Heritage:International Journal of Linguistics and Literature
PHRASEOLOGICAL STRUCTURES IN PAKISTANI RESEARCH DISCOURSE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND PURE SCIENCES
The current study shows how, at the lexicogrammatically level, the employment of Phraseological Units (PUs) in Pakistani Ph.D. theses of Social Sciences and Pure Sciences establishes different knowledge territories. For the structural analysis of the PUs, the study employs the structural classification of PUs proposed by Biber in 1999. Biber’s taxonomy classifies Phraseological Units into three major categories: “Noun-Phrase (NP) based,” “Preposition Phrase (PP) based,” and “Verb Phrase (VP) based.” The collected corpus data of the study comprised 100 Pakistani Ph.D. theses in total, with 50 PhD theses for each field of science, i.e., Social Sciences and Pure Sciences. The corpus size of the collected data was 5.5 million words bearing a type-token ratio (TTR) of 4.45. For the comparative analysis, with the help of AntConc 3.4.4, the 100 most frequent four-word PUs in Pakistani Ph.D. theses of Social Sciences and Pure Sciences were classified according to Biber’s taxonomy. The analysis of the structural distribution of PUs shows that in the field of Social Sciences, NP- and PP-based PUs are used more frequently as compared with the field of Pure Sciences. However, VP-based PUs is used three times more in the field of Pure Sciences than in the field of Social Sciences. Moreover, the comparative structural analysis of the subcategories of NP-, PP-, and VP-based PUs was also conducted to reveal further structural differences for the PUs used in Pure Sciences and Social Sciences. The structural differences in the use of PUs in both disciplinary sciences highlight pedagogical implications of these multi-word sequences for the development and teaching of EAP courses. It is expected that the findings of this study will aid in the development of material for academic writing and English for Academic Purposes.
Copyright (c) 2026 Nida Ali, Dr Moazzam Ali Malik (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
METAPHORICAL LANGUAGE OF EMOTION IN COCA: A CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR ANALYSIS
This study examines how metaphorical language facilitates the gestation of feelings. By utilizing the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980), this study examines language in the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). It focuses on the five primary emotions: love, fear, anger, sadness, and happiness. This research explores and examines the most prominent metaphorical structures. It shapes the expressions of these emotions in American English. By collecting data from various genres, a total of 500 metaphorical illustrations is manually extracted. This data was extracted from COCA by using targeted keywords in searches. The data for this study includes fiction, spoken, news, and other academic texts. By using spreadsheet software, the data coding process has occurred. The reliability process is done by inter- coder agreement. This analysis repeatedly reveals certain conceptual metaphors, such as "Happiness is up," "Anger is heat," and "Fear is darkness." It expresses a powerful grounding to represent experiences. The use of metaphor was more productive in fiction and speech. The variations in the genre were also evidence of it. The findings of the analysis show that metaphor has a significant role in American English in shaping its linguistic representation and emotional cognition. To understand discourse on emotions, there is much contribution of this analysis to it. This study provides some suggestions for education and cross-cultural communication. It also enlightens the importance of corpus-based theories in this research on metaphors.
Copyright (c) 2026 Dr. Muhammad Naveed Anwar, Naureen Nazar (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
FRAGMENTED INTIMACIES: GENDER, AFFECT, AND DIASPORIC DISPLACEMENT IN CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE’S DREAM COUNT
This paper analyzes how Adichie’s Dream Count (2025) explores the fragmented intimacies, displacement, and structural isolation by constructing a transnational feminist narrative that spans the interconnected lives of four African women. By employing close textual analysis, the paper discusses how Adichie portrays intimacy not as a site of stability but as a fragile, fragmented network of relationships shaped by gendered expectations, cultural, economic, and racial perspectives, as well as irregular patterns of global mobility. As the novel progresses, each of the four core female figures’ emotional, familial, and romantic connections somehow remain incomplete, interrupted, or conditioned by power, thus portraying intimacy as a site of fracture and isolation as a structural condition. Considering the text’s multi-layered characterization, this paper uses bell hooks’ idea of feminist intimacy and marginality (2000), Sara Ahmed’s affect (2004), Paul Gilroy’s theorization of diaspora (1993, 1987), and Hartman’s (2019) idea about the fragility of black intimate life to argue that these fragmented intimacies cannot be separated from the broader experiences of displacement, whether geographical, cultural, or personal. Each character, through literal migration, cultural alienation, or the violation of bodily autonomy, undergoes a form of dislocation that unsettles their sense of belonging. These experiences result in isolation that transcends individual circumstances and highlights the structural forces shaping contemporary African and diasporic womanhood. Finally, the article asserts that fragmented intimacy serves as the relational thread that connects otherwise separate narratives, transforming isolation from a personal experience into a shared structural condition and providing a critical framework to understand feminine epistemology in Dream Count (2025).
