Vaagartha

A Festschrift For
Prof. Padmakar R. Dadegaonkar

Editors
Shivarama Padikkal
Tariq Khan

Centre for Applied Linguistics and Translation Studies

University of Hyderabad
First Edition, 2012.
ISBN 978-93-5087-691-6
Price: `150
Size of the book: 5.5‖ X 8.5‖
No. of pages: xii + 248
Printed by: Charita Impressions, Hyderabad - 500020

Copyright © Centre for ALTS, University of Hyderabad.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form
by any electronic or mechanical means without written permission from
the Centre for ALTS, University of Hyderabad.

Bibliographic Information
Title: Vaagartha
Editors: Shivarama Padikkal & Tariq Khan
Published by: Centre for ALTS, University of Hyderabad
Place: Hyderabad
Year: 2012

Disclaimer: The views expressed in various chapters of this volume are

that of the individual authors and thus, the editors or the publishers are
not responsible for the same.

Go to Contents
 Best Wishes
Prof. Ramakrishna Ramaswamy
Vice Chancellor, University of Hyderabad

I am very much pleased to note that the Centre for Applied

Linguistics and Translation Studies is honouring Professor
Padmakar R. Dadegaonkar with this festschrift. This book, aptly
named Vaagartha and the papers included in it are on diverse
themes. Together, they form a fitting tribute to a scholar whose
service to the University and commitment to the Centre have
done us proud. The younger generation – both teachers and
students – will find considerable inspiration from the life and
work of Prof. Dadegaonkar.

(Ramakrishna Ramaswamy)

Go to Contents
 Best Wishes
Prof. Mohan Ramanan
Dean, School of Humanities

I am very happy to know that the Centre for Applied Linguistics

and Translation Studies is honouring a senior colleague and
scholar Prof. Padmakar R. Dadegaonkar by bringing out a
festschrift in his honour. Vaagartha is appropriately titled
because Prof. Dadegaonkar‘s scholarship in Marathi and Sanskrit
had centrally engaged itself with the question of the word and
its meaning. Prof. Dadegaonkar served our University for over
two decades and his contribution to the Centre and to the School
of Humanities was significant. I am happy to see colleagues,
friends and students coming together to write papers in the
areas of interest to Prof. Dadegaonkar. This volume, apart from
being a tribute to a distinguished scholar, will also be a
significant addition to scholarship in language and literature
studies. I commend this gesture of the Centre for Applied
Linguistics and Translation Studies.

(Mohan Ramanan)

Go to Contents
Contents
Preface …………….…………………………………………………… ix

Part 1
The Architecture of Language
Deriving the Dialectic …………………………………………… 3
Probal Dasgupta

A Unique Odia Word, Its Cousin and Their

Dravidian-Munda Ancestry ………..………………..…….. 22
Panchanan Mohanty

Revisiting the Concept of Mother Tongue …………… 29

B. R. Bapuji

A Hindi-Telugu Bi-directional Machine Translation

System …………………………………………………………………. 38
Uma Maheshwar Rao G., K. V. Subbarao,
Bindu Madhavi, B. & Christopher M.

Optimizing Humor in Language Classrooms ………. 45

Tariq Khan

Telugu Spell-Checker ………………………………………….. 57

Uma Maheshwar Rao G., Amba P. Kulkarni,
Christopher M. & Parameshwari, K.

Reversal Errors in Dyslexia: An Empirical Study

in English ……………………………………..……………………… 66
Swathi P. G.

A Tamil – Telugu Machine Translation System .….. 78

Uma Maheshwar Rao G., N. Krupanandam,
Parameshwari K., Christopher M. & Sreenivasulu N. V.

The Lexicon and Conceptual Stores in Bilinguals …. 90

Arathi R.
vi - Vaagartha

Part 2
The Splendour of Literature
Multidimensionality in Literary Narrative
Concerning Language …………………………………………… 99
Sudhakar Marathé

The Post-Colonial and Post-Modern; Or, the Rise of

Bilingual Writers and Writing in India ………………… 118
Udaya Narayana Singh

Translating the Novels Written in Stream of

Consciousness Technique ………………………………….…. 140
Naresh Annem & K. Rajya Rama

Translation and the Evolution of

the Arabic Novel …………………………………………………… 153
Abdullah Aziz

Towards Sociology of Translation:

Actor-Network Theory and Translation ………………. 166
Mehdi Asadzadeh

Mediating Cultures, Languages and Confronting

the ‗Other‘ ……………………………………………………………. 180
Niveditha K.

A Glimpse of hamd and naat ……………………………….. 190

Sheerin Hena

Translating Expressive Words from Telugu

to English ……………………………………………………………… 198
Thotapally Anjaneyulu
 Vaagartha - vii

Part 3
In Reverence and Retrospect
Dr. Padmakar Dadegaonkar: A Good Friend and
a Formidable Author ………………………………………….…. 211
D. D. Punde

Our teacher: ‗those‘ days in Akola …………………….… 227

Arvind Vishvanath

We Two ……………………………………………………………..…. 231

Uma Dadegaonkar

Dad ..……………………………………………………………………… 236

Meghdoot Dadegaonkar

About Dad …………………………………………………………….. 239

Mandar Dadegaonkar

Padmakar Kaka …..……………………………………………….. 242

Kalpana Palnitkar & Archana Medhekar

List of Contributors ……………………………………………... 244

Illustrations …………………………………………………………. 247

Param & Aanya
 Preface
A gentleman in the true sense! It is an honour and privilege to
work with him! The supervisor who cares like a father! A father
who is my best guide! A formidable friend! An unbelievably
simple person! An artistic teacher! Most approachable!
Commands high respect! A dedicated scholar! A successful
family man! Diligent and sagacious! A perfect role model to
emulate!

The above expressions are synonymous with Prof. Padmakar R.

Dadegaonkar. Together, they form a miniature of all the praise
people have showered on him. When a person of such a
professional stature and personal nature advances into
retirement the void left by him is too big to be filled. Besides, it‘s
difficult to confine his significance and the affection people have
for him to bibliographic citations or occasional recalls. An
initiative was required with which his colleagues, friends,
students and family members could come together and celebrate
his personal and professional success. Perhaps, this forms the
conceptual basis of Vaagartha and considerations behind its
publication as a festschrift. The title may need an elaboration –
Vaagartha is a compound (vaak ‗word‘ + artha ‗meaning‘) literally
meaning ‗word is power‘ while connotatively referring to Shiva
and Parvati in Kalidasa.

Prof. Dadegaonkar has always been an approachable person

and thereby he is responsible for fostering a large community of
practical translators and Translation Studies scholars. Under his
influence a sizeable number of students got just the right
impetus to take up higher studies and drew plenty of inspiration
to complete their PhD theses. It continues to guide their lives
even beyond.

For the confirmed popularity that he has, finding

contributions for Vaagartha was not difficult at all. In fact, we
should admit that the spontaneous and enthusiastic response of
the contributors surpassed our best expectations.
x - Vaagartha

The contributions have been placed in three brackets

forming the three dimensions of this volume. Part 1, which has
been named The Architecture of Language, contains papers on
various themes from Linguistics. The Part 2, named The Splendor
of Literature, comprises papers on themes from Literature and
Translation. Part 3, termed In Retrospect and Reverence embodies
writings by Prof. Dadegaonkar‘s friends and family members.

The contributors for this volume range from his colleagues to

his students to his friends and family members. Inevitably, on
the one hand we have stalwarts of Linguistics, Literature and
Translation attempting to communicate with their beloved pupils,
lending their expertise to be harnessed by their peers and
novices alike. On the other hand, we have young scholars
relishing their chance and training their guns on, old or new, but
relevant themes. The third pillar of this book is the recollection
of fond memories Prof. Dadegaonkar‘s family members and
friends have had with him. With that, they have, in a way,
reaffirmed the ascertainable points about him or unveiled those
which, we all are sure, contributed to his successful career.

The preparation of Vaagartha was a highly rewarding

experience as we came face to face with various facts about
him, all exemplary on their own. He has shown the patience to
painstakingly work through thick and thin of times and lead his
folk in an inimitable fashion. As the Head of CALTS he
discharged his responsibilities with an open mind and innovative
approach. That‘s why we received a very positive and
pleasurable response to this volume.

We are grateful to Prof. N. Krupanandam, Director, CALTS,

Prof. Panchanan Mohanty, Prof. Umamaheshwar Rao, Prof. B. R.
Bapuji, Prof. Sudhakar Marathe, Prof. Nozomi Kodama, Abhijit
Debnath and Chinmay Dharukar for their support and concern
towards bringing out this volume. We would also like to thank all
our contributors and the referees who helped us in various ways
in putting together this volume.

Prof. Dadegaonkar is a distinguished scholar of Marathi,

Sanskrit and Linguistics. He has dedicated over four decades of
his life to teaching and research. During this time he has
 Vaagartha - xi

supervised about 14 MPhil and 9 PhD students and has, to his

credit, about 120 publications. He has always been in front ranks
intellectually and has held numerous academic, advisory and
administrative positions. Besides, he is also recipient of several
awards and prizes; Excellence in Literature Award, Maharastra
Foundation Award (Connecticut, USA) for Excellence in Editing
Shenoliker Prize and Centenary Special Prize, just to name a few.
His name is included in National Register of Translators, Sahitya
Akademi and Who‘s Who of Indian Writers, Sahitya Akademi. He
is a genuine ambassador of virtue, eloquence and dedication. As
he graces the newer arena of retired life we pray that he
translates even retirement into a brighter chapter of life.

A festschrift is the minimum that could be done to

acknowledge and highlight some aspects of his multifarious
career. Prof. Dadegaonkar has always shown an abundance of
good sense and pragmatic approach to the assorted turns of life
both professional as well as personal. We believe that he would
accept this festschrift as a token of our reverence for him.
Indeed, we owe him much more. He, too, owes us all sound
health, delights of family life and accomplishment of all goals he
has cherished.

Wish you all a happy reading!

Hyderabad Shivarama Padikkal

September, 2012 Tariq Khan

Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

 Part 1

The Architecture of Language

 Deriving the Dialectic

Probal Dasgupta

The Two-Stroke Generative Engine

Generative inquiry involves two characteristic moves. The first,

call it Move Abs, seeks an abstract generalization level where
coindexing and identities can be established. The second one,
Move Conc, specifies a concrete embodiment level where
expressive diversities are retrievable. This neutral wording is
intended to abstract away from differences between the
syntactic and phonological instantiations of the classical moves.
This formulation also ignores the enterprise, exemplified in
minimalist syntax and optimalist phonology, of bypassing the
tensions that arose with the classical version. That enterprise
inherits only the broadest formal outlines of the tensions. It
needs to be supplemented by a substantive project of trying to
understand them.

One fruitful way to deal with a tension is dialectical thinking.

In this paper, I propose that generative inquiry should
methodologically commit itself to a version of the dialectic that
can be derived from the core of the generative revolution itself.
My proposal is one response to the tension between description
and explanation which is here to stay. The main questions
addressed in this paper are, which version of the dialectic is
worth deriving, why, and how.

Suppose we set phonology aside and take up a limited

version of the problem. In syntax, Move Abs generalizes on the
basis of coindexing. Its content-fidelity has the option of ignoring
cross-reference devices by showing them as repeat copies of
nominals in a deep structure. Move Conc particularizes anaphors,
pronouns, relatives, epithets, deictics. Its expression-fidelity has
the option of ignoring the possibility of seeking any unified
anchorage for reference. Move Abs writ large, Generative
Semantics, and Move Conc writ large, Lexicalism, are not
4 - Vaagartha

mutually consistent. But the Moves, which need not be writ

large, are.

In what follows I argue against the widespread view that the

notions of abstract and concrete involved in such formulations
have simply been superseded. Contemporary work, I argue,
needs to inherit the Abs and the Conc at work in the classical
moves, if not their implementations in terms of linguistic levels
embodying either abstractness or concreteness through and
through.

Servicing Could Use a Special Dialectic

Would the point of a dialectic simply be to arrange servicing for

the two-stroke generative engine? In that case it would suffice
to note that observational imperatives concretely push inquiry
towards kinky data while explanatory ones abstractly pull it
towards unmarked manifestations of UG. We could then propose
recasting the descriptive task, of holding the fort for both of
these imperatives, in terms of a "describable Language" concept
that gives linguistics a point of serious contact with foreign
problems outside the discipline (a description we could retain
even when we graduate to the purity of students of problems
and not of disciplines). Such an arrangement would have us
work out a Special Dialectic just for linguistics.

This would not be a pointless activity, to be sure. The duality

of Abs and Conc invites elaboration in terms of a dialectic. Our
field has neglected this task so far, at some cost. We could
address this lacuna by working on a Special Dialectic that gets
our act together.

But it turns out that this work involves exploring some

independently interesting consequences of the core of the
generative revolution. These consequences – which users of
generative machinery should take responsibility for – build
 Vaagartha - 5

something much bigger than this Special Dialectic. They seem to

underpin a General Dialectic whose relevance extends into other
disciplines and rearranges questions about how to deal with
cross-disciplinary issues. If this is so, workers who wish to
pursue a comprehensive view of the generative revolution are
committed to the ambitious task of the General Dialectic. That
task is formally simpler and more approachable than the more
modest-looking project of a Special Dialectic just for linguistics.

A General Dialectic is Derivable

A Special Dialectic within linguistics is not hard to understand in

principle. It involves interactions between Move Abs and Move
Conc considerations at each step in procedures and in theoretical
discussions. But what is the General Dialectic?

The General Dialectic is the following pattern-fact: You

encounter, at the outset of your interaction with some
phenomenon, a perceptible and salient novel formation. Its
youthful, novel vitality not only affectively satisfies you but
meets relevant needs. But then, unexpectedly soon, you face
decay. The new has grown old before your very eyes, dismaying
you. Do you wish to continue your encounter? Then you must
first break contact with the old site to start afresh, nonetheless
picking up old pieces to achieve continuity across the inevitable
gap. For the terms of the encounter require a freshness that you
cannot statically preserve, and thus have to renew.

To summarize, the New becomes Given, counts as taken for

granted, and obstructs continued activity. To go on, you need
another New, but must stay in touch with the older one as you
satisfy this need. Its overt preservation is a non-starter, though.
For that would make you party to the decay you witness. The
dynamics that involves your perceiving this paradoxical state of
affairs in these terms and then responding creatively is, from
your end, the General Dialectic. At the other end, partners with
6 - Vaagartha

viewpoints distinct from yours respond, more or less

creatively, to your responses. They too figure in the process as
you must see it. Thus the General Dialectic as a whole is always
bigger than one viewpoint.

A prelinguistic view would begin by suggesting that this

pattern derives from and recapitulates the perceptual basis of all
comprehension. You can understand only what you perceive.
And you can in general only perceive what stands out as a New
percept whose saliency speaks to a relatively limited
background. If you let a percept pile up an impressively heavy
background, you upset the balance that keeps the perception
manageable, and something goes overboard. Then you are
forced to close the game and rearrange the chessboard. So each
round of piling up a set of percepts and backgrounds supporting
them works only up to a point.

This approach is useful in its own right. But I had spoken of

a linguistic derivation of the General Dialectic, from pieces of the
generative action. Consider the following reasoning as a first
draft we could tighten on various fronts.

Every sentence use is transacted between persons who

know that there are infinitely many sentences. This infinity is a
formal fact about grammar and a substantive fact about what
can be said. At the substantive level, both transactors know that
any given sentence is likely to come as a surprise. It stands to
reason that this shared knowledge deserves some response. The
canonical response takes the form of a division of the sentence
into a topic, which keys sentence use into actual or potential
shared knowledge, and a comment highlighting the new
contribution that uttering the sentence brings to bear on it. That
this counts as a response to the transactors' shared knowledge
of the normal novelty of sentences is a substantive fact. The
nitty-gritty of the canonical response itself is a formal bridge
between speaker's knowledge and hearer's ignorance. This
 Vaagartha - 7

bridge is the point of departure for any reconstruction of a

general dialectic.

It is useful to try to get some clarity over the formal-

substantive boundary at this point. Howard Lasnik observes (in a
1997 p.c.) that the formal EPP-relevant subject-predicate
division of clause structure is independent of any substantive
need for a particular topic in every clause. One may choose to
conclude that the general clausal topic-comment split – not the
split in a particular clause – amounts to a substantive,
conventional recognition of the normal novelty of clauses. The
corresponding, but as Lasnik notes not identical, formal facts are
particular asymmetries in the CP, IP, VP. This picture allows
certain clauses to have a trivial or null topic.

A linguistically careful version of this story might consider

the possibility that a true clause focuses on the New, while a
partial or total nominalization of a clause involves packing as
Given and thus recyclable material that which counted as New
on an earlier pass. That lead is not pursued here. The formal
linguistics of clausal-nominal asymmetries and the substantive
linguistics of fresh illocutions and recycled material are poorly
understood. Formal work has tended to focus on what nominals
and clauses share. Only when we factor those aspects out are
we likely to make headway on what makes nominals formally
different from clauses. Real or imagined connections between
the formal and the substantive are an interesting but as yet
unexplored area. Hence the naive thematic formulation here.
Even those who wish to explore derivations of the General
Dialectic from broadly specified themes of generative inquiry will
have their hands full. Others who prefer a more technical
characterization of clausal-nominal disparities will of course
explore the consequences of using that detailed elaboration
instead.
8 - Vaagartha

The Point of Deriving One

To try to outline a formal derivation here would surely be

premature. The work of deriving a General Dialectic from the
core of the generative revolution involves both form and
substance. To build that derivation is to renegotiate the formal-
substantive equation itself, and to take on the reconstruction of
the dialectic as a careful mode of thinking. If this project is
worth undertaking in the first place, then able hands will of
course segment it into the usual manageable pieces and do the
resulting jobs. Why, then, is the General Dialectic worth deriving
from the generative revolution or any other source? Who needs
it?

At least we do, as students of matters linguistic. Grammar

does some of our jobs for us. But eventually many of us find it
necessary to return to Language. Consider two examples. The
verb give in English, which is in some sense a Basic verb,
permits the double object construction, while non-Basic verbs
like donate do not. Phonological processes can only be described
systematically if both lento and allegro levels are considered.
The allegro segment of the language is clearly Basic in the same
sense. It is also clear that grammatical tools, even if they allow
for some unification of syntactic and phonological reasoning – in
a generalized theory of features or admissible operations – fail to
elucidate this notion of Basic. At this point we encounter
language as a social object, to be studied by social science
methods, as is widely recognized.

There we need the General Dialectic. For the garden variety

social fact encompasses the comprehension of key patterns of
the social fact by some or all of its participants. We have seen
that the perceptual basis of comprehension gives rise to the
interrupted continuities that a dialectic can help visualize
rigorously. To conceptualize adequately the status of language,
one must touch base with what the speaking public thinks it
 Vaagartha - 9

speaks, and therefore with public perceptions constituting

languages as social facts.

The return to language is not institutionally a matter of

grammarians hastily patching up a pax linguistica with
sociolinguists, of course. The point is for linguists to get a
rigorous act together and jointly deal with the literary critical
activity domain where the public still thinks the real making
sense of language as a social fact has to get done. The main
problem for linguistics is not the grammar-sociolinguistics
bifurcation, but the factors that prevent our taking on the
challenges at the literary site of language studies.

One such factor is the paucity of equipment for revisiting the

speech vs writing bifurcation that used to be important when
linguistics first emerged as a speech-focused alternative to
writing-focused grammatical studies. Another factor is our
cognate unpreparedness for a reexamination of the prose-poetry
bifurcation that has emerged, in the history of careful aboriginal
speech and the history of careful state-organized writing, as an
orthogonal but related distinction whose clarification will improve
our understanding of language. These are operational hurdles.

There is also a conceptual problem. We need to approach it

carefully. As we get better at seeing what is at stake here, the
General Dialectic will begin to help us, whereupon we will see
why we need to derive it from the part of the generative
revolution that we already have a grip on.

The Problem of Mysteries

One conceptual problem preventing our tackling the literary

critical challenge is the unbridgeable gap some of us see
between clarifiable Problems and inherently obscure and
intuition-bound Mysteries. Am I suggesting that Mysteries should
be seen more constructively as simply Very Hard Problems? No,
on the contrary, I believe that such a recasting would represent
10 - Vaagartha

a failure to pose the basic conceptual problem properly. Once we

do approach this conceptual problem, precisely that which now
makes it hard to conceptualize the Problem-Mystery frontier will
help us to cross it.

To achieve some clarity on these issues, consider the basic

observation that underlies the Problem-Mystery distinction. The
Greeks (and classical thinkers elsewhere) concerned with what
we may call conceptual issues, philosophical in the modern
sense, were saying things compared to which contemporary
work cannot be said to have made serious progress. In contrast,
the Greeks working in the domains of what now count as
empirical sciences achieved a take-off surpassed in current work.
Research on empirical Problems involving matters of fact, so the
story runs, achieves greater success than work by comparably
intelligent scholars on conceptual Mysteries involving matters of
freedom. Presumably humans are better equipped to approach
the former than the latter.

In the sciences, something like the Problem-Mystery

distinction has guided the general assumption – and
contemporary academic programmes implementing it – that
contemporary workers need active access only to current
writings and practices. These surely supersede the past in
domains where progress is tangible. In contrast, scholars in
social and human studies are supposed to inherit the textual
baggage of earlier work. So the curriculum takes you through it
all. This is sometimes associated with the view that "essentially
contested" fields fail to exhibit progress; hence the non-
obsolescence of their past.

In contrast to this conventional format for the Problem-

Mystery distinction, I will unpack an alternative view of the
deeper conceptual problem underlying the tangle. Contemporary
approaches in natural and mathematical sciences actually differ
from those in social and human studies mainly in the different
Domain Embodiment Assumptions (DEAs) – concerning the
 Vaagartha - 11

textual and practical presence or public availability of these fields

of inquiry for potential entrants or critics – and in the Reading
Strategies that correspond to DEA differences. Once DEAs are
made explicit, we naturally rethink standard responses to them.
Such rethinking, pursued into regions one cannot specify in
advance, could conceivably undo the Problem-Mystery tangle,
without a mindlessly optimistic relabelling of Mysteries as simply
Very Difficult Problems.

Cutting some red tape, I shall speak of Scientists and

Humanists, with the understanding that these stereotypes for
scholars in the natural and mathematical sciences and those in
textual fields of study are of very limited use. "Scientists", then,
work under DEAs that treat only experimental reports and
experiment-accountable theoretical writing as constituting DE,
the bodily presence of the relevant science. Only published
constituents of DE – public writing or speech presenting scientific
activity so defined – are subjected to scrutiny as to
demonstrable truth or falsity. The remainder of utterances by
persons engaged in such activities are held to be outside DE and
do not invite such scrutiny. "Humanists" act on very different
DEAs. For them, and for the public gaze constituting them as
humanists, their entire corpus of edited writing and speech is the
DE of their inquiry, such as it is, and deserves whatever
perception, with or without scrutiny, such inquiry merits.

This reasoning is familiar. It has some basis in our common

responses to thinkers in these domains. Many of us maintain
that Heidegger's complicity with the Nazis or Nietzsche's later
madness should be allowed to affect our evaluation of their
work, without assuming a sharp separation between the person
and the thinker. In contrast, Frege's anti-semitism is considered
irrelevant to the merits of his logic. Readers who take seriously
Weber's claim that his sociology is a science hold that knowledge
of his nervous breakdown should not influence our response to
12 - Vaagartha

the way he interprets rationality as the key to the Western

cultural mainstream.

I note the familiar basis of this reasoning in order to stress

that the relation between the scientist-humanist contrast and
assumptions about how much of your speech you are
accountable for is not new. The point is to realize that there is a
DEA asymmetry and to explore some consequences of this
realization.

The conceptual problem in terms of which we can recast the

issue of Problems and Mysteries can now be posed as a
preliminary question: Should the thinking public, taking into
account what can be learnt from the scientific exploration of
Problems and the humanistic consideration of Mysteries,
continue to leave the DEA asymmetry between the two sets of
domains unexamined? What follows once we make the DEAs in
their current asymmetric form explicit?

Some of the implications worth exploring have to do with the

practice of public scrutiny. Why should the written corpus
produced by scientists not be regularly subjected to the sort of
public scrutiny that we quite properly expect a Heidegger or a
Nietzsche to undergo? Scientists do take part in the techno-
politico-commercial public packaging of science through science
reporting, science fiction, and other popularizations. Science
writing of these sorts is careful, edited prose, rather than casual
speech. It follows that beginners in science should be taught to
expect such scrutiny and see it as conceptually continuous with
the scientific peer review of their experimental and theoretical
work. Surely the courage to face public scrutiny should count as
part of the falsifiability that supposedly makes scientific
statements special.

Of course, students training for science will need to be

equipped to face such scrutiny if it is going to occur when they
come of age. Training is virtually the only phase in the scientific
 Vaagartha - 13

production cycle where intervention might bring about the mind-

set modification called for. This seems to me to involve changing
the way science apprentices today are encouraged to rush
through the socio-historical component of their curriculum which
they imagine to be undemanding on the analytical front.
Although we are not often asked to give advice about the proper
treatment of young quantifiers in ordinary English, surely
linguists can do something about the formation of linguists.
From the reasoning presented here, or from a cleaned-up
version introducing the reader's favourite hedges and revisions,
it follows that one must ask whether the research and teaching
practices described as linguistic science in the universities of the
industrialized countries – where the natural sciences have been
elevated to state religion status – should be reexamined with
these considerations in mind, on academic and not merely
pedagogical grounds. These are academic-strategic
consequences that follow from the realization that the humanist-
scientist difference has to do with a DEA asymmetry that now
exists and needs to be questioned.

Consequences of another type that merit exploration pertain

to Reading Strategies. Why do the humanists still read material
from past centuries as part of their training and research when
scientists can afford to stop reading superseded theoreticians? I
would argue that the reason is not the paucity of progress
outside the sciences. Rather, humanists and scientists offer
readings of social and natural facts respectively. The way
participants in social facts construe themselves, as in narratives
and other texts from the culture, precedes and grounds fresh
construals by outsiders. The historical, archive-sensitive
component of the interpretive disciplines is thus part of the core
challenge that makes social inquiry tick. In contrast, natural and
formal scientists offer readings of natural and formal facts.
Notice that literary critics can and do stop reading old critics
even though they cannot trash old literary texts. Scientists,
14 - Vaagartha

likewise, preserve astronomical records and other data even as

they send superseded prose about the data to the attic.

Exploring further the boundary between reading natural

facts and reading social facts, consider the case of social
scientists. If a Marx or a Weber or a Freud creates a theoretical
fabric, one reads such an author's work both literarily, as a
textual narrative whose coherence has to do with the
interpretable integrity of the author's intentions, and
scientifically, in terms of hypotheses that interact impersonally
with the work of others to yield falsifiable predictions. How is it
that we do not read the work of natural scientists both literarily
and scientifically, then? In fact, we do; but the conventions of
scientific reading hide this elementary fact. The genres of writing
that count as serious science impose DEA-related Reading
Strategies identifying the material as a rigorous opposite of
literature. Readers of technical scientific writing are made to feel
the peculiar emotions of dispassion also brought into play in
religious sermons, media commentaries, and other contexts
associated with claims that the truth is being told and that
therefore emotion would be out of place. The default result is a
certain pathos. A systematically inculcated selected avoidance of
introspection prevents many readers from perceiving this pathos
as a banal emotion elicited by generic conventions.

My argument here, of course, rests not on obviously literary

devices, but on the use of terms, notations, formalisms, and
other markers of inter-scientific textual dependencies that weave
the generic fabric of science writing qua writing. Young scholars
trained as "scientists" are led by their training to fail to see this
function of notational conservatism.

This argument may facilitate our transition from a linguistics

that sets its sights on emulating the criticism-limiting natural
sciences to one that accepts the need for some of our writings to
negotiate their rigorous way into social science generic
conventions. The transition has been held up by a belief that
 Vaagartha - 15

social scientists who get "hung up on Freud or Marx" are not

scholars pursuing a research programme, but victims of some
unscientific personality cult.

On the contrary, well-behaved docile readers – tricked into

believing that classical physics texts, say, are not anaphoric to
the Newtonian corpus – are the real victims, of an unscientific
impersonality cult. The more we allow ourselves to publicly think
about these issues, the more seriously rational our field will be,
freeing itself at last from long accepted naturalistic (scientistic)
propaganda to the contrary. This propaganda cannot withstand
even a moment's scrutiny, and has survived only because we
have permitted non-accountable (sciencelike) practices of
publishing, refereeing, and discussion in the high-profile
linguistics periodicals.

Substantive Proposals

So far I have dwelt on inquiry format issues. I now present

substantive proposals. The implications of the considerations
provided above lie mainly in the area of changing our Reading
Strategies. We need a reasonably far-reaching change, affecting
not just "us" in the exact and inexact sciences, but "them" in the
supposedly anti-exact cultural studies. My thesis is that this far-
reaching change takes the form of a transition from cultural
readings of texts, which hastily allow that this or that variation
might be a matter of arbitrary cultural diversity that our
understanding has to find a way around, to historical readings,
which plug all that we read into a jointly constructed,
meaningful, history emerging from our collective cognitive
efforts. My proposal for a derivation of a General Dialectic from
generative inquiry serves this transition. The General Dialectic
makes social and human readings less opaquely cultural and
more transparently rational to the extent that dialectical
reasoning helps mediate between the apparent arbitrariness of
16 - Vaagartha

cultural specificities and the achievable transparency of cross-

domain generality.

At the detailed level, I propose to identify the Concrete with

the on-line real time production, reception, and mutual
monitoring of speech. This pits it against an Abstract seen in
terms of some off-line support system rooted in the lexicon. At
that juncture the Lexis, or human knowledge of lexical material,
becomes intrinsically Given, while Performance, or the on-line
use of language, counts as the staging of a dynamics of mutually
defined Givens and Novels – an observation one may encode by
calling Performance intrinsically Rhythmic. Such a
conceptualization polarizes the intrinsically Rhythmic
concreteness of performance, and of the Pragmatic study of the
contexts anchoring language use, against the intrinsically Given
abstractness of the Lexical study of words and of grammatical
frames surrounding them.

This picture contrasts the Given with the Novel. The Given
directly invites Lexical inquiry. The Novel directly invites
Pragmatic inquiry. Grammar is where the language system and
language use are negotiated in a back and forth between the
intrinsic Givens and the intrinsic Novels. When you wish to think
about a back and forth, your thinking has to go dialectical. We
have seen that it is cheaper to invest in a general dialectic
usable elsewhere than to try to custom-make a specially
linguistic dialectic. If Grammar is a specifically dialectical zone, it
stands to reason that grammarians can, if they try, make a
contribution to the general dialectic.

There is more where this comes from. Speech contrasts with

Writing. At that juncture, Writing focuses on the Givenness of
what stays available, whereas Speech focuses on the Novelty
and evanescence of what is on immediate offer. One must of
course complicate this. Writing casual notes or messages
involves an intention to throw the text away the way we forget
speech. Speakers on stage perform bookishly, for the record. We
 Vaagartha - 17

are therefore dealing, not with extralinguistic substances, but

with a linguistic reimaging of speech and writing that can break
the usual alignments of the formal with the substantive. With
these and related caveats, the linguistics of speech versus
writing also appears on an agenda that seeks to root the general
dialectic in the observations about the canonical novelty of all
freshly spoken sentences, in all their infinity, that have kept the
generative revolution going.

Some readers may find this proposal not concrete or

propositional enough, and will need to note that proposing a
redirection of inquiry means attempting explicitness levels that
correspond to the task of agenda construction. Other readers
may doubt that this proposal connects with any transitions for
which known energies are available. They need to work out the
way the proposal here converges with the postmodern
rethinking of the writing-speech, concept-percept, and centre-
periphery dualities in literary studies and more recently the social
sciences.

How Derivations Outlive Reductionism

This leaves us with a methodological worry to deal with. The

field of inquiry we are postulating sets up a new tension –
between the reductionist verticalism of analytical scientific work,
which hopes to derive complex mechanisms from simpler
submechanisms, and the anti-reductionist lateralism of dialectical
inquiry that does not expect to derive results in one field from a
more fundamental neighbour. How is my oxymoronic talk of a
derivable dialectic helpful?

I tackle this worry in three stages, labelled as strategic,

tactical, and operational.

At the strategic stage of my response, I specify that the

term Grammar in the proposal above names all processes,
before and after Spellout, in any derivation, conceivably
18 - Vaagartha

redrawing the boundaries for such notions as syntax and

phonology. Likewise, the term Pragmatics in the proposal
concerns not just conversational maxims unpacking what an
ordinary consciousness can believe to be normative cooperation,
but possibly more inclusive and specific mechanisms fuelling the
normal, semi-aware, flickering, ambivalent participation by
speakers in transactions that alternate between a sleepy ritual
charade and serious give and take.

These respecifications of Grammar and Pragmatics refer to

the fact that the dialectic of the abstract and the concrete is
already at work in the very terms of inquiry within each of our
constituent methodologies. My proposal, such as it is, only
brings out explicitly what our work in any event forces on us. We
thus have no choice. If we have to do all this, we might as well
do it carefully. The dialectic is an obvious format for the
appropriate type of care. Existing grammatical and pragmatic
practices derive theorems and maxims from system imperatives,
not to shrink the space of work, but to let the diverse
consequences and unifying systems illuminate each other in
these derivations. Grammarians and pragmaticists who choose
to go in for a dialectic will of course subject it to current
derivational practices without prejudice to other issues.

