Higher degree by research can be a very different experience from postgraduate study. Research, either at the University of Management and Technology (UMT) or elsewhere in the world, opens up new fields of inquiry. When a student is studying hard for his/her degree, he/she wants to be rest assured that he/she is in the best hands.
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Item Investigating the Illocutionary Force of Request used by Pathan Salesmen during their Encounter with Lahori Customers.(University of Management and Technology, 2018) Iqbal, HumaBased on the examples from naturally-occurring data collected from Pathan salesmen’s speech, the study investigates the communicative act of request used to achieve the effect of persuasion. Request has been analyzed on the basis of linguistic strategies and the level of directness. The examination of request is based on Brown and Levinson’s (1987) theoretical framework of face work on threatening acts and Trosborg’s request strategies (1995) employed to investigate the level of speech directness of Pathan salesmen based in Lahore’s two busy markets.The data was collected randomly from Pathan salesmen working in Lahore to show an unbiased representation of the group. The result reveals that the speech of Pathan salesmen exhibit culture-specific preferences for lexical down graders (address terms) to soften the illocutionary force of the request and, thus, reducing the threat to the hearer’s face. Frequent use of imperatives with a culturally specific linguistic code (kinship term) were employed to mitigate the effect of direct request.The study contributes to the field of discourse construction where the ability of Pathan salesmen to use certain linguistic code and elements to combine into utterances is demonstrated. This study could be utilized to train salesmen in marketing discourse by looking into the pros and cons of their interaction with the customers.Item Re-contextualizing of urdu as the official language of pakistan; issues, challenges and prospects(University of Management and Technology, 2017) Zia AhmadThe main purpose of this research is to analyzeinter-textual and inter-discursive links between former language policies and the Supreme Court (SC) ruling of 2015. Furthermore, this research intends to investigate what are the issues and challenges which emerged in order to re-contextualize Urdu as the national and official language of Pakistan in the current socio-political and educational contexts. The current research is qualitative in nature. This study integrates two approaches in critical paradigm, critical discourse analysis (CDA) and ethnography of language policy (ELP) by introducing the re-contextualization of Urdu as the official language and exploring multiple challenges to Urdu at macro level (National language policies) and micro level (interpretation and appropriation of policy at grass-root level). CDA is applied to examine the inter-discursive and inter-textual connections between the Supreme Court ruling of 2015 and the former language policies.Ethnography of language policy is used to uncover the connections between the multiple layers of inter-textuality in the Supreme Court ruling of 2015, ethnicity and pedagogyin order to reveal the re-contextualization of the Urdu language and its impacts on the current socio-political and educational domains. Thus the combination of ethnography of language policy and CDA is particularly useful to demonstrate how the impact of ideology, power and globalization re-contextualize the position of Urdu as the national and official language of Pakistan in the capacity of symbolic identity and medium of instruction. The first deals with ethnic politics of Pakistan and second with power, social class, deprivation and political Islam. CDA data is collected in the form of contemporary political discourse, language policies (the SC order 2015 and former language policies),educational discourse as well as a scouring of newspaper accounts and scholarly studies. Ethnographic data is collected and recorded through observation and interviews. Ethnographic data is mainly based on interviews which were conducted in March – September 2017 with teachers, students, linguists, and professionals. The current research identifies the actual issues and challenges at micro level in adopting Urdu in social and education domains and further determines the possible prospectsItem Effects of using short stories in developing language skills at intermediate level in Lahore(University of Management and Technolog, 2018) jahan, KalsoomThis research was conducted to know the effects of using short stories in developing language skills at intermediate level in Lahore. It was a quantitative research and random sampling technique was used to collect data from sample of the study. Data was collected from the 11th and 12th year students enrolled in Govt. Higher secondary Schools in Lahore. Data was collected from 585 students by using questionnaire.Data was analysed by using (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) SPSS version 21. Descriptive and inferential statistics (independent sample t-test and one way ANOVA) were used to analyse the data. The results of the study show that short stories were more helpful in developing speaking, reading, and writing