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People usually express their feelings and emotions positively to others when they have happy occasions. However, the ways of expressing congratulation may vary because the expressive speech act "congratulations" is not the only way to express happiness and share others their happy news. The present study investigates the congratulation strategies of Pakistani English as second language (ESL) learners and British English speakers under the influence of social distance variable. A quantitative approach is applied in the analysis with the frequency of strategies (semantic formulas) being numerically analyzed. The current study recruited 120 participants, and who were further divided into four different groups: 30 British English speakers, 30 Pakistani ESL learners in the elite class, 30 Pakistani ESL learners of the middle class, and 30 Pakistani ESL learners in the lower class. For data collection, a discourse completion test (DCT) was used as a tool. The findings reveal that the most frequently used types of congratulation strategy are "illocutionary force indicating device" (IFID) followed by overlapped strategies (a combination of two), "an offer of a good wish," "expression of happiness," "request for information," "encouragement," "expression of surprise," and "suggestion of celebration," while other types of strategies are not used by the participants. The study reveals the existence of crosscultural differences in the use of congratulations by Pakistani ESL learners. The findings further show how the middle and lower class of Pakistani ESL learners use a more elaborated form of compliment responses (CRs) as compared to Pakistani ESL learners of elite and British English speakers. The findings may help in understanding the pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic aspects of Pakistani ESL learners as compared to British English speakers.

This study investigates the function and morphosyntax of English Embedded Language (EL) islands in Pashto-English bilingual data, using the Matrix Language Frame model to explore the role of the two languages in codeswitching and the pragmatic force behind the selection of EL islands. A dataset of 14 hours was collected from AVT Khyber, a YouTube channel covering a wide range of talking shows and interviews. The research question is how EL islands figure in the overall clause structure of Pashto-English codeswitching. The study finds that English EL islands in Pashto-English codeswitching follow the structure dependency rule of the Embedded Language to retain well-formedness with the overall grammatical frame of the Pashto language. Most of the EL islands are fixed expressions and the multiword are collocated with each other. In most cases, EL islands are used as their counterparts in the Pashto language and lack the same pragmatic force. The study provides insights into the pragmatic and morphosyntactic aspects of EL islands in the Pashto-English bilingual context and contributes to the understanding of codeswitching phenomena in bilingual communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION: The most frequent form of hernia is inguinal hernia, affecting around 15% of adult males. The optimal surgical anesthetic method for ambulatory inguinal hernia repair is unknown at the moment, and there is no consensus on the procedure. The goal of this study was to examine the outcome of inguinal hernia repair under local anesthesia compared with spinal anesthesia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this prospective observational study, 80 patients were randomly assigned into two groups by the SNOSE method with a different mode of anesthesia: group SA (n = 40) and group LA (n = 40). Lichtenstein tension-free hernioplasty was done in all patients. Pre- and post-OP clinical examinations (3rd day) were looked for complications. RESULTS: There were no significant demographic differences between the two groups. When compared with the SA group, the LA group experienced much less post-operative pain. With local anesthesia, post-operative ambulation was substantially faster. The use of a local anesthetic allowed for a shorter stay in the hospital and a speedy return to regular activity. In general, local anesthesia was linked to less post-operative complications in the early aftermath. CONCLUSION: Local anesthesia is a preferable choice to spinal anesthesia for short stay or daycare surgery, particularly for patients who are unable to tolerate spinal anesthesia. As a result, Lichtenstein’s hernioplasty performed under local anesthesia is attracting considerable interests in the field of groin hernia repair.

Comparative literary studies characterize similarities and dissimilarities found in poetic works of two writers of different cultures. This study focuses on the use of allusions in poetry of John Milton particularly with reference to Paradise Lost and poetry of Persian Poet Hafiz Sherazi. Using allusions in poetry has been a common style of poets belonging to various cultures and languages as they add to the beauty and imagery of the poem. Yet it arises some difficulties and problems for the readers of the other culture and language. Being alien to a certain culture, the readers of the other language cannot understand the context and meaning of the reference in the form of allusions. Therefore the responsibility lies on the shoulders of the comparatists or the translators to explain and interpret these allusions for comprehension of the readers.