The second, tactical stage of my response focuses on the

nature of derivations, proofs, and other rigorous demonstrative
procedures. In the context of having to modify our Reading
Strategies consequent to the rethinking of existing Domain
Embodiment Assumptions as in section 5, one may want to avoid
the old approach to proofs (and other demonstrations) that
reads them as arguing that, given valid antecedents plus viable
demonstrative machinery, the consequent is valid. One may
choose instead the approach that reads a demonstration as an
unpacking of problem content that highlights – as lines in the
demonstration or derivation – points of potential contact
between one problem, explicated in a particular breakdown, and
 Vaagartha - 19

cognate problems amenable to similar formatting. Demonstrated

points of potential inter-problem contact invite scholars to
consider whether and how to handle the two problems together.
It is possible to take the position that this is all that a derivation
does. It connects two problems without seeking asymmetrically
to ground one in the other, or to suggest that the field inhabited
by one problem is more fundamental than, or even owns, the
field where we find the other problem. The process can be read
laterally rather than vertically.

To take an example within linguistics, consider the possibility

of derivationally connecting the pragmatics of empathy fields,
within which anaphors corefer with the anchor and pronominals
obviate from the anchor, to a formal syntactic theory of binding
in the conventional sense. Does it make sense in principle to
derive the relevant piece of syntax from the relevant piece of
pragmatics, or the other way round? No, if to derive is to make
one field an asymmetric dependent of the other. Yes, if
derivation establishes lateral, enriching, nonreductive bonds.

The lateral tactics I argue for serve to make Reading

Strategies, in the sense of section 5, more historical and less
cultural. How is this so? The goal of finding foundational
antecedents to which one could reduce consequents had the
unfortunate side-effect of leaving the irreducibles, especially in
the interpretation-prone cultural domains, look perforce arbitrary
and extrarational. This imposed a hasty culturalism on many
fields of inquiry and left scientists in the position of tolerating,
with a shrug, large areas of hopeless obscurity, creating
improbable scientist-humanist coalitions perpetuating a belief in
the existence of intrinsic opacity. Once we switch over to a
lateral rather than a vertical interpretation of derivation
formalisms, this can give way to a serious, transparency-
maximizing approach to inquiry in all fields, brooking no
exceptions. This is what I mean by the transition from a cultural
to a historical approach, and by claiming that the approach
20 - Vaagartha

advocated here contributes to this transition. Scientific-minded

formal syntacticians are not compelled to shrug and tolerate a
functionalist or soft pragmaticist backyard. Everybody can work
together towards intellectual rigour and serious debate without
wearing false tolerant masks.

Now for the third, operational stage of my response to the

methodological worry. Even these preliminary explorations of the
dialectical agenda change our understanding of the way
derivations work in straight linguistics. We can see that, as
Grammar in the broad sense that includes phonology has moved
ahead, Lexis has grown less "abstract" and Pragmatics has
steadily become less "concrete". For Grammar has, in alternating
phases, taken material away from these domains, and given
some back, showing that we have to renegotiate at every step
what we are doing with such dualities. As we get used to having
to do such methodological negotiation at each paradigm
transition, we begin to wonder if we can put such a process into
the regular working of the machinery within grammar, if
grammar itself can formalize the fact that the givenness of lexis
and the newness that makes pragmatics tick impose tensions
that have to be worked out on line.

One contemporary response to the idea that Lexis and

Pragmatics aren't what they used to be is to try and make
Grammar optimal or minimal. In that case Grammar as such
seems to shrink and disappear. The process leading to this over
the decades has shown classical dialectical symptoms. We were
piling rule on rule in the sixties, and the pile crashed. The
nineties have been about whittling grammar down, into a
Phoenix egg, which then reappears from its ashes, a bird willing
to squawk at whoever may have thought that the availability of
performance principles might mean that Grammar simply
vanishes. If we have learnt from these experiences, surely it is
time we converted our knowledge into usable principles. And if
these principles are useful, we might as well take formal
 Vaagartha - 21

responsibility for them, both their instantiations in our linguistics

itself, and their rigorous consequences outside the field as we
know it today.

***

Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

 A Unique Odia Word, Its Cousin and Their
Dravidian-Munda Ancestry1

Panchanan Mohanty

Abstract

A few Odia (earlier Oriya) lexicographers have accepted

/ma:rkuNDi/2 as a native word with the following meaning: ‗a
boy accompanying the bridegroom to the bride‘s house for
marriage.‘ But interestingly this boy cannot be just any boy; but
either the bridegroom‘s brother or cousin. Thus, /ma:rkuNDi/
represents a special role in the Odia society. I intend to discuss
the socio-semantic aspects of this word along with its synonym
/kuilibara/ used in the northern Odia dialect. In fact, both these
expressions represent a Munda custom verbalised through
Dravidian words and are used in Odia, a prominent Indo-Aryan
language.

Introduction

Unlike ordinary content words of a language, kinship terms do

not usually show changes as the kinship system in a society is
more or less stable. But even then, when a change takes place
in a society due to various reasons kinship systems change and
so do their meanings. For instance, the word /devṛ/ was used
in the Mahabharata ―... for both the younger and elder brother
of the husband. The epic story shows that when a woman was
widowed and childless, a child could be begotten on her either
by the elder or younger brother of her husband‖ (Karve 1965:

1
Prof. Padmakar Dadegaonkar, whom I call /da:da:/ ‗elder brother‘, has been a
very close friend and colleague. Whenever I approached him for some help,
he never disappointed me. He has also been very much interested in the study
of the relationship between language and culture. This paper is a modest
pratida:nam to whatever he did for me for almost two decades.
2
In this paper [T, Th, D, Dh, N, L] represent voiceless unaspirated retroflex
stop, voiceless aspirated retroflex stop, voiced unaspirated retroflex stop,
voiced aspirated retroflex stop, retroflex nasal, and retroflex lateral
respectively.
 Vaagartha - 23

64). But the descendants of this word designate the younger

brother in almost all Indo-Aryan languages now. As a result, a
new term /deDhasura/ one and half father-in-law is used refer
to the husband‘s elder brother in these languages. Interestingly,
when a joking relationship exists between a man‘s wife and his
younger brother, i.e. /devar/ or /diyar/ throughout the Indo-
Aryan speaking area, a relationship of avoidance is quite
common between a man‘s wife and his elder brother especially
in eastern India. The other important point I want to mention is
that it is a custom across the castes and regions of the eastern
Indian state Odisha (earlier Orissa) for a young boy called
/ma:rkuNDi/ to accompany a bridegroom when he goes for
marriage. Though this system is found in a few other Indian
states like West Bengal, Bihar, etc. no such custom is practiced
in many other parts of Aryan and Dravidian India. It may be
mentioned here that /ma:rkuNDi/ should not be confused with
the concept of /to:Du peLLi koDuku/ ‗bride-groom‘s helper‘
prevalent in Andhra Pradesh. Though here also a young boy sits
beside the groom, he may or may not be the latter‘s younger
brother or cousin. Then, he also has a counterpart called /to:Du
peLLi ku:turu/ ‗bride‘s helper‘, who plays the same role as the
/to:Ru peLLi koDuku/. But /ma:rkuNDi/ does not have a female
counterpart and that is why, it is different from /to:Du peLLi
koDuku/ ‗bride-groom‘s helper‘. As there is absolutely no
discussion on this word as well as the custom associated with it,
I intend to focus on these in this paper.

What is /ma:rkuNDi/ ?

The word /ma:rkuNDi/ is commonly used in different parts of

Odisha except in the northern Odia dialect that uses
/kuilibara/ in its place. What is surprising is that none of the
Odia dictionaries published so far including Gopal Chandra
Praharaj‘s seven-volume purNachandra oDia: bha:sa:kosa
(1931-1940) that contains lots of dialectal words and
expressions has listed /kuilibara/ as an entry. Even
/mar:kuNDi/ is not listed in some, e.g. Pramodachandra Deb‘s
Pramoda Abhidha:na (1942).

Though /mar:kuNDi/ has found a place in most Odia

dictionaries, all of these have described it as a desi or native
24 - Vaagartha

word with the following meaning: ―A boy who accompanies the

bridegroom in the procession to the bride‘s house for marriage‖
(Praharaj 1936 (Vol. V): 6486). But this description is incomplete
and inappropriate because not any boy can accompany the
groom. He has to have the relationship of either brother or
cousin with the groom in order to be eligible to accompany the
latter and this information is crucial to determine the real
meaning as well as the etymology of this word.

The Background for /ma:rkuNDi/

In the event of the elder brother‘s death, if a younger brother

customarily marries his widow, this is called ‗levirate‘3 in the
anthropological literature. Though this system is current, it does
not have the support of the Aryan social system. ―The Smṛtis
have all condemned it as a custom not suited to the present
times, so that during the historical period one finds the custom
of adoption coming into vogue. Higher castes and ruling families
generally prohibit levirate and prefer that the widow should
adopt a boy.‖ (Karve 1965: 133). For this reason, the kin terms
/bha:bhi:/ and /devar/, which are quite acceptable and
frequently used now, were treated as abusive terms in the
medieval period. According to Karve (1965: 173), ―The word
bha:bhi: … was taken as an insulting mode of address for a
respectable woman. A story tells that a woman so addressed by
a king burnt herself and her curse destroyed the whole life of
the king. In the story the term bha:bhi: is contrasted to the
terms ben (sister) and ma: (mother) which are the proper
terms of address by a stranger to an unknown woman. Just as a
man must not use the term bha:bhi: for a woman so also the
term diyar is not used by a woman for a stranger except in
abuse‖. But the situation is entirely different now.

Whatever may be the cause of the change in other parts of

India, in eastern India it may be presumed to be due to the
influence of the Munda and Tibeto-Burman substrata. As a

3
The point to be noted is that the Latin word levir, which is the source of
‗levirate‘, is directly related to Sanskrit devṛ, Greek daēr, Old English tācor
‗husband's brother‘. For the switch between initial /d/ and /l/ compare Latin
lacrima and Greek dakru 'tear', Latin lingua and English 'tongue'.
 Vaagartha - 25

number of Munda languages are spoken in Odisha, I want to

argue that these are responsible for the prevalence of this
custom in this Indian state. In the Munda speech-communities
there is a strict avoidance between a man‘s wife and his elder
brother whereas a man‘s younger brother is entitled to marry his
elder brother‘s wife in the event of the latter‘s death. A very
similar situation prevails in the Odia society. A man‘s wife and
his elder brother even do not see each other throughout their
lives. A woman covers her head and face if by chance she comes
across her husband‘s elder brother. On the other hand, there
exists an intimate relationship between a woman and her
husband‘s younger brother. Though their marriage does not take
place in the event of the former‘s husband‘s death among the
upper castes, it is still found taking place among the lower
castes. But as expected, it is usually not a regular marriage;
rather they live together with the family‘s consent. Therefore,
whenever such an event takes places, the common Odia word
for marriage /ba:ha:ghara/ or /bibha:ghara/ (from Sanskrit
/viva:ha/) is not employed. The expression used for this is
/ka:cakhaDu haba:/ literally meaning ‗to wear glass bangles
and metal bracelets‘.

It should be noted here that when a woman becomes a

widow, she stops wearing these ornaments which are a sign of a
married woman. However, all these clearly point to the fact that
there is a strong and widespread Munda substratum in the Odia
society. It will not be out of place to mention that a number of
Munda characteristics are found in the Odia language and Lord
Jagannatha, who is of Munda origin, is the tutelary deity of the
Odias. Therefore, it is quite reasonable to assume two things:
First, the above mentioned relationship of avoidance between a
man‘s wife and his elder brother is due to convergence of the
Odia culture with that of the Mundas. Second, /ma:rkuNDi/ is
a symbol of the levirate system that was once prevalent in the
Odia society. Let us discuss this in detail.
26 - Vaagartha

The Etymology of /ma:rkuNDi/

As already mentioned, /ma:rkuNDi/ besides being a boy is

obligatorily the bridegroom‘s brother or cousin. He wears new
clothes and gets dressed very much like the groom and used to
travel with the groom in the same palanquin: nowadays that has
given way to a decorated car. After reaching the bride‘s home or
the place where the marriage has to take place, he gets the
same treatment as the groom, except for participating in the
marriage ritual. This is unambiguously meant to tell the bride
and her family that there is a person to look after her in case
she becomes a widow due to her husband‘s death.

It is intriguing that /ma:rkuNDi/ cannot be derived

etymologically from either Indo-Aryan or Munda sources. As it
cannot have an Indo-Aryan etymology, most Odia lexicographers
have treated it as a desi or native word. But it is an extremely
fascinating fact that it is a compound composed of two Dravidian
words /ma:ru/ (Burrow and Emeneau 1984:429) meaning
‗changed, exchanged, altered, reversed‘, etc. and /kaNTan ~
kaNTi/ ‗husband, etc.‘ (ibid.:111). Thus, the lexical meaning of
this compound is ‗substitute husband‘. Notice here that the initial
syllable /ma:/ has a long vowel, i.e. /a:/ and it bears the
stress; so the short vowel /u/ in the second syllable is liable to
get deleted in a polysyllabic word in Indo-Aryan when the
following syllable has a vowel other than /a/. Interestingly,
/ma:r/ is also used with a similar meaning in the northern Odia
dialect till today. Again, there is hardly any contrast between
/a/ and /u/ in the penultimate syllable in polysyllabic words in
Odia, e.g. /tentaLi ~ tentuLi/ ‗tamarind‘, /pa:kharu ~
pa:khuru/ ‗from a side‘, /a:Daku ~ a:Duku/ ‗towards‘, etc.
Thus, there is no problem for /ka/ of /kaNTan ~ kaNTi / to
become /ku/ in Odia.

On /ma:rkuNDi/‘s dialectal cousin /kuilibara/

Another interesting fact is that instead of /ma:rkuNDi/, the

northern dialect of Odia uses /kuilibara/ which can also be
 Vaagartha - 27

analysed as a compound. Though /kuili/ or its Standard Odia

form /koili/ is normally accepted as referring to the singing bird
‗cuckoo‘, it is not really so. Rather, I suggest that this word is
related to Dravidian /kowil/ meaning ‗temple‘. There are many
Odia expressions in which /koili/ is used in this sense, e.g.
/koili baikuNTha/ ‗the place in Jagannatha Temple where the
images of Jagannatha, his elder brother Balabhadra and younger
sister Subhadra are buried, and hence, it is ‗temple VaikuNTha‘.
/koilibuDa/ ‗early morning bath on the day before marriage
after which the bride visits the temple of the village deity‘. So
/kuilibara/ literally means ‗temple husband‘ that can be
interpreted as ‗a husband who has the sanction of the temple,
i.e. god‘ and it also has the same referent as /ma:rkuNDi/.

What is significant is that both /ma:rkuNDi/ as well as

/kuilibara/ are compounds that contain Dravidian words; but,
interestingly, these compounds are not found in Dravidian. That
means these compounds represent a cultural concept that was
alien to the Dravidian-speaking communities. Most probably by
then the levirate custom had become a taboo in the Odia
society. It is commonplace that whenever a concept becomes
tabooed in a speech community, an indirect and circumlocutory
expression is used to refer to it. At the same time, it is very
interesting that such circumlocutory expressions may consist of
words borrowed from other languages spoken in the
neighbourhood. In all likelihood, this is what has happened in
the case of /ma:rkuNDi/ and /kuilibara/. Though levirate is
a Munda custom, it has been given expression through a
Dravidian compound after it became a taboo, especially among
the higher castes of the then Odia society.

Conclusion

To conclude, the words like /ma:rkuNDi/ and /kuilibara/

demonstrate an intricate and interesting cultural past of the Odia
society. Though convergence takes place normally between two
languages, cultures, or societies the present study demonstrates
a multi-level convergence involving Munda, Dravidian, and Odia,
which belongs to the Indo-Aryan stock.
28 - Vaagartha

References

Burrow, Thomas and Murray B. Emeneau. 1984. A Dravidian

Etymological Dictionary (2nd edition). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Dalton, E. T. 1978. Tribal History of Eastern India. New Delhi: Cosmo
Publications (reprint).
Deb, Pramodachandra. 1942. pramoda abhidha:na. Cuttack: Ambika
Press.
Elwin, Verrier. 1995. The Religion of an Indian Tribe. Bombay: Oxford
University Press.
Karve, Iravati. 1965. Kinship Organization in India. Bombay: Asia
Publishing House. (2nd edition)
Linguistic Survey of India: Orissa 2002. Kolkata: Language Division,
Office of the Registrar General, India.
Mohanty, Panchanan. 2008. Dravidian Substratum and Indo-Aryan
Languages. International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics XXXVII:1,
1-20.
Praharaj, Gopal Chandra. 1931-40. purNachandra oDia: bha:sa:kosa,
Vol. I-VII. Cuttack: Utkal Sahitya Press.
Trautmann, T. R. 1995. Dravidian Kinship. New Delhi: Vistaar
Publications. (Indian edition)

***
Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
 Revisiting the Concept of Mother Tongue4

B. R. Bapuji

Students and Colleagues,

We have assembled here today to commemorate the struggle

which the Bengali-speaking students, intellectuals and other
activists of the language movement of the former East Pakistan
(presently Bangladesh) waged in order to protect their Mother
Tongue. Although the struggle began in 1947and continued up
to 1956, February 21, 1952 is considered as the most important
day because it witnessed the brutal repression of Pakistan
Government against the Bengali speakers, majority of whom
were Muslims. The struggle was to recognize Bengali as an
official language of Pakistan and as a medium of education in
East Pakistan.

To commemorate the struggle, the Government of

Bangladesh, nearly three decades after the struggle, officially
sent a proposal to UNESCO (United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization) to declare 21st February as
‗International Mother Tongue Day‘ and the General Council of
UNESCO unanimously supported the proposal on 17 th November
1999. Since 2000, several member countries have been
observing February 21 as International Mother Tongue Day.

This occasion provides us an opportunity to make a self-

criticism with regard to our practices/attitudes towards our
Mother Tongues. In this context, it is important for us to revisit
the concept of Mother Tongue and analyze its various aspects.
Before discussing the concept of Mother Tongue, it is necessary

4
Speech made at International Mother Tongue Day conducted by School of
Humanities in collaboration with CALTS on February 21, 2009.
30 - Vaagartha

to identify various domains of social life in which we use

language. Those domains are as follows.

Social domains and Language Use

Family Playground Education Religion
Literature Mass Media Military Courts
Administration Neighborhood Public gatherings Market place
Legislature Workplace Intellectual Etc.
Exchange

The term Mother Tongue is understood and defined in

various ways emphasizing various aspects. The following are
some of the definitions of Mother Tongue.

1) The Language which a child learns at home from

parents and other elders. For example, if a girl learns
Malayalam at home from her parents, her mother
tongue is Malayalam. [This is also called ‗Cradle Tongue‘,
‗Home Language‘, ‗Primary Language‘.]
2) The language which a person learns first [also called L 1
or First Language] at home in childhood and still
understands at the time of Census. [This definition is
applicable to immigrant children to a new language
environment wherein the children may lose their Mother
Tongue in part or in totality. [Example: Children of NRIs
in USA]
3) The language a child communicates in for the first time
with his parents and other elders in the family. [This
definition is similar to that of the first one.]
4) The language which the child learns before schooling or
without schooling. [This definition is also similar to the
first one.]
5) The language used most commonly and to which the
speaker has an emotional relation. [If a person has an
emotional relation with Telugu and uses Telugu in most
of the social domains mentioned a while ago, then
Telugu is his Mother Tongue.]
6) The Language one knows best. [For instance, one may
know more than one language; yet his Mother Tongue
 Vaagartha - 31

will be that language in which he has maximum degree

of proficiency.]
7) The Language one counts in, thinks in, dreams in, writes
a dairy in, writes poetry in, etc. [One best test to
ascertain one‘s Mother Tongue is to know the language
in which a person dreams.]

From these definitions we may isolate certain criteria which

help us in identifying a language as a Mother Tongue.

Criteria to identify MT/L1

Criterion Its meaning

Origin The language one learns first.
Domain The language one learns first at home.
Competence The language one knows best.
Function The language one uses most.
Attitudes The language one identifies with.
World view The language one counts in, thinks in,
dreams in, writes a dairy in, writes
poetry in, etc.

Is it possible to have two MTs?

To some scholars, the definitions mentioned so far appear to be

imprecise and subject to various biased interpretations,
especially with respect to bilingual children from ethnic minority
groups. The reason is that these definitions largely refer to
basically monolingual societies which are characterized by the
predominant use of one language accompanied by existence of
small minority language groups.

Then, what about basically Multilingual societies where there

is one official language accompanied by numerous other
languages?

Now we need to seek an answer to the question, ‗Is it

possible to have two Mother Tongues?‘
32 - Vaagartha

A brief answer to this question is, one can have two Mother
Tongues if they have parents with different Mother Tongues and
if there is one language in the home and another outside.
However, in such situations, we need to take the following
aspects of Mother Tongue into consideration.

Aspects of Mother Tongue

 Relative proficiency
 Mode of use [spoken/written]
 Order of learning [Mother Tongue/Other Tongue]
 Emotional involvement
 Usefulness in communication
 Function in social advance

These aspects play varied roles depending on the historical

context of a given Mother Tongue. For instance, ‗Emotional
involvement‘ plays the most dominant role in a newly
‗independent‘ nation while ‗Function in Social Advancement‘
plays the most dominant role in a nation where market is the
driving force. However, some multilingual speaker-scholars
argue that technically/linguistically speaking it is not possible to
have two Mother Tongues. Let us consider the argument of
Albert Schweitzer (who was equally at home with Latin, Greek,
French and German) in his ‗Autobiography‘ [as cited in
Pattanayak]

My own experience makes me think it only self-deception if

any one believes that he has two mother tongues. He may
think that he is equally master of each. Yet it is invariably the
case that he actually thinks only in one and it is only in that he
is really creative. If anyone assures me that he has two
languages each as thoroughly familiar to him as the other, I
immediately ask him in which of them he counts and reckons,
in which he can best give me the names of kitchen utensils
and tools used by a carpenter or smith and in which of them
he dreams. I have not come across anyone who, when thus
 Vaagartha - 33

tested, had not had to admit that one of the languages

occupied a second place.

While citing these observations of a polyglot scholar,

Pattanayak adds, ―Even if one acquires equal mastery over two
or more languages, still one usually has a dominant cognitive
style in one language.‖

Language Maintenance and Shift

There are a couple of concepts connected with the concept of

Mother Tongue. They are ‗Language Maintenance‘ and
‗Language Shift‘.

Language Maintenance refers to the continuance of use of

Mother Tongue (MT)/ Language1 (L1) in the historically allotted
functions/domains. In other words, it is the retention of the
mother tongue in spite of the social pressures of the same
[basically monolingual] or host [basically bilingual/monolingual]
society. Language Maintenance is also called ‗Language Loyalty‘.

Language Shift refers to the gradual or sudden use of

language or languages other than MT/L 1 in the historically
allotted functions/domains. In other words, it is the loss of
mother tongue [usually of the immigrants/linguistic minorities]
and possible assimilation of the other language in its place.
Language Shift is also called Language Loss/Decline/Death.
Language Death will be in the form of ‗murder‘ or ‗suicide‘.

Language Murder

Languages do not die ‗natural deaths‘ but are killed by those

wishing to destroy the Language community. For example, the
English colonialists and succeeding American administration
exterminated the native American Indian population and their
languages. The colonialists brutally herded the American Indians
on to isolated reservations; forced the native Indian children into
an English speaking educational system and environment. The
result had been the replacement of native languages with
34 - Vaagartha

English. (Bill Piatt, in ―? Only English? Law and Language Policy

in the United States‖, 1990).

Language Suicide

It is impossible to stamp out a language which the people are

determined to keep alive. But it is possible when a language
surrenders itself to foreign idiom, and when all its speakers
become bilingual, the penalty is death. Normally, language
suicide takes place when the speakers of a given language
surrender to another language ―under duress or because of its
utility, prestige and the social rewards connected with its
employment‖ (Hertzler, 1965:198).

As far as regional languages of India are concerned, the

majority of speakers are illiterate or semi-literate and hence it is
unlikely that they commit language suicide. However, the literate
or educated minority may surrender to English and may commit
mother(-tongue) suicide because of their ―hunger‖ and ―indecent
passion‖ for English.

‗Hunger‘ and ‗Indecent Passion‘ for English

As many of us are aware that English language had been initially

imposed by the British colonialists and continued by the English-
speaking American neo-colonialists to whom the Indian
ruling/power elite including the Educational Planners are
subservient. The Indian ruling classes, in accordance with their
subservient ideology and practice, initially opened ‗windows‘ to
English language and opened ‗doors‘ since mid-1980s and
removed the doors since early 1990s in the name of ‗Reforms‘.
The term ‗reforms‘ is a cover term for policies of ‗Privatization‘,
‗Liberalization‘ and ‗Globalization‘ in every walk of life including
‗education‘. The result was flooding of private educational
institutions offering exclusively English medium instruction at the
cost of Mother Tongue education. This led to commodification of
education and the students belonging to ‗educationally and
socially backward classes‘ (= STs, SCs, OBCs) and also the
 Vaagartha - 35

‗Economically Backward Classes‘ (= poorer sections of the so-

called ‗Forward‘/ ‗Other‘ castes) are unable to purchase ‗quality‘
education which is synonymous to English education. Even
introduction of English medium sections in Government schools
will not benefit the poorer sections/communities since there
exists a hierarchy between the Private and Government schools
in terms of infrastructure, trained teachers beside relevant
inequalities among the families of the students which will also
influence their performance. In other words, there are as many
‗classes‘ of English medium schools as there are ‗social classes‘
in our society. We have a wide range of English medium schools
beginning from semi-slum based convents to exorbitantly
expensive corporate schools. This stratification is reflected in the
‗proficiency‘ of English language of the students studied in
respective schools.

Same is the case with other former colonies including

Bangladesh whose students and intellectuals fought to protect
their Mother Tongue in late forties and early fifties. Now, for the
same reasons mentioned with reference to India, under the
impact of Privatization, Liberalization and Globalization, there
exist 50 private universities and countless private educational
institutes which offer English medium education. This is a
paradox in the history of Bangladesh since the then speakers of
Bengali laid down their lives for the protection of their Mother
Tongue whereas the present-day literate speakers of Bengali,
like the literate Indians, are heading towards Language suicide.

Solutions: Long-term and Short-term

What then is the solution for reversing the trend? For many
problems, we have ‗long term‘ or ‗permanent‘ solutions as well
as ‗temporary solution or relief‘. The permanent solution in this
matter is an anti-imperialist policy in every field including
Education. An anti-imperialist education policy implies: (a)
Literacy to the vast masses of native population through Mother
Tongues; (b) Imparting all kinds of education at all levels
through the Mother Tongues; and (c) Not assigning a socially
prestigious position or politically dominant role to the languages
of the Imperialist powers at the expense of languages which
36 - Vaagartha

majority of the native population speaks. This does not however

imply ‗hatred‘ to the language of the Imperialist power as such
but opposition to its imposition on the subject population. Thus,
for example, we need not hate English but at the same time we
must hate, to use the expressions of Cooper (as cited in Kachru,
1984:191-2), the ―hunger‖ and ―indecent passion‖ for English.
This kind of decent hatred is urgently needed because as Braj
Kachru (1984: 191-2) rightly observed two and half decades
ago, ―the roots of English are deeper now than they were during
the period of political colonization‖ and ― the power bases for
English today exist in almost all continents‖.

To erode the power bases of languages of the Imperialist

powers, Linguists and Language teachers will have to endeavor
to build strong power bases for the languages of the Ex-
colonies/ Neo-colonies/ Dependencies in terms of Corpus
Language Planning (=Graphization, Modernization,
Standardization and other forms of ‗Language Development‘)
and enable them to function in all the social domains within the
boundaries of their Nations-states or speech communities. This
endeavor will raise the utility, status and prestige of the
languages spoken by the majority of the population in a given
Nation-state or speech community. It is an urgent need of the
hour—the hour of ‗hunger‘ and ‗indecent passion‘ for English—
because people, especially the large majority of Illiterate people
derive immense social power if they receive education—both
language education and non-language education—through a
language which they always speak than a language which they
never spoke in daily life. [This does not, however, mean that
illiterate people, that is, largely exploited people, derive social
power through mother-tongue education only. It is needless to
mention that we must radically change the structure of all our
institutions (economic, political and cultural) before we can
effectively solve any of our language problems.

As a temporary measure to protect our Mother Tongues, we

need to do the following:
1. Exert pressure on the governments to implement a
uniform medium of education in both government
and private educational institutions.
 Vaagartha - 37

2. Demand the state governments to give ‗special‘

treatment in the sphere of employment for those
who pursued their education in the Mother Tongue
medium.
3. Encourage the children to speak in the mother
tongue in all social domains other than the school;
4. Discourage the children from using expressions like
‗Mummy‘, ‗Daddy‘, ‗Aunty‘, ‗Uncle‘ and encourage
the use of equivalent expressions in the Mother
Tongue;
5. Encourage the children to read ‗creative‘ literature
available in the Mother Tongue.

Striving earnestly to achieve the goals, both long term and

short term, is the right beginning in a right direction to protect
our Mother Tongues. Such an effort will be a real tribute that we
can pay to those who had laid down their lives for the protection
of the Mother Tongue. Otherwise, celebrations of this kind will
remain mere rituals.

References

Bapuji, B.R. 1993. Imperialism, Linguistics and Language Education. In

Bapuji (ed.), Society, State and Education: Essays in the Political
Sociology of Language Education. Madras: T.R. Publications.
Hertzler, Joyce O. 1965. A Sociology of Language. New York: Random
House.
Kachru, Braj B. 1984. The Alchemy of English. Social and Functional
Power of Non-Native Varieties. In Kramaroe Cheris et al (ed.),
Language and Power. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.
Pattanayak, Debi Prasanna. 1984. Mother Tongue Education.
Piatt, Bill. 1990. ?Only English?: Law and Language Policy in the United
States. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

***
Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
 A Hindi-Telugu Bi-directional Machine
Translation System

Uma Maheshwar Rao G., K. V. Subbarao, Bindu Madhavi, B. &

Christopher Mala

Introduction

The development of Machine Translation (MT) is one of the most

challenging tasks of Natural Language Processing Applications.
In MT there are a number of approaches that are being
practiced all over the world, chiefly, they are Direct translations,
Interlingual translations, Transfer based translations and a
combination of these beside the statistical and corpus based
methods. It is a known fact that Indian languages exhibit a
considerable amount of diversity between them at every level
viz. morphological, syntactic, semantic and lexical levels. In the
Transfer Based approach a representation of source language
(SL) at certain level is transferred to the corresponding target
language (TL) representation. Keeping these in mind, building a
Machine Translation System for these languages using Transfer
based Method can be non-trivial and challenging. The present
paper discusses the successful implementation of the Transfer
based Approach to the Machine Translation (MT) System for
Hindi<->Telugu. Different resources for this system come from
eleven different institutions across India.

This system (IL-ILMT) is an assembly of various linguistic

modules run on specific engines whose output is sequentially
maneuvered and modified by a series of operations till the
output is generated. The most crucial linguistic modules include,
Morphological Analyzer (MA), Parts of Speech Tagger (POS-T),
and Simple Parser (SP), Transfer Grammar Component (TG),
Lexical Transfer module consisting of a Bilingual Dictionary and a
Concept Dictionary, Agreement module (AGR) and a
Morphological Generator (Word-gen). The system is built and is
now being tested and evaluated at www.ilmt.iiit.ac.in/sampark.

In this paper, we report the Hindi -Te lugu biling u a l MT

system. In Sect. 2, we describe its architecture and certain main
 Vaagartha - 39

concepts. Sect. 3 concerns with the implementation and

description of various modules. Finally, we conclude our
paper in Sect. 4.

2. Hindi-Telugu MT system architecture

The Hindi-Telugu MT system is based on analyze-transfer-

generate model. First, analysis of the source language, then the
transfer of analyzed structures and vocabulary to the target
language would be carried out, and finally the target language
would be generated. For this we have adopted the Black Board
Architecture (Pawan Kumar et.al, 2010) as it enables to re-use
the output of the previous modules. In this architecture,
heterogeneous nature of modules does not affect their
operations as all of them operate on common in-memory data
structure. In the Black Board Architecture as there is no fixed
order of module execution.

The black board architecture gives a flexible environment for

module integration where each module is pluggable component,
and one module can be easily replaced by another version and
continues to function even after a module in between has failed.
The following modules in the pipe may still work on the existing
in-memory data structure, and operations can proceed further,
providing graceful degradation of the system.

