English Words

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English Words ( 4 )

Nidhu Bhusan Das : Structure Words have certain characteristics which distinguish them from Content Words. They occur frequently, they are a closed class, they are structural markers and they provide grammatical framework of a sentence. Let us now go for details. 1. Frequency: Structure Words occur frequently in an English sentence. The occurrence is more frequent that that of Content Words. According to one count, on an average, one-third or more of the words that occur in a text are Structure Words. Besides, Structure Words occur with equal frequency in all kinds of styles and varieties of English. This is not the characteristic of Content Words. The occurrence of Content Words depends on various factors like the theme, the choice of style, the level of education of the person addressed. The content words that occur in a discussion on politics are not likely to occur in a discussion on biology, the content words used in an informal communication are unlikely to occur in a formal communication. Structure Words, on the other hand, are always the same. We do not have substitutes for articles, auxiliaries, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, etc. in English. So, their frequency is the same in every style and every use except in cases as in telegrams where structure words are often dropped to save cost. 2. A Closed Class: Structure Words are limited and only a few in number. There are two articles (a/an & the), 25 -30 pronouns, 60 -70 prepositions, 35-40 conjunctions, 15 -16 auxiliaries and a few other words. Their total number in English is not more than 200 -250. On the other hand, the number of Content Words is huge, and increasing. The content words form an open class. 3. Structural Markers: Structure Words always occur with content words belonging to the major parts of speech nouns, verbs, etc. As the consonants by themselves cannot form a word, so the content words cannot by themselves form a sentence. Structure words must be there to combine with the content words to form a good sentence. 4. Provide Grammatical Framework: Structure Words (also inflections) function as structural markers. They tell us the grammatical category of the words with which they occur. Once we know the grammatical categories of all the words in a sentence we know its grammatical structure to a great extent. The framework contributes its own meaning. It is called structural meaning. If we pluck out the structure words, the structural meaning is gone.( to be continued )

Re : Pollution of Bengali

Nidhu Bhusan Das : Ahead of the 60th anniversary of the glorious Language Martyr Day, now observed across the globe as International Mother Language Day, courtesy to UNICEF, the question of the pollution of Bengali Language may be discussed. Prof. Sayeed Manjurul Islam of Dhaka University has dealt with the issue in his essay ‘Language Pollution Is as Destructive as River Pollution’. Alluding to the erudite essay, Anandabazar Patrika of Kolkata shared the concern of Prof. Islam in an editorial on 19 February 2012 and spoke against the unnecessary use of foreign words and phrases by Bangalee bilinguals where Bengali words and phrases are enough to serve the purpose. In such cases, often, the sense of snob value inspires the bilinguals to go for code mixing. Thus in our day to day conversations, we say train aaj two hours late chalchhe (train runs two hours late today), club secretary khub corrupt lok, mairi (club secretary is surely a corrupt person). One could easily, clearly and quite meaningfully say, Train aaj dui ghanta bilambey chalchhe, club sampadak khub durneetiparayan lok, mairi. ‘Train’ and ‘Club’ are the English words like chair, table, etc which have been accepted and absorbed in Bengali in the process of evolution. But we can easily go sans ‘corrupt’, ‘late’ and such other words. Yet we tend to use them when we are snobs. We have demonstrated our skill to coin the phrase ‘Amor Ekushe’ (Immortal 21st) to mean the Language Martyr Day 21st February. None questions why instead of 21st February, 8th Falgun is not used, perhaps, because of the fact that the coinage has been so natural. This is not the case when we try to yoke words and phrases as Supra Language (SL) with the Base Language (BL) just to show off our capacity to use foreign language, whatever be its desirability and efficacy. True, we cannot but use words like ‘computer’,’ internet’ , ‘netizen’ , ‘e-mail’ ‘egine’,etc . They have gained international currency in the absence of adequate terminology in our language. A language may become rich when it accommodates words to augment its expressiveness and vocabulary. However, we should not be indiscriminate in this regard. To check indiscriminate borrowings, we need have continuative language planning and regular morphological and syntactical processes at work for the enrichment of our mother tongue, as for the protection of the prestige of this language Barkat , Salam, Rafuque and Jabbar laid down their lives on 21st February 1952.