Copyright (c) 2026 Rida Zainab, Noor Ul Qamar Qasmi (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
INTERPRETATION OF THE "WAR ON TERROR” THROUGH GLOBAL TIMES’ POSTINGS: NARRATIVE ANALYSIS STUDY
The construction of narrative through interactive stories is popular on digital forums. Through interactive storytelling, the plot (scenes and scenarios), character mapping, and values are created to engage the audience in relation to a particular situation. The War on Terror has been a popular narrative that is interpreted from different perspectives. This paper examines how the concept of the War on Terror is framed by the Chinese state-owned media, Global Times, in its tweets, using narrative strategies. The three analytical lenses of the Narrative Analysis of Interactive Digital Storytelling developed by Daiute (2014) that are utilized in the study are Hyper-Plot Analysis that considers the construction of narratives and the way the audience engages them, Multi-dimensional Character Mapping that is used to map the representation of the engaged parties and their dynamics, and Poly-cultural Values Analysis to understand the cultural values presented and embedded in the narratives. This paper examines how Global Times uses digital storytelling to inform the world by analyzing selected tweets. This can contribute to how we think about and explore the nature of digital propaganda, world actors, and culture (protagonist or critic projections) in the global market of ideas. The research contributes to the understanding of the electronic media-based international narratives. It enhances the ideas of cultural diplomacy, foreign policymaking, and the study of state media manifestations in the global digital environment.
Copyright (c) 2026 Dr. Asma Kashif Shahzad, Muhammad Rashid, Farwa Muneer (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
LANGUAGE POLICIES AND COLONIALITY: THE CASE OF BILINGUALISM IN COLOMBIA
This article offers a reflective and critical look at bilingualism in Colombia. It examines how official language policies interact with teacher education and how these relationships are shaped by the coloniality of knowledge, being, and language. Using a state-of-the-art review inspired integrative approach, along with a decolonial ecolinguistics lens, the study discusses how the National Bilingualism Program has encouraged a narrow understanding of bilingualism focused on Spanish and English. This emphasis often overlooks Indigenous languages and the diverse cultural and territorial contexts of the country. The discussion also considers the effects of this policy on teacher professional development, standardized testing, and the ongoing challenges faced by teacher education programs, especially in rural and peripheral regions. Insights from teaching experiences in southern Colombia highlight the importance of rethinking ideas such as global citizenship and twenty-first-century skills in ways that make sense locally. The article argues for a more critical and context-responsive pedagogy that recognizes Colombia’s linguistic diversity, promotes the creation of locally relevant educational materials, and strengthens teacher preparation so that educators can act as agents of linguistic and epistemic justice.
Copyright (c) 2025 Angélica María Rojas Isaza (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
ALGORITHMIC ENCLOSURES: NEOCOLONIAL EXPLOITATION AND THE DIGITAL PLANTATION METAPHOR IN ANNALEE NEWITZ'S AUTONOMOUS
The paper challenges the constitutive formations of power in the realm of data capitalism, claiming that the modern regimes of data harvesting and algorithmic workforce represent a new neocolonial exploitation. By applying a literary approach to the novel Autonomous (2017) by Annalee Newitz, this paper will argue that the posthuman fiction tentatively fixes a figurative concept of the digital plantation as a metaphor that can be used to interpret the continuity between the historical process of resource extraction and the modern-day digital extraction process. The conceptual framework of the analysis is based on the ideas of surveillance capitalism that were elaborated by Shoshana Zuboff, the notion of data colonialism developed by Nick Couldry, and Ulises Mejias that elucidate the mining of human experience as raw material and the algorithmic control of this raw material. A critical examination of the indentured AI, Paladin, and its bioeconomy based on the principle of patents in the novel shows the systematic commodification of bodies, behaviors, and intellectual properties, which is like the logic of the colonial plantation. The inquiry concludes that Autonomous does not only diagnose this exploitative system but also speculates on the means of hacking and sabotage as crucial acts of post-colonial resistance. What is novel about the study is its amalgamation of literary criticism and critical data studies that hypothesizes the algorithmic enclosure as a crucial point in which the psychological domination of the datafied subject and the possibility of decolonial agency are argued out narratively.