3. Module Level details of the System

3.1. The Format:

The entire system works on a unique standard format called the

Shakti Standard Format (SSF) (Akshra Bharati et.al, 2009). The
multi-column format vividly represents input and output of each
module throughout the system. This is especially designed to
represent different levels of analysis. The analyses are: 1.
Constituent level analysis and 2. Relational-Structure level
analysis. The former is used to store simple phrase level analysis
and the latter for storing relations between simple parses.
Feature structures are used to store attribute-value pairs for a
phrasal node as well as for a word or a token. The attribute
40 - Vaagartha

value pairs store relations in different columns. The following is a

description of the column format in SSF:

Column 1 stores the node address, mainly for human

readability. Column 2 stores the word or word-group input. The
symbol ―((‖ represents the start of the word or word-group and
the symbol ―))‖ to represent the end of the word or word-group.
Column 3 stores the chunk name or the POS tag of the words
occurring in the sentence. Column 4 stores the Morphological
information (feature structures) of the words. Column 4 contains
attribute features of word form in 8 fields, which are mandatory
for all languages. These fields are as follows: 1st field contains
root/base of the word form, 2nd field contains lexical category of
word form, 3rd, 4th and 5th contains values for gender, number
and person respectively, 6th field stores information with regard
to the oblique or direct form of the stem in case of nouns, 7th
field contains case marker in case of nouns and tense in case
of verbs and the 8th field stores the exact suffix representing the
features presented in 3-7. The other feature about the word is
stored in the Column 4 as key value pair.

3.2. Source Analysis:

Tokenizer: The tokenizer converts a text into a sequence of

tokens (words, punctuation marks, etc.) within the Shakti
Standard Format.

a. Morphological analyzer (MA): A Morphological Analyzer

analyzes and identifies the root and the grammatical features of
the word. Word and Paradigm based approaches have given
good success rates for Indian languages and the current
Morphological Analyzer adopted this model. (Uma Maheshwar
Rao et. al. 2007).

2 suMxarawA unk <fs af='suMxarawA,n,f,sg,3,d,0,0'>|<fs

af='suMxarawA,n,f,pl,3,d,0,0'>|<fs
af='suMxarawA,n,f,sg,3,o,0,0'>|<fs
af='suMxarawA,n,f,pl,3,o,0,0'>

b. Parts of speech tagger (POS-T): Part of speech tagging is

the process of assigning a unique part of speech to each word
 Vaagartha - 41

(token) in the sentence. This process helps in identifying the role

of each word (token) in a sentence. Here we are using CRF
(conditional random field) tagger which has taken 200k manually
tagged data as training corpus.

prAkqwika JJ <fs
af='prAkqwika,adj,any,any,,any,,'>
suMxarawA NN <fs
af='suMxarawA,n,f,sg,3,d,0,0'>|<fs
af='suMxarawA,n,f,pl,3,d,0,0'>|<fs
af='suMxarawA,n,f,sg,3,o,0,0'>|<fs
af='suMxarawA,n,f,pl,3,o,0,0'>

c. Chunker: Chunking involves identifying non-recursive

combinations of word groups involving nouns (NP), verbs
(VGF/VGNF), adjectives (JJP) and adverbs (RBP) etc. in a given
sentence. Here we use statistical methods to identify and tag
chunks in a sentence (following ILMT Tagset, ILMT 2007).

1 (( NP 1.1 prAkqwika JJ <fs

af='prAkqwika,adj,any,any,,any,,'>
1.2 suMxarawA NN <fs
af='suMxarawA,n,f,sg,3,d,0,0'>
1.3 se PSP <fs af='se,psp,,,,,,'> )) ))

d. Simple parser (SP): Identifies and names Thematic

relations between a verb and its participant noun in the
sentence, based on the Computational Paninian Grammar
framework (Akshar Bharati et. al. 2009).

e. Transfer Grammar (TG): Wherever, the source language

does not have an equivalent structure in the target language, a
structural transformation is required to convert the source
language structure into an acceptable target language structure.
Such cases can be found at every level wherever divergence
occurs between the source and the target language. TG Module
contains rules which convert the parsed structure of the source
language into the desired structure in the target language giving
the acceptable target structures. For example,
H: hara ladakA jo KadA hEM vo laMbA hE
T: nilabadina prawi abbAyi poVdavEnavAdu
42 - Vaagartha

g. Multi-Word Expression Transfer (MWE): Multi-Word

Expression module involves identification and transfer of
frequently used non-compositional phrases, compounds,
reduplicatives, etc. from the source language into the target
language. For example,
H: jAnA jAwA hE
T: prasixXi ceVMxiMxi

h. Lexical transfer (LT): Root words identified by the

morphological analyzer are looked up in a bilingual dictionary for
the target language equivalent using conceptuvally linked
appropriate lexical substitution including function words.

(( NP <fs af='స ౌందర్యౌం,n,f,sg,3,d,@తో,0' head='suMxarawA'

drel='k3:6' name='1'>

i. Agreement (Agr): Performs checking and reconstructing

gender-number-person agreement (wherever it is required)
between the subject and the predicate in the target sentence,
ensuring proper agreement. It is also called Sentence Generator.

j. Vibhakti Splitter or Complex Inflection Splitter (VBS):

Separates complex cases of inflections involving one or more
postpositions in case of nouns or auxiliary verbs in case of verbs
ensuring proper word generation.

k. Word generator (WG): This module takes root words and

their associated grammatical features, selects appropriate
suffixes and concatenates them into well-formed word forms.

l. Post Processing: If necessary enables unacceptable

sequences of words automatically modified by a set of post
processing rules to generate more acceptable structures of the
target language. For example, Hindi to Telugu deletion of ‗hE‘
and from Telugu to Hindi generation of ‗hE‘ etc. For example,
1. H: vaha acCI ladakI hE
T: AmeV maMci ammAyi

H: hExarAbAxa AMXra praxeSa ki rAjaXAni hE

T: hExarAbAxu AMXra praxeSa rAjaXAni
 Vaagartha - 43

4. Conclusion

The architecture of this system is based on analyze-transfer-

generate paradigm. The flow of the input sentence in the system
is as shown in figure 1. All the modules have been integrated on
the dashboard, a tool, where the data flow in the pipeline is
configured. This ensures speed, since it uses shared memory.
The MT system demonstrated here is a completely automated
translation system without involving human intervention at any
stage from analysis, processing and generation. Though the
current system is built for the tourism domain, it can be
extended to any other domain. The system can be used to
translate web pages or text material from books, magazines,
newspapers etc. written in standard language. Though the
output of MT system will never be as human translated text, yet
it is evaluated (Mona et.al) against certain criteria specifying
thresholds of understandability, comprehensibility and accuracy.
This project sets its goal, to produce output comprehensible and
for this, the evaluation reference set of one thousand sample
input sentences (with syntactic structures having nesting up to
two clauses deep), with their expected output, manually
translated, has been provided with.

Sampark runs on Linux platform with Apache-2.0 server. The

browser used for the online translation can be Firefox 1.0.4, IE
6.0 or Mozilla 1.7.8.

Figure1

Figure 1
44 - Vaagartha

References

Akshar Bharati, Mridual Gupta, Vineet Yadav & Dipti Mishra Sharma.
2009. Simple Parser for Indian Languages in Dependency
Framework. In 3rd Linguistic Annotation Workshop (LAWIII),
SIGANN, 47th ACL- 4th IJCNLP, Singapore.
Akshar Bharati, Rajeev Sangal & Dipti Mishra Sharma. 2009. SSF: Shakti
Standard format. Report No: IIIT/TR/2009/85. CLTRC, IIIT-
Hyderabad
Anthes G. 2010. Automated Translation of Indian Languages. ACM 53
(1).
ILMT Consortium. 2007. ILMT SRS and Functional Specifications
(mimeo). Hyderabad.
Uma Maheswar Rao G, Amba P. Kulkarni & Christopher M. 2007.
Functional Specifications of Morphology (memo). Hyderabad.
Uma Maheswar Rao G. & Christopher M. 2010. Word Synthesizer
Engine. In Mona Parakh (ed.). Morphological Analyzer and
Generators. Page 73-81. Mysore; CIIL.
Uma Maheswar Rao G. & Parameshwari K. 2010. On the Description of
Morphological Data for Morphological Analysers and Generators: A
case of Telugu, Tamil and Kannada. In Mona Parakh (ed.).
Morphological Analyzer and Generators. Page 114-123. Mysore;
CIIL.

***
Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
 Optimizing Humor in Language Classrooms

Tariq Khan

Abstract

Development of efficient language classrooms has been the

concern all over the world for ages. An efficient language
classrooms may be characterized by virtues such as; how
interesting and relevant the lessons are, how easy and quick is
the acquisition, its integration with other knowledge systems,
timely recall, judicious use of the same and creative
modifications in the skills acquired. The objective of this paper is
to vindicate classroom humor as an instructional strategy. It
advocates an objective and optimum use of humor so as to
create inviting language classrooms and integrate learning with
fun. Humor in pedagogy, in general and language pedagogy in
particular, as principle as well as practice, has been there for
ages. Philosophers, scholars, religious or political leaders and
teachers have attempted to exploit the riches of humor for
pedagogical outcomes. Still the discrepancy between the input
and intake prevails. There have been vigorous attempts, in past
as well as in recent times, to evolve or adopt mechanisms which
can enhance the efficiency. This paper seeks to present ‗humor‘
as a tool to reduce the discrepancy between input and intake.
Such use of humor in language classrooms has behavioral as
well intellectual aspects. Besides discussing these aspects, this
paper contemplates on how to mold these possibilities into
deliberate positive outcomes.

Introduction and content map

Increasing efficiency in pedagogy in general and language

pedagogy in particular has always engaged the thought and
concern from the scholars as well as academicians. Let's begin
with two introspective questions that the language instructors
are generally faced with ―Do we teach in an interesting
manner?‖ Putting the same in different words, the whole
teaching community is faced with the question ―Do language
learners enjoy what we teach?‖ The answer to this question may
46 - Vaagartha

lie anywhere between the extremities of YES and NO. Whereas,

on part of the learners a universal realization is that ―Lessons
that are enjoyed are learned better.‖ That is to assert that when
the lessons are interesting learning is fun-filled, quicker than
usual and long lasting.

The basic assumption of this paper is that humor decreases

the cognitive load during learning, supports the associative
memory, positively affects the self-esteem of the learners and
ensures attentiveness from them. However, the use humor in
classrooms can have a negative side too. Thus, an optimal use
of humor through proper quantification and appropriate
implementation is expected to increase the efficiency of
language classrooms. How this is realized will depend on how
the various forms of humor are exploited. Traditionally, humor
has been divided into four categories: Figural, Verbal, Visual, and
Auditory. The humor to be used in the classroom situation may
belong to any of these categories or may even emanate from a
careful blending of the categories. The availability of computers
and multi-media has made this sort of cross-fertilization easy to
administer and maintain.

Justifying humor in language classrooms

Humor in classroom is somewhat a debated issue. The

arguments regarding the use of humor in classrooms are based
on the possible outcomes of this amalgamation. However,
numerous research initiatives have confirmed the facilitative role
humor plays in learning situations (Bruner, 2002; Askildson,
2005; Morrison, 2008 & Garner, 2005). It can be said that a
great majority of the scholarship participating in this debate
believes that the use of humor as a resource for educational
objectives will have positive outcomes. Still, humor remains an
under-explored and much under-utilized resource for teachers
and trainers. Humor is an overlooked natural resource that can
play a crucial role in creating a healthy learning environment, but
there is very little written about using humor to meet the
escalating challenges that confront educators (Morrison, 2008).
The most significant aspect of engaging humor for pedagogy is
the prospective creative output. Humor and creativity are great
 Vaagartha - 47

companions, each a perfect complement for the other in

nourishing thinking. Risk taking is the nucleus of creativity and of
humor; the freedom to express wild ideas activates spirited
conversation and sparks the imagination. The creative process
flourishes when accompanied by a sense of humor (Morrison,
2008). Not only that, the use of humor in educational settings is
promising in the form of various unintended benefits like
decrease in stress level and emotional well-being. The use of
humor as a pedagogical tool has been shown to reduce
classroom anxiety, create a more positive atmosphere, as well as
facilitate the learning process (Garner, 2005).

Humor is a cooperative activity which requires wider and

varied participation from the surrounding. It has to do with the
rapport between the teachers and students and also among the
students themselves. If exercised judiciously, humor can be a
tool to ensure greater cooperation among the people involved
the teaching-learning process. Humor can be nurtured and
integrated into the classroom such that it fosters a sense of
openness and respect between students and teachers. When
students feel safe, they can enjoy the learning process and each
other. The thoughtful use of humor by instructors can contribute
to teaching effectiveness (Kher et al., 1999).

Besides fun and amusement, the use of humor involves

creative blend of (im)possible contexts. This, taken as a mental
exercise, can prepare the learners to face unfamiliar situations of
academics as well as life with an increased degree of boldness.
Tamblyn (2003) regards humor and creativity as one and the
same. He advocates that the case for using humor in teaching
has greater implications, say in life itself. According to Tamblyn
in this random experiment called Life, we are frequently required
to make decisions with insufficient data, get the job done with
inadequate tools and accept less than 100 percent success.
Humor through creative playfulness prepares you for uncertainty.
Here, in this paper the author intends to voice for the
incorporation of humor for pedagogical gains in general and
language learning in particular. Banas et al. (2011) presents a
report on four decades of research on humor in educational
settings. They report that the use of positive, non-aggressive
48 - Vaagartha

humor has been associated with a more interesting and relaxed

learning environment, higher instructor evaluations, greater
perceived motivation to learn and enjoyment of the course. They
also report that the use of negative or aggressive humor aimed
at students has been associated with many of the opposite
outcomes, anxious and uncomfortable learning environment,
lower evaluation of instructors, increased student distraction and
less enjoyment of class. The researchers in humor as well as
pedagogy have both emphasized on the need for an enhanced
level of theoretical engagements with humor and its effects on
creative thinking, learning, memory etc.

Humor in language classrooms – the affective

aspects

The behavioral aspect of humor is a much debated phenomena.

Educators seem to have both faith as well as fear in involving
humor in the classrooms. The fear they express ranges from
change in the classroom environment, lack of seriousness, rise of
indiscipline, distraction and subsequent loss of concentration.
This in turn has made the use of humor in educational settings is
low by any standards.

The reasons behind the abysmal avoidance of humor for

pedagogical purposes are many. Teachers and trainers resist
using humor because they fear the possible negative
repercussions. May be they will bomb. May be they will
inadvertently make an inappropriate joke. May be their topic is
too serious for humor. May be humorous, playful audience will be
too hard to control (Tamblyn, 2003). However, if executed
optimally, the affective aspects of humor use in the classrooms
are greatly positive. It helps in the development of a fine rapport
between the instructors and the learners. Having achieved this,
the instructor can accelerate the pace of teaching and learning
and thereby increase the efficiency of classroom.
 Vaagartha - 49

Humor in language classrooms – the cognitive

aspects

Humor increases the potential for divergent thinking and the

ability to solve complex problems. By linking previously
unconnected areas of the brain, humor forges new associations
involving existing concepts (Morrison, 2008). In Using Humor to
Maximize Learning, (2008) he treats humor as the tonic for tired
educators. He also highlights six advantages of classroom
humor: Contributes to Mind/Body Balance, Maximizes Brain
Power, Enhances Creativity, Facilitates Communication, Supports
the Change Process, and Creates an Optimal Environment for
Teaching and Learning. There is plenty of intellectual activity
taking place when a certain humor succeeds besides exhibiting
an incongruity of frames or schema or meanings. Drawing from
Khan (2010) the cognitive aspects of humor include the
following:

1. The ability to think creative & abstract, flexibly &

alternatively, and co-relate between real and possible
worlds.
2. The ability to process literal as well as non- literal
(especially metaphorical) meanings.
3. The ability to analyze how a certain event may relate
to certain other events merely on the basis of
similarity or differences between their attributes.
4. The ability to draw inferences, use entailment and
presuppositions from given information.

Humor and the training of (meta)linguistic skills

There are numerous ways in which language teaching and

language learning have been tried. As a result the repository of
teaching and learning methods has also grown in number.
However, the efficiency in this regard is still a matter of concern.
Efficiency in language pedagogy is yet to escalate in the
proportion the methods have increased. The teaching research,
especially with reference to language pedagogy, has been
plagued by the (un)necessary debates surrounding dichotomous
use of terms like Competence versus Performance, Input versus
Intake, Language Use versus Language Development and
50 - Vaagartha

Realization Strategy versus Proficiency. However, leaving these

debates aside, if instances of verbal humor such as jokes, puns
or riddles are analyzed one is sure to arrive at satisfactory
conclusions; that they are speech acts complete in their own and
that they require an understanding level higher than that of non-
contextual/ rule-based expressions. Humor represents perhaps
one of the most genuine and universal speech acts within human
discourse (Askildson, 2005). Thus, it naturally qualifies as an
element within the course content and instructional manuals for
the development of language and communication skills.

A typical feature of verbal humor like jokes and puns is that

it involves language manipulation in such a way that the
contexts are multiplied in an unpredictable way. Thus a regular
use of humor like creative language would ensure greater levels
of meta-linguistic awareness. Humorous and playful use of
rhyme, alliterations and assonance from the target language
adds to an indirect acquisition and observance of phonological
rules. Similarly, fun-filled activities involving oxymorons result in
greater lexical and semantic awareness among the learners.
Thus, humor can be used as a tool for developing skills like
phonological games, word-sense disambiguation, sentential logic
and the like. Gradually, when the learners are able to
successfully cut jokes the instructors can conclude that the
learners have acquired the pragmatic and cultural aspects of the
language use. Humor can be used as a vital tool for engaging
learners with contemporary issues. Besides, it can also be
trained as the easiest way to package and recall various issues
concerning socio-political life. Taking the issue of incorporation of
humor in classrooms a step further, Berk (2000) examined the
viability of using humor in tests and exams. The experimental
findings conclude that humor can greatly reduce the anxiety and
improve performance of the test takers.

What can be done? Recommended activities

The objective or proposal of this paper is not to advocate

transformation of teachers into classroom clowns or classrooms
into jokers' club. Rather the intent is to explore and exploit the
magic of humor of assorted kinds to develop an inviting
 Vaagartha - 51

educational setting and escalate the volume and pace of

learning. The role of the educator is as significant as the syllabus
designer or the material developers. Only when the students are
perceived as creative learners and humor is employed as
material as well as means, the language classrooms will wear an
inviting outlook. In this regard the following activities are mere
suggestive.

Fantasies and personification – Putting learners into

imaginative frame of mind by asking them to respond to
unforeseen but pleasant situations like fantasies is assumed to
facilitate a rapport between the educators and learners and
between the learners and the course contents. Propositions like
'If you were a ...' or 'What if all of a sudden …' are somewhat
proven techniques for developing creative thinking among the
learners. Learners often enjoy seeing their subjects and
conceptual terms lying therein, being treated as humans and
animals.

Cooking and tuning – The instructors may employ

techniques like Cooking and Dining with the difficult concepts
with the objectivity of getting learners acquainted with them and
have fun. The instructors may allow and participate with the
learners in making songs for praising, cursing, mocking at
seemingly difficult concepts using familiar tune.

Learning with recall/ reminder cards – Cards which have the

content map of the lesson or figural summary of it have often
proved to be of great advantage to the learners.

Crafting and Weaving stories – The instructors may create

stories or plays and manipulate them in such a way that the
concepts learned recently become the characters of the story or
play. The learners may also be asked to replicate this as an
exercise.

Retelling jokes and redrawing cartoons – The learners may

be asked to observe and retell a joke with modified contexts.
The instructors may also attempt at drawing cartoons and ask
the learners to redraw them in such a way that the taught
52 - Vaagartha

concepts are presented in a humorous way. They may ask the

Word plays, puns, stories, jokes and riddles all involve the
creative use of language.

Restructuring and renaming – The various elements of a

classroom like the display board, doors, windows, curtains,
furniture, walls and ceilings can all be restructured and their
appearance can be manipulated in such a way that they add fun
to learning. Also, the various activities employed in language
teaching and recall of concepts can be renamed in such a way
that the learners don't fear them and enjoy participating in the
same. For instance, 'Word War' for word recall and 'Sentence
Shooters' for sentence construction. The activities like role play
and caricature have also been found to create good opportunity
for expression among the learners.

Humor has to be formed part of educational policy itself. The

syllabus designing, material development, the teaching activities
as well as evaluation need to create space for the creative blend
of fun and learning. There cannot be a singular way of
incorporating humor into the language classrooms. Thus, the
above activities are non-exhaustive and are only suggestive. The
success in this regard also depends on how they get
implemented in real situation. In fact the education givers need
to keep thinking about the right quantity of dose as well as the
learning oriented form of humor.

Optimizing humor as an instructional strategy

Better said than done! The educators are faced with the real test
when it comes to applying humor in classroom situation. Humor
is not a pedagogical panacea, and the mere inclusion of humor
will not assure that learning will occur. If humor is used too
frequently or inappropriately, the students might perceive topics
as trivial and the instructor as less-than-serious (Shatz &
LoSchiavo, 2006). Morrison (2008) observes that ―Humor is
difficult: It is difficult to define and difficult to practice. It is
especially difficult to integrate into most school cultures. The
training of teachers in employing humor in the classroom is
regretfully missing in the teacher training programs (Ziv, 1988).
 Vaagartha - 53

Thus there is a need to understand what humor to employ, when

and how frequently. Simple joke-telling does not possess the
attributes that well planned and content specific humor adds to
the learning environment. Humor is most effective when it is
appropriate to the audience, targeted to the topic and placed in
the context of the learning experience (Garner, 2005). Most
researchers who advocate humor as a supportive tool in
teaching also stress upon the appropriate timings and adequate
dose of it. The appropriate use of humor is a powerful tool to
build a sense of community, promote creativity and reduce
conflict (Kher et al., 1999).

It is of utmost significance that the humor used in the

classrooms doesn't compromise on the learners' self-respect, and
feeling of hostility or discrimination. Thus, the materials or
manner of humor should not arise a feeling of insult or ridicule
among the two parties involved. Another factor dictating the
selection of material is the target of humor. The target is often a
victim because most humor is the result of ridiculing or attacking
the target. The safest target is the instructor, because self-
deprecating humor avoids offending or alienating others, and
allows students to view the teacher as more human (Shatz &
LoSchiave, 2006). Hellman (2007) identifies seven steps for an
appropriate use of humor in classroom; be yourself, pick your
spots, be politically correct, know your audience, use oxymoron,
alliterations and acronyms, sometimes be quiet and acknowledge
others' humor. Since these steps were recommended by Stuart
Hellman, they are also called Stu's Seven Simple Steps to
Success. Thus the judicious use of humor in educational settings
ought to observe some dos and don'ts:

Be precise and comprehensible – The piece of humor should

be perfect sized, neither too short nor too long. The language
should be easily understandable or else simplified. Often a joke
on the concept learned recently is enjoyed a lot by the learners
because the learners can understand the funny aspects as well
as the learning therein. If the humor employed is enjoyed by the
teachers only or if the educator feels that the use of humor is
only for the learners and s/he has no fun to experience from it,
the objective is indeed dead. The use of humor in classroom
54 - Vaagartha

should cause fun to both the educators as well as learners.

Customize your humor – Use only related and relevant

humor – There is NO humor which can fit in all contexts and
style. An educator who uses humor successfully does a bit of
pruning and manipulation here and there in order to make the
humor suitable for the learners. The style and medium of
delivery should also be carefully chosen one. This will enhance
the receptivity of the learners as well as cause increase in their
experience of funniness.

Avoid overdose – Care for quantity and timings – The humor

use in classroom does not call for a fixed number of jokes or
even a fixed time for it. If the use of humor is too frequent, the
course would progress slowly and this in turn would negatively
affect the learning. The concerned teacher should carefully place
humor and frequent it as per the requirements. Ziv (1988)
recommends it to be 3-4 instances per hour.

Avoid causing hostility – ethnic humor, sexually colored

humor or derogatory remarks in the guise of humor or humor
causing insult should be avoided for best academic results. The
use of such kinds of humor might cause distaste and lack of
interest in the subject and instructor. Thus, instances of such
humor should best be carefully weeded out from the repository
of humor to be used in classroom.

Rephrasing comments – The comments made by the

instructors are important factors behind the loss and gain of
motivation and the consequent creative experimentations. So the
instructors need to be very careful while giving feedback and
expressing (dis)pleasure over the quality of the work. Similarly,
with respect to handling fear of failure and punishment, faith
and reward are the best options.

Making Database(s) – Creation of a database of things that

cause amusement, the experience of funniness, laughter and
enjoyment among the language learners is vital for various
reasons. One among them is planned replication of the
humorous stimuli. Besides, the preference of humor enjoyed by
 Vaagartha - 55

the learners gives ample clue about the personality traits they
are forming. An acknowledgement of learners' contribution to
humorous situations will help develop a good rapport between
the course instructors and the learners and add to positive
feelings among them.

Conclusion

Increase in efficiency has been a constant challenge faced by

the language instructors. As an applicable solution to this issue,
this paper has vindicated humor with a pedagogical outlook and
pedagogy with a humorous outlook. In the preceding sections
humor was justified as a valid tool for language pedagogy. Its
various exploitable affective and cognitive aspects were
examined. This paper emphasized that, in order to reduce the
discrepancy between input and intake of learning, the language
educators perceive pupils (especially children) as creative
learners. For the same, various classroom activities and
alternative styles of teaching have been suggested to be devised
and presented in a judicious manner. So that, humor becomes
the source, medium and goal of the language classrooms,
efficiency is satisfactorily enhanced and the limits of teachability
get positively altered.

References

Anver, Ziv. 1988. Teaching and Learning with Humor: Experiment and
Replication. The Journal of Experimental Education. Vol. 57(1) 5-
15. Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
Askildson, Lance. 2005. Effects of Humor in the Language Classroom.
Arizona Working Papers in SLAT, Vol. 12, 45-61. Arizona: University
of Arizona.
Banas, John A. et al. 2011. A Review of Humor in Educational Settings:
Four Decades of Research. Communication Education Vol. 60(1).
115-44.
Berk, Ronald A. 2000. Does Humor in Course Tests Reduce Anxiety and
Improve Performance. College Teaching. Vol. 48(4). 151-58.
Philadelphia: Routledge.
Bruner, Robert F. 2002. Transforming Thought: The Role of Humor in
Teaching. Accessed on 20-12-2011 from SSRN:
http://ssrn.com/abstract=298761
Forman, Ross. 2011. Humorous Language Play in a Thai EFL Classroom .
56 - Vaagartha

Applied Linguistics. 1-26.

Garner, R. L. 2006. Humor in Pedagogy: How Ha Ha can Lead to Aha!
College Teaching Vol. 54(1) 177-80.
Garner, Randy. 2005. Humor, Analogy and Metaphor: H.A.M. it up in
Teaching. Radical Pedagogy
Hellman, Stuart V. 2007. Humor in the Classroom: STU's Seven Simple
Steps to Success. College Teaching. Vol. 55(1). 37-39. Philadelphia:
Routledge.
Khan, Tariq. 2010. Interpreting Jokes: An Analysis of Bilingual Humor
Processing. University of Hyderabad: M. Phil Dissertation.
Khan, Tariq. 2011. Creativity in Mind-Humor in Approach: A Proposal for
(Language) Pedagogy. Paper presented In 35th Indian Social
Science Congress. December 27-31, 2011. Wardha.
Kher, Neelam et. al. 1999. Using Humor in the College Classroom to
Enhance Teaching Effectiveness in Dread Courses. Project
Innovation. Alabama.
Morrison, Mary K. 2008. Using Humor to Maximize Learning. Plymouth.
Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Group.
Shatz, Mark A. & LoSchiavo, Frank M. 2006. Bringing Life to Online
Instruction with Humor. Radical Pedagogy.
Tamblyn, Doni. 2003. Laugh and Learn; 95 ways to use humor for
effective teaching and training. New York: AMACOM.

***
Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
 Telugu Spell-Checker

Uma Maheshwar Rao G., Amba P. Kulkarni, Christopher Mala &

Parameshwari K.

Abstract

Spell Checker is an application which handles spelling

errors and Spelling Variations (SV). All the misspelt words
are marked and allowed for correction. This system also
can be used as an editor where the text is checked for
spelling errors and suggestion for correction are provided.
Telugu is an agglutinating language and has a very complex
morphology which is coupled with prolific sandhi or
morphophonemics. The sandhi that is noticed in Telugu is
not limited to internal but also external. Both consonantal
and vocalic sandhi are common and well-studied in Telugu
[Krishnamurti, 1957, 1985]. To identify the specific sandhi
type and split it appropriately is a very challenging task.
External sandhi is a linguistic phenomenon which refers to a
set of changes that occur at word boundaries. These
changes are similar to phonological processes such as
substition (modif ication by va r i o u s means)
d e l e t i o n , and insertion. External sandhi i s o f t e n
orthographically reflected in Telugu. External sandhi in such
cases, causes the formation of such forms which are
morphologically unanalyzable, thus posing a problem for all
kinds of NLP applications. In this paper, we discuss in detail
the processes external sandhi in Telugu and the
Computational tool the Spell Checker.

Introduction

In editing or Text processing one of the most common

applications is a Spell-Checker. A spell-checker is an application
program that flags words in a document that are not spelled
correctly and facilitates corrections. Words can be defined from
morphophonemic, morphological, lexical, and orthographic
perspective. Spell-checkers as stand-alone applications are
58 - Vaagartha

capable of operating on a block of text, or as part of a larger

application, such as a word processor, email client, or a search
engine. Spell-checkers are the basic tools needed for word
processing and document preparation. Designing a spell checker
for Indian languages such as Telugu poses many new challenges
not found in English, which complicates the design of the spell
checker. The Telugu language is far different from the European
languages in terms of their morphophonemics and word
formation rules. Telugu is a Dravidian language with
agglutinative morphology ( Krishnamurthi & Gwynn, 1985). It
must be noted that agglutination in its original formulation
(Sapir, 1921), refers to the property of a one-to-one mapping
between morphs/ morphemes and their functions. In Telugu,
inflectional elements (which include different kinds of auxiliary
verbs, postpositions, particles and case-markers) are always
bound to the stem resulting in highly synthetic word forms.
The number of possible verb forms for a verb stem in Telugu
therefore, is very high running into millions, aggravating the
task of the morph analyzer. For instance,

pagalagoVttiMcipeVttamananivvaxalacukolekapowunnAnu.
Pagulu+a-koVttu+iMcu+i-peVttu+a-manu+a-ivvu+a-xaluvu+u-
koVnu+a-le+aka-po+wunn+1,sg,any

be broken+a-strike+pt_ppl-keep+inf <--cause+inf-
benefactive+inf-tell +inf-permit +inf-Think+c_ppl-reflexive+inf-
neg-verbs+neg-verbs+neg.infl-go +pr.tense +1, sg

Even full morphological words can fuse together in Telugu

resulting in complex forms which b e c o m e morphologically
unanalyzable. For instance,

iMtikoVccAdu <= iMtiki +vaccAdu

UrikeVlYlAdu <= Uriki +veVlYlAdu

As this random concatenation results in longer strings they

are again broken to be realized as smaller strings in the text
inappropriate. For instance,

iMti koVccAdu and

Uri keVlYlAdu
 Vaagartha - 59

Such complexities in the morphology of Telugu point

towards the need for a more exact approach while typifying
them, similar perhaps, to the one espoused in Greenberg
(1960). The existing algorithms and techniques that are being
used to check the spelling and to generate efficient suggestions
for misspelt words as in conventional spell-checker designs are
not actually suitable for Telugu (Cf. Chavala). The Telugu
language spell-checker rather needs a different algorithm and
technique to achieve appropriate results. A rule-based approach
for spell-checkers is preferred due to its morphological richness
which usually involves a variety of phenomena such as
morphophonemic variants, dialectal variants, classical and
Modern dialectal variants, non-standard variants and misspelt
forms (!unattested variants). In this respect a spell checker is
theoretically interpreted for the first time as an effort in the
creation of an acceptable standard text bringing it into
invariance, in other words a procedure to move from variance to
invariance.

This paper presents the novel design and implementation of

a Telugu spell- checker. Morphological validation by a
Morphological Analyzer is the core component of the Telugu
Spell-Checking. Besides discussing complexities involved in spell
checking of documents in Telugu, issues involving both
orthography and morphology are discussed. A spell-checker
designed on these lines has been developed. The architecture of
the spell-checker and the spell-checking algorithm based on
Morphological Analysis and Sandhi Splitter rules are outlined. It
also includes lists of spelling variants obtained from spatio-
temporal dialects of Telugu. A spell checker customarily consists
of two parts: a set of routines for scanning the text
(Morphological Analyzer and sandhi splitting rules) and
identifying valid words, and an algorithm for comparing the
unrecognized words and word parts against a known list of
variantly spelled words and word parts.
60 - Vaagartha

Sandhi

Briefly stated, sandhi refers to a set of morpho-phonological

processes that occur at either morpheme or word
boundaries. Two types of sandhi are identified in a language,
viz. internal sandhi and external sandhi.