The present study aims at establishing grammatical constraints on the borrowing of nouns (Ns) and verbs (Vs) in Urdu and English by adopting Noam Chomsky's Methodological Naturalism within the field of generative grammar as the theoretical framework of the study. For this purpose, the corpus of Pure Urdu and Pure English sentences from textbooks and the Oxford Dictionary of English was used in this study. The data were analyzed in the light of Minimalist Program, and the findings of the study reveal that there are certain grammatical constraints on the borrowing of Vs in Urdu from Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit, and Hindi as compared with English. It is observed that whenever Urdu borrows Vs from other languages such as Arabic, Persian, and Sanskrit, it adds its little v with the fossil form of borrowed verbs in order to retain the grammaticality of the sentence while in English Vs borrowed from Latin, old English is said to be used in their fossil form and can be used with the inflection of the English and has no effect on the grammaticality of the sentence. The reason observed is the drop v phenomenon. Urdu does not drop its little v due to which whenever it borrows Vs it adds its little v along with root form of borrowed Vs otherwise the resulting structure is considered as ungrammatical. If we talk about the borrowed Ns, there are no grammatical constraints on their borrowing because they can inflect with inflectional morphology of Urdu and English language.

The current study investigates how educational media influences the early bilingual language development of Pakistani children. An exploratory sequential research design was employed, spanning a 16-week observation period and the utilisation of a Likert-scale based questionnaire. A cohort of twenty 5-year-old children and their parents participated in the study. The findings reveal that exposure to second language (L2) culture through educational media can positively impact learning. However, the efficacy of this influence is contingent upon various factors such as media quality, frequency and duration of exposure, and cultural relevance. Furthermore, the study outlines both favourable and adverse outcomes of L2 cultural exposure on children's behaviour. Positive effects include fostering an appreciation for diverse cultures, enhancing language proficiency, and promoting cultural competence. Conversely, negative consequences encompass inappropriate behaviour and an over-reliance on screen time. The paper concludes by offering suggestions to parents and educators for mitigating negative effects. These recommendations involve monitoring screen time, introducing alternative forms of entertainment, and leveraging cartoons and nursery rhymes as tools to teach cultural diversity and encourage identity formation. Lastly, the study underscores the significance of combining the use of educational media with other language learning techniques to deliver a holistic language learning experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates gender-based phonological variations in the acoustic production of paired monophthongs among Pahari native speakers of Pakistani English (PakE). It addresses the research questions concerning how male and female speakers differ in the acoustic characteristics of English monophthongs within the PakE context. The study builds upon the theoretical frameworks of acoustic phonetics and sociophonetics, combining them to analyse vowel acoustics while considering sociocultural influences precisely. Ten participants, evenly divided between males and females, provided speech samples for specific monophthong pairs. A standardised list of 10 monosyllabic words in pairs was used as stimuli. The analysis of collected speech samples employed Praat software for formant and duration measurements, facilitated by R Software for graphical representation. Results indicate that male speakers exhibit higher F1 and F2 values in several monophthong pairs, while female speakers tend to have longer durations. These gender-related phonological distinctions contribute to understanding PakE's phonological landscape, bridging the gap between language, gender, and social identity. The study has implications for pronunciation teaching and speech technology in PakE, offering a nuanced exploration of the sociophonetic dynamics at play. Future research can delve further into sociolinguistic factors influencing these phonological distinctions and their social motivations. This research enhances the academic understanding of PakE's phonological complexity and practical applications in language pedagogy and speech technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cefaclor is a bactericidal antibiotic recommended for treating diverse types of infections. This review aims to comprehensively assess the pharmacokinetic (PK) data on cefaclor in humans. Google Scholar, PubMed, Cochrane Library, and EBSCO databases were systematically performed to identify all the relevant studies containing at least one reported PK parameter of cefaclor. Cefaclor shows the linear PK profile as the area under the plasma concentration-time curve from 0 to t (AUC0-t) and maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) increase in a dose-dependent manner. The AUC0-t