Journal Article 1: Hoosain, R., (1986). Orthography and cognitive processes: Chinese perspectives for the Sapir Whorf Hypothesis. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 9, 507–525.

Abstract: The traditional approach to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis looks at language and categorically different perception or interpretation of the environment. Another aspect of linguistic relativity relates language to the process of cognition itself, including the ease or facility of cognitive processes. With particular reference to the Chinese language and its unique orthography, some evidence for language-related differences in the manner of information processing is reviewed. These include visual form perception, manipulation of numbers, and memory versus manipulation and elaboration of verbal information. These differences have implications for cognitive development as well as cross-cultural testing and comparison.

Journal Article 2: Smith, K., (2006). Rhetorical figures and the translation of advertising headlines. Language and Literature, 15, 159–182.

Abstract: In advertising texts, the most important linguistic element is the headline. The function of the headline is to persuade readers to continue reading the remaining body text and, ideally, buy the advertised product. Using a corpus of 45 English-language advertisements and their translated Russian pairs, this article investigates what happens to rhetorical figures in the translation process. Three broad translation strategies are identified (transference, source-language-orientated and target-language-orientated) and their implications discussed in detail. The use of transference (untranslated retention of original) highlights the foreignness of the product being advertised, relying on the source culture’s attractiveness to the target audience. The most popular strategies are those which are source-language-orientated, maintaining the source meaning in the target headline. These strategies, often resulting from advertisers’ insistence on following a model advertisement, have the greatest impact on the use of figures, and examples of compensation, loss and addition can be found. When target-language-orientated strategies are employed, translators have more freedom to create headlines using rhetorical figures. The article ends by suggesting that the analysis of translated Russian advertising headlines offers another concrete example of the globalizing tendencies of large corporations and the power they exercise in shaping contemporary media discourses.

Journal Article 3: Ayoola, K. A. (2009). Haggling exchanges at meat stalls in some markets in Lagos, Nigeria. Discourse Studies, 11, 387–400.

Abstract: This article centres on the social activity of haggling during service encounters in a typical Nigerian urban market place. The data corpus is derived from transactions between meat vendors and customers at meat stalls in some markets in Lagos, Nigeria. Haggling exchanges between meat vendors and their customers were secretly recorded and subsequently analysed to elicit the significant elements of haggling; identify the stages in a haggling exchange; and describe the discourse strategies employed by both classifications of interactant (vendor and buyer) involved in the socio-linguistic activity. The findings revealed that English, Pidgin and Yoruba were generally used in the transactions. The findings also revealed that both categories of interactant employed discourse strategies which include humour, dysphemism and euphemism, cajoling, flattery and flirting to achieve their ultimate goal of maximizing profit/bargain during the buying and selling encounters.

Journal Article 4: Carter, K., & Aulette, J. (2009). Creole in cape verde: Language, identity and power. Ethnography, 10, 213–236.

Abstract: Cape Verde is an island country 450 kilometers off the coast of Senegal, West Africa. Creole is the common language throughout Cape Verde but Portuguese is the official language, the language of its colonizer. Through surveys and interviews, this article reveals the power inequalities that exist among Cape Verdeans because of language use. We particularly explore the perceptions of the significance of speaking Creole in order to fully understand the culture of Cape Verde. As a way to investigate the importance of Creole to Cape Verdean identity, we focus on the use of Creole proverbs and sayings by the women in Cape Verde as they express solidarity, provide support, and show criticism of power structures in the society. Through their use of Creole, Cape Verdeans are preserving their history and local identity as different from their colonizers as well as using the language and the proverbs as ways to challenge the dominant contemporary power structures.

Journal Article 5: Ray, S. (2007). Politics over official language in the United States: Aspects of constitutional silence on the status of English. International Studies, 44, 235–252.

Abstract: The founding fathers did not designate English—or any other language—as the official language of the United States (US). It would be moot to ask if they considered it necessary to lay down in law what existed in fact, or whether they desisted from granting official language status to English out of their respect for ‘language minorities’ already in the new republic. Attempts were made from the early days of the republic to standardize their English language in the US for both practical and lexicographic purposes. But no movement aimed at making English the official language of the US emerged till 1981. The ‘Official English’ (deridingly called English Only) movement has till date got twenty-seven states to adopt it as their official language. Its first national success came when the US House of Representatives passed H.R. 123 in 1996 declaring English as the official language. This success, though, was short-lived as the bill lapsed due to the Senate inaction. The second national success came when the Senate passed the English Language Amendment to the latest Immigration Reform Bill, designating English as America's ‘national language’. However, the Democratic Party's opposition to Official English and the Republican Party's reluctance to officially associate with Official English means that the movement has a long way to traverse.