skills than listening skills. As the audios and videos of short stories were not easily available of short stories, nor the teacher used them in language classroom, affected the listening skills. Inferential analysis shows there was no significant difference on the basis of gender, education, and medium of instruction, but Urdu speaker shows better opinions than Punjabi speakers in learning language skills. Students enrolled in different programs had different views, as students enrolled in F.Sc (Pre-Medical) had better responses than students enrolled in any other program about using short stories in developing language skillsItem Phonemic variation experienced by Pakistani immigrants in Sweden(University of Management and Technology Lahore, 2017) Javaria ShafiqueThis dissertation attempted to investigate the similitude and differences of Swedish and Urdu vowel inventories for the benefit of Pakistani immigrants living in Sweden. The participants of this study were Pakistani immigrants between 25-30 years of age and were regular students of SFI (Swedish for Immigrants). They were selected by using purposive sampling technique. It is a basic requirement for immigrants in Sweden to have at least basic level of knowledge of Swedish. Considering this fact, learning Swedish is very important for Pakistani immigrants. By using the exploratory research design, comparative analysis was used to answer the research question. Analysis shows that Urdu and Swedish are entirely different from each other with respect to phonological aspects that caused differences in vowels articulations. These differences made learning difficult but some similarities are also found in the mid-rounded and back rounded vowels that provided ease to learner in learning Swedish. The results of this study manifested that Swedish government needed to draw new language learning policies for immigrants that help them to learn Swedish language (with the accurate accent). Moreover, research studies reveals that there is a great need to open new SFI institutes in every commune so people could get admission on immediate bases. It is hoped that this research thesis would make some contribution in the field of linguistics.Item Deviation from grice maxims in the conversation of schisophernic patients: A qualitative study(University of Management and Technology Lahore, 2017) Majeed, RabiaLinguistics and psychology both are concerned with locating and discovering the link between language and psychological procedures by which people of a community acquire and use language during social interaction. This research endeavors to discover the deviation of the individuals with schizophrenia in conversation from the Grice maxims so that early detection could be feasible via the analysis of the language patterns. It offers a discernmentto language disorder in schizophrenic sufferers including, troubles in phonology, syntax, semantics, and morphology and so on. Patients affected by schizophrenia have also been located to be deviated of their pragmatic cooperation of communication as quality, quantity, relation and manner while having casual interaction with other inside the comprehension of figurative language (e.g., metaphors, ironies, proverbs). The study further located the existing patterns in the talk of the sufferes as unminfulness of situational context, irrelevant responding, distorted intonation and absence of sequencing in the personal ideas of the sufferes that make their talk abnormal for the common persons.The idea disorder is taken into consideration to be one of the maximum widespread reasons behind of their verbal exchange impairments. Along with this notion, other theories from Psycholinguistics and Discourse analysis are used to discover and explain the impairments. This discipline of research is naturally bordering each psychology and linguistics, however has until now been overlooked through most linguists. This paper offers an overviewof schizophrenia and language as an interdisciplinary field of studies, as a manner of integrating pragmatic notion with psychological approach .For the empirical data, interviews had been conducted. This research has been used a qualitative evaluation of records addressing change within the production of language as measured through verbal fluency testing, in addition to analysis of spontaneous speech of the individuals. However, all the psychiatrists, speech therapists and the own family members of the patients agreed that the sufferers with schizophrenia have several varieties of language impairments. They mentioned approximately the various stylesof the deviation and the way the ones may be detected. This paper concluded with some of the approaches in which the study of schizophrenia may also provide new insights into the cognitive and neural structure of the language system and by improving the pragmatic abilities of the sufferers so that the rehabilitation process can be improved.Item Pragmatic study of heat lightning(University of Management and Technology Lahore, 2015) Naheed IslamThis study aims at exploring the one-act play ‘Heat Lightning’ by Robert F. Carroll by applying pragmatic theories particularly observation, flouting and violation of ‘Cooperative principle maxims’. According to Grice (1975) for a successful communication human beings