Language and Communication

Nidhu Bhusan Das : We use spoken and written language to speak out our mind,to communicate or share our feeling,emotion,attitude,knowledge,perception etc. with others.the spoken language is phonological realization of the message while the written one is orthographic realization of the same. Now,from the obove, it is evident language involves organization of phonemic and other elements, and is,therefore,a recognized structure.A phoneme-level understanding may make it clear.CAT is a phonemic organization,a sound image. Now, if we replace phoneme C by B , R, S,F ,we get BAT,SAT,RAT,FAT respectively.The change of the initial phoneme yields different sound images. It means there is a case of change in organization or structure.Phonemic organization is the smallest possible linguistic structutre.There are phrase,clause and sentence level structures in language.These structures are the reflection of the speech habit of a speech community. A language has two predominant forms - standard and dialect. We shall, here, deal with the structures of the standard form. Phrase A phrase is a group of words without a finite verb.It yields partial meaning e.g., on the table, by him,about the matter. Sentence : A sentence is a group of word which, having a finite verb,gives complete sense e.g., We use language for communication. Clause : A clause is a sentence within a sentence e.g.,I know that he is a doctor(complex and combination of two sentences -' I know' and 'He is a doctor'), I know him and he is a doctor(combination of two sentences -' I know him' and 'He is a doctor' ). We express different feelings ,attitudes etc when we speak.So,we have different types of sentences in respect of our expression and articulation.We have thus Statement,Question,Desires and Exclamation. Their forms are different. Language is,therefore,a structured tool of communication. We communicate because we are social beings ,and social life is shared life. That communication and language are for each other is evident when we consider the basic oral and aural nature of the two. In case of language someone speaks and someone hears.In communication,there is a communicator and there is a receiver - the person communicated to.The communicator is also known as ENCODER(who encodes the message into linguistic signs,and the receiver is known a DECODER (who decodes the message ).The communicator/ encoder in oral communication encodes the message phonologically and delivers the same to the receiver/decoder for decoding. In written communication the message is delivered orthographically to the receiver who is a reader.Radio is an example of oral and aural communication in which the oral and aural nature of language is realized.In case of TV communication a new dimension is added to the oral and aural nature of language.Books,newspapers represent communication through orthographic realization Posted by www.niblog.com at 1:26 PM

English Words ( 3 )

Nidhu Bhusan Das : Now we shall dwell on Structure Words , also known as Function Words or Grammatical Words. Dictionaries do not really give us the meanings of Structure Words. Only how they are used is told. This is how the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary says about the following words : 1. A : The first letter of the English alphabet , indefinite article used before consonant sounds and a noun. 2. The : definite article used for referring to somebody/something that has already been mentioned or can be understood ---- etc. ( lists 14 uses ). 3. He : personal pronoun used as the subject of a verb. 4. And : Used to connect words of the same part of speech, phrases or clauses. 5. Alas : expressing sorrow or regret. 6. At : indicating a point in space, or an exact point of time,etc. 7. Be : used after there and before a/an ,no, some, etc.Also used with a past participle to form passive or with a present participle to form continuous tenses. 8. Can : modal verb used with the infinitive without to , indicating ability. Need for Structure Words : The meaning of a sentence is not produced by the content words only. The Structure Words also contribute to the meaning. Let us see how : The book is on the table. This is a sentence made up of content and structure words. Now if we pluck out the structure words ‘the ‘ , ‘on’ ‘the’ we find the group of content words ‘book is table ‘. This does not yield meaning. Content or lexical words denote objects , actions , qualities,etc while structure words produce meanings like the time of action, relationships between objects ,definite or indefinite object,etc. Besides, lexical words convey their meanings by themselves. Each lexical word contains its own meaning. The meaning of a structure word , on the other hand , comes from its association with another word. The meanings of articles a/an and the are conveyed only when the articles are attached to nouns. The meaning of a pronoun comes only when we know the noun it stands for. We get the meaning of a preposition only when we know the two entities it relates. The meaning of a content word is the ‘lexical meaning’ and for the structure word it is ‘structural meaning. ( to be continued )

English Words ( 2 )

Nidhu Bhusan Das : Now, English words may be divided into two categories – Content Words and Structure Words. Nouns, Full Verbs, Adjectives and Adverbs are Content Words While Articles, Pronouns, Conjunctions, Interjections, Prepositions, Primary Verbs, Modal Verbs and Determiners are Structure words. What is a Content Word? Content Words have ‘content’, some substance of meaning which can also be presented in other ways , by other words or by pictures. The dictionary gives us a description of the meaning in simple words. For example , we may look up the word ‘triangle’ in a dictionary and find thar it is described as ‘a flat shape with three straight sides and three angles. Pictures are also given. Meanings of full verbs , adjectives ad adverbs are generally given in the form of simple word equivalents and definitions. Thus ‘walk’ is defined as ‘ ( of a person ) to move along at a slow or moderate pace by lifting up and putting down each foot in turn.’ We see , content words have meanings which can be described, represented by picture , carried by synonyms, etc. Such meanings are called Lexical meanings. Nouns , Full Verbs , Adjectives and Adverbs have lexical meanings. ( next – Structure Words )

