MPhil General Research Methodology 12 Oct 2010 - Academic Writing Classnotes

Notes by Arul Gasper, MPhil. English Studies.
What is writing?

Writing is a representation of language in textual medium.

Difference between Academic writing and other writing

Academic writing is critical and it is for the informed audience. To start any academic writing, one has to learn concepts. Any writing that occurs outside this type of writing is called other writing.

Features of Academic writing

Objective: It is to show the foundation of argument and upon which you build your thesis. A specific methodology is followed.

Significance: You are here to show how important your argument is. It is demonstrated through literature reviews or studies: why your study is so important.

Adequate details – Statistical values, data and data analysis are provided to support your stand.

Types of academic Writings

Abstract: It’s a summary of your entire thesis, what you have exactly done. The summary will introduce the area of enquiry. It will have the problem statement. In the summary, you have to show what methodology you will use followed by conclusion.

Research paper: It has a topic, authors, and abstract at the beginning, entire paper, literature reviews, methodology and conclusion. Word limit for a science paper can be around 1000 but any social science papers will range from 3000 to 6000 words.

Dissertation: It means a piece of written work that reports on the findings of a theoretical or empirical investigation and is undertaken in accordance with the regulations for an honors or first masters’ degree Word limit will range between 6000 and 20000

Thesis: Word limit would be around 50000 words

Proposal: refers to your area of enquiry, significance: why is it so important, methodology you choose, resources, budget in case of longer researches, duration and names of the investigators

Reader:  It is a collection of seminal essays in a particular area.

Book: If you are passionate about a certain area of study, you read books in that particular area.

Chapter: Sections

Collaborative writing – two or more people together doing a research on a particular area of study

Digital writing -   online writing and so on   

Work Cited

Pinto, Anil. "Academic Writing." Christ University,          Bangalore. 12 Oct. 2010. Lecture.  

National Symposium on Thinking Subjectivities - Call for papers

Department on English, Christ University, is organising a National Symposium on Thinking Subjectivities, in early February 2011.

This symposium aims to explore ambiguities and ambivalence in our perceptions of the ‘self’- the experiences and the increasing sense of fragmentation and chaos this ‘self’ experiences.

This is a call for papers. Philosophers, linguists, social and political scientists, psychologists and therapists, media professionals and interested scholars are invited to send in abstracts, for presentation. Please see the attached PDF file for more information.

Last date for submission of abstracts - 30 November, 2010
Last date for submission of papers - 10 January, 2011

Mail in abstracts and other queries to subjectivityseminar AT eng DOT christuniversity DOT in




http://www.scribd.com/doc/39717863

Howl - Allen Ginsberg

There is a Movie in reference to HOWL by Allen Ginsberg


Link to Poem

http://www.pangloss.com/seidel/Ramble/howl_text.html


LINK to the MOVIE TRAILER





..

William Gibson - Neuromancer -ebook

William Gibson - Neuromancer - EBOOK

To download click on the image below

American Literature Material

Here are the links to material on some of the poems of American Literature syllabus. This post is in response to the request made on this blog for reference material. Apologies for the delay.

Why I am Not a Painter - O'Hara
1. From Modern American Poetry

Not Ideas About the Thing But the Thing Itself - Wallace Stevens
1. From Poem Hunter
2. From Poem talk   ( Please scroll down to second half of the page to read the commentary)
3. From A Mirror Floating on Water

Portrait of a Motor Car - Carl Sandburg
1. From this blog discussion (Please go to the comments section for the discussion on this poem) 


Armies of the Night - Norman Mailer
1. From Wikipedia
2. From the greatest works of all times 
3. From New York Times

On Imagination Phillis Wheatley
1.  Notes by Shruti from II JPEng
2. Click here for the annotated text

Howl -Allen Ginsberg
1. From Wikipedia
2. Gradesaver Summary

All the very best!
(P.S.:I only wish at least a few of my friends in the class regularly uploaded on this blog the lecture notes they had taken down. It would have helped a lot of students.)