voluntarily observe certain principles, but it is the common observation that people often sacrifice these maxims .The maxims of cooperative principle are often applied on literary text to explore the possibilities of creating humour. I have investigated the flouting and violation of the maxims in the play ‘Heat Lightning’ to find out why, how and at what situation characters flout or violate these principles. The technique of purposive sampling was employed to select those utterances containing flouting and violation. The type of flouting and violation, the purpose and intention of the character and the effect that is achieved through flouting and violation is the focus of the study. The data is analyzed by applying descriptive qualitative approach as it is best suited because data is in form of words and utterances.The analysis shows that although all three characters in the play flout and violate the maxims but the in their own way.Grundy( 2000, p. 81)stated that an implicature is a result of an addressee drawing an inductive inference as to the likeliest meaning given in the context. The flouting on the part of the girl is in the form of the sudden emotional outbursts and is unintentional in the beginning but at the end of the play though the words are charged with emotions, is intentional. The man on the other hand tries to manipulate the situation and to elicit the required information from the girl. The second man flouts just to keep the flow of conversation. The analysis further reveals they violate the maxim to be sarcastic or to mislead others. The study is limited to a one-act play but can be helpful in shedding greater light on the meaning of the play and other literary genres through pragmatics. This kind of analysis scaffolds the reader’s creativity in interpreting the play.Item Relationship between social stratification and motivation to learn english as foreign language(University of Management and Technology Lahore, 2015) Asma SaeedDisparities in social classes prevail in all human societies. Pakistani society has noticeable disparity on different grounds including income, power, prestige and source of earnings. The purpose behind this study was to investigate the relationship between social stratification and motivation to learn English as a Foreign Language (EFL).Although motivation to learn English at different levels has been widely explored by many researchers,yet the relationship between social status and language learning motivation is still needed to be explored. This study has investigated the relationship social stratification has with motivation to learn English as foreign language as well as which social status more facilitates English as Foreign Language learning.For this purpose, 250 English as foreign language learners at BS level from 7 renowned universities of Lahorewere selected as participants. These learners were grouped as upper, middle and lower classes in terms of their social backgrounds. Data was collected through their responses to a 5Llikert scale questionnaire based on questions related to Extrinsic and Intrinsic motivation in EFL learning. The quantitative data was statistically analyzed through Stata. The findings revealed a significant relationship between social stratification and motivation to learn EFL. The findings exposed that social status exerts considerable impact on EFL learning motivation. The middle social class tends to be more motivated as compared to upper and lower social class.Administrators, policy makers and instructors may find this study useful for assessing the essential changing and requirement in the fieldof English as foreign language learning. The study recommends that there should be teacher training courses to trainthem strategies to improve motivation for English learning and workshops should be conducted for both teachers and learners to enhance learners’ motivationItem Grammatical Analysis of Urdu Auxiliary Verbs(University of Management and Technology Lahore, 2015) Mushtaq, ZakiaThis thesis examines and illustrates the existence, internal structure, syntactic arrangement and semantic contribution of Urdu auxiliaries (single to multiple in a verb phrase). The study investigates the behavior of auxiliary verbs ending with different morphemes and how these auxiliaries can be classified on the basis of different morphological forms. The different auxiliaries have been classified and enlisted in the form of tables so that one group can be clearly distinguished from the other. The dissertation explores that syntactic places of multiple auxiliaries are generally fixed and the position of auxiliaries cannot be changed or swapped. This aspect has been explained with the help of linear examples as well as syntactic trees. It has been shown that the syntactic trees can acquire various auxiliaries and intensifier simultaneously that evolves the trees from simple to complex forms. The current work also draws attention towards the semantic information Urdu auxiliaries bring with them. It attempts to describe that the inflection in auxiliaries contributes the aspectual meanings of the main verb. Moreover, it is noticed that addition of auxiliaries does not always refer to the addition or change of meanings; it generally emphasizes or strengthens the existing interpretations. This research