Editorial
Authors: Pillai Stefanie 
Published: December 2024

On behalf of the Journal of Modern Languages, I am happy to present the second issue of volume 34. This journal issue brings together studies that explore linguistic issuesacross a variety of contexts, from newspapers, messaging platforms and social media to language variation, educational settings and translation. Papers in this issue include those from the Japanese, Malaysian, Philippines, Sri Lankan and Zimbabwean contexts.We start this issue with a paper by Lysel I. Halocand Shirley N. Dita on Philippine Englishpronunciationby speakers from Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela and Cagayan, who speak different Ilocano dialects. Based on data elicited through word lists and structured dialogues, they found both commonand differentsegmental and suprasegmental features acrossall three groups. While some of thesepronunciationfeatures are similar to speakers from different areas of the Philippines, Halocand Dita show that the Ilocano speakers have particular features of English pronunciation which distinguishes them from other Filipino Englishspeakers, thus adding to the phonological variation of Philippine English.From phonological variation, we move to the use of language in the media. Abdallah Z.A. Warshagaet al. focus on reporting the Arab-Israeli conflict by comparing the media constructs in Al Jazeera Englishand The Washington Post.By exploring the dialogic engagement within appraisal patterns, their study found differing engagement strategies of endorsement, attestation,and acknowledgmentinthe reportingoftwo key events: Deal of the Century and the Great Marches of Return.Their study shows the underlying editorial biasesin news reporting,thus highlightingthe importance of not taking everything reported at face value. Additionally, it underlines the importance ofnews reports to align with the principles of responsible journalism.Another media-related paper is the one by Shin Yi Chew et al. who delve into the use of social media for live press conferences. The authors examine the linguistic features that emerged in Facebook comments during live streaming of COVID-19press conferences by a major English local newspaper, the New Straits Times. The study found that the linguistic features in these immediate and unfiltered reactions to the press conferences were used, for example,astime-savingdevices, for emotional emphasis, and identity portrayal.This study adds to our understanding of how audiences respond and participate in real-time on digital social media platformsused by mainstream media.Apart from social media, instant messaging platforms are now the most popular modes of communication, with WhatsApp being the most used service. Clemenciana Mukengeexplores the use ofabbreviationsinWhatsAppmessagesamong university students in Zimbabwe. Based on a mixed-methods approach, her findings indicate that abbreviations make communication more efficient and facilitate social cohesion. However, she also found that the use of abbreviations in WhatsApp messages tendstoblur the distinction between formal and informal communicationas students use the same form of language in other contexts.Her findings, although within a Zimbabwean context, are applicable all across the world, as linguistic features used in popular digital communication platformsincreasinglyinfluence languagepractices in othercontexts.Movingonto educational contextsis the paper by Mohmed Cassim Badurusaman Nihmathullaon the influence of translanguaging in writing across languages in primary schools. Based on a multilingual context with Tamil as the first language, English as the second language,and Sinhala as thethird language, Nihmathullafound there is a disparity between the students’ use of translanguaging in their writing and the negative views ofboth the students and the teachersabout translanguaging practices. Thisdiscrepancy and monolingual bias donotappear tofacilitate the developmentof the writing skills of the students. This study begs the question of how teachers can manageand utilise the multilingual repertoires ofstudents(and teachers) in classroom settings.Kayo Tsuji’s paper is also within an educational setting but the focus in this study is on machine translation within a second languagesetting.Based on the output from the machine translation ofJapanesetextsproduced by a group of students into English, several issues were identifiedinthe machine-translatedoutput. Following this, five principlesareoutlined for the effective use ofmachine translation forJapanese-English translators.The papers in this issuecollectively offer insights into the dynamic ways in which language is usedacross different mediums and contextsand should encourage further research on these topics.