Internal sandhi refers to word-internal morphonological

changes that take place at morpheme boundaries during the
process of word-formation. An example of internal sandhi in
English would be the positional variation of the negative
morpheme ‗in-‘ to give the allomorph ‗im-‘ when it is prefixed
to words that begin with bilabial sounds as in ‘impossible‘.
Such processes lie obviously, within the domain of morphology.
External sandhi, on the other hand, refers to processes
that apply word-externally i.e. across word boundaries.
Examples of external sandhi formation in English are the well-
known cases of wanna /hafta /gotta contractions where the
verb combines with the infinitival ‘to‘ following it to give the
contracted form. Note that external sandhi as seen in these
examples need not always be reflected orthographically in
English (‘want to‘ while writing, but spoken as ‘wanna‘).

C ases of external sandhi formation have attracted special

attention in generative phonology. A phonological phrase,
therefore, is the domain within which external sandhi rules
operate (Selkirk, 1981). In the Dravidian languages, sandhi
(both internal and external) have a wide-spread occurrence
and are also orthographically reflected most of the time.
External sandhi formation in Telugu leads to fusion of
morphological words resulting in morphologically complex/
unanalyzable forms. This poses a problem for all natural
language processing applications such as POS-tagging,
chunking, parsing, etc. that deal with written text. The task of
tokenization becomes complex in these languages as tokens
obtained through sentence splitting can contain more than
one morphological word within them. Since external sandhi is a
consequence of (orthographically visible) phonological
processes occurring at the prosodic level, splitting such
instances of sandhi cannot fall within the purview of the morph
 Vaagartha - 61

analyzer. The task of splitting sandhi forms requires

segmentation at a different level and should be treated as
being distinct from morphological segmentation. Without this
distinction between sandhi formation and other kinds of
morphological changes, the task of morphological analysis in
languages like Telugu becomes extremely complex (Uma
Maheshwar Rao, 2002).

Data Organization

To build a spell checker we need to build a sandhi splitter first.

The linguistic data that is required to build this sandhi splitter is
as follows:
(1) Rule Format (2) Splitting Rules (3) Spelling Variation (4) Rules
Proper Names

Rule Pattern br_pt Left (L) Right (R) Mocall Conditions

no.

Del Add Del Add L R L R

1 Ak[uUAeo] 0 0 U 0 0 1 1 n,ti n,0
2 Ak[uUAeo] 0 0 I 0 0 1 1 n,ti n,0
3 Ak[uUAeo] 0 0 A 0 0 1 1 n,ti n,0
4 Ak[uUAeo] 0 0 eV 0 0 1 1 n,ti n,0
5 Aspax[au] 0 0 A 0 0 1 1 n,ti n,0
6 Awmak 0 0 A 0 0 1 1 n,0 adj,0
7 vAx[iIueoa] 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 n,0
8 vAx[iueAo] 0 0 I 0 0 1 1 n,0
9 vAx[iueAo] 0 0 U 0 0 1 1 n,0
Table 1: Rules format and the splitting rules

Currently there are about 250 split rules handcrafted and

placed in the rule format followed by the break point, then
delete or add segments on the left part of the pattern after the
split and delete or add segments in the right part of the string
resulting from split and call the morph for analyzing the left and
the right strings and the specification of categories of these
conditions if necessary.
62 - Vaagartha

Spell Variation Rules:

A series of mechanically collected, manually checked spelling

variats manually checked spelling variants in the extracted and
the corresponding collect equivalents one provided. For example,

warvAwa, waravAwa
warvAwa, waruvAwa
Adapaducu, Adabaducu
kriMxa, kiMxa

Once a variant is identified by matching against the list an

appropriate equivalent is suggested and then passed over to the
morph for analysis.

Proper Nouns:

Usually texts abound in proper names ending in _Uru, _nagar,

_reddi, _rAm, _pAdu, _puraM, _AlayaM etc. Such words are
routed through NER correctly identifies these and then passed
on to morph for analysis.
Implementation of Spell Checker

Figure 1
 Vaagartha - 63

Sandhi Splitter Algorithm

The approach followed is GENerate-ANAlyze-CONstrain-

EVALuate. In this approach, all the possible splits of a given
string are first generated and the splits that are not validated by
the morphological analyzer are subsequently pruned out.

Currently we apply only two constraints viz.

C1: All the constituents of a split must be validated by
morph. And,
C2: All unsegmented words should be validated by spell
variation rules.

The Sandhi System flow is presented in Figure 2 given below.

Figure 2
64 - Vaagartha

The basic outline of the algorithm is:

 Recursively break a word at every possible position
applying a sandhi rule and generate all possible
candidates for the Input.
 Pass the constituents of all the candidates through
the morph analyser.
 Declare the candidate as a valid candidate, if all its
constituents are recognised by the morphological
analyser and satisfy the conditions that are there in
Rule file.
 No split is possible then, Normalize the input and
pass it to the morphological analyser.

WX-Notation used in the Transcription of examples

Vowels and dicritics

a A i I u U q Q eV e E oV o O M H ;

Consonants and conjuncts

k K g G f c C j J F t T d D N w W x X n p P b B m y r rY l lY v S R s h

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 Vaagartha - 65

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Uma Maheshwar Rao, G. 2002. A Computational Grammar of Telugu.
(Mimeo) Hyderabad: University of Hyderabad.
Uma Maheshwar Rao, G. 2005. Telugu Hyper Grammar. (Mimeo and
Electronic form) Hyderabad: University of Hyderabad.
Uma Maheshwar Rao G, Amba P. Kulkarni & Christopher M, 2007.
Functional Specifications of Morphological Analyzer (mimeo).
Hyderabad.

***

Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Reversal Errors in Dyslexia: An Empirical Study
in English

Swathi P.G.

Abstract

Dyslexia is a developmental disorder which is primarily seen in

young children. The lateralization of the brain by and large takes
place by the time children are able to read. When this process is
delayed the entities are stored as mirror images to one another
in the brain and the result gets manifested in children in the
form of reversals of words while reading though they may be
able to write them perfectly well in some cases. The main focus
of this paper is to look at the word reversals and it also reports
the findings of an empirical study undertaken in this regard.

Introduction:

‗Dyslexia‘, which comes from Greek, means "difficulty with words

or language." It also means distorted words. It is basically a
reading disability which is not clearly identified with any specific
neurological abnormality. It is often confused with alexia which
is word blindness. The original connotation of the term dyslexia
is that pupils who have a hereditary inability to learn to read and
write would persist into adulthood. But, only a small percentage
of genetic factors seem to be at work. The study of dyslexia is
best undertaken in children who have an average or above
average intelligence, sensory acuity intact, no severe
neurological damage or other debilitating physical disabilities,
and who have not been hampered by serious emotional or social
problems, socioeconomic disadvantage, or inadequate
opportunity for learning.

Review of literature and theoretical foundations:

No other disorder of childhood has generated more interest or

prompted more controversy than severe and pervasive reading
disorder in otherwise normal children which is commonly
referred to as developmental dyslexia or specific reading
 Vaagartha - 67

disability. Much of the interest is due to the pioneering clinical

studies of Samuel Torry Orton (1925, 1937). Orton manifests
most prominently in the popular belief that children so afflicted
literally perceive letters backward and frequently reverse them in
their printing and writing, for instance, calling ‗b‘ as ‗d‘ or ‗was‘
as ‗saw‘. Letter reversals occupy a central role in Orton's
conceptualization of reading disability and have long been
offered as the primary support for this and other perceptual
deficit explanations. Dyslexia refers to a continuum of
impairments in the acquisition and development of written
language. A whole range of definitions for this particular reading
disorder prevail.

The majority of the theories regarding dyslexia namely those

proposed by Bryant and Bradley (1985), Miles (2006) etc. hold
that the difficulty arises because of the dysfunction in visual
perception, presumably associated with neurological disorder.
Maturation and lateral dominance problems are commonly
inferred in such instances, although some accounts make
reference to structural or functional deficits associated with brain
lesions, genetic predispositions and various other types of
neuropathology. Vellutino, Kavanagh et al (1979) opine that
reading is primarily a linguistic skill; and moreover, dyslexia is
not clearly identified with any specific neurological abnormalities.
All poor readers are poor spellers. But all poor spellers and poor
readers are not necessarily dyslexic. However, not every child
who spells inadequately should be classified as dyslexic. Letter
reversals (b/d, p/q), number reversals (6/9) and directional
sequencing errors (was/saw) in reading and writing language
have long been thought to be particularly significant indicators of
specific or primary reading disability. These are only the most
prominent features which are found in dyslexics. There are other
characteristics also such as left-right disorientation, inability to
remember numbers such as vehicle registration numbers, credit
card numbers, etc.

Types of Dyslexia:

Peter Bryant and Lynette Bradley (1985) refer to the work of

Elena Boder in the United States. Boder broadly classifies
68 - Vaagartha

dyslexia into three major types. They are listed and elaborated
below:
1. Dysphonetic: This is a kind of dyslexia where
there is difficulty in learning sound symbol
correspondences. People afflicted with this also
have very small vocabularies.
2. Dyseidetic: This is a kind of dyslexia where the
difficulty is in memorizing word or at an earlier
age difficulty to recognize letters.
3. Dysphonetic-dyseidetic or mixed: This is the
third kind of dyslexia which, as the term itself
indicates, should have the characteristics of the
first two types. Apparently, this group displayed
both problems and consequently had worse
reading and writing problems and like
‗dyseidetic‘ dyslexics, these groups also had
small vocabularies.

Dyslexia can afford another classification which branches it

into developmental dyslexia and acquired dyslexia as done by
Boder. Developmental dyslexia is a specific reading disability
which applies to children and to adults who failed to read
normally in the first place. On the other hand, acquired dyslexia
is a reading disability which a person acquires at a later stage of
his life. It is often believed that ‗acquired‘ and ‗developmental‘
dyslexia are based on similar neurological dysfunction and that
the sight of the brain damaged in adult acquired dyslexia
correspond to the sights of abnormal development in children
who cannot learn to read well but there is hardly any conclusive
evidence to support the fact that the syndromes are identical.

Characteristics of dyslexia:

The major characteristics of dyslexia are as follows:

1. Delayed and poor reading and spelling
2. Typical dyslexic reading mistakes
3. Typical dyslexic spelling mistakes
4. Left-right, top-down confusion and directional difficulties
5. Sequencing difficulties
6. Poor short-term memory skills
 Vaagartha - 69

Word Substitution
Nib nid or bin
All Orll
Pin Nip
End Ean

The above table shows some random examples of how dyslexic

individuals read.

Children who have trouble learning to read show a great

diversity of symptoms due to the complexity of the reading
process. Even children with dyslexia show marked differences
among themselves. Their only uniform characteristic is a reading
level significantly below what one would expect of their age and
intellectual level. This lag in reading ability has usually been
expressed as a delay in time, such as a two-year delay as it is
put by Kavanagh (1978). For example, a fourth grader is said to
read at a second grade level. While this method of measurement
has been the convention, it is misleading. A two-year lag in
reading ability for a third grader is much more severe than a
two-year lag for a tenth grader, because, the delay shows that
the third grader learned some of the skills involved in reading
while the tenth grader mastered eight years or 80% of the skills
a tenth grader needs. So, with each grade advancement, the
same two-year delay becomes proportionately less severe.
Critchley (1978) also lists errors committed by dyslexics as
follows:

(a). Phonetic substitution: Dyslexic children widely substitute

phonetic sounds. For example:

Word Substitution
Right Rite
So Sew
There Their
Where Were

These substitutions are far from appropriate as far as the

expected word is concerned.
70 - Vaagartha

(b). Approximate phonetic substitutions: These are the

substitutions which are approximately close to the words which
the children are expected to write. It should be mentioned here
that the simplified versions of the words are used by the dyslexic
children. Some examples are given below:

Word Substitution
Took Toch
Because Bicos
Dawn Done
All Orll
Elephant Alfnt

(c). Rotations and reversals: These are the most prominent

features which are found in dyslexics. Some examples are listed
below:

d for b
b for d as in nib for nid
confusion between y and h

Word Substitution
Hat Yat
Hid Yid
Him Yim

(d). Mirror writing: Mirror writing is also a feature found in

dyslexics. They tend to write the mirror images of alphabets
which is seen predominantly in English. For example, 'not' and
'ton', 'top' and 'pot', 'god' and 'dog' etc.

(e). Omission of letters: Omission of letters is a regular error

in case of dyslexics. Let us look at the following examples:

Word Substitution
Shall Shal
Hollow Hollow
Too To
Merry Mery

(f). Superfluity of letters: Dyslexics do not only omit letters

 Vaagartha - 71

but they also add letters superflously. Some examples are given
below:

Word Substitution
Egg Egge
Loud Lowed
Worry Worrie

(g). Bizarre spelling: This is another kind of error found in

dyslexics. The spelling is so bizarre that it is in no way
approximate to the expected word. For example:

Word Substitution
accidents Acdenter
safety Satey
End Ean

Gupta and Jamal (2007) in their paper discuss the reading

strategies of bilingual normally progressing and dyslexic readers
in Hindi and English. Their paper proves that the errors
committed by dyslexic readers were very less in Hindi when
compared to those which were done in English. Mohanty and
Banerjee (2008) in their unpublished paper argue that
orthography has an important role to play in reading
impairments. The reading problems of an individual are
dependent upon the script that is being learnt. This is termed as
Script Dependency Hypothesis¹. The authors also claim that the
process of reading is influenced by a given orthography because
orthography is a very significant factor in reading disability.
Because of the dissimilarity of scripts, individuals are likely to be
differently impaired in different languages.

Methodology

The present study proposes to look at whole word reversals of

dyslexic readers and examine the nature of these errors and the
places where they occur. There are two questions which can be
raised before we look at the error of reversing words, which the
dyslexic readers commit while reading. They are:
(a). Whether both the stimulus word and its corresponding
reversed form exist in the given language , and
72 - Vaagartha

(b). If the child has to know both the words namely the
stimulus word and its reversed form

Stimulus word Reversed form

Pit Tip
On No
Was Saw
Bin Nib

In the case of the above words both the stimulus word and
its reversed form are pairs of existing words in English .These
words are simple and they are most probably within the range of
the child‘s vocabulary. Now let us look at another group of
words:

Stimulus word Reversed form

Is Si
Of Fo

If we look at the four words ‗is‘, ‗of‘, ‗at‘ and ‗to‘, we notice
that their corresponding reversed forms are non- words in the
English language. We can think of the probability of this kind of
words to be reversed while a child is reading. It is not only the
content words which are reversed by dyslexic readers, but
function words may also be reversed. In order to see this point
function words are also included in the list of words. If a child
never reverses words like ‗is‘, ‗of‘, ‗at‘ and ‗to‘, we could say that
he/she will only reverse words that are existing in the given
language. Then his/her problem is to get the correct word from
the mental lexicon when he/she encounters a particular word
while reading and it is not a problem of visual perception but
retrieval of a particular entity from the mental lexicon. Let us
look at the third group of words:

Stimulus word Reversed form

Tie eit (eight)
Fed def(deaf)
Cap pac(pack)

In the case of the above words the reversed forms of the

stimulus words are not existing written words in the English
 Vaagartha - 73

language though phonetically they are close to ‗eight‘, ‗deaf‘ and

‗pack ‘which are real English words . Most probably the child is
familiar with these spoken words. Nevertheless, these words
have different orthographic representations. If a child is never
found to reverse ‗tie‘ and ‗eight‘, we could possibly say that
he/she is conscious of or sensitive to the orthography of his/her
language. He/she knows that ‗eit‘ and ‗eight‘ are different though
they represent identical sounds. Similarly the word ‗cap‘ could be
reversed as ‗pac‘ which is not an existing word in the English
language in terms of orthographic representation, but there is a
word with the same sounds which is spelt as ‗pack‘. If a child
does not reverse words like ‗tie‘ and ‗cap‘ it could be said that
orthography has a role to play in reversal. In the Indian context
where every child is exposed to more than one type of
orthography it would be interesting to see if reversal problems
occur in case of both the languages that a child reads. If
orthography plays a role in reversal, it would also be fascinating
to see whether the nature of reversal errors differs from
language to language as there is a difference in orthography.

Selection of sample

This study was carried out on children who, according to the

teachers‘ report, have severe reading disabilities in spite of
having average or above average intelligence and no severe
neurological disorder or physical handicap. It was also
ascertained that children who comprised the research population
of this study had not encountered any serious emotional and
social problems, socio-economic disadvantage and had not been
affected by inadequate educational training. Therefore, in this
study, only those children have been studied who have had
difficulty in learning to read in spite of adequate environmental
circumstances, average intelligence and normal development in
all other important areas.

For this study the samples were selected from Pallavi Model
School, Secunderabad and Shraddha Special School, Road
No.10, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad. Out of the twenty children who
were selected for this study, fourteen were boys and the rest six
were girls. For this study, the teachers were asked to refer to
74 - Vaagartha

only the most impaired readers showed a conspicuous

discrepancy between their verbal and written abilities. Those
children were excluded from the study whose learning problems
were due to external factors such as emotional disturbance or
any physical disability. The children who showed reading
difficulties were selected from 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th grades except
two children who belonged to a special school which does not
follow grade system. Instead they have levels called A, B, C, D
etc. All of them belonged to the age group of 7-12 years. These
children were on par with all other children in all other aspects
except their reading disability as far as the teachers‘ reports are
concerned. An individual test of oral reading ability was
administered on each child selected by the teachers for the
purpose of this study. All the children who were studied based
on the teachers‘ suggestions were found to have above average
intelligence, no serious physical disability or neurological disorder
and they showed no symptoms of emotional disturbances. They
all come from a stable economic background.

Subjects Sex Age Languages known

1 Male 10 Telugu,Hindi,English
2 Male 13 Telugu,Hindi,English
3 Female 11 Hindi,English
4 Female 9 Telugu, English
5 Male 11 Hindi,English
6 Female 9 Telugu,English
7 Male 10 Telugu, Hindi,English
8 Male 8 Telugu,English
9 Male 7 Hindi,English
10 Male 7 Tamil,English
11 Female 12 Telugu,Hindi, English
12 Male 11 Hindi, Telugu,English
13 Female 7 Telugu,English
14 Male 9 Telugu, English
15 Male 13 Telugu,Hindi,English
16 Female 7 Telugu, English
17 Male 11 Urdu, Hindi,English
18 Male 7 Hindi,English
19 Male 12 Telugu,Hindi,English
20 Male 11 Marathi,Hindi,English
 Vaagartha - 75

Procedure of data collection

The subjects selected for the purpose of this study were tested
in English, Hindi and Telugu. Three categories of words were
selected in English. The first category of words belonged to a
type which when reversed resulted in an existing word in
English. Thirteen words like ‗pit‘, ‗top‘, ‗dog‘ etc. were selected
which yielded reversals like ‗tip‘ ‗pot‘ and ‗god‘ respectively. The
second category of words consisted of words which when
reversed resulted in a form which is close to an existing word in
English in terms of pronunciation, but has a different
orthographic representation in the language. Responses to ten
words like ‗tie‘, ‗cap‘, ‗yes‘ etc. were ‗eit‘, ‗pac‘, and ‗sey‘
respectively which are similar to words like ‗eight‘, ‗pack‘ and
‗say‘ in terms of pronunciation. The third category of words
comprised words which when reversed resulted in a form which
is not an existing word in English. Fifteen words like ‗book‘, ‗of ‗,
‗at‘, etc. formed the third group which when reversed resulted in
a form which is not an existing word in English.

Fifteen words like ‗book‘, ‗of ‗, ‗at‘, etc. formed the third
group which when reversed resulted in a form which is not an
existing word in English.

Apart from these three sets of words in isolation, the

subjects were also shown the sentences which contained all
these words- one word from the list in every sentence. They
were asked to read those sentences. In total thirty eight
sentences were shown to the subjects and they were asked to
read all of them. One point should be made clear at this juncture
that the test material was not segregated for the different age
group. Rather it was the same for all children. The errors
committed by the subjects were systematically noted down.

Interpretation of the data and conclusions

From the data which were obtained from the disabled readers, it
can be noted that the maximum number of reversal errors in
English takes place in the case of words where both the stimulus
word and its possible reversed form are existing words in the
76 - Vaagartha

English language. In the case of words like ‗was‘ and ‗on‘, both
the stimulus word and its corresponding reversed form are real
words in English. Both these words are simple and common.
Therefore, we assume that they are part of the child‘s
vocabulary. Both the words ‗was‘ and ‗saw‘ have the same letters
which are arranged in a different manner. Since a dyslexic child
reverses the word, he/she is deficient in the capacity to map
each letter to its corresponding sound when he reads a
particular word. It is quite probable that a dyslexic child stores
these words as wholes in his/her mental lexicon and when
he/she comes across another word which contains the same
letters though in a different order, he/she gets confused and
tends to reverse them.

When we examine the data obtained in English, there are

three categories of words in isolation as it has already been
mentioned. The first category of words, where the reversed
forms are also existing words, was reversed more than the
second and third categories. The second and third categories of
words include words where the exact reversals are not existing
words in English. Had the children reversed the words of the
second and third categories, they would have got words which
are not existing words in English. There are instances where
children read ‗of‘ as ‗the‘ and ‗is ‗as ‗in‘ which cannot be termed
exact reversals, but the function words have been substituted
for one another. In none of these cases the words were read as
‗fo‘ and ‗si‘ which are exact reversals. Therefore, it can be
hypothesized that a child reverses words only when the reversal
process produces another existing word in the given language.

With reference to words like ‗of‘ and ‗is‘, one child once
reversed ‗of‘ to ‗fo‘ and immediately corrected it because ‗fo‘
does not exists in English. Again, ‗yes‘ and ‗tie‘ were shown to
children. These words have reversed forms like ‗sey‘ and ‗eit‘.
These reversed forms are not existing words in English, but they
are close to ‗say‘ and ‗eight‘ both from the pronunciation and
spelling point of view. When a list of this type of words was
shown to the children there were only a couple of reversal
errors. This infers that the dyslexic child is most probably
 Vaagartha - 77

sensitive to the orthography of a language he/she knows. 5

It has been mentioned earlier that the words selected to

conduct this study were given to the subjects both in isolation
and in sentences. It was found that there comparatively more
reversal errors were committed when the children were asked to
read these words in isolation. This was more conspicuous in
English. The children were asked to read sentences where there
was context for the stimulus word and its corresponding
reversed form to occur. When the children committed errors
while reading these sentences the stimulus word was combined
again with other words to form a context in which the
occurrence of the reversed form of the stimulus word was
possible.

References

Bryant, P.and L. Bradley. 1985. Children‘s Reading Problems:

Psychology and Education. New York: Basil Blackwell.
Critchley, M. 1970. The Dyslexic Child. Springfield: Charles C. Thomas.
Kavanagh, J. F. 1978. Developmental Dyslexia and Related Reading
Disorders. Bethesda: National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development.
Miles, T. R. 2006. Fifty Years in Dyslexia Research. England: John Wiley
and Sons Ltd.
Mohanty, P. and S. Banerjee. 2008. On Reversal Errors in Dyslexia: A
Biliterary Perspective and Script Dependency, the paper presented
at ICOSAL 6, AMU, Jan 6-8, 2008.
Orton, S. T. 1937. Reading, Writing and Speech Problems in Children.
New York: Norton
Vellutino, F. R. 1979. Dyslexia: Theory and Research. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press.

***
Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

5
Family and social attitudes do affect the remediation process.
 A Tamil – Telugu Machine Translation System

Uma Maheshwar Rao G., N. Krupanandam, Parameshwari K.,

Christopher Mala & Sreenivasulu N. V.

Abstract

We present the development of Machine Translation (MT)

System which translates texts from Tamil to Telugu and vice-
versa (Bi-directional). It is based on Transfer Approach. The
System's Architecture is divided into three stages i.e. Source
language Analysis module (SL), Source language to Target
language Transfer module (SL-TL) and Target language
generation module (TL). The major cross-linguistic differences
that are experienced between Tamil and Telugu during the
development of Machine Translation system are discussed here.

1 Introduction

The development of Machine Translation (MT) is one of the most

challenging tasks of Natural Language Processing applications.
Even though Tamil and Telugu are two closely related languages
belonging to Dravidian language family, still they exhibit a
considerable amount of diversity at every level viz.
morphological, syntactic, semantic and lexical levels. Keeping
these in mind, building a Machine Translation System for this
language pair can be not only non-trivial but also challenging.
The paper deals with the issues in the development of an
automatic Tamil-Telugu Machine Translation6 System which is
being developed under the project of IL-IL MT at CALTS. To build
a more sophisticated and effective Machine Translation system, it
is significant to identify divergences (i.e. cross linguistic
differences) between the pair of languages. The Divergences
between Tamil-Telugu are discussed below.

6
This Machine Translation system is developed as a part of the Consortium of
Indian Languages to Indian languages Machine Translation Systems funded by
DIT, Ministry of Information Technology, Government of India.
 Vaagartha - 79

2 Divergences between Telugu-Tamil:

Translation divergence occurs when the underlying concept or

'gist' of a sentence is distributed over different words or different
configurations for different languages (Dorr, 1993). In Machine
Translation, identifying such variation is crucial to obtain
qualitatively the right output. The two major levels of
divergences may be noticed as, syntactic divergences and lexico-
semantic divergences.

3 Syntactic Divergences:

In Telugu-Tamil, major syntactic divergences occur in the

following cases.

3.1. Case syncretism and mismatches: Case syncretism

occurs when a single inflected form corresponds to two or more
case functions (Comrie 1991: 44-47). In Telugu and Tamil, a
number of instances of case syncretisms are found.

1. Dative Swapping: In Tamil, a noun when inflected for

dative may take a locative postposition which in the target
language Telugu will have the swapped structures as in the
following:

(1) Ta. kumār vīṭṭu-kku uḷḷē ce-ṉṟ-āṉ.

'Kumar house-dat inside go-PST-3sm'
Te. kumār iMṭi lō-ki/lōpali-ki veḷḷ-āḍu.
'Kumar house inside-dat/inside-dat go-PST-3sm'
Eng. Kumar went inside the house.

2. Dative as possession/location: The nouns of inanimate

category when inflected for locative in Tamil express the part-
whole relationship (cf. Subbarao & Bhaskararao, 2004). On the
contrary, Telugu uses a dative case marker (see (2)).

(2) Ta. cuvaṟṟ-il jaṉṉal iru-kkiṟ-atu.

'wall-loc window be-PRS_3sn'
Te. gōḍa-ku kiṭikī uM-di.
'wall-dat window be-PRS_3sn'
80 - Vaagartha

Eng. The wall has a window.

3. Dative as Genitive: The nominal complement of the

postposition is inflected for dative to the use of it as a genitive in
the adnominal usage in Tamil whereas the corresponding dative
is optional in Telugu (see (3)).

(3) Ta. pūmi-kku/pumi.y-iṉ aṭi.y-il nīr uḷḷatu.

'earth-dat/earth-gen bottom-loc water be-PRS-3sn'
Te. Bhūmi-(ki) aḍugu-na nīru uMdi.
'earth-(dat) bottom-loc water be-PRS-3sn'
Eng. The water is at the bottom of the earth.

4. Dative as the expression of specific time: The Tamil

noun marked for dative case expresses the specific time limit or
duration of time roughly equivalent to the English 'within'
whereas Telugu does not. (see (4))

(4) Ta. eṉ-akku pattu nāṭ-kaḷ-ukkuḷ puttakatt-ai.k koṭuṅkaḷ.

'me-dat ten day-pl-dat.inside book(obl)-Acc give-
imp[hon]'
Te. naa-ku padi rōju-la lōpu pustākaM ivvaMḍi.
'me-dat ten day-pl inside book give-imp[hon]'
Eng. Give me the book within ten days.

5. Double Dative Construction: A dative predicate may

assign a locative case involving part relationship in Tamil,
whereas Telugu uses dative. (see (5))

(5) Ta. avaṉ /avaṉ-ukku kaṇṇ-il aṭipaṭ-ṭ-atu.

'he-obl/he-dat eye-loc get-hurt-pst-3.sg.n.'
Te. vāḍi /vāḍi-ki kanṭi-ki debbai tagiliMdi.
'he-obl/he-dat eye-dat injury touch-pst-3.sg.n.
Eng. He got hurt in his eyes.
(Subbarao & Bhaskararao 2004:169)

6. Accusative in Dative Subject Construction: In Dative

subject construction, the direct object is inflected for accusative
when the predicate is realized as verbs of cognition in Tamil,
whereas Telugu object remains in nominative case. (see (6))
 Vaagartha - 81

(6) Ta. sītā.v-ukku eṉ.ṉ-ai.t teri.y-um.

'Sita-dat I-acc know-3.sg.n'
Te. sīta-ki nēnu-Ø telusu.
'Sita-dat I -nom know'
Eng. Sita knows me.

7. Case Assigned by Postpositions: There are postpositions

in both the languages, which assign case to their complements
(noun phrase) which are morphologically manifested. (see (7))

(7) Ta. kumār uṉṉ-ai nōkki.p pō-ṉ-āṉ.

'Kumar you-acc towards go-pst-3p.sg.m'
Te. kumār nī kēsi veḷl-ā-ḍu.
'Kumar you-obl towards-dat go-pst-3p.sg.m'
Eng. Kumar went towards you.

Some more examples are as presented in the table given below:

Telugu Tamil Meaning
N_NOM + tappa N_ACC + tavira Except
N_OBL+ lāMṭi N_ACC + pōl/pōla Like
N_OBL + guriMci N_ACC+ kuṟittu About
N_ACC + baṭṭi N_GEN + pati Accordingly

3.2. Lexical Passive Construction: While expressing the

potential mood of capability or ability, the subject in Tamil is
marked by the instrumental case (āl) or in lexical passive
(Subbarao & Bhaskararao, 2004) and Telugu in the nominative
case (Ø).

(8) Ta. eṉṉ-āl teluku naṉṟāka pēc-a-muṭi.y-um.

'I - by Telugu well speak-inf-can-3s.sg.n'
Te. nēnu-Ø telugu bāgā māṭlāḍ-a-gala-nu.
'I-nom Telugu well speak-inf-can-1p.sg'
Eng. I can speak Telugu well.

3.3. Complementizer: In Telugu, the complementizer ani is

dropped optionally when it accompanies the verb anu 'say'. But
it is mandatory in Tamil for embedded clause construction with
the corresponding verb.
82 - Vaagartha

(9) Ta. nāṉ uṉṉ-ai yārō eṉṟu niṉai-tt-ēṉ.

'I you-Acc who-dub COMP think-pst-1.sg.'
Te. nēnu nin-nu evarō (ani) anuk-unn-ā-nu.
'I you-Acc who-dub (COMP) think-pst-1.sg.'
Eng. I thought of you as someone else.

Tamil permits the infinitive form of eṉ 'tell' in the same

interpretation of eṉṟu. But this is disallowed in Telugu.

(10) Ta. nāṉ avaṉ nallavaṉ eṉṟu/eṉ-a.c co.ṉ-ṉ-ēṉ.

'I he oodman COMP/ tell-inf tell-pst-1.sg.'
Te. nēnu vādu maMcivādu ani/*an-a ceppā-nu.
'I he goodman COMP/ *tell-inf tell-pst-1.sg.
Eng. I told that he is a good man.

However, eṉa in Tamil does not inflect for any clitics,

whereas eṉṟu can inflect for.

(11) Ta. nāṉ avaṉ nallavaṉ eṉṟ-e/*eṉa.v-e co.ṉ-ṉ-ēṉ.

'I he goodman COMP-emp/*tell-inf-emp
tell-pst-1.sg.'
Te. nēnu vādu maMcivādu an-e ceppā-nu.
'I he goodman COMP-emp tell-pst-1.sg.'
Eng. I told him only as a good man.

3.4. Verbal Reflexive: In Tamil, the use of verbal reflexive

(VR) is optional in simple clause constructions (cf. Lehmann,
1989: 361), whereas it is mandatory in Telugu.

(12) Ta. avaṉ taṉṉ-aik kaṇṇāṭi.y-il pār-ttu.k-koṇ-ṭ-āṉ/pār-tt-āṉ.

'he self-acc mirror-loc see-conj.par-VR-pst-3.sg.m/ see-
pst-3.sg.m'
Te. vāḍu tana-ni addaM-lō cūsu-konn-ā-ḍu/*cus-ā-ḍu.
'he self-acc mirror-loc see-VR-pst-3.sg.m/* see-pst-3.sg.m'
Eng. He saw himself in the mirror.

The use of VR is optional in Tamil, when the nominal

reflexive occurs. But the sentence will be ambiguous when both
nominal and verbal reflexives are omitted. For instance,

(13) Ta. avaṉ kaṇṇāṭi.y-il pār-tt-āṉ .

'he mirror-loc see-pst-3.sg.m'
 Vaagartha - 83

Eng. He saw others/himself in the mirror.

However, in certain constructions Tamil disallows verbal

reflexives as follows,

(14) Ta. avaṉ kuḻantai.y-ai muttamiṭṭ-ā-ṉ.

'he child-ACC kiss-pst-3.sg.m'
Te. vāḍu pillavādi-ni muddupeṭṭu-kon.n-ā-ḍu.
'he child-ACC kiss-VR-pst-3.sg.m'
Eng. He kissed the child.
(p.c., Subbarao)

There are certain verbs in Tamil and Telugu which are

inherently reflexive. For instance, oppukkoḷ 'admit', nāṉṟukoḷ
'hang (oneself)', paṅkukoḷ 'participate' etc., in Tamil and
paḍukonu 'sleep', oppukonu 'admit', mēlkonu 'be awake', etc. in
Telugu.