attempts to enlist all auxiliaries and their individual semantic properties.Item The impact of formal feedback on the development of writing skills at o-level in the selected private schools in lahore(University of Management and Technology Lahore, 2016) Ana RamshaThis study explores the impact of teachers’ written feedback on students’ English composition writing in the selected private high schools in Lahore and also examines students’ attitude towards teacher feedback. A mixed method approach was used to gather both qualitative and quantitative data through the use of survey questionnaires for both students and teachers and composition essays. The study took place during the regular school year in three O-Level classrooms. Research participants (n=75) were selected using random sampling. Small scale pilot study and Cronbach’s Alpha test was conducted to ensure that the research would proceed as predicted and to test the validity and reliability of the data. Closed ended questionnaires were triangulated by analyzing real classroom composition essays. Quantitative data were collected and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and is presented using descriptive statistics with frequency and percentage of responses. The ESL composition profile constructed by Jacobs et al (1981) was used in the current research to examine the quality of learners’ first draft and second draft based on the scores on accuracy, content, expression, vocabulary and mechanic features of essay writing. The scores of learners’ essay quality were measured before the feedback (first draft) and after the feedback (second draft). Two unbiased raters were requested to read and grade students’ first draft and second draft using ESL composition profile to examine the quality of essays based on their scores. A paired sample T-test was run to understand whether there was a significant difference between the first draft and the second draft. Results of the paired sample T-Test showed that the scores given by the raters increased significantly in the second draft as compared to the first draft.Teachers’ comments had a constructive impact on the writing quality of the learners and a positive improvement was noticed in their performance in their post-test stage as compared to their pre-test stage.This study revealed that students get assistance even from marginal feedback. Therefore, in the light of this study it is recommended that educational institutions should work on regulating feedback practices in Pakistan and integrating multiple draft strategies in order to maximize learning. Key words: Teacher Feedback, O-Level, Multiple drafts, ESL Composition writing, academic achievementItem A Case Study of Language Development in 0.1-0.9 Year Old Child(University of Management and Technology Lahore, 2015) Naila, ShahadatThe purpose of this study was to observe language development in a child from the birth up to the age of 9 months. The present research focused on the acquisition of human speech sounds by a child, in comparison with non-human sounds. Other than that, the study also tried to explore the effects of audio-visual elements on language development. A newbornbaby boywasthe subject of the current study. The total observation period of 9 monthswas broken down into three stages. Each stagecomprised ofthree months of child’s age. The data was collectedin the form of audio and video recordings, documents and interviews with family members of the subject. After observing the subject for 9 months, conclusions were drawn and compared with past studies in the same area. A child goes through many human and non-human sounds during his language acquisition period but as devised by Chomsky (2004) that language is innate (Chomsky, 2004), child accepts only human speech signals to acquire language. The research concluded that both sound and image help a child to acquire a language. Individually, they cannot be beneficial in developing language in a child. Language development is a systematic process, whichis achieved by a child in the early period of his or her life, no matter child comes across how many human and non-human sounds. It becomes easier for a child when he or shefinds pictorial representation of what he or she listen.Item Morphosyntactic study of punjabi light verbs(University of Management and Technology Lahore, 2016) SABA, TABASUMThis research concentrates on the morphosyntactic aspects of light verbs in Punjabi language. The understudied South Asian language, Punjabi, manifests a productive formation of light verb constructions which are integral to the structure of the language.The usage of light verb is one of the ways of constructing complex sentential structure. Punjabi light verbs tend to combine with N, Adj, V, Adv, and prep to form light verb constructions in Punjabi. The present study aims to highlight the significance of the light verbs found in Punjabi. Moreover, it attempts to find out the Punjabi light verbs, describe variations of different Punjabi light verbs and to display a number of syntactic and semantic characteristics of Punjabi light verbs. This research presents a list of light verbs and its different constructions. The differences among light verbs, dummy verbs, serial verbs, auxiliaries have also been discussed. The present study is