Copyright (c) 2025 Rabia Imtiaz, Ali Zar Asghar (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
TRANSGENERATIONAL EPIGENETIC TRAUMA IN MORRISON’S BELOVED: A PSYCHOLOGICAL-EPIGENETIC READING
This research examines Toni Morrison’s Beloved through the psychological framework proposed in Mark Wolynn’s book It Didn’t Start with You, which focuses on transgenerational epigenetic trauma. Morrison’s novel, depicting the damages of slavery and transgenerational trauma, provides a fertile ground for psychological analysis. By employing Wolynn’s notion of transgenerational epigenetic trauma, the current study explores how Morrison’s narrative extends beyond the literary domain to probe the human experience of trauma. The study argues that Beloved not only reflects the damages of slavery, the violation and dehumanization faced by Blacks, but also embodies the idea of transgenerational epigenetic trauma, the idea that traumatic experiences get transferred to future generations as well. Through qualitative textual analysis, this study highlights how Morrison's depiction of inherited fear, isolation, and identity crisis aligns with Wolynn’s emphasis on trauma as an epigenetically inherited factor that is transferred across generations. By intertwining literary fiction with transgenerational epigenetic trauma, Morrison transcends the boundaries of traditional American fiction, inviting readers to engage with the deeper psychological implications of epigenetically inherited trauma. This research contributes to a nuanced understanding of how literature can illustrate and expand psychological concepts, particularly at the intersection of epigenetics and trauma studies.
Copyright (c) 2025 Hira Yaseen, Fatima Aurangzeb (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
RECLAIMING MEMORY AND NATURE: AN ECOCRITICAL STUDY OF THE HUNGRY STONES
The short story The Hungry Stones is primarily interpreted from the perspectives of gothic romanticism or cultural haunting, often centering around its mystical or psychological elements. While previous studies have explored its mystical, psychological or colonial anxieties, limited attention has been given to the narrative's ecological dimensions and perspectives. Therefore, through the use of qualitative approach, this study aims to analyze the text within the framework of ecocriticism, drawing upon the concepts of ecological memory, critique of anthropocentrism, and postcolonial ecocriticism. The findings show that the natural and architectural environment in the story is not passive backdrop but a sentient space that consists on haunting land, and disruption caused by human authority in natural landscapes, exploring the aftershocks of environmental and cultural exploitation under colonial empire.
Copyright (c) 2025 Wareesha Rukhsar, Mashal Javed (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
CULTURAL TABOOS AND THEIR SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACTS ON DIVORCED WOMEN IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA
This study examines the impacts of Chinese cultural taboos that pose challenges to gender equality, with a specific focus on their differential effects on middle-class and poor divorced women within an increasingly modernized societal context. By analyzing how these deeply rooted cultural norms persist and operate, the research explores their role in perpetuating conservative attitudes toward gender roles, attitudes that often conflict with the progressive ideals of equality prevalent in advanced social settings. The analysis delves into how class-based disparities shape women’s experiences of these taboos: middle-class women may face unique pressures tied to social reputation, family expectations, and economic resources, while poor women often contend with compounded vulnerabilities, including limited access to support systems and heightened economic dependence, which exacerbate the restrictive effects of cultural norms. By unpacking the intersecting dynamics of culture, class, and gender, this work aims to illuminate how these taboos influence social perceptions, individual agency, and efforts to advance gender equality, highlighting the divergent challenges faced by middle-class and poor women in navigating traditional constraints amid rapid societal development.
Copyright (c) 2025 Nadia Bibi (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Celebrity Well-Being: Evaluating Psychosocial Challenges in Soha Ali Khan’s The Perils of Being Moderately Famous
People who are born into well-known families and moderately famous in the public image deal with emotional and mental struggles. The study explore the Social and psychological dimensions of moderately famous individuals in Soha Ali Khan’s The Perils of Being Moderately Famous (Khan 2021). The study investigates how individuals manage internal conflicts such as their identity confusion with role strain and the pressures of social comparison as they belong to the family with legacy in public perception. The study uses Tajfel and Turner’s Social Identity Theory (Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. 1979) to explore the conflict between personal ambitions and the societal expectations. The psychosocial issues with celebrities causes confusion between self-concept in family and outside of socio dynamics. The struggle remains side by side to an individual for a clear identity in well-known families as well as in public image. The study highlight mental and emotional toll of fame which contribute to uncover psychosocial challenges and psychological well-being.
