Papers by Upeksha Jayasuriya
Incidents of rape become highlighted in a nature ad hoc and are replaced with other current news ... more Incidents of rape become highlighted in a nature ad hoc and are replaced with other current news or dominant narratives while the issue remains dormant until another rape incident is reported by media. In such a context, the current study ventures to conduct a multimodal discourse analysis on media representations of rape, murder of Vithiya Sivaloganathan and protests against its violence in online newspaper articles, photographs and web posts. In so doing, it aims at examining whether discourses that underwrote the representation of Vithiya's rape, murder and protests against its violence are mere representations of the gender issue or it caters for other agendas. The study unravels that most of the media representations deviate from portraying the gender issue for prominence is given to other dominant narratives and ideologies that overpower representations of the rape incident. While certain articles in newspapers and websites represent Vithiya's rape as a ‗Tamil problem', others bring into focus the culture of impunity in Jaffna as the root cause for such atrocities. It was also discovered that media solely catered contemporary political agendas whereas the dearth of articles representing rape as a gender issue too, either victimize the victim further or erase the perpetrator from the act of rape. Thus, cultural, political and other dominant narratives seem to submerge the act of rape as a gender issue. Although today's visual media, in conjunction with new technology, emerges from a consumerist culture and thereby claim to be lacking a truth value, the current study provides an insight into how dominant ideologies overpower diverse representations of rape.
English, once hailed for its supremacy, has now diverged from its singularity with the emergence ... more English, once hailed for its supremacy, has now diverged from its singularity with the emergence of World Englishes and embarked on the nativisation of other varieties of English including Sri Lankan English (SLE). The current study focusses on the functional shift and lexico-semantic variation of the interjection here in SLE speech. Primary data for this study consisted of threads taken from Facebook and questionnaires distributed among 30 participants who are fluent speakers of SLE. Apart from its original usage in Standard British English as a demonstrative adjective, the findings show that here is used in SLE speech for diverse other functions such as conversation opener, discourse marker and even address form. Its nativisation has been fortified by socio-cultural implications with regard to its usage. Gender plays a predominant role in this process of nativisation as female participants tend to use here with higher frequency, whereas males often replace it with other address forms. Findings also show how power relations become significant because using the interjection here when conversing with people higher in status is considered disrespectful. This study demonstrates the nativisation and endonormative stabilisation of the word here leading to a functional shift resulting in semantic variation.
The substantial attention paid to elocution brings into focus a need to evaluate the role played ... more The substantial attention paid to elocution brings into focus a need to evaluate the role played by the private elocution classes in the contemporary Sri Lankan society. In view of this observation, the current study evaluates the function and efficacy of elocution classes by taking into account the perspectives of a sample of six teachers, twenty parents and twenty students from the Colombo and Gampaha districts who are currently engaged in the enterprise. The findings of this study prove that there is a considerable change in what is offered by and expected from the elocution classes today. It was also revealed that there is an inclination towards teaching the standard Sri Lankan English pronunciation in place of the standard British pronunciation which was acknowledged to be the variety practiced in the elocution classes for decades. However, the internalized attitude of parents towards British English remains to be positive which, in turn, disclosed a preference for British English as the variety to be taught to their children. The findings also exposed certain shortcomings prevalent in the enterprise, detrimental to its efficacy and reputation. The study, at the same time, articulated that the exceptional reputation gained by elocution classes over the years is due to the teachers who genuinely and responsibly practice the art of elocution and thereby contribute to the English Language Teaching enterprise in the country.