descriptive, corpus-based and qualitative in nature. Light verb constructions in Punjabi have been analyzed under Andrew Carnie‘s theoretical frame work and phrase structure grammar in the light of x-bar theory. The data for the study was collected from personal observation, Punjabi books, articles, journals, recordings, etc.Item Relationship between golden ratio and internalized linguistic system of the human brain(University of Management and Technology Lahore, 2017) Adnan AliThe title of this research was “Relationship between Golden Ratio and Internalized Linguistic System of the human brain”. This study followed a mixed approach to explore two research questions. The first was whether the movement driven phrase structures carry golden ratio at the head position in their constituency or not. The second research question was whether golden ratio is a constructive statistical regularity or not. The null hypothesis that this study aimed to test was that there is no relationship between golden ratio and internalized linguistic system (ILS) of the human brain. In order to explore the research questions content analysis and argument were used. In order to test the null hypothesis 202 telegraphic speech structures by 47 toddlers aged between 24 to 30 months located in Lahore and Shakar Garh were selected as sample. 202 mature structures spoken by the parents of the same toddlers were selected as the counterpart for telegraphic structures as sample. Analysis of the XP elementary trees proved that golden ratio lies in the topmost constituency of X phrases in the pre-movement condition. Argument and discussion proved that golden ratio is a constructive statistical regularity in language. Quantitative data analysis comprising the ratio between the number of words in each telegraphic structure and that in each mature counterpart structure was found in the golden ratio. One sample t-test proved the high significance level of the sample structures generalizable for the population. This study concluded that there existed a strong relationship between golden ratio and ILS of the human brain. This valid research is replicable for future studies.Item Correlation of Academic Performance with Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation(2017-04-05) Zoubia, AshrafThe present study explores whether the intrinsic and extrinsic motivational constructs are two independent orientations of motivation or, alternatively, two opposite poles of a continuum. Following a quantitative research approach, data were collected from a random sample of 279 college students, using Gardener’s Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB). The data were statistically analyzed using Pearson’s correlation in SPSS. The results of the study suggest that different orientations of motivation, i.e. Intrinsic and Extrinsic or instrumental and integrative, are not conflicting, and they can co-exist. Additionally, the study endorses that there are no marked differences in the English language achievement of the intrinsically and the extrinsically motivated students, both male and female. Both sets of students show mixed results in terms of their marks obtained; whereas, any single orientation of motivation could not be clearly linked to any particular achievement level. Keywords: Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation, Academic Achievement, Gender Differences, Public/ Private SectorItem (Post-)Colonial Silence(s) and Critical Practice(s): Some Perspectives on Waseem Anwar’s “Black” Women’s Dramatic Discourse(Linguistics & Literature Review, 2015) Muhammad Furqan TanvirThis article comments on Waseem Anwar‟s book “Black” Women’s Dramatic Discourse: A Psychosemiotic Study of Silence in Selected Plays by African American Women Dramatists to illustrate how the essential plurality of postmodern critical practices, in spite of their overt emphasis on anti-traditionalism, are rhetorically governed by academic jargon that is a multifaceted tradition in its own right. In doing so, it will introduce the reader to Waseem Anwar‟s critique, in the wake of postcolonial studies, of the dialogic nature of language in evaluations of race and gender.Item Analyzing the Advertising Discourse-A Journey from Sight to Mind(International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature, 2013) Mahrukh BaigThis research paper sets out to project an in-depth study of the advertising discourse by applying methodological approaches of Discourse Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis to the chosen “advertisements”. It aims at examining the ‘power relations and struggles’ among product-producers and product-consumers, to gauge the level of psychological dominance exercised through the advertising discourse. The study, fundamentally, presents a counteranalysis of ‘advertising strategies’, as to how far they influence the consumers’ attitudes and to what extent the consumers direct their ‘discourse’. In other words, this research attempts to answer the question: ‘who turns out to be more powerful by controlling the other’s mind, in advertiser-consumer relationship?’, whether it is the consumer who shapes the discourse of advertisements through their demands, or the advertiser who affects the consumers’ beliefs through their ‘discourse’! Thus, the current paper presents a