MPhil General Research Methodology 11 Oct 2010 - Academic Writing Classnotes

Notes by Binoy C.U., MPhil. Psychology

Research

• A Research becomes a research only when it is published
• The most important idea of research is not reading or writing but providing matter for Academic Debate for further building on of knowledge
• 1904 Einstein came out with five papers and four of them redefined physics (the spirit of real research)
• The structure of academic writing we see today is only Fifty years old
• Looking in to the history – during the times of Socrates and Plato there was constant citing.  But Aristotle did not cite Plato but quoted him
• The first secular university was established only in 1810 at Berlin
• Wars have given rise to most of research break-through
• Many disciplines took birth due to war. A lot of psychometric tests in psychology came in the context of wars, like Vietnam War.  In ELT communicative English method is said to have emerged from the Vietnam War.  Anthropology is a colonial discipline. The discipline of English literature is also a product of colonialism and First World War.
• Research building is always a  community activity not an individual activity
• Only when others comment on your knowledge you can build up knowledge
• Research really means debate with an established system
• Knowledge has no escape from the debate
• In a research your first and foremost duty is to find out ‘when, where and who’ of a statement.  Then establish why you differ from it
• Three approaches to research or theory - 1. Prove it wrong based on researcher’s own arguments in the articles 2. Agree it is right 3. Modify or build on

Academics & Research

• One should not mix these two
• What is an academy – it is an institution where we have formal rules, regulations, protocols
• It is useful to make a distinction between academics and research as two separate domains.
• Every research should push human understanding further
• One should question and crack actual theory and establish something new
• Research is not re-searching  

Work Cited

Pinto, Anil. "Introduction to Academic Writing" Christ University,          Bangalore. 11 Oct. 2010. Lecture.  

MPhil General Research Methodology Oct 2010 - Academic Writing Course Plan

(Following is the syllabus/course plan that I developed for the section on Academic Writing in the General Research Methodology Course for the MPhil Students of Christ University. The course is taught from 11 to 26 Oct 2010 in 6 sessions of two hours each


You can download a pdf version of the syllabus by clicking here or here. To access other syllabi developed by me, please click here)


Course Instructor: Anil Pinto, Dept of Media Studies

1.     Introduction to Academic Writing (Sessions 1 and 2)

a.     Research and writing - Issues

b.     Difference between academic writing and other forms of writing

c.      Kinds of academic writings, abstract, research paper, thesis, dissertation, book review, synopsis, proposal, book

2.     Structure of Academic Writing (Sessions 3 and 4)

a.     Thesis statement, Introduction, body, conclusion, paragraphs, topic sentence

b.     Literature Review, summary, paraphrasing  

c.      Visual structuring of the report: Page layout, font, line space, highlighting

d.     Collaborative writing

e.      Structures of a research paper and dissertation

3.     Reading for Research     (Session 4)

a.     Identifying the thesis statement, argument and evidence building, counter argument, finding gaps, conclusion

4.     Academic Styles   (Session 5)

a.     MLA and APA

b.     In text citation

c.      Citing works used: single author, multiple authors,  journal, book, online, digital,  audio, video, lectures, painting, photograph, and performances

d.     Footnote/endnotes

5.     Plagiarism (Session 6)

a.     Issues, consequences, types

b.     How to avoid plagiarism

6.     Publication (Sessions 6)

a.     Print: refereed, non-refereed

b.     Digital: digital repositories

c.      Copyright issues, open access

d.     Impact factor

e.      Self-publication

7.     Online Resources (Sessions 6)

a.     Writing labs, websites

b.     Citation tools

Dear III JPEng and III PSEngites,

If you have any questions regarding the Literary Theory course taught by me, please post your questions here. Will respond to them after 6 Oct.