Copyright (c) 2024 Heritage:International Journal of Linguistics and Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
THE CHALLENGES OF SPOKEN ENGLISH FACED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL OF A PRIVATE UNIVERSITY
In both personal and professional settings, speaking is considered a crucial skill, helping to communicate clearly and influence others. However, undergraduates struggle when it comes to developing proficiency in a second language. In this study, major hurdles that affect speaking proficiency in the English language were identified and categorized. This study has a quantitative research design consisting of surveys of structured questionnaires. The population consisted of 500 undergraduate students from different departments, of whom 50 participated in this study. To analyze the collected data, IBM SPSS Statistics software was used. The challenges reported by the participants were categorized into four different areas, namely speaking anxiety and confidence, motivation and engagement, challenges related to language skills, classroom environment, and opportunities. Speaking anxiety and confidence, along with language skills such as vocabulary and grammar, were identified as major factors influencing proficiency in a second language. Moreover, some other challenges like lack of motivation and engagement and as well as limited practice opportunities, were also highlighted by the participants. To improve English-speaking language outcomes, this study sheds light on specific areas that need attention and improvement related to English language-speaking practices.
Copyright (c) 2024 Heritage:International Journal of Linguistics and Literature
Black Consciousness in Sindiwe Magona’s Mother to Mother (1998)
Since the end of direct colonization, African literature has remained anchored in a new direction of consciousness-raising and awakening for black people. This literature, which has always served as a means of expression and protest in the face of social challenges, has since served as a tool for learning and education. In this work, we intend to provide an analytical explanation and exploration on the representation of Black consciousness in Sindiwe Magona's work of forgiveness, Mother to Mother. Indeed, national consciousness has profoundly impacted Magona’s writing. From her To My Children’s Children (Magona, To My Children's Children, 1994), Mud Chic (Fraser et al., 2006), Beauty’s Gift (Magona, Beauty's Gift, 2018), and When the Village Sleeps (Magona, When the Village Sleeps, 2021) she makes questions social and political images. Black Consciousness encompasses an awareness of discrimination and heritage with resistance to injustice, self-appropriation and self-redefinition. Black Consciousness is a central aspect of resistance to injustice. It originated in the social and political movements under the apartheid regime from 1948 to 1994 in South Africa and under the decolonial struggles in the other African ex-colonized countries. In this work, we seek to analyze the question throughout Mother to Mother.
A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW ON THE EVOLUTION OF LITERATURE: FROM ANCIENT TEXTS TO CONTEMPORARY WORKS
Literature, as a cultural artifact, has evolved over centuries, reflecting the values, struggles, and innovations of different societies. The narrative forms, genres, and thematic explorations in literature offer a window into human existence. This article seeks to explore the evolution of literature from ancient texts to contemporary works. The objective of this review is to trace the historical evolution of literature, identifying key literary movements, examining their thematic concerns, and understanding their social significance. This review is based on an extensive analysis of existing scholarly articles, books, and primary texts, drawing from literary criticism and historical accounts. The review reveals a progression from oral traditions to written texts, with significant shifts during the Renaissance, Enlightenment, Romantic, Modernist, and Postmodern periods. Contemporary literature embraces diverse voices, grappling with globalization, identity, and technological influence. Literature remains a powerful means of human expression, evolving in tandem with societal changes. From its early beginnings as oral traditions to modern-day digital narratives, literature's impact continues to shape our understanding of the human condition. Further interdisciplinary studies are recommended to explore the intersections of literature with technology, politics, and cultural studies, to better understand contemporary trends and their global influence.
STOLEN GLANCES, DANCES, AND FEMALE EMPOWERMENT: EVOLVING REPRESENTATIONS OF ROMANCE IN PAKISTANI CINEMA
This study explores the shift in the narratives, character depictions, and cinematic techniques used in the representation of romance on national screens. As the traditional urban, lower-middle-class and lower-class viewership gives way to a more diverse, socioeconomically varied demographic, the portrayal of romance becomes a means of reflecting and engaging with the gender stereotypes and moral ambiguities embedded within Pakistani society and culture. Through an analysis of three mainstream Pakistani romantic films, which were marketed as romance and/or featured conventional happily ever after endings, this study demonstrates that despite an increasing awareness of gender equality in character development and plot resolution, these films continue to reinforce traditional patriarchal gender binaries and regressive relationship dynamics. Contemporary Pakistani cinema increasingly shows female protagonists who exercise agency and challenge traditional power structures, but these narratives ultimately restrict women’s autonomy by framing it within acceptable patriarchal boundaries. I argue that the shifting cinematic representations of romance highlight the moral ambiguities in Pakistani popular culture and these ambiguities are constructed in response to the broader postcolonial sociocultural and religious structures.
MEDIA ROLE IN COVID -19 IN PAKISTAN : THE SEMIO-SEMANTIC AND PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ABOUT THE ASPECT OF PERSONAL FEAR.