From the invention of the press and printing to this day and age posters remain to be an immensel... more From the invention of the press and printing to this day and age posters remain to be an immensely popular mode of advertising in Sri Lanka. Even though the advancement of technology has resulted in new modes of advertising, posters are still the cheapest, easily accessible and most effective mode of advertising in contemporary Sri Lanka, especially in advertising private tuition classes. The current study focuses on posters that advertise spoken English classes in Sri Lanka. The main reason to choose posters advertising spoken English classes is that the teachers who design these posters often attempt to break away from the mainstream and employ new ideas, challenge current trends in order to compete with others in the field and attract more students which in turn has provided a wide array of posters designed using creative and innovative language and visuals. A multi-modal discourse analysis perspective, therefore, enabled this study to analyze not only the language and visuals but the ideologies behind using them as well. Thus, the aim of this project is to analyze the language, images and ideologies used in the posters advertising spoken English classes while commenting on its effectiveness as well as weaknesses. In the course of this project, images and photographs of 15 spoken English class posters, collected by both online and offline observation, were analyzed as primary data. The analysis of language, visuals and ideologies incorporated in posters advertising spoken English classes unearthed some significant techniques of persuasion practised in advertising discourse in Sri Lanka. With regard to language used in these posters, the adjectives, code-switching, sayings and precisely mentioned target population and purposes are able to create an impact at first sight and the second person pronoun 'you' make it individualized and personal. When considering the images of foreign students, teachers, celebrities and the significance given to British accent, it was clear that the motive of incorporating such was to attribute a foreignizing and fashionable trace to the class advertised. Furthermore, the ideologies communicated via these posters, affect the perceptions of people about Standard Sri Lankan English pronunciation, learning to speak a language and the like. This scenario also brought into perception the status of English in Sri Lanka and the nature of a particular target population who blindly attempts to grasp the language without any consideration toward the quality and credibility of the teaching or learning processes.
Conference Presentations by Upeksha Jayasuriya
English, once hailed for its supremacy, has now diverged from its singularity with the emergence ... more English, once hailed for its supremacy, has now diverged from its singularity with the emergence of World Englishes and embarked on the nativisation of other varieties of English including Sri Lankan English (SLE). The current study focusses on the functional shift and lexico-semantic variation of the interjection here in SLE speech. Primary data for this study consisted of threads taken from Facebook and questionnaires distributed among 30 participants who are fluent speakers of SLE. Apart from its original usage in Standard British English as a demonstrative adjective, the findings show that here is used in SLE speech for diverse other functions such as conversation opener, discourse marker and even address form. Its nativisation has been fortified by socio-cultural implications with regard to its usage. Gender plays a predominant role in this process of nativisation as female participants tend to use here with higher frequency, whereas males often replace it with other address fo...
Sinhala, Tamil and English languages have played dominant roles in shaping the socio-political re... more Sinhala, Tamil and English languages have played dominant roles in shaping the socio-political relationships of the multi-ethnic populace in Sri Lanka since pre-colonial times. Postwar Sri Lanka that is eyeing national reconciliation provides an ideal milieu to venture a study to rediscover the rapport between Tamil and Sinhala languages mentioned in the 1978 Constitution. This study aimed to analyse the attitudes of a selected sample of first language (L1) Sinhala and English speakers in Sri Lanka towards learning Tamil language. Thus, utilizing a qualitative approach, forty respondents, aged 20-50 years and working in the government sector, were given a questionnaire-mostly comprising open-ended questions-to elicit their perceptions regarding learning Tamil. Further, in-depth interviews were conducted with five respondents of the same professional and age categories to provide some insight into the attitudes of L1 Tamil speakers towards learning Sinhala. The findings of the questionnaire were contradictory in nature. Although a positive perception towards learning Tamil language and being bilinguals of Sinhala and Tamil was shown initially, an emphatic reluctance to learn Tamil was implied as the questions became personalized. Tamil being a minority language, not used in many contexts and English's role being effectively played as the link language were the reasons fueling the reluctance towards learning Tamil. The findings conclude that learning Tamil or Sinhala out of obligation or for utilitarian purposes is neither assimilationist nor accommodationist, and may not guarantee national reconciliation.