All the best for your exams

Attention: II JPEng and II CEP American Literature Course

Dear II JPEng and II CEPites,
If you have any questions regarding the American Literature course taught by me, please post your questions here. Will respond to them after 6 Oct.

All the best for your exams

Attention: I MA English Students - Western Aesthetics Course

Dear All

Should you have any questions regarding the Western Aesthetics course essays or regarding the course examination, please post your questions here. I will respond to the after 6 Oct.

Guest Lecture/ Kant and Aesthetics/ Anup kumar Dhar

Lecture notes: 18th Sept, ‘10 Notes by: Basreena Basheer and Surya Simon

KANT’S AESTHETICS

The Judgement of the Beautiful Enlightenment marked the beginning of a transition. It was during this time that people began to represent themselves, i.e. the house of commoners was beginning to dominate the house of the lords. There was some kind of freedom that was afflicted from mature thinking that is from the enlightenment. It came around 1790 after the French revolution which was in 1789. The French revolution is a political act which gave rise to a quasi parliamentary democracy and decrease in monarchy. Thus, enlightenment is also, a cultural act. It was around this time that Kant began writing. In fact, he was the first philosopher to write a newspaper article, “What is enlightenment”. Kant regards enlightenment as a stepping out of the whole of humanity from immaturity to maturity. This transition mainly focused on not following orders. The universities tried to produce subjects of such mature kind. Kant couldn’t complete his education in the university at first because of financial crisis. He became a teacher, earned money and then completed his education in philosophy. An interesting fact about Kant is that he always stayed within a radius of 70 km and never travelled beyond that. In Kant’s entire pre-critical years, he studied Newton’s works very closely. Newtonian physics studied physical nature. So, he first began by studying nature closely. The general notion during the time was that nature leads to life which in turn leads to consciousness which ultimately leads to morality, ethics and aesthetics. Basically, consciousness leads to value rationality which essentially comes with aesthetics. Kant’s entire pre-critical years were in physics and he tries to understand the physical world. Now, if we break down the human body into its various constituents:- Human Body- Organs- Cells-Nucleolus- DNA- Helix- Amino Acids- Nitrogen and Hydrogen. Amino acids are nothing but made of nitrogen which brings us to the conclusion that man is nothing but packets of nitrogen! But, how does this packet of nitrogen begin to think? Thus, derivation of word faculty comes from science. So, how does one have aesthetic judgment? Thus, the two major questions he puts forth in the beginning of his study are:- 1) How does man think critically? 2) How does man have a sense of aesthetics? Kant took the help of physics to answer the above questions. Kant wanted to find out what is there in this world and constantly questioned himself, “how do I know?” This inquisitiveness led him to reflect on the faculty of reason. During his critical years Kant wrote three books: Critique Of Pure Reason Critique Of Practical Reason Critique of Judgement According to Kant, nature as well as the mind has an order. Now these two orders match and thus one is able to know the world. Now this also reflects Des Cartes notion that one has an inherent faculty to know. Elaborating on this Kant writes that knowledge comes from experience but at the same time there is an ‘a priori’ in our mind which is a critical faculty that organizes chaotic perception into knowledge. Now this chaotic perception is infinite. The knowledge that is produced out of the world of experience is known as ‘conceptual schema’. But this conceptual schema as well as our sensory system is limited and thus we will never know nature. Basically we live in the world of phenomena and appearance. However we try to approximate this, there will be a philosophical gap. Also, reason, as well as our critical faculty are limited but should be developed. In short, Critique of Pure Reason deals with the perception of the natural world and he tries to address the question of ‘what is?’ Through the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant was responding to Newton ( physics), Des Cartes (rationality), Humes, Locke (empiricism) and Liabl. Through Critique of Practical Reason he was responding to the aestheticians. The second work, however tries to answer the question of ‘what ought to be?’ or ‘what should be done?’ that is the question of ethics and morality. This question of ethics and morality was very strongly addressed during the French Revolution (1789) by Rousseau as well as Voltaire, the question of doing away with monarchy and the like. We just don’t inhabit the planet but also do something to it. So, critique of practical reason with is about what is modern, rational and what should be practiced. In short, it deals with action. Now we have looked at the two questions what is and what ought to. But there is a gap between the two. There is also the essential question ‘what can I hope for?’ The second part of the third book connects the first and the second questions. The first part of critique of judgement deals with aesthetics. Kant however has limited the contours of reason: Practical Reason and Critical Judgement. According to Kant, knowing and doing has an apparent certainity. Kant believes that one must be trained in three critical faculties: rationality, values and judgement. He talks about three functions which are connected to these faculties respectively: truth function, ought function and the aesthetic function. Aesthetics basically deals with the beautiful, sublime and fine arts. So in his three critical works, Kant addresses three questions: What is truth? What should it be? Is it beautiful Let’s look at an example of a pen in water. Due to refraction, it looks bend. So, the first question would be is the pen straight or bend? The second question would be if it is supposed to be bend or straight? The third question would be is the pen beautiful? Kant then, would try to explain the truth of the pen, ought of the pen and beauty of the pen. He attributes truth to natural science, ought to social science and beauty to aesthetics. In other words, reason, talent and aesthetics. But beauty doesn’t necessarily concern the truth of the object. In the case of arts and aesthetics there is beauty within itself; there is beauty without the ought function. Literature studies basically constitute the domain of aesthetics. This domain of aesthetics constitutes the third question in human critical faculty. There are three worlds of physics: - Quantum, Newtonian and Einstein. Quantum physics deals with the smallest of particles such as atoms, etc. Newtonian physics deals with larger objects such as pen, coffee, etc. Einstein’s physics deals with larger heavenly bodies. They are different world but are all interconnected. In Quantum physics, the argument is about where exactly is the electron present. There is no fixed location. It is then, not about being here and there but somewhere in between. It is not Newton’s inertia of rest or inertia of motion but that of moment. Kant tries to do the same thing. He tries to bridge rationality and values placing beauty somewhere in between them. This is one reason Kant writes critiques and not criticisms. Beauty for Kant shows the limits. When a fish jumps out of water and takes a look around before falling back into water, it will see and get a better understanding of the world. But, it has to fall back into the same environment and that’s its limit. Similarly, beauty also acts within limits. In between cannot do this and cannot do that, lies what I can hope for. This hope lies in the a-proximate – as-proximate. For Kant, aesthetic judgement is based on disinterestedness. Interest depends on two things: one that it should be agreeable and two, it should have a good concept. The moment one develops some sort of an interest in the object and then judges, the judgement would either fall under pure reason or practical reason. The moment one likes something, an interest is generated which can be because of two reasons: the object is agreeable or appealing to sensations and the second because the object has a good concept. In the first case, Kant says it cannot be aesthetic judgement because it is judged on the basis of one’s rationality or knowledge (pure reason). Kant says that the second one falls under practical reason. Kant also, talks about purpose (end) and purposiveness (finality). The beautiful is purposive without any definite purpose. For example, a child without hands and legs is beautiful. Here, it is an aesthetic judgement because we do not look at what it can do or ought to do. Just the form itself is looked at. For Kant, it is the form that helps in aesthetic judgement and not the content. Content leads to interest. An atom bomb explosion is beautiful because of its form and not the content. Here, the rational or the moral side is not looked at. Judgement should result in pleasure rather than pleasure resulting in judgement. The judgement is on the basis of the form, arrangement, etc. But, this is not universally accepted because it depends on the taste. For Freud, Art is related to will. For Marx, Art is political and for the expressionists, Art is an offensive response.

Dhar, Anup Kumar. Guest Lecture Notes. Christ University. Bangalore.