English Words ( I )

Nidhu Bhusan Das : We shall now talk on English words, two smallest English words both phonologically and orthographically are A and I. A is a n indefinite article while I is a personal pronoun. We use A before a common noun which has the initial consonant sound. Thus we say A man, A pencil, A dog etc. Also, if the initial sound is a mixed vowel (Diphthong) we use A instead of an as in A university, A one rupee note. A is also an attributive adjective as it describes or quantifies a noun. In case of a noun phrase, A may be used before an adjective having an initial consonant sound as in A good boy, A nice idea etc. A means One. I refers to the speaker when he/she speaks in the first person. I represents one person and its plural form is WE. In the paradigm of personal pronouns, I represents first person singular number. The next smallest words AT , IN , ON , OF , AS, WE etc. These are orthographic realizations ( written form ) and monosyllabic ( one Syllable ) words. In case of phonological realization ( sound ) there are monosyllabic words which are orthographically realized with the use of more than two letters as in THEY , PLAY , GAY , SAY , PAY , THESE , THIS , THOUGHT , THINK , RIGHT , WRITE , FIND , SCHOOL , POND , TANK , SHIP , and so on. Then we have the disyllabic ( two syllables ) words like SHEPHERD, WOMAN , PAPER , MADAM , STUDENT , MANGO , BAMBOO , etc. Next are the polysyllabic (many syllables) words like WONDERFUL , BENEFICIAL, TELEPATHY, etc. When we look at written or printed form of words , we see their image formed of letters. When we hear them spoken, we get the sound image of the words. When we measure their lengths we may consider the space they occupy on a page or the air time they take to be uttered. In case of poetry, the oral and aural aspects are taken into account for measurement.

Our Language : Oral and Aural

Nidhu Bhusan Das : We are children. We use our mother tongue to express ourselves. We begin to learn the language by way of verbal interactions in the family. At birth we make the sound Oah. Then we follow moms and others in the family as they talk to us, observe the movement of their lips and imitate them. In course of time, we come to know about other organs of speech and begin to use them in imitation of the elders. Thus imitation is the basic action in the process of language learning. The first sound we produce is vowel. It is easy to produce. We need not obstruct the air stream to produce the vowel sound. Just opening the mouth we can produce such sound. Then we proceed to produce the consonant sounds using different speech organs. What is important to know about language is that it is primarily an oral exercise. In fact, language is for the mouth to produce and the ear to hear. So, language is oral and aural. However, language is written and printed for recording the thoughts and expressions. Thus we have two types of realization of language. They are phonological and orthographic. The oral and aural form is Phonological and the written form is Orthographic. Thus /tri: / is phonological and ‘tree’ is orthographic. Now what is the smallest / lowest unit of a language? It is the phoneme. What is phoneme? Let’s see. Let’s take the two letters ‘a’ and‘t’ and we have ‘at’. We can have different words using before it different other letters. We can use ‘c’ to get ‘cat’ , ‘b’ to have ‘bat’ , ‘r’ to get ‘rat’, ‘s’ to have ‘sat’ , ‘p’ to obtain ‘pat’. Here ‘c’,’b’, ‘r’,‘s’ have made all the difference. These are the phonemes. Phonology: Human speech mechanism has the capability to produce an infinite number of speech sounds. The sounds are important for differences in the meanings of words. The English words late, gate, fate, rate, mate, bait, pate, wait differ from each other for the initial consonant sounds only. The initial sound of each word and the substitution of one sound for another bring about a change in the meaning of the word. The difference is contrastive. All these contrastive sounds are phonemes. English sound system has 44 phonemes. In languages there are restrictions on the sequences of phonemes. For example, in English the sequences of consonants/sl-/, /kl-/, /pr-/ can occur at the beginning of words like slate, cloak, and press. But the sequences /ls-/,/nr-/./tl-/ cannot occur as initial sounds of a word. In the same way it is possible to have the combinations/-st/, /-kt/, /-nt/ in the terminal position in the English words first, act, stunt. But it is not possible for the combinations/-tk/, /-pg/, /-zt/ to occur in the final postions in English words. So, we find that there is order not only in a sentence but also at the level of words.