Online platforms can be considered an ideal canvas to explore the interplay between language and ... more Online platforms can be considered an ideal canvas to explore the interplay between language and gender. In view of that, this study attempts to reconceptualise gender from a social constructivist perspective, with the expectation that the study of online discourse can contribute to evaluate the impracticality of understanding gender in dualistic terms of male and female. Accordingly, it focuses on investigating what gender-based (para)linguistic features may be found in Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) and whether there exists a difference in the manner women and men use (para)linguistic features in public and private platforms. Therefore, this study takes a Computer-Mediated Discourse Analysis approach in analysing 160 language samples/chat history from Facebook, WhatsApp and Viber, authored by 20 participants who are a selection of Sri Lankan social network users, aged 20-35 years. Further, follow-up interviews were conducted with the same sample to elicit reasons behind certain usage of (para)linguistic devices. The findings challenge the binary categorisation and typicality attributed to discursive features of language used by females and males as language samples did not at all times possessed features of Typically Female and Typically Male discursive binaries ascribed by previous researchers. The mere deviance in discourse and strategies used by participants in private and public online platforms, destabilized conventional notions about men's and women's discursive styles in virtual spaces while questioning the fixity of gender. It further invited gender to be perceived as a plural, with a range of femininities and masculinities performed in context-appropriate ways. Finally, the findings highlighted that, besides gender, the context and the relationship between interlocutors were considered to be pivotal in shaping online discursive practices.
From the British colonial era to this day elocution classes have played a predominant role in Sri... more From the British colonial era to this day elocution classes have played a predominant role in Sri Lanka, especially as a popular means of learning English as a second language. In view of this observation, the current study ventured to assess the functionality of the enterprise by taking into account the perspectives of a sample of six teachers, twenty parents and twenty students who are currently engaged in the enterprise in the Colombo and Gampaha districts. The findings exposed certain shortcomings prevalent in the enterprise, detrimental to its efficacy and reputation. The absence of a regulatory body with the mandate to administer the teacher qualifications was one of the major shortcomings since it has the potential of escalating the number of substandard elocution classes which can be unfavorable to the reputation of the enterprise. The inefficacy of elocution classes in attempting to impose Received Pronunciation in a milieu where Sri Lankan English is mainly used was discovered to be another pitfall. Furthermore, attending or rather sending children for elocution classes was identified to be a mere trend than fulfilling a necessity. Provided the drive for education in general and English in particular, the majority of parents today blindly sends their children for elocution classes oblivious to such facts as the course content, legitimacy of the examination institutes as well as the true sense of elocution. Nevertheless, if practised truly, justly and responsibly, elocution classes would have much to offer in enabling knowledge and enhancing the skills of students to converse in English.
Incidents of rape become highlighted in a nature ad hoc and are replaced with other current news ... more Incidents of rape become highlighted in a nature ad hoc and are replaced with other current news or dominant narratives while the issue remains dormant until another rape incident is reported by media. In such a context, the current study ventures to conduct a multimodal discourse analysis on media representations of rape, murder of Vithiya Sivaloganathan and protests against its violence in online newspaper articles, photographs and web posts. In so doing, it aims at examining whether discourses that underwrote the representation of Vithiya's rape, murder and protests against its violence are mere representations of the gender issue or it caters for other agendas. The study unravels that most of the media representations deviate from portraying the gender issue for prominence is given to other dominant narratives and ideologies that overpower representations of the rape incident. While certain articles in newspapers and websites represent Vithiya's rape as a ‗Tamil problem', others bring into focus the culture of impunity in Jaffna as the root cause for such atrocities. It was also discovered that media solely catered contemporary political agendas whereas the dearth of articles representing rape as a gender issue too, either victimize the victim further or erase the perpetrator from the act of rape. Thus, cultural, political and other dominant narratives seem to submerge the act of rape as a gender issue. Although today's visual media, in conjunction with new technology, emerges from a consumerist culture and thereby claim to be lacking a truth value, the current study provides an insight into how dominant ideologies overpower diverse representations of rape.
Books by Upeksha Jayasuriya
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Thesis Chapters by Upeksha Jayasuriya
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Thesis Chapters by Upeksha Jayasuriya