Richard Shiff's essay, " Defining 'Impressionism' and the 'Impression' "

Report on Richard Shiff's essay, " Defining 'Impressionism' and the 'Impression' " (Based on class lecture by Anil.J.Pinto on 27th September, 2010) There is no proper generic approach to defining 'Impressionism' and the way Impressionistic style in art can be attributed to artists. Richard Shiff illustrates this idea by elucidating that it is difficult to define Impressionistic art, or for that matter, how artists can be classified according to the strictness of the genre. Art historians have rendered the title impressionism that rarely gives any exclusive definition that can be readily appreciated. There is no historical fixity or a continuum that can be assigned to be impressionistic. To consider who the real impressionists are, historians have looked into a simple classification: (1) Social group (2) artist’s subject matter (3) style or technique (4) purpose. Yet each of these categories has presented their own difficulties. An artist must, in order to be Impressionistic, associate with the group of artists who render similar thoughts. An artist might be labeled an “Impressionist” if the artist participates, voluntarily, in one of the social groups to get conferred. Artistic styles then may develop and become group styles, and if a person is too deviant, may become an individualist impressionist. Such professional association and personal sympathy made Degas an impressionist and Cezanne, another Impressionist, even though, modern critics find his style antithetical to Impressionism. Yet, Impressionism also existed outside the circles of the groups; the circle of the elite, such as the society of Salon. By such association, the Salon society declared Corot as a superior “poetic” kind of impressionist. It is in the subject matter of the art that art can be classified in genres. When they are classified in such a manner, Shiff comments, they lead to awkward inclusions and exclusions. By this standard a Stanislas Lepine was included with later impressionists, but today, he is rarely discussed as a genuine impressionist, because he lacks the the major stylistic characteristic of the impressionists – the unconventional bright colours. Theodore Duret who tended to use stylistic criteria in order to classify the various painters, excluded Lepine for just this reason when he wrote his early account of the Impressionist movement. Duret and Riviere implied that it had simply been necessitated by the concern for a more accurate observation of nature. Impressionism allows for individuality in to the perspectives of nature but also tends to depict that the colours drawn are from nature directly, to make it as close to nature. It is this “verisimilitude” that makes Impressionism a difficult genre to categorize because the particular sensation is all pervading. Impressionistic art, thus, is sense observation and self interpretation of the ultimate aesthetic goal. The definitions of the goal of impressionist art may indeed inform more purposeful distinctions in the other areas of investigation; yet one must take in account that early observers of the impressionists like Jules Castagnary and Theodore Duret, said that these artists hardly spoke about the goals and aims of their works. Castagnary in 1874 observed: “the object of art does not change, the means of translation alone is modified”. Shiff, throughout his essay, establishes the idea that an artistic theory, like Impressionism, cannot classify the modulus of art or bring into a strict pattern an artist’s intent and creation. Impressionism, as a analyzed from the essay, is thus a style of depicting, creatively and instinctively, not professionally, creating the first impressions that comes to mind when a particular strain of thought gets depicted. This manner or style was directed at something, at the expression of a fundamental truth, the “verite”, so often mentioned in theoretical and critical documents of the period. When impressionism was considered as depiction of naturalism, which was not new, these artists seemed to set the art apart by their technical devises. For the impressionist, as the name applies, the concept of impression provided the theoretical means for the approaching the relation of individual and universal truth. It may be just depicting the shallow waters or the primary layer of thought that a particular event or an aesthetic consciousness generates in an artist. Shiff is commendably exemplary when he distinguishes photography and Art in the context of Impressionism, as defining it to be an “imprint”. The elementary difference between photography and art is in the medium of reproduction, which is the essence of all art. Photography is capturing the moment in time as an imprint but art is always contoured by artists ego, the creative psyche and personal interpretation of the flux from where the artists draws inspiration. The "Impression" is always a surface phenomenon, immediate, primary, and undeveloped. Hence the term was used for the first layer of an oil painting, the first appearance of an image that might subsequently become a composite of many such impressions. It is in the ability to catch the primary idea of the flux that inspires the artist’s creativity that impressionistic art becomes successful. As primary and spontaneous, the impression could be associated with particularity, individuality, and originality. The artist’s ability to infer from the facts that generate aesthetic thought gives art its ingenuity. Impressionism is in the synthesis of nature and original sensation. In Deschanel’s usage, the term “impression”, which one might first regard as reference to very concrete external events, is extended into the more internalized realm of character, personality, and innate qualities. The romantic critic Theophile Thore similarly allowed the term to bridge the gap between the external and the internal, the physical and the intellectual or the spiritual, when he used it to explain how poetry differed from imitation. Poetry is not nature but the feeling that nature instills in a poet, the impression that gets recorded in a special language. In other words we can never have absolute knowledge of the external world in the manner one does have absolute knowledge of an impression: it would reveal as much truth about the world as an impression does. The self of the artist in any form of art cannot be denied because it forms the essence of all artistic interpretation, though the artist plays the role of an observant spectator, which also entails an investigation into the concepts of the genre. The ‘impression’ then can be both a phenomenon of nature and of the artists own being. It was not until the nineteenth century that psychology, the study of sensation, emotion, and thought came to be recognized not only as a branch of metaphysics, but as natural science, as an area of empirical research, into the physiology of perception and then in turn, to impression. A standard definition of impressionism was in accord to David Hume’s use of the term that "impression is the effect produced on the bodily organs by the action of external object." Shiff also warns us about us misjudging impressionism with symbolism, where the latter depends more on hidden layers of meaning or interpretation. Shiff does this by drawing a clear distinction between Manet and Monet’s artistic depiction of thought patterns. Where Manet’s depiction of impressions on the mind was objectively portrayed by solid brush strokes, monet was subjective to his aesthetic rendering. The essay is conclusively remnant of the theory that art is a projection of the artists self and this must be true to the nature of creation. Impressionism is then, perhaps the artist’s impression on nature and not nature’s impression on the artist. By Pritha Biswas I MA in English with Communication Studies Christ University