Everything we think, feel, and notice, either about ourselves or other people is observed by concept of fear. The researchers have begun collecting information for the Semio-semantic analysis by visiting a number of websites, distributing questionnaires, and interviewing students and physicians. Mixed methodology is observed The study of illness, fear and its treatment was conducted using a variety of research approaches. She also looked into the many political, cultural, and economic components that impact health status indicators in connection with fear. It is advised that use of refined , courteous, respectable, and polished language, without any religious, racial, or regional biases appreciable to decrease fear.
UNHOMELINESS AND IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE: A POSTCOLONIAL READING OF FRANKENSTEIN
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is often read as a Gothic text, but as a novel written at a home away from home, it reveals many traces of "unhomeliness." Homi K. Bhabha's term for Heidegger’s concept of unheimlich is associated with the sense of alienation and estrangement from one’s environment, frequently linked to the displacement felt by diasporic subjects experiencing hybridity. This emotional in-betweenness drives both Victor Frankenstein and his Monster. From the creation of the Monster to his acquisition of language and his attempts at communication, the novel can be regarded as a textual representation of unhomeliness. The Monster’s longing for a family a home reflects his status as a psychological refugee. This essay traces these experiences through Bhabha’s seminal work The Location of Culture and illustrates how social isolation shapes the Monster’s immigrant-like experience. The findings highlight the emotional struggles faced by displaced individuals and argue that Frankenstein portrays a crisis experienced by those living in hybridity. This analysis contributes to postcolonial readings of the novel and offers a framework for further exploration of psychological displacement in literature.
RELATIVISM AND PLURALISM IN AFRICAN LITERARY STUDIES
The question of relativism and pluralism in African literature remains issues currently developed by writers and intellectuals. The beliefs and cultural values impact the works of writers in each part of the globe. Reading diverse scopes of African literature from the different corners and societies makes readers have a larger understanding of African plurality and relativism. In this article we seek to analyze the question of relativism and pluralism in the context of African literary studies, more precisely in African literature. By developing the ideology of pluralism and relativism we would develop the question of diversity and dissimilarities in African literature. The ideologies of relativism and pluralism in African literature in this paper concern a comparative study of African literature and the larger outstanding images of African study’s socio-political orientated formalities. Therefore, we seek to develop the relativism of African literature in the understanding of African diversity and richness. In other words, this work makes additional informational on the meaning and understanding of African literature criticisms and orientations.
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF LINGUISTICS FEATURES OF ACADEMIC TEXT AND AI-GENERATED
This study includes comparison of linguistic characteristics of text produced by artificial intelligence with those of human-written essays and indicates the similarities, differences, and consequences between them in addition, the acknowledgement of the language abilities of AI systems is now a key factor. This is the reason why this skill turns out to be increasingly critical owing to the fast progress of AI in natural language understanding. (NLP). Consequently, the overall purpose of this research is to provide a report on the linguistic components that are key in. the ones that humans write and texts that AI writers produce. It emphasizes the words variety, intricate grammar, unity, coherence and appropriateness in context. Comparative (analysis) is achieved through a collection of sources that are written and are authored. While other students can copy from books, academic periodicals and online resources as well as texts produced by AI. The latest NLP models. Employing computational linguistics and corpus analysis are among the set of techniques that are used for investigating and comparing linguistic characteristics. Linguistic and sociolinguistics tools in addition to qualitative assessments. The authenticity problems of the AI-generated texts in comparison with the human analogues and the consequences that follow. For instance, for scientific publications, conversational writing, and interpersonal communications besides that. The ideas on the way of changing AI in terms of linguistic characteristics. This study is a part of the bigger quest for the understanding of AI's linguistic capabilities and its use in various fields. Assisting in AI-related future development and its application.
THE ISSUE OF CULTURE IDENTITY IN KHALID HUSSAINI’S NOVEL THE THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS
This study inculcates the issues pertaining to cultural identity in Khaled Hosseini’s novel “A Thousand Splendid Suns” in the Afghan society. The paper assimilates cultural evokes with that implicate political upheavals. The purpose of the study is to study cultural intricacies in light of text and events presented by the novel as, two women with different upbringings in similar Afghanistan go through events of societal upheavals, disappointment, aggression, violence and deceit. Moreover, this study explores and focuses on issue of women’s identity in Afghanistan and how a tribal society, in their transitory period of war and unrest, has an impact on lives of ordinary masses living in a domestic placidity. This qualitative research highlights how Afghan tribal values have fashioned women’s status and Afghan women in their lifetime, from an early childhood have societal protocols to endure upon patriarchal culture.