3.5. Gerund vs. Infinitive: The use of the infinitive

construction in Telugu is obsolete (Cf. Krishnamurti, 1985; Uma
Maheshwar Rao, 2002) except in the augmentation of main verb
with auxiliary verb. In the desiderative clause, Tamil uses an
infinitive whereas Telugu constructs the sentence with a gerund.

(15) Ta. nāṉ uṉakku coll-a maṟa-nt-ēṉ.

'I you-dat tell-inf forget-pst-1.sg.'
Te. nēnu nī-ku cepp-aḍaM maricipō.y-ā-nu.
'I you-dat tell-ger forget-pst-1.sg.'
Eng. I forgot to tell you.

In purposive clauses, Telugu uses gerund inflected with

Dative whereas Tamil uses an infinitive.

(16) Ta. nāṉ paṭikk-a va-nt-ēṉ.

Eng. 'I read-inf come-pst-1.sg.'
Te. nēnu cadav-aḍāni-ki vacc-ā-nu.
'I read-ger-dat come-pst-1.sg.'
Eng. I came to study.

To express the negation in the present tense, Telugu uses

the gerund.
84 - Vaagartha

(17) Ta. nāṉ ippōtu va-ra.v-illai.

'I now come-inf-not'
Te. nēnu ippuḍu rāv-aḍaM lēdu.
'I now come-ger not'
Eng. I do not come now.

3.6. Agreement

1. Quantifier-Noun Agreement: Inanimate nouns need

not necessarily agree with the quantifiers in Tamil, whereas in
Telugu they do.

(18) Ta. pattui rūpāy iru-kkiṟ-atuj.

'ten repee-sg be-prs-3.sg.n'
Te. padii rūpāya-lu unn-ā-yii.
'ten repee-pl be-prs-3.pl.n'
Eng. I have ten rupees.

The uncountable (mass) nouns like pālu 'milk', biyyam 'rice',

nīḷlu 'water' etc., are inherently plural in Telugu and verb displays
agreement whereas in Tamil, it is in singular.

(19) Ta. kumār vīṭṭ-il niṟaiya pāli iru-kkiṟ-atui.

'Kumar home-loc plenty milk be-pre-3.sg.n'
Te. kumār iMṭ-lō cālā pālui unn-ā-yii.
'Kumar home-loc plenty milk be-pre-3.pl.n'
Eng. Kumar have plenty of milk in home.

2. Subject-Nominal Predicate Agreement: Telugu

nouns when occur as nominal predicates, agree in number and
person with their subjects whereas in Tamil, there is no such
agreement.

(20) Ta. nāṉi oru peṇ-Øj.

'I a girl'
Te. nēnui oka ammāyi-nii.
'I a girl-1.sg'
Eng. I am a girl.

Similarly, Telugu predicate adjectives agree in number and

person.

(21) Ta. nāṉi nalla.v-aṉj.

 Vaagartha - 85

'I good-3.sg.m'
Te. nēnui maMci-vāḍi-nii.
'I good-3.sg.m-1.sg'
Eng. I am a good man.

3. Subject-Verbal Predicate Agreement: Tamil has a

three-way gender distinction in singular as masculine, feminine
and neuter whereas Telugu shows a two way gender distinction
in singular as masculine vs. non-masculine.

(22) Ta. avaḷi va-nt-āḷi.

'she come-pst-3.sg.f'
Te. āmei vacc-iM-dii.
'she come-pst-3.sg.nm'
Eng. She came.

(23) Ta. nāyi va-nt-atui.

'dog come-pst-3.sg.n'
Te. kukkai vacc-iM-dii.
'dog come-pst-3.sg.nm'
Eng. The dog came.

3.2. Lexico-semantic divergences: Lexico-semantic

translation divergences are accounted for by means of
parameterization of the lexicon. (Dorr, 1993:20)

3.2.1. Conflational Divergence: It occurs when the

sense conveyed by a single word is expressed by two or more
words in one of the languages. For instance, Telugu uses
'snānaM ceyi' for 'to bathe' whereas it is expressed by 'kuḷi' in
Tamil.

(24) Ta. nāṉ kuḷi-pp-ēṉ.

'I bath-fut-1p.sg'
Te. nēnu snānaM cēs-tā-nu.
'I bathing do-fut-1p.sg'
Eng. I will bathe.

3.2.2. Categorical Divergence: Changes in category

create categorical divergence. It is due to the mismatch between
the Parts of Speech Categories of the words involved in the pair
86 - Vaagartha

of languages considered. In Tamil koṇṭu is ambiguosly used as a

postposition as well as a verb.

(25) Ta. katti.y-aik koṇṭu aṟu-tt-ēṉ.

'knife- inst psp cut-pst-1.sg'
Te. katti-tō kōs-ā-nu.
'knife-inst cut-pst-1.sg'
Eng. I cut it by knife.

(26) Ta. katti.y-ai.k ko-ṇṭ-u va-nt-ēṉ.

'knife-acc hold-vpart come-pst-2.sg'
Te. katti-ni tīsukon-i vacc-ā-nu.
'knife-acc take-vpart come-pst-2.sg'
Eng. I came by taking the knife.

3.2.3 Lexical Divergence: It arises when there is a

lack of exact lexical equivalent but structure presents a
translational equivalence between a language pair. Here, the
literal translation of the source language word is substituted by a
corresponding translational equivalent to resolve the problem.
For instance,

(27) Ta. eṉ-akku nīccal teriyum.

'me-DAT swimming know-fut-3p.sg.n'.
Te. nā-ku īta vaccu.
'me-DAT swimming come'
Eng. I know to swim.

(28) Ta. avaḷukku karppam ēṟpa-ṭṭ-atu.

'she-dat pregnancy form-PRS-3p.sg.f'
Te. āme-ku kadupu vacciMdi.
'she-dat belly come-PST-3p.sg.n'
Eng. She became pregnant.

The divergences that are shown above are bridged by

building a series of Transfer Grammar rules, Multi-word
Expressions and Lexical Substitution module.

4. System Architecture and Handling Divergences:

Current system is an assembly of various linguistic modules run

on specific engines whose output is sequentially maneuvered
 Vaagartha - 87

and modified by a series of modules till the output is generated.

The most crucial linguistic modules include, a Morphological
Analyzer (MA), Parts of Speech Tagger (POS), Chunker, Simple
Parser (SP), Multiword Expression Module, the Transfer Grammar
Component (TG), a Lexical Transfer (LT) module consisting of a
Conceptual Dictionary and a Bilingual Dictionary, an Agreement
module (AGR) and a Morphological Generator (MG) besides a
number of miner modules.

Syntactic divergences are handled by Transfer Grammar

Module where the structural transformations are carried out.

Divergences relating to agreement are managed by a series of

procedures reconstructing target language agreement.

Lexico-semantic divergences are cleared by Lexical Transfer

module which consist of a Conceptual (synset) dictionary and a
stand-by Bilingual dictionary. In addition to these Multi Word
Expressions (MWE) module involving a set of collocations.

The architecture of this system is based on analyze-transfer-

generate paradigm. The flow of the input sentence in the system
is given in figure 1. All the modules have been integrated on the
dashboard, a tool, where the data flow in the pipeline is
configured (ILILMT, 2007).

Figure1: IL-IL MT Tamil-Telugu MT Architecture

88 - Vaagartha

Figure 2: Sample Input and Output of Tamil-Telugu MT.

5. Conclusions

The system for translating between Tamil-Telugu (Bidirectional)

is built and evaluated (IL-IL MT 0-4 scale evaluation, 2007)
continuously in order to ensure enhanced quality output. It can
be used to translate web pages or text material from books,
magazines, newspapers etc. written in standard language.

References

Comrie, B. 1991. Form and Function in Identifying Cases. In F. Plank

(ed.), Paradigms: the Economy of Inflection, (Empirical Approaches
to Language Typology 9), 41-55. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Dorr, Bonnie. 1993. Machine Translation: A View from the Lexicon.
Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press.
ILMT Consortium. 2007. ILMT SRS and Functional Specifications
(mimeo). Hyderabad.
Krishnamurti, Bh. & Gwynn, J. P. L. 1985. A Grammar of Modern
Telugu. New Delhi: OUP.
Lehmann, Thomas. S. 1989. A Grammar of Modern Tamil. Pondicherry:
 Vaagartha - 89

Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics and culture.

Subbarao, K. V. 2012. South Asian Languages: A syntactic Typology.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Subbarao, K. V. & P. Bhaskararao. 2004. Non-nominative Subjects in
Telugu, in P. Bhaskararao & K. V. Subbarao (eds.), Non-nominative
Subjects, vol. II. (Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins), 161–
196.
Uma Maheshwar Rao, G. 2002. A Computational Grammar of Telugu.
mimeo (350 pages). Hyderabad: University of Hyderabad.

***
Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
 The Lexicon and Conceptual Stores in
Bilinguals

Arathi R.

Abstract

If there is a concept for which there are cross-lexical overlaps

across the two languages, then the semantic distances between
the concepts would be the only causal factor for any
presence/absence of retrieval competitions. In case of bilinguals,
both the lexicon and the semantic representations may not be
coded differently. There may be an overlap in the mental
lexicon. Ex: for the concept ‗leaf‘- the lexical representations
‗leaf‘ [Eng] and ‗ila‘ [Malayalam] may be stored in an
overlapping manner in the mental lexicon. This means the
difference between the language types (Mal- Eng) would not be
a causal factor for any presence/ absence of retrieval
competition. Conditioning the bilingual subjects in 2 different
environments or contexts also would not affect their language
processing except when semantically related representations
come into play. If the presence/ absence of retrieval competition
is only because of the factor ‗concept‘, then we should not find
any significant difference between response time latencies in the
following situations:

The primes are in L2 and the target items are in L1.

The primes are in L1 and the target items are in L2.

If we find a difference between situations (A) and (B), then

the difference is caused due to the two languages being used. It
then proves that the words of the two languages are coded
separately, not in an overlapping manner in the mental lexicon.
If there is no difference, then the concept is the causal factor for
grading, meaning the words of the 2 languages are stored in an
overlapping manner.
 Vaagartha - 91

Introduction

Language processing in bilinguals is a much discussed topic.

How the lexical and conceptual representations are stored has
been studied for a long time. There are three major kinds of
views: One view assumes that lexical- level representations are
functionally independent for words in two languages, and that
conceptual representations are also separate (Weinreich, 1953;
Scarborough, Gerard and Cortese, 1984). Another prominent
view is that in the case of proficient bilinguals, the lexico-
semantic representations may be coded separately within the
mental lexicon, that is there should not be an overlap in the way
words from both the languages are stored but that the
conceptual level is shared (Potter, So, Von Eckardt & Feldman,
1984; Kroll and Stewart, 1990; De Groot, 1992; Heredia, 1996).
The third view is that the lexicons of the two languages may be
shared in an overlapping manner and that there is simultaneous
activation (Dijkstra &Van Heuven, 1998; Dijkstra, Van Heuven &
Grainger, 1998).

The focus in the current study is on how the lexicons are

arranged and how it is linked to the conceptual level. Are the
lexico- semantic representations shared for the two languages or
are the lexicons separate? For example, let us consider the
concept ‗leaf‘ and also consider the bilingual contexts English
and Malayalam. The respective words are ‗leaf‘ and ‗ila‘. The
claim is that these words from two different languages would be
either stored in the same compartment in an overlapping
manner or separately. If there are any retrieval competitions, it is
only due to the semantic distancing between the concepts, if the
lexicons are shared. If the two languages are stored separately,
both the storages function independently. This theory can be
tested through a bilingual lexical decision task with the help of
priming. If we find a difference in the comparison, then, it is
because of the languages used. It would also imply that the
languages are stored separately.
92 - Vaagartha

Participants

Participants were 20 native speakers of Malayalam fluent in

English as well. They were students pursuing their MA or MPhil
Degree from the University of Hyderabad. Their age ranged from
21 to 24 years. They were chosen with the help of a
questionnaire to find proficient bilinguals. All the participants
had normal or corrected to normal vision.

Design

Priming condition was used to study bilinguals, namely

Malayalam and English. Differences within the response time
values would say whether the null hypothesis is valid.

Priming can be explained as the ‗implicit memory effect in

which exposure to a stimulus influences response to a
subsequent stimulus. It can occur following perceptual,
semantic, or conceptual stimulus repetition.‘ It happens, for
example, if a person reads a list of words including the word
table, and is later asked to complete a word starting with tab,
the probability is that they will answer ‗table‘ is greater than
when not primed. Studies reveal that priming works best when
the two stimuli are in the same modality. For example, if the two
stimuli are audio cues, they pair the best than when one
stimulus is audio and the other visual. But priming also occurs
between modalities (cross modal priming) or between
semantically related words such as "doctor" and "nurse".

A lexical decision task is a test where the subject has to

decide whether the given item or string of letters is a word or a
non-word. For example, English has the word ‗stink‘ but not
‗strink‘. Depending on whether the items displayed on the screen
are words or non-words the subjects are required to press the
corresponding keys on the computer. The response time is
measured. Careful instructions are given to the subjects. The
response time varies among subjects. But generally it falls within
the range 500 ms to 1 s.
 Vaagartha - 93

Questionnaire

Questionnaires were circulated to select the subjects for the test.

Most familiar words were used to prepare the wordlist. Due to
time constraints the frequency could not be tested. Non- words
were also created.

Tools used

The software used to build the experiment was SR Builder,

1.6.121 version. The SR Research Experiment Builder (SREB) is a
visual experiment creation tool for use by Psychologists and
Neuroscientists. It can be used to create experiments in various
paradigms - even for cross modal priming experiments.

R was another tool used to find a summary of the data. R is

a language for statistical computing and graphics. It provides a
wide variety of statistical and graphical techniques (linear and
nonlinear modelling, statistical tests, time series analysis,
classification, clustering etc.). The version used for the study
was 2.11.1.

Procedure

Participants were asked to determine whether the word

displayed on the screen was a word or non-word. The subjects
were instructed to press the keys ‗f‘ for words and ‗j‘ for non-
words depending on the items displayed on the screen.

Their response time was recorded. A fixation screen was put

in to ensure that the subjects had their eyes fixed in position to
see the items flashed. The fixation screen was set to be
displayed for 100 ms. The target words were set to be displayed
for 200 ms. This was done after a pilot study to find the most
convenient setting for the subjects for word recognition. The
fillers were flashed for 150 ms. Immediately after the items were
flashed, the instruction screen was flashed asking them to either
press ‗f‘ or ‗j‘ depending on the item, as instructed earlier. The
response time (RT) was calculated as the difference between
display time and key response time, i.e., the difference between
94 - Vaagartha

the time at which the target words are displayed and the time at
which the response is entered using the keys.

Results

In the analysis, the speed of the responses was checked in both

the situations. For the first set (A): English- Malayalam

The mean value of RT (response time) tells us how long it

has taken for the subjects to process the target item when
followed by the prime. In this set of the experiment, L2 was the
prime and L1 was the target, i.e., English was the prime and
Malayalam was the target. For the second set (B): Malayalam-
English:

In this set, the primes were in Malayalam (L1) and the target
items were in English (L2).
 Vaagartha - 95

Discussion

The median in the set (A) is 664.5 ms. The value for mean is
1051.2 ms.
The median in the set (B) is 543.4 ms. The value for mean is
743.6 ms. When comparing, there is a clear difference between
the two sets. There is a difference in the way Malayalam primes
English and English primes Malayalam. Malayalam primes English
better than English primes Malayalam, i.e., when then primes are
in Malayalam (L1), English (L2) is processed faster as opposed to
when the primes are in English and the target items are in
Malayalam. This difference shows that there is a difference in the
way the two languages are processed and that the two
languages are not stored in an overlapping manner in the
bilingual memory. But there is a link at the conceptual level
since there is priming. Further studies are required in this
regard.

Conclusion

In the two sets described above, we investigated the evidence

for independent hypothesis (separate storage) as opposed to the
interdependent hypothesis (shared storage). The current study
provides evidence for the separate storage of lexicons. The
faster responses in L2 in the context of L1 also suggest that it
could be due to word association. Further studies in this
direction focussing on the links between the lexical and
conceptual levels are required.

Acknowledgements

Prof. Gautam Sengupta, my supervisor for all the preliminary ideas,

discussions and for showing genuine interest in all my humble pursuits.

Kiran Kishore, for being there to guide me through all the difficult
situations and for all the comments and suggestions.
96 - Vaagartha

References

Altarriba, J and Heredia, R. 2008. An Introduction to Bilingualism:

Principles and Processes. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Dijkstra, T. 2003. Lexical processing in bilinguals and multilinguals. In J.
Cenoz, B. Hufeisen & U. Jessner (eds.), The Multilingual Lexicon
(pp. 11-26). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
French, M Robert and Jacquet Maud (2004). Understanding bilingual
memory: models and data. TRENDS in Cognitive Science. 8(2), 87-
93.
Harley, Trevor. 2001. Word Recognition. Psychology of Language From
Data to Theory. New York: Psychology Press.
Heredia. R. and Brown. M, Jeffrey. 2004. Bilingual Memory. In W. C.
Ritchie & T. K. Bhatia (eds.), Handbook of Bilingualism. 213-228.
UK: Blackwell Publishers.
Kroll, J. F. & De Groot, A. M. B. 1997. Lexical and conceptual memory in
the bilingual: Mapping form to meaning in two languages. In Kroll,
J. F. & A. M. B. Groot (eds.), Tutorials in Bilingualism:
Psycholinguistic Perspectives. NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum and
Associates, 169-200.
Kroll, J. F., & Stewart, E. 1994. Category interference in translation and
picture naming: Evidence for asymmetric connections between
bilingual memory representations. Journal of Memory and
Language, 33, 149-174.
Kroll, J. F., & Tocowicz, N. 2001. The Development of Conceptual
Representation for Words in a Second Language. In J. Nicol (ed.)
One mind, two languages: Bilingual language processing. Malden,
MA: Blackwell Publishers.
Potter, M. C., So, K., Eckardt, V., & Feldman, L. 1984. Lexical and
conceptual representation in beginning and proficient bilinguals.
Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 23, 23-38.
Vigliocco, G. et al. 2002. Semantic distance effects on object and action
naming. Cognition: 85, 61-69.
White, H. 1986. Semantic priming of nonwords in lexical decision. The
American Journal of Psychology: 99,479-485.

***
Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
 Part 2

The Splendor of Literature

 Multidimensionality in Literary Narrative*
Concerning Language-‗Reality‘ Data and
Reading qua Interpretation

Sudhakar Marathé

This paper proposes a theory that has occupied my mind at least

for two decades. In some sense there is nothing new in it. For
the same reason once it has been proposed it may induce a
feeling of déjà vu in the minds of those who see its rationale.
The fact is that what is proposed is essential part of any act of
reading, although we do not recognize it. Unconsciously we
seem to treat the bulk of a narrative at the surface level.
Exceptions: when we consider ‗themes‘ and ‗significance‘. Even
then, rarely do we actually, overtly and thoroughly look for
devices that signal them. And today in the field of literary-critical
activity ―‘tis the sport‖ to denigrate specific study of texts.
(Remember the word ‗critic‘ used for coup de grace in Beckett‘s
Waiting for Godot?) Never mind the ‗politically correct‘ contempt
about ‗New Criticism‘. It will pass.

To me it is only natural and fair to demand evidence leading

to any perception or judgment about a text. In fact that is the
essence of the term reading when it is used seriously. Initially
such evidence can almost only come from the language of a
text. Of course from the start what a reader ‗brings‘ to a text
collaborates with what the language presents. So what he brings
to a text would be of immense interest. But it is so variable that
one cannot pursue it without specific text and reader in mind.
The proposal here concerns this aspect of reading only covertly
while overtly focussing on the linguistic phenomenon or
construct we call text. It seems beyond doubt that if we have no
―text‖ we will have no ―criticism‖: no text, no reading; no
reading, no interpretation. Here it is axiomatic, therefore, that
texts exist, regardless of whether oral or written.

Similarly, reading a text must mean both ―taking in the

script‖ and ―making something of it‖. The way in which the
script (text) constitutes the basis of reading must concern
100 - Vaagartha

anyone who wishes to broadcast his views about the text.

Questions such as ―Is there a text? Is there a text in the
classroom?‖ are unreal and unrealistic and therefore irrelevant.
In his Preface to Life’s Handicap (1891) Rudyard Kipling provides
in the words of Gobind, an Indian sadhu, the clearest expression
of the fundamental reality of a text in the act of reading: ―A tale
that is told is true as long as the telling lasts.‖1

As there can be no telling without listening, so can there be

no reading without writing, without a text. Therefore, I put
forward my theory here regarding the multidimensionality with
which the language of a narrative brings its signs, its meanings
and its significances to its reader, all in turn directing the reader
toward extrapolations: emotional response, ‗appreciation‘,
evaluation. I must begin with the caveat that not everything I
identify in my examples, as a language device that makes or
suggests meaning, actually surfaces in every (or every reader‘s)
reading. Time, place, person, personality and circumstances all
affect and determine what a person actually notices or
subconsciously apprehends in a text during a given reading. Yet
without many of these devices performing the kinds of tasks
demonstrated in the examples, no reading except senseless eye-
reading (or partial and mis-reading) can occur. The theory
proposed here attempts to become maximal without claiming
that every reading of a text is maximal. It indicates as many
potentialities of a text as possible to allow us to define both
‗narrative text‘ and ‗reading‘.

As long ago as 1985 I anticipated myself in an argument I

presented in a paper titled ―The Beginning: An Exploration of the
Processes of Initiation and Foreshadowing‖. That argument,
specifically relating to narrative beginnings, claimed that a
reader is ‗initiated‘ into his reading by the ‗beginning‘ of a text,
that whatever we may choose to call a ‗beginning‘ foreshadows
and significantly anticipates the rest of the narrative, as ―in my
beginning is my end‖. I quote here briefly from that paper:

we cannot deny, given the utmost care with which [literary]

composition occurs, that the author has intentions, that he
requires the reader to follow his gaze, cock his ear in the same
 Vaagartha - 101

direction. If there is an ancient type of programming activity

the human race has engaged in, developed in many directions,
perfecting its techniques, then it is the programming of
audience reactions.2

The longer I have thought of the virtually unimaginable

quantities of different kinds of information and interpretative
clues which a literary text supplies, the more apt the term
‗programming‘ has come to seem. (The term programming is
not unique to computers; in teaching language I have myself
always found it of great help to indicate and unlock the variety
of information in a text, how it becomes available to us to ‗read‘
or ‗decipher‘ even in routine linguistics constructs.)

That literary language comes loaded with information is not

in itself newsworthy. The great quantity, number, types and
variety conveyed, allow for back-and-forthing, for exploration,
projection, participation in reading. This simple but fundamental
fact—for every reader must confront and experience all these—
does not seem to have been asserted by anyone anywhere. This
information is ‗inscribed‘ (we may need a corresponding term for
orally composed texts) in a text. At face value its extent as
shown in my examples may seem exaggerated. Yet what is
astonishing is that both writer and reader deal with it in
composition and reading. The interrelatedness, in the act of
reading, of quantitative and qualitative information inscribed and
decoded may astonish but is real.

Such a great deal of information, in fact, comes to a reader

from a narrative (in any significantly extended and at least partly
self-consciously constructed language-act that is meant to form
a ‗whole‘). Then almost all the information begins to exist
simultaneously in the reader‘s mind. As the reading proceeds,
more information gradually and cumulatively accrues in the
reader‘s mind, not everything being always equally readily or
fully available. It does not always remain in the same form as at
first, yet is held both progressively as well as regressively
available. Yet every possible bit of information is progressively
modified by subsequent information provided by the text and the
reading.
102 - Vaagartha

The information is also constantly or frequently queried,

grouped and re-grouped, classified, re-classified, evaluated, re-
evaluated, graded, mutually associated-dissociated, adjusted,
used, re-used, set aside or held in ―momentary suspension‖. All
the information mills about like motes in sunlight yet it is shaped
and re-shaped by two forces: the text that rolls in and the
reading. Relationships develop between and among pieces of
information or data and groups of data. This much is of course
clear. But until the idea struck me that a great deal of this data
is in an important sense both simultaneously and sequentially
available as well as for back-and-forth connection, the
importance of the realization remained hidden. In terms of time,
space, objects (‗props‘), circumstances, characters,
relationships, actions, reactions… all this and a great deal of
other information is both available and used off and on in what
we call a reading of a ‗constructed text‘. This simultaneity of
data, the back-and-forth as well as lateral exploitation of data,
available even as reading progresses, that is, this is what one
calls reading and that is thus clearly multidimensional. This
notion will allow us to deal with all the data a text provides.

But how is one to show such innumerable gross and subtle

multidimensional features of reading? In this paper I shall make
a proposal to this purpose.

But first a brief necessary detour. The term

multidimensionality is prevalent in gravity physics. Ten years ago
in a book about state of the art science titled Imagined Worlds I
chanced upon a chapter on ―Professor Roger Penrose FRS:
Beyond Space-Time‖.3 [This was long after I had begun to use
the term liberally.] It explained how Penrose made it possible,
by mathematical wizardry, to see or deal with any number of
dimensions in space and time. This excited me because the
notion ran parallel to my notion regarding narrative. However, I
owe this explanation nothing except encouragement. For my
public exploration of the notion began in 1974-75, with an
examination of Joseph Conrad‘s Heart of Darkness.4 Reading
independently books that were ‗good‘ had showed me that an
author or text presents enormous quantities of information in
surprisingly few pages. Thus how we deal with such information
 Vaagartha - 103

in what we glibly call reading has always seemed a question

worth exploring.

Now let us consider the kinds of information that even a

short but ‗whole‘ narrative text presents to a reader. Categories
used here require no apology, because they are used universally
and appear to be genetically ingrained in our brains. They are
used in anything we call cognition, but more intensely and
intensively exemplified in reading a narrative. Call them ‗deep
structures‘ if you like. These and other such kinds of information
are thrown up by the language of a narrative and figure in
apprehension, understanding and appreciation. Let us just
consider one case, the dimension of Time as it operates in story-
telling:

moments in / of time; objects related to time; periods of time;

extending time (or ‗stretching‘); time as a period; time as
unique moment; time as recurring moments; time as
periodicity; time suspended (hiatus—between events, between
cause and consequence…); time as abstract notion; clock-
time; time as told by natural phenomena (day, night, winter);
time as juncture (time for something to happen);
measurement of time; standard measures of time (second,
hour, year); felt time (moment, age, ‗empty‘ time); time as
measure of other phenomena (age, ripeness, readiness); time
standing for or represented by something (growth, decay,
leeway); time as value in a given situation (a lover‘s waiting);
time as value (moral, financial); actual and / felt rate of
passage of time (slow, rushing, delay, stretched,
concentrated); overt and covert language devices indicating
time (time, clock, Aunt; finite and other verb forms, temporal
adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, etc.); time as conventional
entity in characters‘ minds; time as conventional entity in
reader‘s culture and mind; the context of vocabulary and other
devices relating to time in the text at a given point and in
general cumulatively; scales of time; the questioning of any of
the notions presented here; the negation of any of the notions
presented here; juxtaposition of different notions of time (as
above); intermingling of different notions of time; notions and
senses of ‗time‘ in relation to thinking, feeling, experience;
time in the text and that time as apprehended by a reader….
104 - Vaagartha

To consider how such multiple features and aspects of just

one dimension work in a narrative of even short-story length
would be impossible here. However, we may briefly and partially
consider the following narrative passage in an autobiography:

Looking back I put it down to something to do with

Uncle Ben‘s pet theory of time.

It had to be.

Never a one to sleep the clock round, throughout the

lamp-lit hours he read in reams and pondered gravely, often
on and into moonset, about life‘s deeper issues. From a
while ago when he had come to oil and regulate Aunt
Jessie‘s mantel chimer, just lately gone contrary, I recalled a
conversation.
―Now what would you reckon to the notion [that]
Time stands still, young shaver, and it‘s us who pass on
through it?‖
―It makes no sense,‖ I said. ―The clock hands move,
and night must follow day.‖
A dab hand with a timepiece, Uncle Ben dipped his
bantam feather in the linseed and sighed to be so
weighty.
―Part of creation‘s riddle and mortal man‘s illusion.
Did he but know, Time only passes—so to speak—
according to his means of spending it.‖
―You‘ll have to explain that,‖ I said. ―I am not good
at conundrums.‖
―It‘s very simple. You take five minutes. If a
starving man had only that to eat his fill, or you were
sparking with your girl…‖.

The clock struck once, behaving itself again, as Uncle

Ben tickled it contented. ―…those five minutes would be
over in a wink. But say I sat you on that hot stove there,
five excruciating minutes? Oh, would that seem like an
age?‖
―Well, yes,‖ I said, ―… but…‖.
 Vaagartha - 105

―The selfsame period of time,‖ pointed out Uncle Ben,

―to all intents made motionless. And long or short by man‘s
own passage through it. You‘ll find, as many a one before
you, a joyous heart and time has wings. Make life an uphill
struggle and you sip eternity by the spoonful.‖

Rum idea or reasoned argument—Time brought to

heel and stationed by Experience—it was one I couldn‘t
counter, not just then.5

Of course the subject of this dialogue is Time, with

significant notions, discussion and varied intellectual and
emotional reaction. Believe it or not, in the above brief passage
(the like of which regarding time or space or some other
phenomenon one encounters regularly in narratives), there are
at least 126 overt-covert-direct-indirect references to time in
just 314 words [see Appendix 2]. Similar analyses can be done
for spatial references, references to persons, places, objects
(such as natural objects in the setting or reference…), feelings,
reactions, indeed any feature of narration. It should not be
difficult to see from the above example, once you keep in mind
the process of back-and-forthing involved in reading, that
hundreds of criss-crossing simultaneous and sequential
interrelations in just one dimension would render the picture of
reading more complicated than has ever been shown. (In a later
section of this paper we shall return to the question of
representation of this multidimensionality of narrative.)

Meantime, I have had opportunity to exchange views and

collaborate with a physicist colleague regarding how such
multidimensionality of a narrative may be communicated to the
uninitiated. He asked me once to demonstrate the ways in which
a narrative might work on numerous levels and in various
directions at once. Limitations of time meant that one would not
be able to consider even a complete short story or poem.
Therefore I chose, from a Ted Hughes poem (―Conjuring in
Heaven‖) just the first four words from the opening line for an
example:
106 - Vaagartha

―So finally there was…‖ [poem at the end of this

paper].

Here I list the features of the phrase that confirm or suspend

some of the possibilities in the poem:
[1] So…
 All ‗normal‘ idiomatic associations of a ‗beginning‘,
(including capitalization of S), but here a ‗beginning-in-
the-middleness‘ (in medias res)
 Indication of (at least one) ‗happening‘ in time, followed
by another time of (at least one) consequential
happening: i.e., a sense of consequentiality / eventuality
 The sequentiality between these two events
 Simultaneous awareness of both preceding and
anticipated happening
 Apprehension of a significant relationship between these
two happenings
 Apprehension of the time relationship between these
happenings
 The processionality or progressiveness of the
happenings
 Awareness of a stretch or extent of time being involved
here
 So implicitly present are possibilities of
Time as dimension of existence
Time as moments / identifiable points (of occurrence of
events)
Time as duration
Time as progression
 Awareness of the forward directionality of time, from
happening 1 to happening 2 (arriving into this poem
with the opening word)
 Awareness of backward directionality of time as
explaining the link between past happenings (aspect
related to causality)
 Creation of readiness to receive such temporal
possibilities in either real or pseudo-real happenings
 Potential for alternation between references to
happenings 1 and 2
 Abstract notions of time kept available in the mind for
use if required—such as moment, extent, sequence,
relativity, interrelatedness—as well as distinctness of
objects and events
 Vaagartha - 107

 Vocabulary and grammatical structures related to the

expression so and all it sets in motion….

[2] finally…
 All the above possibilities related to so are also potentially
or implicitly available for finally as well
 Yet there is a difference between these two words
caused by the therefore-ness in the word so, and of
expected-eventuality in the word finally
 Finally also definitely includes the sense of the end of a
process and of a period of time well beyond
‗momentariness‘
 It contains the anticipation of an event that has already
occurred, i.e., a forward expectation (anticipation)
regarding an event looked upon backwards in time
relative to the moment of reading
 Finally also contains the following further temporal
senses:
Conclusion, in the sense of a process lasting over a
period of time that is ‗now‘ fructifying
An implication of progression in time and space without
which events cannot occur, therefore giving rise to
expectation of information regarding the setting or
location where the anticipated event occurred
Anticipation as suspense regarding the nature of the
event that has occurred but has not yet been reported
Anticipation of the cause(s) of the event that is as yet
unknown
Anticipation of the agent(s) that caused the event that is
as yet unknown
A sense of inevitability regarding the anticipated event,
something not always part of an anticipation or
expected consequence, and so on.