comprehensive review of the relevant literature leading towards a theoretical framework of preferred DA and CDA approaches to be further applied on the discourse of advertisements. And towards the end, it states the final remarks concluding the entire discussion and reflecting upon the effectiveness of Critical Discourse Analysis in its application on the advertising phenomena.Item The scarlet letter and postmodernism(The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 2013) Asim KarimPostmodernism is a convoluted and nebulous term to define as it involves a plethora of major and minor details that appear in a wide variety of areas of study like art, literature, culture architecture, technology, education. Equally problematical is to locate it historically as well as temporally. One of the principal areas of post modernism that continues to inspire critical debate is its strong scepticism of the grand narratives of modernism. Contrary to the modernist focus on hierarchical grand positions, post modernism as Lyotard envisioned it “preaches an appreciation and respect for diversity, for local differences, for the plurality of ways in which human choose to live”. This study aims to analyse Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter as a postmodern text for it demonstrates a strong disinclination to uphold logocentric, monologic, absolute, universalist and structured metanarratives. It will be argued that a strong and hierarchical power structure supports and uphold these metanarratives for specific objectives of perpetuation of the governance and authority over the people. Thus, it links Lyotard’s scepticism of metanarratives with Foucault’s discourse of knowledge and power. It will be argued that resistance and opposition to this phenomenon is pre-eminently demonstrated not only by the most marginalized Hester Prynne, but also by Arthur Dimmesdale who has been one of the beneficiaries of these metanarratives. In countering and opposing the metanarratives, both establish a space for the legitimization of pluralism, diversity and heterogeneity as well as post modern liberation from the totalitarian persecution of the marginalized and the dissident voices.Item Variety of the structure of some significant non-kernel clauses(International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2012) Mahrukh BaigThe current paper presents an in-depth analysis of a variety of non-kernel clauses in English. The structures discussed include interrogatives and negatives with their contrastive types and uses. It further takes up clausal combinations such as subordinates and coordinates with reference to their various functions. Moreover, a detailed exploration of thematic variation follows with particular regards to information structure. Such constructions deal with extrapositioning, existentials and clefts as to how these clauses take account of information packaging in a message, thereby combining syntactic functions to the semantic and pragmatic strategies.Item Natural order of vocabulary acquisition(EUROPEAN ACADEMIC RESEARCH, 2013-08) Shaban Rafi, MuhammadPast investigations conclude that L1 (first language) English learners acquire frequent, concrete, typical and basic level words faster and earlier than infrequent, abstract, atypical and super-ordinate level words. This study examines: (a) the natural order of vocabulary acquisition among 5 to 7 years old English as a Second Language (ESL) learners, and (b) whether the order of vocabulary presentation in the Grade-I English textbook, published by Punjab Textbook Board (PTB), Pakistan, coincides with the vocabulary acquisition habits of the learners. A vocabulary test was executed to gather data from one hundred and twenty ESL learners. A corpus analysis of the Grade-I English textbook was also carried out to compare the order of vocabulary presentation with the learners’ acquisition habits. The study revealed that Grade-I ESL learners acquire and memorize frequent, concrete, basic level and typical vocabulary of a category faster and earlier than infrequent, abstract, super-ordinate and atypical ones. Moreover, the order of vocabulary presentation in English textbooks does not match with the acquisition habits of the learners, which has implications for textbook writers.Item Developing Urdu WordNet using the merge approach(Society for Natural Language Processing, Pakistan (SNLP), 2012-11) Ayesha ZafarThe current paper describes the process of developing an Urdu WordNet. The process includes selecting words, identifying their senses and documenting their use. The current work also ties the Urdu senses with corresponding senses in English. Challenges in developing the WordNet and the solutions being implemented are discussed. Finally, this paper presents the work planned in the future.Item Cohesion coherence interdependence: Analysing cohesive devices to study coherence in the text(2012-10) Mahrukh BaigThis paper places its focus on an in-depth analysis of text-forming (cohesive) devices in a literature-based discourse. The purpose behind the research is to highlight a significant role of cohesion in generating coherence of a text. Moreover, a detailed study of the language use in a post-war literary piece aims to facilitate the comprehension of linguistic varieties in the chaotic periods of turmoil.