This article interrogates the use of figurative language in HIV/ AIDS representations and framings in Gikuyu mukingo songs. The paper locates itself within the frameworks of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Systemic Functional Linguistics Theory (SFL) as the theoretical orientations to the article of HIV/AIDS discourse. The CDA primarily studies the way social power abuse; inequality and dominance are enacted, resisted and reproduced by text and talk in the social and political context, while the Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) offers a contribution of language in social situations centred predominantly on its relevance to functions, explanation and interpretation of the texts. These theoretical underpinnings served to examine the functions of informative, imperative and emotive in HIV/AIDS discourse. This paper adopted a cross-section design to help to describe the characteristics of the variables of the article. The article has been conducted among public transport operators in Nyeri town. Purposive and snowball sampling was used since randomization was impossible due to the lack of sampling frame as well as due to the mobile nature of public transport operators. Structured interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGD) has been used for data collection. Data analysis was done using traditional thematic analysis. The findings of this article have shown that there is heavy use of figurative language in HIV/AIDS discourse in Gikuyu, which is culturally relevant. This language constructs sexuality and gender, depicting the role of masculinity and femininity in the HIV/AIDS spread. The HIV/AIDS discourse also constructs gender power inequalities that promote HIV/AIDS spread.

The study aimed at identifying and describing the phonological differences between Somor and Aror sub-dialects of the Tugen dialect of the Kalenjin language. The Kalenjin language is characterised by eight dialects of which Tugen is one. These dialects can be mapped according to the geographical location of speakers. Of particular interest is the fact that there exists a dialect continuum, where neighbouring groups understand each other well, while mutual intelligibility decreases gradually to near-zero depending on the geographical distance. Even within given dialects, variations exist to significant levels. The study was guided by Natural Generative Phonology. Stratified and random sampling procedures were used to get samples of Somor and Aror speakers from the population of those who practice in the selected domains in Torongo and Kapuskei locations of Baringo County. The data for the study was a Swadesh list of one hundred and fifty words and fifty sentences. These were drawn from the fields of education, domestic life, religion, health and administration. Data was collected by use of language performance test, which was recorded, on an audiotape. These words were written in gloss and transcribed using the IPA symbols. This was in preparation for the phonological analysis, which was done by using Natural Generative Phonology and Descriptive Linguistics. This study will be an addition to the knowledge in the area of theoretical linguistics of Nilotic languages and Kenyan languages in general.

With the advancement of economic globalization, intercultural communication has gradually become a practical need. From the perspective of intercultural communication, this article takes specific examples to analyze the embodiment of the pragmatic failures in daily life, including pragma-linguistic failure and socio-pragmatic failure. After summarizing the manifold reasons of pragmatic failures in intercultural communication, this article attribute pragmatic failures more too cultural differences. The significance of this article is to help students face the problems that appear frequently in intercultural communication, and help them effectively avoid pragmatic failures, thus greatly improving the competence of Chinese students to use English to communicate.