[3] there…

 Pseudo- (dummy) spatial anticipation, as this word is

more frequently used as a spatial deictic (directional)
term
 This sense will be abandoned immediately in favour of
the ‗idiomatic‘ dummy function of there
 For here the reader will realize, in the light of the
following word was, that a dummy-subject / locative
108 - Vaagartha

exists in English grammar (either it or there being used

in dummy cases)
 In some sense there and also was are anticipated by
both so and finally, particularly because of the
inevitability of the eventuality promised by finally
 In other words, at least inadvertently, location is likely to
figure in the poem since a story has already occurred
and it must have occurred somewhere.

[4] was…
 Pastness of time
 Contrast with the present of the act of reading
immediately setting up a now-and-then relationship
between reader and poem and reader and the event(s)
to follow in the poem
 Yet the knowledge of the presentness of any time in its
own domain will prepare the reader to receive a
description of events as they occurred at the time when
they occurred
 Singularity of the ‗real‘ subject of was
 The reader‘s awareness that this past-present time in
the poem is distinct from his current and real present
(the time of reading) and past
 Awareness that the times of telling and of happening are
distinct
 By now the reader will have understood the important
basic content of the opening phrase of the poem, that
the something-that-occurred-somewhere-somewhen is
not part of his present time or place
 Consequently, the reader‘s mind will have become ready
to receive information of all these kinds from the rest of
the poem: his reading of this phrase will create in his
mind an anticipation about what the rest of the poem as
a whole is going to present
 Awareness that distinctions between moments and
periods of time are to become important ways of
communication between text and reader
 The opening phrase suffices to communicate to the
reader (1) that the poem will use time as a crucial
notion and (2) that the poem will concern causality
 The reader may also become aware of further
complexities concerning events and times, such as that
an event anticipated in the fictional past occurred at
another subsequent time which is still in the fictional
past
 Vaagartha - 109

 That in the first of these pasts the ‗future‘ event was

‗anticipated‘ by the ‗narrator‘ of the poem
 That the event will be revealed to the reader in his
future time
 The complex directionality of time and occurrence in
interrelationships
 The sense of completeness of something in the
narrator‘s past that had been happening at a time in the
past now presented by the narrator
 Tentative query regarding whether whatever it was that
occurred still exists in the reader‘s real present
 Realization that the reader is going to be able to imagine
/ envisage the event regardless of whether it still exists
or not
 Sense of cessation (of stoppage, of ending) and of
feelings associated with cessations such as satisfaction,
fulfilment of anticipation, dissatisfaction… of what the
opening phrase engenders
 Abstract knowledge that the process in the past must
have had the shape recognized and used by the reader
to interact with his own world: e.g., a beginning, a
duration, a conclusion
 Sense of time antecedent to the beginning of the
narration
 Sense of time antecedent to the event to be narrated…

Of course we cannot claim the presence and operation of all

the above possibilities at any one time and in any one reading. It
is with this proviso that I have even suggested the possible
combinations of all or some of the above factors as they play
and stay or vanish in the reader‘s mind at first reading of the
opening phrase So finally there was. The reader will surely
anticipate a certain ‗reading‘ or interpretation of the phrase, for
he must render it vocally in interpretative supra-segmental
terms, the tones, emphasis and colour of voice. Mental
processes of other kinds will also participate in the reading-
rendering, for instance familiarity with the idiom used here. The
senses enumerated above are ‗potential‘, only some (yet a great
many) of them occurring in any one reading, thus making it
unique. Yet this much is certain—that in the brief moment it
takes one to read the phrase a great deal of quite complicated
and valuable information will have been communicated to and
processed by the reader.
110 - Vaagartha

Indeed, it was with the intention of showing the great

complexity of narrative communication that I restricted our
analysis to the first four words of the poem. This complexity will
be further ‗aggravated‘ by how much perception of the sense is
conscious and how much unconscious. Further, the reader‘s
mind may already have gone back and forth in helping itself
make sense of the abrupt phrasing of the opening—that has not
been overtly indicated in the analysis above. Other factors also
enter the picture: the reader‘s readerly past (whether he has
read such texts before, how much he has read, what variety,
how active is his memory in reading, his knowledge of the
world…) will also enter the picture in facilitating reading or
making it difficult. A given reader‘s mind will contain and reach
associations the combination of which will also be unique to him.
As long as he knows the language the reading will be (at least
tentatively or hypothetically) ‗sorted out‘ very quickly indeed.
Thus a very great deal happens in reading just an opening
phrase. Therefore it should become obvious that a far greater
amount of interaction goes on in reading an entire narrative.
That this complexity must be noticed, that some of the factors in
it that can be identified must be recognized, and some
(graphic?) way of representing at least part of the complexity
must be found, is what I am proposing here.

Hereafter we shall try to construct a graphic model to

represent another set of factors that are essential to any
narrative: the immense anticipatory-simultaneous, retrospective-
prospective combination of facts or data from the text and from
the reader‘s mind (hundreds and thousands of associations,
guesses, connections, false starts, for instance) that combine to
make up what we call ‗reading‘. But let us see how some of all
this variety of data may be ‗shown‘ in a graphic representation.
The process will contain a great many variables and therefore it
will require a corresponding number of ‗dimensions‘. In a
narrative there are places, times, events, characters,
relationships amongst these, changes in relationships, inner
phenomena such as thoughts and feelings, movements,
postures, gestures, even silences, starts and stops, digressions
 Vaagartha - 111

and reversions…. But if we restrict ourselves to some of the

basic paradigms that must be represented we may begin to see
what is required. For instance, we shall need graphic devices to
represent

 Backward, forward, angular, cyclical and

other time shifts
 Spatial dimensions, sizes, scales, shifts and
movements
 Temporal and spatial directionalities
 Constructional or architectural features
and factors
 Rates of progress-regress of action or
reference
 Simultaneity of objects, events, characters,
sensations, interactions…
 Temporarily or permanently suspended
directions and movements
 Scales of reference (such as
momentariness and universality)
 Size and importance of parameters and
objects in fields of reference
 Real-world phenomena (mountains, lakes,
meals…) that connect the extra-textual
and textual matter to the communication
 Beginnings, re-beginnings, beaks and
resumptions in action
 Allusions / references within the text
 Stylistic means to communicate these
components
 Devices to show the growth of the
narrative during reading
 Re-readings during first reading
 Scales of relative magnitude and centrality
of factors (major / minor
character…), etc.

Now, a familiar object or figure that may be able to

accommodate many if not all of such and other factors is the
tree or dendrite: multifarious growth, within the text, either
112 - Vaagartha

temporary or ‗permanent‘ suspension of directions of growth,

individual offshoots that can extend in virtually every direction,
to any size, with any number of further branching possibilities,
progress at any rate, to any ‗depth‘ in a four-dimensional space,
with nodal points, growth to any size, branching and sub-
branching to accommodate ‗developments‘, with narrative
‗thickness‘ and strength in the branches to support the growth,
directionality, progressiveness (to be shown in time-lapse
fashion), different colours, intensities and shades of colours,
with ‗leafy‘ end-growths to represent clusters of sub-facts and
factors as and when required by the narrative. Other variables
may also accrue to this complex. Such a growth happens to be
readily available in multiple tree-like natural phenomena.
Therefore, I propose a dendrite-shaped and dendrite-like
growing graphic model to show the ways in which a narrative
works. This alone will to some extent satisfactorily represent the
complexity of narration.

Imagine that a narrative beginning—from a word or

sentence (―Call me Ishmael‖ in Moby Dick) to a small chapter
(―The Prison Door‖ in Nathaniel Hawthorne‘s Scarlet Letter) is
represented by a newly sprouting dendrite. Thereafter, however
small or subtle the next item in the text, however immediately or
remotely it relates to foregoing parts, however different it may
be, every new addition may be represented—in four
dimensions—by growth or inhibited growth of the dendrite.
Certain factors may be represented by size in the growth, others
by rate of growth, others by ‗foliation‘, others by directionality,
sub-branch by sub-branch until the ‗end‘ of the text is reached.

This multiply growing figure engendered by a text will

invariably interconnect in an encounter-access-storage and
development-retrieval path of the unprecedented,
multidimensionally dynamic and prolific graphic. If necessary,
dotted or broken lines may indicate paths not pursued or
unexplained gaps or jumps in a narrative. Occasionally, in a
strongly divided text—for instance into ‗books‘—there may be
more than one dendrite initially, others following, but drawn in
such a way that their eventual interconnectedness can become
clear in time. Such a powerful and potentially endlessly
 Vaagartha - 113

proliferating device alone may begin to show the complexity of

the text, the act of reading and the process of ‗interpenetration‘
during reading.

To actually analyse texts in this manner or form is hardly my

proposal or objective. Rather it is to insist upon recognition of
the complexity and power of the encounter between text and
mind that we call ‗reading‘. A more satisfactory representation of
reading-as-interpretation may be achieved by use of the
dendrite figure than by any other means ever proposed. While it
would be good to have a growing or dynamic figure to show the
representation, it will be sufficient if one has ‗seen‘ the
proliferating dendrite with the mind‘s eye. There my proposal
may rest for the moment.

In conclusion, allow me only to reiterate that the complexity

of a narrative is difficult to comprehend but it is real in accessing
(‗reading‘), apprehending (‗reading‘), appreciating (‗reading‘)
and evaluating (‗reading‘). That in reading one encounters, both
progressively and regressively, a great many facts and factors
that constitute the narrative is beyond doubt. A means of
pinning down enough of the process to suggest the reality of the
act of reading would become available by the means I proposed.
Much of the languaging, construction, pace, ‗weight‘ and scale
of factors will become clear too. Because the graphic I proposed
will grow in time, it will resemble the act of reading. Numerous
other dimensions will also be accommodated. Potentially such a
device can represent any number of dimensions as witness to
human imagination and ingenuity in the double working of a
narrative in composition and reading.

Such a representation will also in principle be memorially

layered, allowing us to retrace as in memory the growth of the
dendrite as often as we want. While not everything in linguistic
inscription can be recorded even in such a figure, it will
represent enough to reveal the ‗figure in the carpet‘, an activity
far, far more complex than most of us give credit for. What has
been attempted previously by means of very poor terms such as
story, plot, character, motivation and imagery may thus be more
accurately represented.
114 - Vaagartha

Perhaps the model will also invite critics to credit the making
of an oral or printed narrative in the act of reading. Such a
model of the fundamental, even species specific human activity
of narration may promote better understanding of our dealings
with the world in psychological, neurological and other cognitive
research. It may help in construction of models of the working of
memory, dream and involuntary or deliberate ‗reading‘ of the
world around and within us. Representation of the ‗physics‘ of
the human mind may thus achieve better correspondence with
the activity of the human mind. It will definitely illuminate an
activity that has, ever since the beginning of humanity, provided
us with pleasure, instruction, stimulation, culture, even
civilization. It certainly addresses the enormous mystery of
complex human communication, reaction and cognition.

***

The complete text of Ted Hughes‘ poem ―Conjuring in

Heaven‖ and an analysis of the temporal features of the
passage from Connell Bernard‘ Now the Day is Over are
given in Appendices 1 and 2 respectively.
 Vaagartha - 115

Appendix 1
Ted Hughes, ―Conjuring in Heaven‖#
So finally there was nothing.
It was put inside nothing.
Nothing was added to it
And to prove it didn‘t exist
5 Squashed flat as nothing with nothing.
Chopped up with a nothing
Shaken in a nothing
Turned completely inside out
And scattered over nothing
10 And that nothing more could be done with it
And so it was dropped. Prolonged applause
in Heaven.
It hit the ground and broke open—
There lay Crow, cataleptic.
# The Life and Songs of the Crow. London: Faber & Faber
(1972) 1974, p.53.

Appendix 2

Take just one example. Without putting too fine a point on

the matter, this extract from Connell Bernard‘s Now the Day is Over
(which has a total of only 314 words) includes, in sequential
order, at least 126 items relating to Time, many of which will be
perceived or sensed by a good reader even at first reading,
although some will be only unconsciously accessed. Not only is
the subject of the passage Time, but the items underlined refer
to time because they are generally time marked (as in the case
of verbs or words like when) or marked by their context here:
____________________________

[1] Looking back I [2] put (past tense) it down to something to do with
[3] Uncle (because usually older) Ben‘s pet [4] theory of time.
It [5] had (past tense) [6] to be.
[7] Never a one to [8] [9] sleep the clock round, [10]
throughout the [11] lamp-lit hours he [12] read (past tense) [13] in
reams (obviously because this will take a lot of time) and [14] pondered (past
tense) gravely, [15] often [16] [17] on and into moonset, about
[18] life‘s deeper issues. [19] [20] [21] From a while ago [22]
116 - Vaagartha

when he [23] [24] had (past tense) come to oil and regulate [25] Aunt
(because usually older) Jessie‘s mantel [26] chimer, [27] [28] just lately
[29] gone (past tense) [30] contrary (in the context of time and clock), I [31]
recalled (past tense) a [32] conversation (which takes time to happen).
[33] ―Now (pseudo-reference—since idiomatically this is an attention catcher)
what [34] would (past tense) you [35] reckon to the notion [that] [36]
Time [37] stands [38] still, [39] young shaver, and [40] it‘s us who
[41] pass on through it?‖
―It [42] makes no sense,‖ I [43] said (past tense). ―The [44] clock
hands [45] move, and [46] night [47] must [48] follow [49] day.‖
A dab hand with a [50] timepiece, [51] Uncle Ben [52] dipped
(past tense) his bantam feather in the linseed and [53] sighed (past tense)
[54] to be so weighty.
―Part of [55] creation‘s riddle and [56] mortal man‘s illusion. [57]
Did (past tense) he but [58] know, [59] Time only [60] passes—so
[61] to speak—according to his means of [62] spending it.‖
[63] ―You‘ll [64] have to explain that,‖ I [65] said (past tense). ―I
[66] am not good at conundrums.‖
[67] ―It‘s very simple. You [68] take [69] five minutes. If a [70]
starving man [71] had (past tense) only [72] that to eat his fill, or you
[73] were (past tense) [74] sparking with your girl…‖.
The [75] clock [76] struck (past tense) [77] once, [78] behaving
itself again, as [79] Uncle Ben [80] tickled (past tense) it [81]
contented. ―… [82] those [83] five minutes [84] [85] would (past
tense) be over [86] in a wink. But [87] say I [88] sat (past tense) you on
that hot stove there, [89] five excruciating minutes? Oh, [90] would
that [91] seem [92] like an age?‖
―Well, [93] yes,‖ I [94] said (past tense), ―… but…‖.
―The [95] [96] selfsame period of time,‖ [97] pointed out (past
tense) [98] Uncle Ben, ―to all [99] intents [100] made (past tense)
[101] motionless. And [102] [103] long or short by man‘s own
[104] passage through it. [105] You‘ll [106] find, as many a one
[107] before you, a joyous heart and [108] time [109] has [110]
wings. Make [111] life [112] an uphill struggle and you [113] sip
[114] eternity [115] by the spoonful.‖
Rum idea or [116] reasoned (past as adjective) [117] argument—
[118] Time [119] brought (past tense) [120] [121] to heel and
stationed by [122] Experience—it [123] was (past tense) one I [124]
couldn‘t (past tense) [125] counter, not [126] just then.
____________________________
 Vaagartha - 117

NOTES

This paper was presented in 2004 at a conference on Linguistics

and Literature at the Department of Linguistics, University of
Mumbai, Mumbai (Bombay), India.

1. Preface, Life’s Handicap, Rudyard Kipling.

2. ―The Beginning: An Exploration of the Processes of
Initiation and Foreshadowing‖. In Narrative: Forms and
Transformations. Eds. Sudhakar Marathé & Meenakshi
Mukherjee. Delhi: Chanakya (1986) pp.13-36.
3. Imagined Worlds. London: BBC (1985) pp.161-180.
4. ―Suggestions for a Linguistic Study of Conrad‘s Heart of
Darkness‖ (1974). In Issues in Stylistics, Hyderabad: CIEFL
(1980) pp.95-107.
5. Connell Bernard, Now the Day is Over. New York: Viking
(1985) pp.103-104. See Appendix 2 above.

***

Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

 The Post-Colonial and Post-Modern;
Or, the Rise of Bilingual Writers and Writing in
India7

Udaya Narayana Singh

It is no coincidence that the celebrity writers in English in India

have always addressed themselves to the Urban India, even
when the peripheral and vernacular India has been their subject.
For them, it is this India that lies at the center. In one of my
lectures - ‗Another India: Voices from the periphery‘, given at
Saarbrucken in August 2002, I had argued that in a plural space
such as South Asia, each political entity will have, at any given
point of time, many centers – depending on which way one
decided to assign values to one or the other cultural parameter.
I had then suggested we are often unable to decide as to whom
do we write for or about? Which India are we talking about? Is
India the space that gets to be seen in the words woven by our
writers who happen to write or rewrite in English? Or, the space
that peeps through the texts in ‗Vernacular languages‘ that stand
on the other side of the lamp that is sustained on an English
wicker? I mention this only because Indian English writing allows
a large part of India to perpetually remain outside the focus.
What is in focus suddenly becomes the center, even if it is a
dormant Kantapura, or a sloppy town in Kerala. But what is
outside this written world remains in the periphery for the
Anglophone Indian, no matter how interesting Labtolia or Purnea
may be in Bibhutibhushan or Renu‘s unforgettable stories. Our
best literary persona have often neglected the indigene. In 1928,
philosophers such as Krishnachandra Bhattacharya, would echo
this concern: "Our mode of thinking is thus a hotch-potch and is
necessarily barren. Servility has made inroads into our innermost
consciousness". Independent thinking seemed to be the first
casuality of Westernization which, to many, would perhaps be a
precondition for modernity.

7
Lecture delivered at the University of Valladoilid, Spain in 2012
 Vaagartha - 119

It is this modernity which seemed to be driving the

subsequent generations more and more towards consumerist
and materialistic Western model of social organization, ensuring
a permanent intellectual and economic slavery. While this was
happening - not surprisingly - an insipid romanticism in both
tone and tenor - had been smuggled in stylistically in the
writings of many in those days getting rid of which was a
problem even for an erudite `Bhaashaa‘ writer such as Bankim
Chandra Chattopadhyay. Bankim complained that neither the
English neo-romantics nor their 19th century Bengali replica in
Hemchandra and Navin Chandra Sen could satisfy him until he
could rediscover the everlasting charm of oralcy of the poets
like Ramprasad Sen who were writing for the indegene – the
common speakers of Bangla. Writers like Madhusudan, however,
did understand later that their readers were going to be different
– no matter how much experimentation they might do with the
structure of their texts. He had struck fetters of all kinds - end-
rhyming, conventional metrics, thematic treatment, lexical
coinage, - and then synthesized European and Indian trends to
evolve his own inimitable diction which demanded (but failed to
get in his life-time) a new yardstick for evaluation. But for this
lack of appreciation Madhusudan was saddened. By 1881, he
wrote to Rajnarayan Bose:

Some of my friends as soon as they see a drama of mine,

begin to apply the canons of criticism that have been given
forth by the masterpieces of William Shakespeare. They
perhaps forget that I write under very different circumstances.
Our social and moral developments are of a different
character.

As time went by, Tagore became more and more

pronounced about his own reading of his time and space and in
presenting a critique of his environ. He vigorously differed from
the proponents of borrowed glow of Eurocentric modernity - and
charted out his own course, digging out his own style from
under his roots. Whereas the modernist would argue that the
past must be stilted and stunted at some point so that one
could grow beyond past (comment attributed Bertolt Brecht; cf.
Anjan Sen 1993:65), here is what Tagore had to say about
120 - Vaagartha

looking back at one's own roots: ―When sun shines

mercilessly, raising mercury in the world outside, when there is
not a drop of rain from the sky, at that time, thanks to our
roots, we can draw upon `rasa' from the dark innermost
chamber of our past" (`Jakhan baahire raudrer kharatara
taap,aakaash haite brSTi pare naa, takhan shikaRer prabhaabe
aamraa atiiter andhakaarer nimnatana desh haite ras aakarSan
karite paari.') In 1921 Tagore had made a very significant
observation about Man‘s revelations and Man‘s attempt to
liberate himself when he said: ―The essential thing is that truth
should be realized within and expressed without, with the sole
object of liberating and revealing man‘s soul. The doctrine of
man‘s revelation must be propagated through our education,
and practiced through our action. Only then shall we be
honoured by honouring all mankind, and shall overcome the
infirmity of age by invoking a new age. He who sees all beings in
his own self and his own self in all beings, he does not remain
unrevealed.‖ (Towards Universal Man. Bombay, Asia Publishing
House, 1961: 251; ed by Bhabani Bhattacharya. Introduced by
Humayun Kabir). This dilemma of remaining within ‗language‘
and moving ‗beyond language‘ expressed succinctly by Tagore in
his Bengali statements such as ‗Bhashar madhye bhashatita‘ or
the realization within and expression without are typical
characteristics of post-modern texts and authors.

At the outset, these issues might seem complicated but to

my mind, the crux of understanding the importance of bilingual
authors such as Tagore lies in appreciating the strife he had to
weather within himself in trying to negotiate with many of the
typical dichotomies thrown up by structuralists and post-
structuralists beginning from the days of Saussure. It is
interesting to see how some of these ideas entered into the
discourse that Tagore would start in his own creative texts. We
are aware that while attempting to blend the local and the
cosmopolitan concerns, Rabindranath never hesitated in looking
for illuminating ideas all around the world. In respect of his ideas
on Silence and Limits of Language, something similar seems to
have happened. It is interesting to see how these ideas also
percolate to the positions some of the western thinkers were to
take soon after.
 Vaagartha - 121

It is not surprising that Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein

(1889 –1951) who revolutionized our enquiry on language and
philosophy, was also concerned with similar issues. Wittgenstein
turned out to be the most seminal influence on a large number
of thinkers world-wide through his work on the nature of
relationship between propositions as expressed through
language and the world at large in his Tractatus Logico-
Philosophicus (1922-23) and his posthumously published
Philosophical Investigations (1953) – is known to have often
reverted to Rabindranath Tagore, and especially appreciated the
latter‘s use of silence in texts. That theory of numbers, or
Mathematics and logic fail to capture this important aspect of
man‘s attempt to break free of the ‗boundedness‘ of language,
while remaining within the realm of language, was realized by
both Wittgenstein as well as by thinkers such as Tagore and
Aurobindo. In 1921, Wittgenstein recommend to his friend Paul
Englemann that he should read Tagore's King of the Dark
Chamber (Cf. Englemann 1967:44-7), and gave a copy to his
sister as his favourite. In the meetings of the Vienna Circle
during 1927-28, he used to read out poetry from Tagore when
he would not like to respond to his fellow positivist philosophers.
In support of the above position, one could argue that ‗breaking
free of‘ or ‗getting outside‘ language is the only way to found our
notions of Truth and Objectivity (Scott, Michael 2003), which
would be a realist position, whereas others like McCutcheon
(2001) would argue that there is a sense in which Wittgenstein
would show this view to be wrong because any appeal to reality
or reason must be done ‗in and through‘ language, and that
therefore, mediation of language seems inescapable. This would
therefore lead to the debate on what thinkers like Tagore had
said or done to free the ‗subjects‘ from the tyranny of the
Objective.

The idea that the Self is bounded finitely to the finite and
infinitely to the infinite at the same time can also be traced to
the position Kierkguard had taken, which would seem otherwise
to be a contradictory proposition. This is reflected in Tagore‘s
description of the problem of self, when he says: "Man's words
are not a language at all, but merely a vocal gesture of the
dumb ... . The more vital his thoughts the more have his words
122 - Vaagartha

to be explained by the context of his life." He added that those

seeking the meaning get only to the house and "are stopped by
the outside wall and find no entrance to the hall" (in his
Sadhana, Tr. 1972: 71f; Tuscon: Omen Communications).

The third example of this ripple effect can be seen from

Tagore-Russell correspondences. It is a different matter that
Tagore took these ideas to a different plane when he
commented on an essay by Bertrand Russell in a letter written
on 13th October 1912: ―I read your essay on the Essence of
Religion in the last issue of the Hibbert Journal with very great
interest. It reminded me of a verse in the Upanishad which runs
thus: Yato veiche nivartante aprapya manasa saha/ Anandam
brahmano vidvan na vibheti kutuschana. ‗From him words, as
well as mind, come back baffled. Yet he who knows the joy of
Brahman (the infinite) is free from all fear‖. Through knowledge
you cannot apprehend him; yet when you live the life of the
Infinite, and are not bound within the limits of the finite self you
realise that great joy which is above all the pleasures and pains
of our selfish life and so you are free from all fear‖ (Russell,
Bertrand. 1967: 221. The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell
1872-1914. London).

On the opposide side now, consider the fact that the

German poet - Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759-
1805) had made a similar move by drawing from many other
poets and thinkers such as Goethe, Lessing, Ferguson, Herder,
and Kant while working on his in his On the Aesthetic Education
of Man where he argued that with industrialization, emergence
of the divided classes and the State ―machinery‖ wielding
enormous power over subjects, all individuals are turned into
mere fragments further ―chained to a single fragment of the
whole‖ (Taylor 1980: 25). The dissatisfaction towards the
prevailing state of affairs where each subject must keep a vigil
as to the unfolding events in the life of the society or state is
evident in his cryptic comment such as follows:

The eyes of the philosopher as well as of the man of the world

are anxiously turned to the theatre of political events, where it
is presumed the great destiny of man is to be played out. It
 Vaagartha - 123

would almost seem to betray a culpable indifference to the

welfare of society if we did not share this general interest. For
this great commerce in social and moral principles is of
necessity a matter of the greatest concern to every human
being, on the ground both of its subject and of its results. It
must accordingly be of deepest moment to every man to think
for himself. It would seem that now at length a question that
formerly was only settled by the law of the stronger is to be
determined by the calm judgment of the reason ... (Schiller
1794; Letter II; Literary and Philosophical Essays; The Harvard
Classics. 1909–14).

In Rabindranath Tagore‘s depiction of stony resistance in his

play Achalayatan (1911; variously translated as ‗the Immovable‘
to ‗The Petrified Place‘, tr by Bandana Sanyal, Rupa, 2006,
pbk, vi+102pp), we find him opening with interesting challenges
to grand institutional designs, so-called historical truths and
metanarratives. Dedicated to Sir Jadunath Sircar, doyen of
Indian history, the challenges are thrown up from different
directions. Tagore believes that man belongs to two worlds, one
which lies within him and the other outside. To explore the two
worlds, using the power of thought and imagination and
harmonise the two worlds becomes his primary concern.
Education, economics, politics, religion, social life all are but
steps towards the same concern. In 1921 Tagore said:

The essential thing is that truth should be realized within and

expressed without, with the sole object of liberating and
revealing man‘s soul. The doctrine of man‘s revelation must be
propagated through our education, and practiced through our
action. Only then shall we be honoured by honouring all
mankind, and shall overcome the infirmity of age by invoking a
new age. He who sees all beings in his own self and his own
self in all beings, he does not remain unrevealed. (Towards
Universal Man. P. 251).

On the one end, we find Mahapanchak (মহাপঞ্চক) – the rule-

governed and rule-bound rigid systemist – who is seen
highlighting the quest of dry wisdom as the main aim of the
institution, whose insistence on rules turning the space into a
petrified land of illusion and immobility. The hollowness of this
124 - Vaagartha

institutional approach is evident in the sayings and terse

comments of his younger brother - Panchak (পঞ্চক) who sings
songs of freedom, questions all wisdom and standard rules, and
breaks open into contact with the forbidden world. It was clear
that while the younger students of the institution would easily
handle all standard scriptures and chantings in ‗Dhwajakeyuri‘
(ধ্বজাগ্রককয়ূরী), ‗Chakreshmantra‘ (চকেশমন্ত্র), ‗Marichi‘ (মরীচচ),
‗Mahamarichi‘ (মহামরীচচ) or even ‗Parnasharbari‘ (পর্ণশবরী),
Panchaka would only question the basis of this ‗given‘ texts and
knowledge. On the other hand, we find the Sonpangshus are
work addicts to the extent that they mistake work for the end
and not the means, while the Darvaks remain happy with their
simple, unquestioning, selfless devotion. All three fail to realise
that life is to be tasted in its totality. Knowledge, power to work,
and devotion are to be assimilated to achieve the true vision of
life. And for that, the Guru's help becomes imperative.

In essence the play is a strong indictment of our ethico-

religious and educational systems drained of all meaning and
rendered bloodless, dry and sterile through over-emphasising
rules for rules' sake. Elaborate symbolism coupled with a subtle
allegorical structure makes Achalayatan as relevant today as
when it was written nearly a century ago." ( Achalayatan : The
Petrified Place. Rabindranath Tagore. Translated by Bandana
Sanyal, Rupa, 2006, pbk, vi, 102 p). Looking at time, space and
management of these two with a critical-historical perspective
had an origin in Tagore from an early period when in 1913, in
Sadhana, Tagore had already argued strongly that ―man‘s history
is the history of his journey to the unknown in quest of the
realization of his immortal self—his soul (Sadhana II; Page 292)‖,
and he went on to add about the journey man had to perform by
saying:

Through the rise and fall of empires; through the building up

[of] gigantic piles of wealth and the ruthless scattering of them
upon the dust; through the creation of vast bodies of symbols
that give shape to his dreams and aspirations, and the casting
of them away like the playthings of an outworn infancy;
through his forging of magic keys with which to unlock the
mysteries of creation, and through his throwing away of this
 Vaagartha - 125

labour of ages to go back to his workshop and work up afresh

some new form; yes, through it all man is marching from
epoch to epoch towards the full realization of his soul,--the
soul which is greater than the things man accumulates, the
deeds he accomplishes, the theories he builds, the soul whose
onward course is never checked by death or dissolution
(Sadhana II, 293-4).

If all creativity is viewed as a journey from bondage (of

language, vision, and various other limiting abilities) to freedom,
and if culture is to be viewed as a condition that facilitates this
flight of the creative human consciousness of individuals, the
process of reaching for autonomy and liberation, has no choice
but to deal with a set of dichotomies – subjectivity versus
objectivity, individual versus collective identities (such as the
multiplicity of world views, ethnic, cultural and national
identities), or form versus content, or even ‗given‘ versus ‗new‘.
Recall that Hegel had also conceived of mutually antagonistic
world-views that are often fitted in the narratives of history as
being purposive or 'goal-driven', that is, oriented towards an
end-point in history. The ‗contradictions' in these positions – still
trying to capture a goal-oriented, 'teleological' notion with a
strong belief that all things happening or will be happening must
follow the 'historical process as a whole' flowing out of nature.

Let us shift our attention to this on-going chain of writings

and jump to more modern settings when the theory of Post-
modernism was to make its mark. We take you to another
playwright who too pre-dated many of the ideas that were to be
defining characteristics of post-modern thought later. Let us take
a concrete example: In Box and Quotations From Chairman Mao
(1968), two interrelated plays performed without intermission,
written by Edward Albee of the Zoo Story (1959) fame, and
premiered in Buffalo and New York, we find the play opening
with a recorded voice reciting a long song of lamentation on the
human predicament and the degree to which art can serve as a
solace as well as a spur. During the recital, the stage is empty
except for a wooden framework of a large cube. The recital
over, the cube is seen to have some deck chairs, and four
people, including Mao, who wanders about the stage and quotes
126 - Vaagartha

from his political clichés, another raddled-looking old lady who

recites, in a whining Midwestern the ballad 'Over the Hill to the
Poorhouse' – with a minister, book in hand and blanket tucked
cosily but never uttering anything, and a middle-aged lady with
her non-stop monologue about her dead husband, her
ungrateful daughter, and her narrow escape from drowning.

One of my childhood favourites, I find this could be securely

called a ‗postmodern‘ play – much before Jean-François
Lyotard‘s The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge
(1979) came into the picture – Albee‘s work clearly signalled a
lack of trust in grand-narratives so typical of English theatre
tradition. As authors such as Albee try to create anti-
establishment narratives, including his most famous Who's Afraid
of Virginia Woolf? (1963) with 664 performances on the
Broadway straight away and with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard
Burton in lead roles in the film version, these texts begin to dig
the grave for the old-style bubbly bushy spreadshrublike grand-
narratives with multiple loops and layers recursively held within
– so typical of our Mahābhārata and Pancatantra stories. But
they also begin to set standards of new narrative jargon and get
fossilized as stylized texts themselves.