On Sociolinguistics/ Anil Pinto

Lecture notes: 25th sept,'10

Notes by: Sneha Sharon Mammen

Socioloinguistics is a study of language in relation to societies that is language that functions within a society. Mr Pinto says that sociolinguistics is all about the power game where language always finds something superior to its standards, unlike Phonetics which takes a neutral stand.

Within Sociolinguistics we study three broad categories :

1) Language Variety encompassing

a) Dialect

b) Accent

c) Register

d) Jargon

e) Style

f) Gender

g) Ideolect and

h) Taboo words

2) Language Change, encompassing the followings contexts of change:

a) Bilingualism

b) Multilingualism

c) Code Switching

d) Code mixing

e) Pidgin/ Creole

3) Saphir- Whorf Hypothesis

The question as of now is what exactly is the difference between Linguistics and Sociolinguistics? While the former deals with the form and structure of language like Morphology, Phonology, Syntax, the latter studies language within its societal context and largely in the domain of the spoken language.

However, in a society there is no one language. For example, you might be acquainted with the 44 sounds of English (UK) but in reality who knows it might far exceed this number. Even if one looks at the Daniel Jones book of pronunciations, at the back of your mind you know that it is just referring to the pronunciations which people majorly follows, it doesn’t at any point mean that it is the fixed form of pronouncing words. BBC opts for readers educated from the Oxford or Cambridge Universities, but even these are but simply a minority.

Language therefore keeps changing with respect to time, gender, area, sex and so. We ourselves are not speakers of either chaste Hindi or English.

Under the former categories, we study the following divisions:

a) DIALECT: is a variety of language distinguished according to region and social class.

Region---------) All languages have regional varieties.

Social class-------) 1) on the basis of literacy (educated or not)

2) language of the rustic. ( as also caste structures and special varieties.