of cefaclor in the rice diet was found to be higher than that of bread food, i.e. 19.9 ± 2.6 ug/ml.hr vs 15.4 ± 4 ug/ml.hr. The AUC in paediatrics during the fed state was significantly higher compared to that in adults. Patients with renal impairments showed a Cmax 2.2 times higher than that of normal subjects. A significant increase in Cmax was depicted among individuals following a vegetarian diet in comparison with the non-vegetarian diet. Moreover, cefaclor exhibits time-dependent killing above the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC < 2 ug), favouring its use in treating infections caused by specific pathogens. This systematic review summarises all the reported PK parameters of cefaclor in healthy and diseased subjects in the literature. This data can help practitioners in adjusting cefaclor doses among different diseases and populations to avoid drug interactions and adverse effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines sociocultural, pragmatic, and gender differences between native speakers of British English (BritE) and Pakistani English speakers (PakE) in expressing apology responses (ARs). Based on a discourse completion task (DCT) using data from 60 speakers of both cultures, the study focuses on the variations in the use of apology response strategies in three severe and three non-severe situations. The findings show that the two groups use a variety of strategies in expressing apology responses. The majority of BritE speakers tend to use ARs with the relatively strong hearer-oriented strategies (Acceptance). PakE ARs, on the other hand, seem to be dominated by the frequent use of Acknowledgment, with speaker-oriented strategies. These results have proven that both male and female English-using Pakistanis are amazingly obvious and direct in their apology responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to identify, generate and regenerate the case system in Thali, an undescribed, undocumented and unexplored variety of Punjabi. Thali is spoken in the vast expanse of Thal located between Jhelum and Sindh rivers from north to south 190 miles, and a maximum breadth of 70 miles district Layyaof Punjab, Pakistan by 1,120,951people. This study compares and contrasts Thali case system with that of the English case system. The data were collected from four native speakers of the Thali language. The structure formulated by Andrew Carnegie was used to ascertain evidence to evaluate the prevailing case marking models. It was analyzed that the grammar of the Thali language is mainly concerned with the word order, verb as a head case marking, and other morphological and syntactic constructions. The established and flexible word order in Thali is SOV with postpositions where nouns get their position by postpositions. On the contrary, English has the preposition with SVO word order. Morphological marking is also very common in all types of cases in Thali. On the contrary, case system in English is not only morphologically marked. In academia, to conceptualize these different linguistic structures becomea challenging job for Thali learners. Finally, this paper finds out some pedagogical strategies in the domain of EFL forThali learners to teach and learn the English case system as a foreign language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mayer-Scotten’s Matrix Language Frame model assumes that the grammar of the matrix language provides the grammatical frame of the sentence as a whole, while the grammar of the embedded language is used only in complex insertions to determine the structure of the inserted constituent. The current study endeavors to determine the syntactic dominance in the bilingual speech of the Pakhtoon community in a natural setting. Pakhtoon community speaks Pashto as L1 and English as L2. For this purpose, Mayer-Scotten’s Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model is applied to intra-sentential code-switched utterances. A qualitative approach was employed to analyze the selected intra-sentential code-switched utterances. The findings reveal that matrix language is Pashto, whereas embedded language is English. Pashto speakers tend to borrow L2 content words most often and illustrate L1 dominance at the morpho-syntactic level. The major difference between two generations indicated that younger generation preferred only Pashto and the English language. In contrast, older generation favored the use of Urdu and English both as recipient languages. Their utterances carried more words from Urdu instead of English.The results of this study may contribute to language education, language planning and material development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School councils consist of teachers, parents and other community members were established to assist schools in the provision of quality education and school facilities. This qualitative case study was conducted to explore the role of school council in school administration and what challenges did they face in this collaboration. Population for this study was school council members including parents, community members, teachers, and head teachers in District Punjab. The method of sampling was purposeful. This study involves data from different sources including documents and interviews of different stakeholders of the school council. The documents involved the School Council Act, SBAP (school-based action plan)/ proceedings of meetings with school councils, order book, resolutions passed by the school council, notifications, meeting notices, school inspection register for SC, the record of financial affairs, stock register. The framework analysis approach introduced by (Ritchie & Spencer, 1994) was used for the analysis of data in this research. After analysis seven themes emerged which includes academic role, administrative role, financial role, selection, perception of inability, motivation and time. These results can be applied to transform school council in an efficient supporting body in school education department. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper follows a phenomenology approach to investigate the influence of social stratification on Pakistani English speakers' apology responses. Some researchers have played quite a significant role in advancing the field, but their data collection methods (discourse completion tests and role plays) have received much criticism. In order to address this issue, the current study followed the phenomenology approach and based its data collection procedure on focus group discussion. The data of the current study were collected through a focus group discussion questionnaire. Thematic analysis of qualitative data was carried out by following Braun and Clarke's (2013) six steps. Major themes were coded, identified, and classified through Atlas.ti software. Findings indicate that participants stressed the significance of accepting others to keep healthy relations. Accepting apology was perceived not only as moral but also as aesthetic behavior that can beautify the moments of social interaction. Further, social position and power performed an important role to determine the techniques and function of responding to the apology in Pakistani English speakers' responses. Interlocutors who were in a lower public position and power were found responding to apologies more pleasantly and politely than those who had a higher public position. In comparison, those who were in a high position responded to apologies in a different way to the addressees with a lower status. Thus, the contextual aspects such as social status, and the degree of imposition had a great part in producing apology responses as well as perceiving apology responses as conversation act behavior. The impact of social status on the Pakistanis English speakers' efficiency was subject to a cultural filter that reveals various orders of values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research paper aims to analyze the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan's speech at the United Nations General Assembly. It attempts to explore the transitivity process in political speech. In this research, the Ideational meta-function of Halliday's systemic functional linguistics (SFL) is used as a theoretical framework. Transcription of Imran khan's speech at UNGA is taken as research material. A quantitative research methodology is used in this paper to unveil levels of transitivity. The basic unit of transitivity analysis is a clause. For this purpose, a random sample of clauses is obtained from the text for analysis. The theme of Islamophobia, Kashmir, and related text is examined in this research. Transitivity analysis was scrutinized using UAM software, which is a corpus-based analysis tool. Participants, types of process, and circumstances were investigated in depth. Major findings showed that the material process of transitivity is most frequently used by speaker to represent actions and happenings in the physical world. This paper intends to highlight how linguistics analysis of political discourse can help to represent the ideology of leaders. The current research may be useful for linguists, researchers, and learners to interpret and analyze texts of different genres from the perspective of SFL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aims to trace the history of Tarawara community Tehsil Oghi, district Mansehra in the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Tarawara. community with 500 speakers of a dying language resides on a remote hilltop village, Dana. Dana is one of the many villages located in Bandi Shungli. The study assumes that marginalization and subsequent loss of a language spoken by an ethnic minority are rooted in socio-cultural and socio-historical contexts. The study has employed the theoretical lens of ethnohistorical perspective to understand the historical traces of substantial marginalization of Tarawara community which led to the present-day language shift and impending language loss of an undocumented language, Mankiyali. Drawing upon Braun and Clarke (2006), the study analyses the ethnographic data in six stages. The study has been an endeavor to understand the embedded themes appearing in interviews, focus groups, and participant observation of this study and to integrate it with the written resources. The ethnographic data and the available literature confirmed that the socio-political and socio-historical backgrounds result in the marginalization of the speakers in this group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]