In contrast, both nature-based explanations in the form of

teleology and the grand narratives are viewed as reductive,
exclusionary and harmful to all those races, segments, and tribes
whose stories are erased, and are therefore dropped in the post-
modern times. Instead, we get a completely new trend of a
narrative understanding of oneself (a la Alasdair MacIntyre‘s
After Virtue, 1981), based on one's capacity as an independent
reasoned and a personal historian, one's ability to raise a storm
or an argumentation on all social practices and traditions in
which one engages a large body of participates, but ultimately
all tending towards the ultimate good of liberation. Social
practices may themselves be understood as teleologically
oriented to internal goods, for example practices of philosophical
and scientific enquiry are teleologically ordered to the
elaboration of a true understanding of their objects.
 Vaagartha - 127

MacIntyre holds that After Virtue makes seven central

claims, out of which one is crucial for the line of argumentation
we are pursuing here. It begins with an allegory suggestive of
the premise of the science-fiction novel A Canticle for Leibowitz,
which I have not read, but from others‘ accounts, it is depiction
of the world where all sciences have been dismantled quickly
and completely. MacIntyre asks what the sciences would look
like if they were re-assembled from the remnants of scientific
knowledge that survived the catastrophe. He claims that the new
sciences, though superficially similar to the old, would in fact be
devoid of real scientific content, because the key suppositions
and attitudes would not be present. "The hypothesis which I
wish to advance," he continues, "is that in the actual world
which we inhabit the language of morality is in the same state of
grave disorder as the language of natural science in the
imaginary world which I described." MacIntyre believes that the
moral structures emerging out of the Enlightenment were
philosophically doomed from the start because of use of
incoherent language of morality resulting from the abandonment
of Aristotelian ideas on teleology. Ancient and medieval ethics,
argues MacIntyre, relied wholly on the teleological idea that
human life had a proper end or character, and that human
beings could not reach this natural end without preparation.
Renaissance science rejected Aristotle's teleological physics as
an incorrect and with that the Renaissance philosophers also
dropped the concept in ethics. Consequently, having lost its
context, ethics as a body of knowledge only remained as a
vocabulary list with few definitions and an incomplete framework
on which moral understanding was to be based. Another reason
MacIntyre gives for the doomed nature of the Enlightenment is
the fact that it ascribed moral agency to the individual and that
morality became only a matter of each human being's opinion.

Many argue that Tagore was a fancifully romantic, with no

sense of the politics. That it is not true can be seen from
Achalayatan (1912) which highlights the conflicting faiths. In
Achalayatan (―Immovable Institution‖, 1911), Tagore mocked
the absurdities of institutionalised Hinduism, drawing flak from
the orthodox Bengalis. For some, it is a matter of new
information that in Prayaschitta (―Penance‖, 1909), he created a
128 - Vaagartha

character remarkably like Mahatma Gandhi, long before

Mohandas settled in India, and made him preach a policy
remarkably similar to that of Satyagraha. In between, his
masterpiece Raja (1910, revised and renamed as Arup Ratan,
―Formless Jewel‖) returned to spiritualism, the forte of his
poetry, crystallising the essence of the Upanishadic faith that he
believed in, and dramatising the human quest for union with the
divine (cf. Lal, Ananda, 2011: ‗Tagore & performance of his
plays‘ The Pioneer, New Delhi). So, where does one place a
playwright-novelist and short-story writer like Tagore? Does one
get a standard position from Tagore‘s writings that would either
underscore ‗universalism‘ or the Individual‘s Right to have
different types and degree of morality? Does he preach for
liberation of man from all shackles imposed on him by the State
and the Faith? Is Dharma for Tagore the same as ‗faith‘? Why
does he think we need to rethink about our civilizational goals
and operating principles? Why does he always talk in terms of
various dualities of patterning? Is he consistent and coherent, or
does he lack on them – like any other ―modern‖ master, who
would make a virtue out of it? Or, does his apparently conflicting
and contradictory stand create a pattern in the best tradition of
the ‗Uttar-Adhunik‘ which comes closest to the western concept
of post-modernism, but is still different in certain respects?

As we look back at our cultural history – particularly at the

way it unfolded itself during the last few hundred years, it a few
things become obvious. When we were beginning to negotiate
with the western world, we lacked either the will or the vision, or
perhaps both, in constructing our cultural landscape. We had not
made moves to gather information on what we already know
collectively, and on what we were ready to show as expressions
of our culture. Had we done that, our idiom of cultural
expression would have reflected our own patterns – verbal,
visual, cultural. The shape and form it would have taken would
also have been dictated by our own tradition or volition. For
that, we should not ideally depend upon resources from outside
to make, shape, chisel and fabricate our cultural expression.

As a civilization, we had the required talent, the native

intuition and appropriate knowledge to create our own
 Vaagartha - 129

pathways. But we often failed to communicate this wisdom and

originality, because we fell into the trap to believe that we must
build, promote and practice a medium of expression that should
be understood by our western readers or viewers. That forced us
to adopt their medium and style of expression, which we then
decided to introduce in our education system that would be open
only to the elites and the middle class gentry. Although we had
this store-house of tools, techniques, sciences and arts that was
a part of traditional knowledge system, we concluded that this
system was inferior to the western education. We introduced the
western modes of expression through the newly set up cultural
institutions, where we denied access to it our own people,
except a set of individuals. The result was emergence of a new
rootless class of Indians who sincerely believed in the
brazenness of anything that was a part of tradition and in
‗natural‘ superiority of the West over the Orient. During the
heyday of our tradition of indigene-culture, the field was open to
challengers from all corners of our known world, where the
division was in terms of masters, artists and performers versus
the end-of-the-line users, viewers, readers and consumers of our
culture. But with super-imposition of the western models or
culture over our own, we began to use culture to divide people,
and not to unite them.

If we turn away our attention from this tale of woe for a

moment, and we look at the genesis of ‗Culture‘ per se, we find
it etymologically connected to ‗the tilling of land,‘ from Medieval
French culture and directly from Latin cultura ‗cultivating,
agriculture.‘ Figuratively, it referred to ‗care, culture, an
honouring,‘ from pp. stem of colere ‗tend, guard, cultivate, till‘. It
was thus related to the ‗enhancement‘ of one‘s natural talent
and qualities, leading to refinement of persons or aggregates
that undergo certain processes for the fulfilment of national
aspirations or ideals. The extended figurative use of Culture in
the meaning of ‗cultivation through education‘ was first seen in
1500 AD; other and related meanings, such as ‗the intellectual
side of civilization‘, are from 1805; that of ‗collective customs
and achievements of a people‘ can be dated as an 1867
addition. There are a number of ‗agencies‘ through which such
conscious or unconscious interventions leading to refinement
130 - Vaagartha

happen, and the best known among them include language, fine
arts, performing arts as well as the platforms they offer, namely,
literature, media, canvas, or public spaces etc.

In the initial days of the introduction of English education

and culture in India, there was an awareness that English
literature and culture had achieved rare distinction much before
the British established themselves as our rulers, and that,
therefore, there was a reason for our positive reaction towards
their language and culture. Tagore writes:

―বৃহৎ মানবচবকের সকে আমাকের প্রত্যক্ষ পচরচয় আরম্ভ হকয়কে

সসচেনকার ইংকরজ জাচত্র ইচত্হাকস। আমকের অচিজ্ঞত্ার মকযয
উেঘাটিত্ হল একটি মহৎ সাচহকত্যর উচ্চচশখর সেকক িারকত্র এই
আগন্তুককর চচরত্রপচরচয়”. (Literally, ―We had been introduced to
the wide world outside only through the history of the British
race. The newcomer to India had brought in a new experience
from the height of their literary achievement, and thus enriched
our experience‖)

It was not at all surprising, therefore, that along with English

poetry and drama, the average neo-educated Indians began to
adore the life-style and culture of their British masters, including
their music, taste, dress, and even sports. This was mainly
because we were neither so prolific as to have produced and
propagated our myriad options nor were we enterprising enough
to project and promote our culture world-wide (Recall his
comment in Bangla: ―ত্খন আমাকের চবেযালাকির পেয - পচরকবশকন প্রাচু র্যণয
ও ববচচত্রয চেল না”). We had been at an interesting cross-road of
history, and Tagore‘s advent came as a boon to both civil society
in India and to our cultural fields.

Let me recall what a cultural critic had recently stated the

following about the cultural crisis of a former colony and a
developing nation such as ours:

Critics have said that those who fail to study history are
doomed to repeat it. So, we are constantly looking back over
our shoulder to historical events of epochs past trying to draw
 Vaagartha - 131

conclusions about how to avoid the pitfalls of former times and

nations … Certainly, history…emerges out of a set of
assumptions about how things work, how the world is
constituted, the logic of historical narrative, about acting in the
world, and about the nature of language (Sandy Crolick 2010
‗Crisis in civilization and Cultural criticism‘ at
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Crisis-of-Civilization-And-
Cultural-Criticism&id=3876540).

While commenting on the last lecture of Tagore which has

become by now a part of our legend, Nabaneeta Dev Sen says in
her essay similarly titled ‗Crisis in Civilization and a Poet‘s
Alternatives : Education as one alternative weapon‘ the following
- about the danger the Poet could sense long before
globalization became a menace. She said the Poet could ―…
foresee a crisis that a civilization might face, of which education
is an important component, and how, as a sensitive, creative,
responsible human being he can think of possible alternatives to
counteract the dangers‖. Even earlier, in 1928, we find
philosophers such as Krishnachandra Bhattacharya (1875-1949),
would echo Tagore‘s concern about finding our own modes of
thinking and learning. Bhattacharya commented: "Our mode of
thinking is... a hotch-potch and is necessarily barren. Servility
has made inroads into our innermost consciousness".
Independent thinking seemed to be the first casuality of
Westernization which to many, would perhaps be a precondition
for modernity. In his Ashutosh Memorial Lecture ‗Swaraj in
Ideas‘ (1931) published in the Visva-Bharati Quarterly 20, 103-
114 (1954), Bhattacharya had warned saying

Man's domination over man is felt in the most tangible form in

the political sphere. There is, however, a subtler domination
exercised in the sphere of ideas by one culture on another, a
domination all the more serious in the consequence, because it
is not ordinarily felt… Cultural subjection is ordinarily of an
unconscious character and it implies slavery from the very
start.

It is this second-hand modernity which seemed to be

driving the subsequent generations more and more towards
consumerist and materialistic western model of social
132 - Vaagartha

organization, ensuring a permanent intellectual and economic

slavery. In more than one book, and in several texts, Tagore
warns us of this possibility.

Whether we talk of the Melting-Pot Theory or the Salad-Bowl

Theory, one is surprised to see that our thought leaders as well
as political managers also believe in assimilation of kind that
borders on Cultural Slavery – where alien cultural norms are
accepted without any probe or questioning or any research,
insight or logic. Such tendencies often result in whipping up of
emotions by political speeches that are often shallow in content
but emotionally charged. In our case, we received Western
culture in the first instance and then tried to peer into our
ancient culture with as much curiosity as that of foreign scholars,
and then dismiss it. Many of our educated people neither know
nor care about the indigenous culture.

I can‘t help commenting on what today‘s icons in Indian

writing would do, as against what Rabindranath did all his life
investing his time, life and fortune to alter our cultural
landscape. Like any other cultural agents and entrepreneurs,
today‘s authors would write their way into vast fortunes and
would usually possess a keen sense of the market. It was not
that Tagore would turn himself away from the market or
economic forces. Let us not forget that he was the brand
ambassador for at least 30 odd companies including a bank – all
for the sponsorship he would raise to promote and propagate his
ideas. These ideas included emancipation of women as well as
highlighting the downtrodden‘s plight, besides painting the crisis
among the Bhadraloks. Whereas today‘s intellectuals who claim
to represent the oppressed, write their way out of oppression
and the ones with certain convictions know how to write beyond
their dogma. False heroism abounds as false ideologies in the
texts show up, while their ‗owners‘ live a dual life - one with a
mask on the face that marks commitment, care and concern -
qualities the writers want the readers to find in their texts – and
the other, in the guise of a completely different persona, often
antonymic, in real life.
 Vaagartha - 133

We are talking about a time when Tagore decided that he

was not there to merely write ‗social texts‘ that domesticate the
subjugated race to accept the existing social order in British
India without asking questions that tear apart the civilizational
masks of the rulers – broadly recognized as cultural agents of
the western knowledge and belief which vowed to ‗educate‘
Indians to rid them of their primitive knowledge systems and
vernacular existence. From our part, this was a deep-rooted
feeling as the builders of our nation and social fabric used to
believe that liberty would arrive through the liberalism of the
British kind, which is what Tagore had commented on:

ত্খন আমরা স্বজাচত্র স্বাযীনত্ার সাযনা আরম্ভ ককরচেলুম, চকন্তু অন্তকর

অন্তকর চেল ইংকরজ জাচত্র ঔোকর্যণর প্রচত্ চবোস । সস চবোস এত্ গিীর চেল
সর্য একসময় আমাকের সাযককরা চির ককরচেকলন সর্য , এই চবচজত্ জাচত্র
স্বাযীনত্ার পে চবজয়ী জাচত্র োচক্ষকর্যর দ্বারাই প্রশস্ত হকব| (Literally, At
that time, we had begun the penance of achieving
independence for our race, but within ourselves we had a firm
belief in the generosity of the British kind. The trust was so
deep that once our political sages had thought that the path of
independence for this defeated nation will be smoothened by
kindness of the race that had vanquished us).

As the sense of terrible disrespect and disregard for

everything Indian by the English became more and more
apparent as time went by, cultural leaders such as Tagore
decided to provide an alternative pathway to growth. Indians
also watched with wonder how technology lifted the Japanese
society from the apparent oblivion to the forefront of world
economy, or how Russia progressed by leaps from socio-political
backwardness and instability to a position of respect only
because they paid close attention to development through
spread of education. They provided the best examples of
development where knowledge and wisdom existed side by side,
and tradition and modernity only complemented each other –
resulting in removal of imprudence, poverty (of both mind and
matter), and lack of self-confidence. In these new models, social
divisions or religious affiliations had no place, and it did not learn
to keep the ‗different‘ outside. It is because of these moves that
Tagore had taken so early – in spite of the fact that he was
134 - Vaagartha

perhaps the most exposed author to the western world with his
77-odd trips to 33 countries – that we would like to describe as a
‗Cultural Icon‘ who contributed immensely both by his teachings
and through his practices as a cultural personality.

At the turn of a new century now, so many decades after

the Tagore era has gone, we have reached – in many parts of
the world – a genuine possibility of closure of the universe of
socio-political discourse, with autocratic rulers and dogmatic
doctrines. This is a time when our languages have begun to lose
their ability to reason, criticize, and stand apart in and non-
partisan manner. At this point of time, we realize how important
the activist concept of literary agency is. In Tagore‘s time, the
Poet would often distance himself from his characters in his
plays and fictions who would represent the debates on various
issues and take sides which were not necessarily his own
position. The idea was to foreground the argumentative nature
of Indian civilization.

Also, it was not that Tagore was writing plays like Bisarjan
(‗Sacrifice‘) or Muktadhara (‗The Waterfall‘) or Tasher Desh (‗The
Card Country‘) or creating major fictions such as Gora and
Ghare-Baire (‗The Home and the World‘) because he would like
his texts to change the world, without himself plunging into the
colonial space to intervene it being mauled by the foreign rulers
so that his world would also change his texts. In his case,
Tagore was in firm control to keep working on most of his texts
until he was sure it said what he wanted it to state. Raktakarabi
(‗Red Oleandars‘) is a case in point which underwent scissors
eleven times. He was aware though that all his ‗texts‘ would be
actually constrained both by language (Wittgenstein 1976, 1986)
as well as by social forces that ‗domesticate‘ writing. The post-
modernist would say that since the boundary between text and
world blurs to the point of collapse, reading and rereading
remain the only real authors (reminding us of Derrida here). But
consider what Tagore did to get out of such constraints. He
altered the diction, style and grammar of the language he wrote
in (Bengali), decided to try out several languages as his creative
expressions (English and Brajabuli included), and at the end,
gave up language in favour of other media of expressions (such
 Vaagartha - 135

as the ones used in music and painting). He was obviously trying

to get rid of the constraints we mentioned earlier. Similarly, by
his action and planning, he was trying to bring in changes in the
fields of education as well as nation-building so that a new
independent and resurgent India could find its own contexts to
come up with great cultural products once again.

As time went by, Tagore became more and more

pronounced about his own reading of his time and space and in
presenting a critique of his environ. He vigorously differed from
the proponents of borrowed glow of Eurocentric modernity - and
charted out his own course, digging out his own style from
under his roots. It is from here that today‘s Indian English
writers draw resources and courage to tell our stories to the
world outside India.

Where Tagore excelled as a Cultural leader was in merging

the sacred with the profane in both style and content in his
poetry as he began his literary journey. Even in his short stories,
plays as well as novels, he achieves this rare feet of achieving a
balance between masculinity and femininity. Tagore began Gora
by introducing Binoybhushan looking out at the streets of
Calcutta in a pacific mood. Binoy is absorbing Calcutta‘s serenity
(considered then to be a more feminine trait). While doing so,
he hears a baul singer singing a folk song,

The unknown bird flies in and out of the cage,

if I could catch it, I would place
the chains of my mind on its feet. (pg. 1)

Gora - a reflection of the social life in colonial India - was the

most complex of his novels, and is a classic text for students of
modernity. It raises a number of social and political concerns
that seem contemporary even today. One would not be
surprised to see that they are easily applicable to the present-
day India as well. It is a story about an overall transformation
within an individual and in the society at large. The so-called
Bhadralok class was then divided into two diametrically opposite
camps – one dominated by the traditional orthodox Hindus and
the other by the modernized liberal thinkers from among the
136 - Vaagartha

Hindus and the Brahmos. The orthodox Hindus took pride in

their renascent practices and rituals while the Brahmos were in
constant clash with orthodoxy and yet both had their own
hypocrisies and contradictions. The situation was made more
complex because of the advent of English education widely
accepted across the society. After much debate and turmoil, and
interesting turn of events, Gora does declare at the end saying
―Today I am Bharatiya. Within me there is no conflict
between communities, whether Hindu, Muslim or
Krishtan. Today all the castes of Bharat are my caste…‖
But even today, this liberal and tolerant attitude has not been
the most dominant voice in India.

Notice that Tagore was operating on two fronts when he

was ‗Gora‘ and ‗Ghare-baire‘. On the one hand, he was engaged
in bringing the balance between femininity and masculinity of
Bangla that would make the two languages occupy a common
space. The literary standard would then neither tilt towards
femininity nor be biased towards masculinity. On the other hand,
he was trying to make his readers listen to the voice of his
women – Sucharita (in Gora), Bimala (in Ghare baire) and
Charulata (in the story, Nashtanir) – on topics that were so far
considered the privilege of only men-folk. To wrap up on this
issue of ‗engendering‘ as practiced and promoted by Tagore, let
me mention an essay by Sudhir Kakar (forthcoming), where he
quotes a short unpublished note on the poet by the
psychoanalyst and Harvard professor Erik Erikson (1902-1994).
Erikson, known for his book Gandhi‘s Truth, says that Tagore‘s
attempts to merge the feminine with the masculine not only runs
through his writings but also constitutes the dominant strand of
his inner life;

... his is a search for bringing together what are normally

regarded as opposites: human-divine, male-female, home-
world — Ghare baire (1916). A poet can only be born through
a gradual integration of the masculine and feminine in him.
Some express this only in their poetry, some in their
appearance as well. And Tagore‘s whole appearance, at the
end seemed to be above the sexes, even as in young years, he
combined feminine shyness with a tall, masculine body. His
beard was patriarchal but his robes veiled some mysteriously
 Vaagartha - 137

pregnant body. Ascetic Gandhi was tolerant of this flamboyant

appearance: he understood that it marked Tagore‘s role in
India and the world: for in a country, smitten by the necessity
to stand up against a conqueror‘s idol (namely, the masculinity
of the British beefeaters) and in a world about to surrender to
a combination of technological superman and nationalist
bullies, Tagore reasserted the traditional inclusion in the Indian
identity of the feminine and the maternal, the sensual and the
experiential, the receptive and the transcendental in human
life.

This only strengthens the point I was making on yet another

Rabindranath who had even designed his appearance – both
physical and literary, in a syncratic manner.

That Rabindranath Tagore brought in professionalism among

cultural persona – especially among creative writers in India, is
stated again and again by many today who literally survive on
their writing. But the best example of professionalism is
demonstrated by the fact that just as any major international
author or performer today, Tagore began as a bilingual author to
charge an appearance fee (cf. Debashis mukhopadhyay (2010:
68) in his interesting piece ‗TukRo kathay Rabindranath‘
mentions that a search through contemporary newspaper and
magazine advertisements show that inasmuch as 32 commercial
insertions). But in all what Tagore had done, he had kept one
principle aloft, which could be summarily stated as his design to
place human beings at the centre of his universe. Also, our
authors have also used ‗Culture‘ as a tool for international
understanding and world peace. About that, Bertrand Russell
was compelled to observe the following:

He (=Tagore) has contributed as much as any man living to

the most important work of our time, namely, the promotion of
understanding between different races. Of what he has done
for India, it is not for me to speak, but what he has done for
Europe and America in the way of softening of prejudices and
the removal of misconception, I can speak, and I know on this
account he is worthy of the highest honour (as quoted in Basu
Majumdar, A.K. 1993. Rabindranath Tagore: The Poet of India.
New Delhi: Indus. Page 124).
138 - Vaagartha

In his own writings, in several places, Rabindranath had

broached this subject of bringing in ‗Peace‘ in so many ways,
one of which could be quoted from his own translation published
as The Gardener, LXI (1914; London: Macmillan):

Peace, my heart, let the time for the parting be sweet.

Let it not be a death but completeness.
Let love melt into memory and pain into songs.
Let the flight through the sky end in the folding of the wings
over the nest.
Let the last touch of your hands be gentle like the flower of the
night.
Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a moment, and say your last
words in silence.
I bow to you and hold up my lamp to light you on your way.
(Translated by the author from the original Bengali)

In many ways, Tagore‘s ideas were a precursor to the later

policy statements made by the UNESCO and other bodies. For
instance, the Mexico City Declaration on Cultural Policies 1982 -
finalized during the World Conference on Cultural Policies (26
July - 6 August) says:

The world has undergone profound changes in recent years.

The progress of science and technology has changed man's
place in the world and the nature of his social relations.
Education and culture, whose significance and scope have
been considerably extended, are essential for the genuine
development of the individual and society.

Some of the most profound statements that could be the

basis of realization of Tagore‘s dreams are stated by them in the
following realizations:

that in its widest sense, culture may now be said to be the

whole complex of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and
emotional features that characterize a society or social group.
It includes not only the arts and letters, but also modes of life,
the fundamental rights of the human being, value systems,
traditions and beliefs;
 Vaagartha - 139

that it is culture that gives man the ability to reflect upon

himself. It is culture that makes us specifically human, rational
beings, endowed with a critical judgement and a sense of
moral commitment. It is through culture that we discern values
and make choices.

One is not surprised, therefore, that Tagore would pen –as a

part of his songs of formal occasions - this declaration of peace
as a bard himself, promising a better future for the mankind,
where it is only through an appropriate and balanced movement
could one reach. He says in the following lines that a huge ocean
of peace lies before you, and all you need to do as the leader of
this ever-lasting journey is to lead the vessel in deep water
where the path to infinity will be lit up the polestar: সমুকখ
শাচন্তপারাবার– / িাসাও ত্রর্ী সহ কর্ণযার । / ত্ু চম হকব চচরসাচে, লও লও সহ সোড়
পাচত্– / অসীকমর পকে জ্বচলকব সজযাচত্ ধ্রুবত্ারকার ॥

***
Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
 Translating the Novels Written in Stream of
Consciousness Technique: A Case Study of
Alpajeevi
Naresh Annem & K. Rajya Rama

Abstract

Does the translator face any specific problems in translating the

novels written in Stream of Consciousness Technique? This
paper seeks to examine the problems in translating the novels
which employ stream of consciousness technique. The problems
specific to this narrative mode may include streams of thought
expressed as metaphors, similes, subconscious unveiling of plot,
alliteration, use of symbols with a specific semantic intent, use of
question forms which serve different discourse purposes like
doubts, contemplation, and surprise etc. Therefore, a translator
not only has to resolve the issues specific to this particular
technique but also has to focus on whether the translation has
created an equivalent effect on the target language readers.

Introduction

The road map of the paper is as follows: First section introduces

the theme of the paper; second section deals with the analysis:
in this section we have selected a list of passages from the
source language text which we felt represent most the author‘s
style and these were translated into English. The various
problems we have faced while translating these passages have
also been discussed. The third section concludes the paper.

This paper, seeks to examine the problems a translator faces

while translating the literary works that employ a particular
narrative technique called the Stream of Consciousness
Technique. Any translation activity is replete with a number of
problems in the process of achieving an equivalent effect. These
may be the difficulties one faces while translating a particular
genre, a language variety or issues related to cultural and social
identity. While these are the general problems of translation, the
 Vaagartha - 141

purpose of this paper is to identify the problems specific and

unique in translating the novels written in stream of
consciousness technique. We have chosen and studied a few
Telugu novels written in this style ‗Ampashayya‘, ‗Chivaraku
Migiledi‘, ‗Asamarduni Jeevayatra‘ in general and ‗Alpajeevi‘ in
particular, for this purpose.

Alpajeevi is a novel written by Rachakonda Viswanatha

Sastri, better known to Telugu literary world as ‗Ra.Vi. Sastri‘,
who created a landmark in the history of Telugu literature. His
works bear a testimony to the incidents, which were happening
in and around the society of his day. Ra.Vi. Sastri‘s works were
of a specific style. ‗Creating sound effect‘ is an asset to his style.

Alpajeevi, together with Buchibabu‘s ‗Chivaraku Migiledi‘

heralded modernism in Telugu fiction by lending it a new
psychological depth. Prior to their publication, Telugu novels
tended to be patently romantic in orientation and thus hardly
served the purpose of truth: psychological or social. Alpajeevi is
a milestone in the evolution of Telugu novel and is one of the
early novels in Telugu literature which employed Stream of
Consciousness Technique. The novelist writes in the epilogue to
the novel ―the style of this novel is based on the writings of
James Joyce and also it is influenced more by Sri Sri‖. Ra.Vi.
Sastri is rather modest in admitting while referring to himself as,
―this writer is not as talented as James Joyce or Sri Sri. Yet their
influence is felt in this novel‖ (Alpajeevi, 2001:191 pp).

Ra.Vi. Sastri in his novel Alpajeevi used stream of

consciousness technique to unveil the plot of the story. This
novel is treated as magnum opus of stream of consciousness
technique in modern Telugu along with ‗Ampashayya‘ of Naveen,
‗Chivaraku Migiledi‘ of Buchibabu, ‗Himajwala‘ of Vaddera
Chandidas‘s and ‗Asamarduni Jeevyatra‘ of Gopichand.

In this paper we have selected a few passages, which we

felt are the most representative samples of Stream of
Consciousness Technique. These are extracted from the novel
Alpajeevi and translated into English, in order to identify the
142 - Vaagartha

problems specific to the process of translation of this narrative

mode. Various problems encountered in the process of
translation are discussed immediately after the translation of the
passages. The following is the list of the passages.

The novelist projects the state of mind of the protagonist

Subbaiah by using the Stream of Consciousness Technique in
the following passage:

(A) “--------sar® --------c¡l¡ --------n®nu ------------c¡l¡ th¡´ks

gavarayyag¡r£”
“mari ne vastaa”
-----------------------
nija´g¡ jarigindi nija´g¡ jarigind¡?
jariginadi nijaÆ jariginadi nijam®n¡?
(Pg 41: Alpajeevi)

Translation of the above passage into English runs as

follows:
―Ok ok……many….I ……..many thanks Gavaraiah garu‖
―See you again‖
----------------------
What has happened did it happen really?
What has happened is real has all that happened real?‖

The pauses and the disjointed structure of the sentence

reflect the mood of Subbaiah the protagonist of the novel and
these were used intentionally by the author. In the translation
we have tried to reproduce the pauses and even the sentence
structure. We felt this would reproduce the intended meaning of
the original text. These pauses are one of the devices used in
stream of consciousness technique. You might have observed
that the last two lines in the original text are juxtaposed to each
other without any punctuation marks.

Let us now consider another passage which reflects the state of

mind of Subbaiah:
(B) s¡vitri c¡l¡ b£vu¸¶undi.... n¡l¡ vu¸·adu. kamala n¡l¡g®
vu¸¶undi....... aÆduk® s¡vitriki d¡nni c£st® iÀ¶aÆl®du... kanna talli
kk£·¡ al¡ uƶund¡? .... ann¢ n¡ anum¡n¡l®... kriÀ¸u·u tallin¢
m¡man¢ p°l®·u! v¡·u ° jam¢nd¡ravut®.......j¡takaÆ
b¡vundann¡·u p¡lak°¸·a ¿¡strulu ........¡vi·¢ eduri¸¶iki eÆduku
 Vaagartha - 143

ve½t£ndi.... c¡l¡ tellag¡ uÆdi....nallag¡ c¢ra ....ka½½u

b£gunn¡yi....cinnavi...pe½½ayind°l®d°.......appu·® nallag¡
uƶ¡·an®stunn¡yi....k¢ll¢ k°¶¶u ippu·®n¡ teric®·u........ pakki¸¶i
v¡½½amm¡yi.........tay¡ru......abbebb® l¡baÆl®du......talli ta¸·r¢
adam¡yimput° uƶ®n¡.....s°·¡lu, laim j£s lu, al¡ t¡gut£n®
vu¸¶undi......v¡·u ·abbulu puccuk°·u....¢·icc°na
amm¡y®....pai¶am¡traÆ v®suk°du......siggu l®kap°t® sari.......kill¢
k°¶¶uv¡·u maµciv¡·uk¡·u.....nallac¢r¡vi·a....eÆduku
ve½¿indi......b¡vundi....c¡l¡...kamal¡ kriÀ¸u·£ pustak¡lu pa¶¶uk°ni
v¢dh¢l°ki vacc®ru.
(Pg 46: Alpajeevi)

Translation of the above passage into English:

Savitri is very beautiful……..not like me……Kamala resembles
me……….. That‘s why Savitri dislikes her……can a mother also
feel that way? ...... all these are my suspicions
only…..Krishnudu resembles his mother and his uncle! If he
too becomes a Jamindar….. Palakonda Sastrulu predicted a
good future for him …why is she going into the opposite
house….she is very fair …..wearing black sari…small, attractive
eyes….Is she married … husband must be a dark guy …I jump
to quick conclusions…..pan shop has opened just
now……neighbor‘s daughter…. already there……abbebbe no
use …..if eer she is under parents‘ control …. She‘s always
drinking glasses of soda and lime juice…..he doesn‘t take
money….grown up girl….but doesn‘t wear
sari…..shameless….pan shop wallah is not a decent guy …..
black sari lady …. looks very good….why did she go to their
house ….Kamala, Krishnudu came onto the road holding
books‖.

The above passage reflects the flow of thoughts in the sub-

conscious mind of Subbaiah as he sits in front of his house.
Subbaiah‘s thought processes are expressed using incomplete
and disjointed sentences. His thoughts keep shifting from his
family and children to the pan shop owner and then to his
neighbour‘s daughter and to the lady wearing black sari visiting
the opposite house. The incomplete sentences and the word play
create problems in translation. A faithful translation may appear
not only awkward but may also defeat the very purpose of the
original.
144 - Vaagartha

The word ‗paita‘, which literally means ‗the part of the sari
which covers the bosom‘, being a cultural term will not have an
equivalent in English and has to be paraphrased. Paraphrase will
result in losing information both ways as a culture term and also
the intended meaning. Hence the term has been translated as
‗sari‘.

The original text consists of many onomatopoeic words. Use

of the onomatopoeic expressions is one of the characteristic
features of the stream of consciousness narrative mode. In the
chosen passage the onomatopoeic word ‗abbebbe‘ is retained in
the translated version.

Another passage which reflects the Stream of Consciousness

Technique is given below:

(C) p¡paÆ! n¡nna!

r°ju nannu skuluku digabe¶¶®v¡·u!
v¢½½ani c£si eÆta sant°Àiµcun°!
®mi¶° ¢ j¢vitaÆ?!
n¡nna ekka·unn¡·°
svarg¡na unn¡·u!
n®nu m¡traÆ enn¡½½u¸¶¡nu?
k°nn¡½½u!
taruv¡ta?
“n¡nna ekka·unn¡·°?”
anuku¸¶¡ru kamal¡, k¤À¸u·£!
emi¶° ¢ j¢vitaÆ
n¡nna caccip°y¡du!
n®nu bratukunn¡nu!
kamal¡ kriÀ¸u·£ bratiku¸¶¡ru!
v¡½½u...
ch¡! p°ddu¶® emi¶¢ p¡·u ¡l°canlu!
(Pg 47: Alpajeevi)

Translation of the above passage runs as:

Pity! Father!
Used to drop me at the school every day!
Would have been happy to see these kids!
What is this life?!
Where is father
In heaven
How many days do I live?
 Vaagartha - 145

A few days!
After that?
Kamala, Krishnudu would wonder!
―Where is father‖
What is this life?!
Father died!
But I am alive!
I will also die!
Kamala, Krishnudu will be alive
Even they……
Cha! Why think evil early in the morning!

……have to get up….have bath…. Hot water is there or

not…have food….whether food is cooked or not….which curry
she might have made today ….stupid vegetables….all are
pretty expensive……should leave for office after
eating…..stupid office….I don‘t want to go to office….can I
avoid …. No…..have to go.‖

The character‘s thought process in the subconscious mind

fluctuates from past to present and from present to the future.
He recollects his school days when his father was alive and
thinks about his children and their future. Suddenly he becomes
conscious of the present and his commitments. The vacillation of
thoughts within the three time frames viz. past, present and
future expressed effectively in incomplete sentences and the use
of punctuation marks in the original text may not create the
same impact on the target language reader if translated
faithfully. Readability of the original text is not affected despite
absence of cohesive devices.