Quarrel Over Importance

Nidhu Bhusan Das: I am Noun.Remember, the baby first of all knows me. Don't be so proud, Mr.Noun. You have started your boasting using 'Me'.Everyone knows 'I' is a pronoun. You have also used another pronoun 'me' in the second sentence.On the other hand,you see, I can well go without you . I could even avoid naming you in the third sentence. You are used instead of me,and without reference to me you are hollow,Mr.Pronoun. Why don't you understand that people are reluctant to use you repeatedly.They don't say,'Ram lost Ram's pen.' Rather they say,'Ram lost his pen.' That's right, but 'his' here refers to 'Ram', the noun. So, you cannot boast of being all important.As pronoun I am not like that.I understand we are equal- I need you and you need me.Well,I agree.

Endangered Languages

Endangered Languages

Nidhu Bhusan Das

International Mother Tongue Day has been observed across the globe with enthusiasm .It’s a nice idea since it encourages and inspires thought about the need for the preservation of languages which are not in the mainstream and belong to close communities. They, perhaps, do not have the inner strength to stand exposure to the wider linguistic world or the invasion of mainstream languages. Some of them are even beyond the fringe. But how far this will be able to save the endangered languages is a moot point in the age of globalization and cultural imperialism.

In India alone, according to UNESCO, 196 languages are endangered. In the whole world the number is staggering. If we consider the state of the speech communities whose languages are endangered we find that they are closed in nature. They do not often interact with the outer world, and if and when they or some members of them come in contact with the mainstream they do not use their mother tongue but interact, though feebly, using the mainstream language.Besides,their languages are not being enriched with creative use in the form of literary activities and developing capacity to embody the ideas and expressions of the world of science & technology and social sciences. Given the reality, how to save the languages from extinction is an important issue to be concerned with.

A language faces extinction or gets stagnated for different reasons which broadly fall into two categories- political and economic.

The advent of the Aryans and their dominance established the sway of the Vedic language which subsequently came to be known as Sanskrit having been reformed by the great grammarian Panini.The waves of Germanic tribes into England cornered the Celtic speech community, the aborigines of the country, and Anglo-Saxon became the language of the realm. Anglo-Saxon is the ancestor of English. The settlement of English Puritans in the American continent pushed the Red Indians to the fringes and English became the dominant language in North America. Australia, the penal colony of Britain, became a new English speaking territory. All this could happen because of the political dominance of the invading speech community.

With political dominance goes the economic mite and influence. The speech community with political dominance keeps others in subjugation and the subjects become bound to accept the language of the masters to retain or gain economic privilege.True, all of the subjugated speech community does not accept the language of the masters en masse. Those who are ambitious and stand to lose their existing privilege take the first step towards acquiring the second language. Ultimately most of them follow the suit. Thus in England under the Norman domination French was learnt by a section of the English speech community to remain in or climb to aristocracy as in India a new class of English using natives and anglophiles appeared during the British colonial rule.

In the present age of globalization and cultural imperialism, it is really difficult to preserve the languages incapable of adapting themselves to the developments in the fields of science & technology and social sciences. English is the global language and every branch of knowledge is encapsulated in English for it’s global reach.Besides, the cultural contents of the west are dished out in English through TV and Internet to the rest of the world in attractive ways for the other speech communities to adapt to and adopt to the perils of their mother tongues and folkways.

Vis-à-vis such invasion, only those languages can survive which have the resilience and capacity to absorb the shock and assimilate the contents of the knowledge and message and thereby enrich themselves. Yet they will remain in the fringe because the new generations of the other speech communities will choose English as the medium of instruction for jobs in the global market.
and ironical,too. When we speak at a condolence meeting we often use adjectives to glorify the person dead,although we know we are lying. Thus we may describe a ruthless autocrat as a benevolent dictator and a corrupt statesman as an honest politician.

We may eulogise a cruel usurer as a helpful man with the hope of getting benefit from him through sycophancy.Politicians often have sycophants as the kings did have during the feudal days. The court poets of kings were good examples of sycophants.

Adjectives like "great" , "gracious", etc, are often used by way of sycophancy and overstatement.Sometimes adjectives are used ironically as in the sentence-I am blessed that I am in such a terrible condition. Here the adjective(past participle) is used ironically to mean "cursed". So,we must be cautious when we encounter adjectives.