In Karnataka itself you could identify people on their geographical grounds in terms of the kind of language variation that they speak.

b) ACCENT: variation in pronunciations that might either be because off regional differences or cultural. Even in England, there is the existing difference between the Received Pronunciations and the language of the working class- cockneyed.

c) REGISTER: is the topic oriented varieties of language, commonly occupational varieties such as that of lawyers, medicine, in educational systems (the terms of Literary Theory is specific: mimesis, catharsis etc). It is also important to note that the registeral variety uses a lot of jargons.

d) JARGONS: As mentioned above, registeral language also uses a lot of jargons that is technicalities with respect to activities. It aids to decide who is an outsider and insider of a trade. The terms ‘subject’ or ‘subjectivity’ or other jargons like that used among the naxals, lawyers, journalists, psychology students and the like.

e) STYLE: is the individual usage of language depending on situations and role relations. Martin Joos in 1962 had propounded the five styles used in the English language.

a) Frozen- “ Visitors should make their way straight upstairs”

b) Formal- “ Visitors should …… at once”

c) Consultative- “ Would you mind taking the way upstairs..”

d) Casual- “ Its time you go upstairs”

e) Intimate- “Up you go chaps”

The style varies according to the relations, official relations, parent-child relations etc. Style could be morphological, lexical and the like where the structure changes but the verb order remains the same.

f) GENDER: According to researches, women use more prestigious, formal language when compared to men.

The men and women ,Amer- Indians in Alaska speak nearly different languages altogether. ( Reason: less contact between men and women, even today we have the concept of men and womens schools and colleges in the country where the elite used to send their children, areas which catered to a particular gender.

In research again, it was noticed that men and women discuss varied topics during a conversation. While women gave vent to their personal feelings, men took to talking about news, politics, sports etc. Interestingly, it was also seen that if a third person talked of his/her problems to a man and a woman at the same time, the man would rationally try to advise while the woman took to recalling situations of the same kind which might have happened to her or heard in the past.

Also, hidge words (‘a kind of’, ‘a sort of’) and tags (isn’t it) were used more by women.

g) IDEOLECT: personal dialect of an individual speaker, (the I-DIALECT that is). It consists of gestures, words, pronunciations and voice quality.

h) TABOO WORDS: words which are forbidden in the socal context.

It could be categorized under filthy and clean or pure usage of words. For example while ‘fuck’ is the filthy usage, ‘intercourse’ remains the clean way. Interestingly, English being a Germanic language credited to have emerged from the Anglo Saxons, many of the raw and filthy words we hear today were the actual English version of the euphemisms we currently have been using. For example, the terms ‘cunt’, ‘cock’, ‘prick’, ‘tits’ or ‘shit’ today have been modestly replaced by ‘vagina’, ‘penis’, ‘nipples’ and ‘faeces’, however it does not sideline the real origins of the original words.

It has much to do with the social hegemony and the power of language to push the ‘other’ ‘low standard’ usage aside and therefore even the terms filthy and clean are quite regionally decide. Swear words in themselves are not pan Indian which is a result of our differences in cultural experiences.

Another reason why taboo words were forbidden was because many a times it was considered inauspicious to use it. For example, a tribe in Mangalore does not call a cobra by its name, rather they think it wise to call it ‘the good one’ so that it helps prevent unfortunate incidents and mishaps/ calling it a good one in their belief ascertains that it might not harm anyone.

Similarly, the hindi usage of the term ‘woh’ as in ‘pati, patni aur woh is generally used for a mistress and is sometimes carefully avoided so as not to appear disrespectful.

‘Babe’ ‘Chick’ have social taboo orientations while the usage of ‘They’ or ‘them’ corresponding to ‘woh log’ to discriminate between people of another sect or religion are religious taboo words.

Again, in some parts of the country people do not call certaion illnesses like chicken pox, small pox or measles by names. They generally find it favourable to call it by terms like ‘mataji’ perhaps to seek her blessings and escape the threat of suffering.

We now come under the second broad category: LANGUAGE IN CONTEXT/ LANGUAGE CHANGE OR LANGUAGE VARIATIONS. Under this head we study the following:

a) Bilingualism/ Multilingualism- When people with different cultural linguistic backgrounds reside in the same geographical space sharing the same socio-economic and political activities, bring in the functioning of bilingualism and multilingualism. For example, Bengaluru today is a multilingual state with Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, English, Bengali and Kannada speaking people residing here in large numbers. Canada too has French and English, so is the case with Brazil or even Singapore where people talk Malay, English, Tamil etc. The question is: who speaks what language and to whom. Whereas at home we might use our mother tongues, in official and institutional circles, we tend to use the official language of communication.

b) Code Switching/ Code mixing: Individual switching from one

language to another in a conversation. While code mixing means using words from another language, code switching means usage of an entire sentence in a different language. Example: “You are right. Unlogo ki angrezi achi ho jati hain, lekin ye jo subjects hain, science, mathematics, they become very weak”

c) Pidgin/ Creole: simplified link languages which arise due to

contact between the ruler and the ruled or when languages of two groups of people come in contact for reasons of trade and commerce. Schuchardt in 1891 in his reading talked of :

1) The Butler English of Madras

2) Pidgin English of Bombay

3) Boxwallah English of Upper India

4) Chee Chee English

5) Babu English.

Later in the 1980’s even Priya Hosani talks of the varieties of Butler English.

If a large number of people talk Pigin, it becomes Creole. Amitav

Ghosh in his ‘Sea of Poppies’ also mentions about the Lashkari

Language which was again a language used for trade purposes.

The last broad category is the Saphir-Whorf Hypothesis where Edward Saphir and Benjamin Whorf come together to highlight a proposition that language shapes a person’s worldview. For example, certain communities have every word in its language designed either to be an animate or an inanimate. As in Hindi yu have either masculine or feminine, English takes into consideration even the neutar gender and has terms like ‘it’. Talking of this community, the inanimate are those that do not have life and hence could be hurt. The animate whereas are supposed to have life and should not be inflicted with pain. For this reason, they might even consider a stone as animate and hence not use it in an uncaring fashion.

Therefore, it is the construction of language in a certain way and the cultural understanding of language that frames our thought. Even to this date, the Christians believe that the Eucharist is animate and hence you should take the bread and wine, the supposed flesh and blood of Christ in a manner that projects reverence.

Worship of images of Gods and Godesses could also fall under this category.

Pinto, Anil. Lecture notes. Christ University. Bangalore.

AsiaCALL

AsiaCALL International conference on CALL, Web 2.0 and Beyond

Call for Papers: UGC National Seminar on Language and Technology

Theme:  Application of technology in modernizing teaching context

Organized by Department of English, Malabar Christian College, Calicut

DATES:  4-5 October 2010

VENUE: Malabar Christian College, Calicut, Kerala

The English language is always evolving to meet the demands of its global users. As an international language, English accommodates the unique needs of world communities. This uniqueness has been enhanced with the introduction of new technology. English language teachers are on the threshold to exploring new frontiers and possibilities. The younger generation is equipped with content-rich gadgets. As teachers we need to help them hone their skills and make them better citizens of tomorrow. We need to bring technology into the language classroom as we celebrate diversity while ensuring intelligibility.

The seminar intends bring together English Language Teaching professionals from around the country to discuss, reflect on and develop their ideas. The program will offer many opportunities for professional networking and development. It will involve two days of talks, workshops, and panel discussions on the following theme:

Application of technology in modernizing teaching context.

For more information regarding submission of papers and registration, please contact:

Dr Premanand ME
Conference Chairman

Email: nsltcalicut at gmail.com
Phone: 09496217778