The slang expression ‗vedhava‘ reflects the writer‗s disgust

and helplessness. Though it is also an abusive term here it is
used only to express mood. The compound expressions
‗vedhavaafisu‘ and ‗vedhavakuralu‘ are translated as ‗stupid
office‘ and ‗stupid vegetables‘ keeping the writer‘s intentions in
mind. Many a time the stream of consciousness writings are
replete with slangs.

At another place, the style goes like:

(D) laµcaÆ n®raÆ! ¿ikÀa ! jeyil!
subbayya ka½½u teric®ru.
146 - Vaagartha

d®v¡! n¡ku bhaya´g¡ vundi!

n¡ku matip®t°ndi d®vad®v¡!
l®·ipillalu l®¶ug¡ iƶiki ve½tunn¡yi
parame¿var¡? n¡kenduk¢ bhayaÆ ?
s°¶¶ak¡luv¡·u ¡lasya´g¡ baj¡ruki vastunn¡·u.
sar®¿var¡! n®n®vidamaina n®ram£ ceyyal®d®!
vayy¡ri bh¡ma k°bbarik¡yala ta¶¶a kha½¢ c®suk°ni p°tundi.
bhagav¡n! ® p¡pam£ eragann®nu.
silku j¡ke¶¶u pilla lai¶ haus nuµci vacc®sind®!
¢¿var¡! sar®¿var¡!
aÆdarl°ki p¡p¡la bhairavu·u he· klarku ... errac¢ramaniÀi .....
avad¡ni p¡paÆ... ve´ka¶r¡vu k°saÆ c®s®nu ..... jamind¡rlu......
p¡·u r°julu.... eda¶i¸¶l°µci digutunnadevaru???
nalla c¢r¡vi·a k¡du kada!!
k¡du! k¡du! ayyeyye; k¡du!
(Pg 68: Alpajeevi)

Translation of the above passage:

Taking Bribe is a crime! Punishment! Jail!
Subbaiah opened his eyes.
God! I am afraid!
I am losing my sanity god!
Young deers are returning home late.
Parameswara? Why am I afraid?
The limp is coming late to bazaar.
Sarveswara! I did not commit any crime!
The young shapely lady emptied her coconut basket and is
leaving.
Bhagavan! (God) I‘m not aware of any sin.
The girl wearing silk blouse has already returned from
lighthouse!
Eeswara! Sarveswara!
Of all the people the head clerk is the ‗papala bhairav‘ (god of
sins)…….The woman in the red sari …..Poor Avadhani…..I did
it for Venkatrao…..jamindars…..bad days…who is stepping out
of the opposite house?
Isn‘t she the lady in black sari!!
No she isn‘t! Ayyayyo oh!; not she!

The use of punctuation marks like exclamatory marks and

question marks, to show the intensity in the character‘s thought
processes, is one of the characteristic features of stream of
consciousness technique. Sometimes, the author does not use
 Vaagartha - 147

any punctuation marks. For example, James Joyce in the 8 th

chapter of his novel Ulysses does not use any punctuation for 45
pages continuously. It goes like ―yes became he never did a
thing like that before as ask to get his breakfast in bed with a
couple of eggs since the city arms hotel when he used to the
pretending to be laid up……….‖

In Alpajeevi, the author uses different words for ‗god‘. The

words deva, devatha, parameswara, sarveswara, bagavan and
eswara refer to ‗God‘ in general. But, according to the Hindu
mythology ‗parameswara‘ is used to address Lord Shiva. ‗deva‘
and ‗bhagavan‘ are translated as ‗god‘ and all other words are
retained in the translation with transliteration. Any prose piece is
required to have continuity and order in the presentation.
Because of the individual loose sentences, it is difficult to
understand the text comprehensively.

Consider the sentences---

―Deers are going home late.
Parameswara! Why am I afraid?
The limp is coming late to bazaar‖

.… though these sentences are written continuously, they do not

have any connection. The target reader may not be able to
understand these three sentences comprehensively.

The phrases and clauses (actually the incomplete sentences)

like 'red sari lady….‘, ‗pity avadhani….‘, ‗did it for venkatarao….‘,
‗jamindars…‘ do not give any sense unless the reader places
them in the context.

Use of alliterations and repetitions is another feature of

stream of consciousness technique in which the narrator uses
the same word twice or thrice to give the exact intensity of the
situation. When the repeated use of words is translated it may
not be suitable to the target language syntax.

One more extract from the text is here for consideration of

specific problems in translating this style:
(E) evar¢vi·a?
evar¡? 'evar¢vi·a' ani c£st£ mu´gil¡ m¡¶¡·a ku¸·¡ c£st£
148 - Vaagartha

k£rcu¸¶¡v¡? meudd¡?
¢vi·® ¡vi·a!
nalla c¢r¡vi·a!
nalla c¢r¡vi·a nallac¢r® ka¶¶ukundi.
n¢livennall° nalla¶i nalupu c¢ravenaka ¡vi·a tellag¡ merust°ndi.
nalla¶i c¢ravenaka tella¶i j¡ke¶¶u p¡lanurugul¡ p°´gutundi.
tella¶i vennall° ¡vi·a nalla¶i ka½½at° c£st°ndi.
milamila merust°nna nalla¶i ka½½at° c£st£ tella¶ipa½½u kanaba·el¡
navvut°ndi......
eÆduk°saÆ? eÆduk°saÆ?
n¢k°saÆ! n¢k°saÆ!
(Pg 104: Alpajeevi)

Translation of the extract:

Who is she?
Who? You sit quietly like a dumb person thinking who she is?
She is the same lady!
The lady in black sari!
Black sari lady is wearing black sari itself!
She is glowing behind the blackish black sari in the blue
moonlight.
White blouse behind the black sari is spouting like the milk
spilling over.
seeing with her dark shining eyes she is smiling showing off
her sparkling teeth.
What for? What for?
For you! For you!

The reduplicated noun phrase, nallati nalupu where the

adjective is an intensifier does not have the same impact when
translated into English.

The phrases ‗iivide aavida‘ and ‗aavide iivida‘ cannot be

translated into English using the same pronominal expressions
because English doesn‘t have the distinction between the distal
and proximate pronouns as in Telugu.

The use of poetry is the main characteristic feature of

stream of consciousness writings. James Joyce in his novel
Ulysses uses poetry… ―BEHOLD THE MANSION…… PROUD
CIRQUE OF JACKJOHN'S BIVOUAC‖. But, translation of this verse
becomes very difficult. Ra.Vi. Sastri‗s style abounds in a lot of
poetic expressions and rhyming words like merustondi--
 Vaagartha - 149

pongutondi ‗glittering-and-spilling over‘ coostondi—coostondi

‗seeing and seeing‘. This rhyme is lost in the translation. The
simile ‗Her white blouse behind her black sari …..‘ also has been
translated into English rather than substituted with an equivalent
English simile.

We also find the below passage for consideration:

(F) j¡li! j¡li! j¡li!
¢ vi¿¡la vi¿v¡l° subbayyani c£si j¡lipa·®vyakti subbayy®
iÆtavarak£!
k¡ni, ippu·u---
¢vi·aki nannu c£si j¡li kaliginda¶a!!
j¡li!!!
eÆta cakka¶i m¡¶a! eÆta tiyya¶i m¡¶a
eÆta cakka¶i tiyya¶i maniÀi eÆta cakkag¡ tiyyag¡ ann¡d¡m¡¶a?
eÆta nirb¡gyu·i guriµci annad¡m¡¶a!
(Pg 108: Alpajeevi)

Translation of the above passage runs as:

Pity! Pity! Pity!
Subbaiah is the only person to pity Subbaiah in this wide world
till now!
But now---
she felt pity for me! It seems!
Pity!!!
What a nice word! What a sweet word!
What a nice and sweet person she is!, how nicely sweetly she
uttered this word!
About such an unfortunate soul!

We find the use of exclamatory marks many times. Almost

after every word or sentence, the writer uses them. It is a
common feature in stream of consciousness. It becomes a bit
difficult to translate ‗enta chakkati tiyyati manishi enta chakkaga
tiyyaga annadannamaata‘.

The final passage chosen for consideration is:

(G) n®nu k£·a v¡½½aki m¡me£lug¡n® kanipistunn¡n¡?
ayivu¸¶undi.
l®kap°t® v¡½½ak®Æ telustundi? n®nevar° v¡½½ak®Æ telustundi.
subbaylan® maniÀi gavaraylan® maniÀiki ayiduvandalu ivvavalasi
ivval®ka b¡dapa·utunn¡·ani ¢ r°··u m¢da v¡½½ak®Æ telusu?
rikÀ¡l° ve½t£nnadi ma´gal®n¡?
150 - Vaagartha

avunu ma´gal®
bharb®r ¶h® ghr®a¶
¢ b¡rbar ki ¢ surbayar sa´gati telus¡?
¢ b¡rbaylaki ¢ surbayar sa´gati el¡ telustundi?
(Pg 125: Alpajeevi)

Translation of the above passage runs as follows:

Do I also looking normal to them?
Might be
Otherwise how do they know? How do they know ‗who I am‘?
How do the pedestrians know that this human being Subbaiah
is suffering unable to give five hundred which he owes to
another human being called Gavaraiah.
Is that the barber going in rickshaw?
Yes, it‘s the barber!
Barbar, the great.
Do these barbers know about this surbaryar?
How does this barbaiah know about this surbaiah?

This passage is the best example for the stream of

consciousness narrative mode. We also find the English
expression ‗barbar, the great‘ in the original. The author had a
special intension in using this. Though there is no problem in
translating the expression/phrase, the intension of the author in
using it is lost. The words surbaryar, barbaiah and surbaiah are
used to depict confusion in the sub-conscious mind of the
character, Subbaiah.

Barbaiah is coined with barbar + subbaiah, surbaryar and

surbaiah are also formed with the combination of the two words
subbaiah and barbar. The newly formed words do not give any
specific meaning. But, they indicate confusion and intensity in
thoughts in the subconscious of Subbaiah. Such types of words
are called portmanteau words in which we find the combination
of some parts of the two or more words. All the words will have
the weight. Frequent use of portmanteau words is seen in the
stream of consciousness narrative mode. Translation of these
portmanteau words poses a major problem to the translator. It
is better to retain them rather than translation.
 Vaagartha - 151

Conclusion

On the whole, after translating and analysing the extracts from

the novel Alpajeevi, written in Stream of Consciousness
Technique, it can be summed up that there are some specific
problems in translating the literary works employing this
narrative mode. The devices used in stream of consciousness
technique i.e. symbols with a specific semantic intent, pauses,
punctuation marks and the disjointed structure of the sentence
cannot be translated. Hence they are retained most of the times
in the translation in order to obey the specific intentions of the
original author. The translator is also bound to encounter
problems in translating the other devices of the Stream of
Consciousness Technique like portmanteau words, alliterations,
repetitions, onomatopoeic words, verse, mixed words, slangs,
word play, metaphors, similes and oscillation among present,
past and future.

Besides the above mentioned problems, there are certain

others triggered by the author‗s idiosyncrasies in the style of
writing. To conclude, there should be a compromise between the
content and the style. As long as the target language readership
is prioritized, it is always the content which gains prominence
over the style. There is always a debate between gain and loss
of translation. A judicious balance between these two aspects is
a myth. Any translation activity involves both loss and gain.

Translating the works of other Telugu writers, who

employed this technique, also has to be done in order to come
to a correct assessment of the problems created by the
technique and also a survey to collect the target readers‘
impressions, has to be conducted.

References

Bassnett, S. M. 1980. Translation Studies. London: Metheun & Co.

Gentzler, Edwin. 1993. Contemporary Translation theories. London:
Routledge.
Gilbert, Stuart. 1969. James Joyce‘s Ulysses. Middlesex: Penguin books.
Humphrey Robert. 1962. Stream of Consciousness in Modern novel.
New York: University of California.
152 - Vaagartha

Kumar, Shiv K. 1963. Bergson and the Stream of Consciousness novel.

New York University Press.
Laxmi, Haribandi. 1993. Problems of translation (English and Telugu): A
study of literary and technical texts. Hyderabad, Book links.
Lefevere, A. 1992. Translation/ History/ Culture (A Source Book).
London: Routledge.
Mouli, T. Saichandra. 1998. Dynamics of Translation in translating alien
cultures. Hyderabad: Book links Corporation.
Nida, Eugene A. 1945. Linguists and Ethnology in Translation Problems.
Holland, Leiden.
Rao, Ramakrishna.Y. 1987. Adunikandra Sahityam lo Chaitanya
Sravanti, Hyderabad: Neo Silver Jubilee Press.
Sastry, D. Nageswara. 1998. Telugu Sahitya Charitra. Vijayawada:
Visalandra publications.
Sastry, R. V. 2005 (reprint). Alpajeevi. Hyderabad: Charita Impressions.
Venuti, L. 2003. The Translation Studies Reader. London: Routledge.

***
Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
 Translation and the Evolution of Arabic Novel

Abdullah Aziz

Abstract

This paper is meant to highlight the role played by translation in

the evolution of the novel genre in Arabic literature. Although it
asserts the point that the novel genre is not a Western import, it
shows how aspects of the Western novel found their place in,
and helped in evolving, the novel genre in Arabic. The argument
draws on Itamar Even-Zohar‘s Polysystem theory to substantiate
and locate where and how influence of Western traditions
participated in the evolution of the novel genre in Arabic.

In 1991, José Lambert presented a paper entitled ―In quest

of literary world maps‖. The striking note behind this title is that
if a literary map of the world has been established with clear
lines of demarcation, it would then be possible to not only assign
specific salient features particular to a so-and-so literature, but
we will also be able to mark distinctly the points of inter-
influence between world literatures. Further, we shall also be
able to determine the mechanisms whereby the give-and-take
interaction between world literatures takes place. For example,
one may be able to draw a map for the translation of
Panchatantra from Sanskrit to Old Persian and then to Arabic –
as Kalilah wa Dimnah (8th century circ.), and the impact this
work has brought about. No one can gainsay that inter-cultural
interaction and literary influence are introduced mainly through
translation, directly or indirectly. The direct impact of translated
works can be manifest in the fact that translations from a SL can
inspire writers in a TL by opening their eyes to new themes and
techniques. In addition, some TL writers who are aware of such
new themes and techniques in SL literature through direct
contact with SL literature and choose to implement them in their
writings in the TL can also induce an indirect impact on other TL
writers who may take fascination at the new ideas and features
brought to them.
154 - Vaagartha

The relationship between translation and literature and how

translation can be viewed as a tool in metamorphosing specific
features of a certain literature constitute the core of the
polysystem theory, in which Itamar Even-Zohar proposes three
cases whereby a literature of one community imports ‗canonized‘
forms from other literatures.8 The first is when a ‗young‘
literature attempts to establish itself by deriving ready-made
models from other ‗older‘ literatures. The second case happens
when a ‗peripheral‘ or ‗weak‘ literature imports literary types
which it is lacking. Finally, the third case refers to the occurrence
of ―a critical turning point in literary history at which established
models are no longer considered sufficient, or when there is a
vacuum in the literature of the country‖ (Munday: 111; italics
mine). The first two cases do not apply to the novel genre in
Arabic, nor to the Arabic literature as a whole. The third case,
however, is partly true of the development – not the origin – of
the novel genre in Arabic literature, and the need for intellectual
evolution associated with the Arab ‗enlightenment‘ which
commenced during the reign of Egypt ruler Mohammed Ali
Basha: for – as Even-Zohar points out – ―in the long run the
system cannot cope with the changing needs of the society in
which it functions‖.9 This is the main issue that this paper
discusses with reference to the Arabic novel.

As a narrative account of events with philosophical

implications, the novel genre is not completely new to the Arabic
literature – there is even some opinion that Ibn Tufail‘s novel
Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān (12th century cir.) inspired Daniel Defoe‘s
Robinson Crusoe (1719).10 Arabic literature abounds in stories
reflective of its culture and tradition. However, in spite of the
fact that some narratives did exist, relating events set in the pre-
Islamic era – like Biography of Azzeer Salem abu Laila Al-
Mohalhel, Biography of King Saif ibn thi-Yazan, Biography of
Antarah ibn Shaddad– or in the initial stages of the Islamic era,
like One Thousand Nights and a Night (known also as Arabian
Nights, 8th century), such narratives cannot be claimed to

8
Munday, pp. 110-112; Sheffy: 513-22.
9
Even-Zohar, Itamar. Polysystem Theory.
10
Al-Solel. 2004.
 Vaagartha - 155

constitute novels in the modern sense of the word for several

reasons. Such works lack important technicalities (the ordinary
hero, structure, dialogue, texture, causality, etc.) characteristic
of the modern novel, and the way they are written and
presented brings them closer towards the epic genre or
romances rather than novels. The language of narration itself is
poetic and repetitive to serve the purpose of oral presentation
and dissemination. As per the modern implications of the novel
genre, most critics agree that the first novel to be written in
Arabic is Zainab (1913/1914) by the Egyptian writer Mohammed
Hussein Haikal.11

The delayed evolution of the Arabic novel may be attributed

to two main reasons, one political and the other cultural. On the
political side, the Arab world suffered so many political
upheavals, particularly since the fall of the Abbasid Dynasty
(750-1258) in Baghdad, followed by the fall of the Mamluk
Rulership in Egypt in 1519 by the Ottomans, who occupied most
of the Arab world for around 400 years. The Arab world, then,
fell a prey to the western colonising forces (Britain, France, Italy,
etc.). These occupations were adamant in keeping Arabs in the
dark and contributed to the cultural antagonism towards any
imported cultural item, generating a kind of regressive attitude
among Arabs, who, in a pre-emptive attempt, clung firmly to the
classical literature to keep their identity off from any foreign
influence. The longevity of the occupation period submerged
creativity among Arabs, and in their tenacity to keep their
identity and language from any outer influence, Arabs started to
venerate the classical literature to such a degree that they
unconsciously believed that no matter what they did, nobody
would ever be able to create a work of art on par with the
classical literature. The more pride Arabs took in their classics,
the more backwards they apparently stepped. Arabic classical
literature is not weak: its forms just went obsolete, with
centuries of enclosure and lack of evolution to catch up with the
modern world vis-a-vis the galvanised Arab mentality (especially
in the 18th and 19th centuries) that was shocked out of its self-

11
Haikal, in Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
156 - Vaagartha

complacency and was evicted from the ivory tower of the

deceptively self-aggrandised satisfaction that the classical
literature is unparalleled. Even Arabic classical literature was
unpeerable, it ceased to deal with the current existential needs
of the Arab community. Thus, Arabs and the complex of
tradition, their aversion to change and to Western imports, and
their reluctance to part with deep-rooted literary and artistic
conventions all affected the evolution of the novel genre in
Arabic.

However, the cycle of evolution was inevitable, though slow.

Certain factors, such as the liberation movements, the contact
with the Western world, and the feel of the increasing need for
new modes of expression made literary and artistic evolution a
necessity. And as mentioned earlier, translation came to be the
main channel for coming to know what was happening ―out
there‖. As far as literature is concerned, during the late 19 th and
early 20th centuries many Western romances, novels and dramas
were translated into Arabic, introducing Arab writers to the
techniques of modern genres and also taught them the value of
characters whose actions might both represent life and make it
more meaningful. Due particularly to the increase in the number
of periodicals and journals in the early 20th century in Syria,
Egypt and Lebanon, translation of works of literature, especially
from French and English, appeared in an influx as an attempt to
meet the increasing demand of the readers, and as an indirect
sign to the failure to create fiction on par with the Western
models. Sometimes, however, some works were even plagiarised
and the results were often distortions of the original texts, and
sometimes even the names of the original authors were not
mentioned. Most translators ‗took great, and sometimes
unwarranted, liberties with the original texts – often to such an
extent that nothing was left except its general outlines‘ (Moosa:
102): this happened more often than not under the claim of
making the text suitable to the Arab reader or in order to point
out a certain ideology, e.g. Baydas‘ translation of Tolstoy‘s Knyaz
Serebryanyi is meant to stress the theme of tyranny and
despotism, hinting at the rule of the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid
II (Ibid.). Add to this, the translations were most often published
in periodicals that are no more in circulation and the result is
 Vaagartha - 157

translations that are either lost or untraceable/of unknown

original.

The question of whether the novel and the short story are
imported by Arab writers has received multiple attitudes (Moosa,
91-93). Some Arab writers showed reluctance to acknowledge
that the novel and short story genres are foreign imports which
Arabic literature slowly adopted. They argue that ancient Arab
writers were already skilled in the art of story-telling. The
weakness of this view, however, is based on the difference
between a novel and a pre-Islamic romance (which bristles with
the fabulous, the magical and the faraway elements, just as any
native tale) which fails to approach the complex layers of
Western novel where the sequence of events is mainly
characterised by causality. Secondly, characters in the native tale
are stereotypes (the good and clever, the beautiful, the wise, the
cunning etc.) versus the characters in novels where personality
of the individual comes first through analysis of the psychological
intricacies and the social world in which the character ‗lives‘.
Another moderate view was held by writers like Mahmoud
Taymour (1894-1973) in the 1950s, who accepted the fact that
Arabic fiction has benefited greatly from western traditions,
although the novel and the short story are by no means western
imports. Finally, there were those who were bold enough as to
state that the seeds of modern Arabic fiction came from the
West, especially French literature: Yahya Haqi (1905-1992), an
Egyptian critic and writer, and Mikhail Naimy (1889-1988), a
distinguished Lebanese critic and man of letters, agree that
translation from western fiction marks the essential stage in the
development of Arabic literature. ―Because of the poverty of
Arabic thought and the dearth of Arab writers, there is a
desperate need for foreign literary ideas and models to satisfy
the needs of Arab readers‖, Naimy urges,

Let us translate…. We are poor, though we brag about

abundant wealth …. Why should we, then, not obtain water
from the wells of our neighbors, which are not forbidden to us?
We are in a stage of literary and social development in which
we have become aware of many intellectual needs ….
Therefore, let us translate (Qtd Moosa: 93).
158 - Vaagartha

The political circumstances had a lot to do with the progress

of translation and the works and languages selected to be
translated into Arabic. First of all, one cannot ignore the policy
adopted by the Ottomans in uplifting Turkish language at the
cost of marginalising Arabic. Baker (322) maintains:

The Arab world was largely isolated and deprived of cultural

contact during the first two centuries of Ottoman rule. The first
major contact with Europe came with the French invasion of
Egypt in 1798, which lasted only three years but had a
considerable impact on the cultural development of the area.

The political situation created the grounds for the contact

(and clash of cultures) between Arabs and Western cultures.
Firstly, European occupations (France in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon,
and North Africa, and Britain in Egypt, Sudan and Iraq) of Arab
countries not only showed interest in disseminating their
ideologies and works to Arab readers through translation; Arab
translators themselves attempted to translate works of the
literature of the coloniser to learn and know the Other. It is
worth noting that after defeating the Ottoman Empire, Britain
occupied Egypt and Sudan and English was introduced as the
medium of instruction in Egyptian schools during the rule of Earl
of Cromer (1883-1907).

Secondly, it goes without saying that the real quantum leap

in the development of the educational system in the Arab world
was made by Mohammed Ali Basha (1769-1849), the ruler of
Egypt (1805-1849), who initiated and sponsored what may be
called the enlightenment movement in Egypt: he believed that in
order to build a modern society, knowledge had to acquired, and
for this purpose he not only built schools and upgraded the
educational system but also sent Egyptian students to Europe.
Mohammed Ali had a strong belief in the importance of
translation; he employed translators to translate foreign
textbooks into Arabic and serve as classroom interpreters for the
teachers. For example, Rafail Anton Zakhur (d. 1831), a
Lebanese clergyman, translated Machiavelli‘s The Prince into
Arabic under the commission of Mohammed Ali. Besides, the
students he sent to study in Europe played a significant role in
 Vaagartha - 159

enriching the Arabic library with translations of a significant

number of books from the West. Last but not least is the impact
of the American missionaries and universities in Lebanon (Beirut)
and Egypt.

In the second half of the 19th century, journals began to

appear in substantial numbers, offering readers translations of
Western fiction, published both in single issues and in serial
form: e.g., Hadiqat al-Akhbar, (The News Garden) founded by
Khalil al-Khuri, al-Jinan (The Gardens) by Butrus al-Bustani in
January 1870, and Al-Liwa periodical, founded by the nationalist
leader Mustafa Kamil (d. 1908). Some monumental works of
Western literature began to appear in that period. A translation
of Dumas père‘s The Count of Monte Cristo, made by Salim Sa‘b,
was published serially in al-Sharika al-Shahriyya (Monthly
Enterprise) by Yusuf al-Shalfun. An anonymous translation of
Robinson Crusoe, perhaps the first Arabic translation of a work
of English fiction, produced in 1835 at Malta, may have been the
work of Faris ibn Yusuf al-Shidyaq, who had been engaged by
American missionaries there in 1834 to help them in translating
religious literature into Arabic. Although ―the earliest Arabic
versions of Western works of fiction were random and
unsystematic, often regarded as curiosities or as evidence of the
translator‘s literary virtuosity rather than as projects undertaken
for the public good‖ (Moosa: 97), the flourishing of domestic
journalism and the Egyptians‘ technical mastery of printing
contributed immensely to the appearance of huge numbers of
translated works.

While during Mohammed Ali‘s rule interest was more in

French and Italian literatures, the British occupation of Egypt
(1882-1922) changed the trend. Translators devoted themselves
to the translation of English fiction. The number of translators
increased more particularly after Cromer‘s introduction of English
and French as mandatory subjects in schools curricula. Cromer
also encouraged proliferation and support of journals and
periodicals (especially those advocating his policy) in both Arabic
and English and allowed a relative measure of freedom of
expression. Apparently, the translation of English fiction
emanated from two sources: the Syrian immigrants who had
160 - Vaagartha

been trained at American schools in Beirut and the Egyptian

students who had graduated from schools under British control.
In the course of time, writers in Arabic started to imitate some of
the techniques they found in translated works. In this way,
writers started to move towards the creation of a full-fledged
domestic novel and short story while at the same time,
translators were moving cautiously to avoid clashing with the
accepted moral values of their society.

Most of the works translated during the 18th, 19th and early
th
20 centuries were romances and adventures, but the
translators were aware that they had to portray a pure and
platonic love, not merely sensual relationship. Some of them
were trying to achieve a sort of modus operandi between Arabic
and Western cultures; some others were trying to pander to
reader‘s interests in order to enhance the saleability of their
periodicals, resulting in what Landers (83) describes as
‗amateurish‘ translations. Among the works translated are Sir
Walter Scott‘s Ivanfoe (anonymously in 1889) and Talisman. The
translation of Scott‘s Talisman by Yaqub Sarruf (d. 1927) – a
loose translation which was published in Sarruf‘s periodical al-
Muqtadhaf – was probably inspired by its historical theme and by
the figure of Salah al-Din (Saladin). Another translation of the
same novel was made by Butrus al-Bustani, titled al-Tuhfa al-
Bustaniyya fi al-Asfar al-Kuruziyya (The Bustani‘s Gem in
Relating Crusoe‘s Travels). Other novels translated into Arabic
include Lord Bulwer Lytton‘s The Last Days of Pompeii (1889) by
Ferida Atiyya, Swift‘s Gulliver‘s Travels (1909), Wilkie Collins‘ The
Woman in White (1909), and Charles Dickens‘ The Tale of Two
Cities (1912) by Mohammed al-Seba‘I, and Robert Louis
Stevenson‘s Treasure Island (1921) by Riyad Junaydi Effendi.
Another translated version of Defoe‘s Robinson Crusoe was
made by Ahmed Abbas in 1923. From French, most of the works
of Alexandre Dumas Père were translated, perhaps because of
the elements of love and adventure predominant in Arab tales.
There came also translations of some works by other French
writers, including Jules Verne, Chateaubriand, Pierre Zaccone,
Eugène Sue, etc. By the 1930s, Canon Doyle‘s Sherlock Holmes,
Ponson du Terrail‘s Rocambole, Maurice Leblanc‘s Arsène Lupin,
 Vaagartha - 161

and Michel Zévaco‘s Pradaillan were very popular in the Arab

world.

The translation of fiction into Arabic included also works

from Russian fiction. Khalil Ibrahim Baydas (d. 1949) translated
from Russian into Arabic some literary works like Pushkin‘s The
Captain‘s Daughter, The Amorous Cossack (al-Qusaqi al-
Walhan), and Tolstoy‘s Anna Karenina. Most of these works were
serialised in periodicals. By 1950s, it is estimated that no fewer
than twenty of Tolstoy‘s works had been translated into Arabic.

Some Arab translators translated even from translations:

from French Khalil Matran‘s translation of some of Shakespeare‘s
plays and Abdullah Hasan al-Zayyat‘s translation of Goethe‘s
Werthers Leiden (The Sorrows of Werther). Moosa (102)
indicates that al-Zayyat‘s translation of Goethe‘s story has so
beautiful and engaging a style that it has become in itself an
Arabic literary masterpiece.

In the decades since World War II many masterpieces of

prominent European novelists have become available in Arabic
translations. Early translations, of course, reflected personal
taste of the translators, rather than the possible desires of their
readers. The press and the market were flooded with what often
was the shallowest of European fiction: not until the first quarter
of the 20th century did translators begin to deal seriously and
systematically with the more profound of Western literature.
However, almost until the end of WWII, most of the translated
fiction consisted of detective, mystery and romance stories.

Due perhaps to the large number of members of the Arab

Christian community in Syria and Lebanon (who maintained
constant contact with some Western countries, and who
received Western education), and because of these countries‘
proximity to Turkey (being the centre of the Ottoman civilisation
during the Ottoman rule), most of the translated novels into
Arabic appeared there. But by the turn of the 20th century, a
new generation of educated Egyptians began to rival the Syrians
in the translation of Western fiction. Two phenomena could be
observed: the appearance of not only periodicals wholly devoted
162 - Vaagartha

to the publication of fiction, but also of monthly and bimonthly

volumes of translated fiction published either by individuals or by
publishing houses, and the commercialisation of translation as
both the publishers and the translators discovered in it a new,
rewarding source of income. Among the periodicals that were
active in this field were Silsilat al-Fukahat (Humour Series:
Beirut, 1884), Diwan al-Fukaha (Humour Anthology/Volume:
Beirut, 1885), Muntakhabat al-Riwayat (Select Novels: Cairo,
1894), Majallat al-Riwayat al-Shahriyya (Monthly Novels
Magazine: Cairo, 1901), among others.

Of course such popular translations were not made for any

literary or aesthetic purpose. They brought their translators
quick fame and easy living and provided a semiliterate,
unsophisticated audience with temporary diversion. Because
they were mass produced by men with little or no literary
finesse, they were mostly superficial and erratic; moreover, they
were badly printed on inferior paper quality and priced low
enough in order to be within the means of nearly every reader. 12
In addition to that the problem of plagiarising, or even
concealing the original author‘s name, all affected the quality of
the novels translated during the early stages of Western fiction
into Arabic. This situation imposed a pressing need for change
and improvement, an event which was initiated by the ―modern
school‖ of translation.

In fact, there were some translators who were conscientious

in choosing the works they dealt with and in conveying the spirit
of the author in an artistic Arabic style, with little loss of the
original essence. Some even took pains to write introductions
providing a brief account of the author and his period, his
purpose in writing the work translated, and the aesthetic value
of his work. Mohammed al-Siba‘i (d. 1931), who spent a quarter
of a century translating works from several European languages,
belonged to what has been termed the ―modern school‖ of
translation. This school is marked by its call for systematisation
of the translation process and the selection of works to be
translated, and came as a by-product of the efforts exerted by a

12
Moosa: 105-6.
 Vaagartha - 163

constellation of modernist Arab writers who were themselves

litterateurs and bilinguals and had come to contact with the
masterpieces and classics of Western literary tradition. Among
such pioneers are Mustafa Lutfi al-Manfaludhi, Abbas Mahmoud
al-Aqqad, Taha Hussein, Mustafa Sadiq al-Rafi‘i, Ibrahim
Abdulkadir al-Mazini, Ahmed Hafiz Awad, Mohammed Badran,
and others.

Mustafa Lutfi al-Manfaludhi (d. 1924), in particular, was a

translator with an ideology. Inspired by the teachings of Shaykh
Mohammed Abduh, he tried in his translation to fit Western
fiction to Arabic (often Islamic) context. From a literal translation
made for him by Muhammed Fuad Kamil, he rewrote Alphonse
Karr‘s Sous les Tilleuls (1832), which he retitled as Magdulin aw
That Zilal al-Zayzafun (Madeleine or Under the Shades of the
Linden Trees). This approach to translation was also adopted by
Ahmed Hasan al-Zayyat, who under the influence of al-
Manfaludhi, shared admiration and condemnation of Western
civilisation: even though their translations of Western fiction
were ideologically motivated, they nonetheless enriched the
Arabic library: e.g. Goethe‘s The Sorrows of Young Werther.

From a polysystemic point of view, the novel has become a

system in the semiotic framework of Arabic literary tradition,
even competing with the long-held and most dignified place
preserve for poetry. The increasing interest in novel has
probably been expedited by the growing complexity of Arabic
modernist poetry – again, under the impact of Western literary
tradition. What can be particularly noticed is that when Arab
novelist endeavoured to co-textually imitate the Western
narratological traditions, most of them did so not from the
original Western texts but from translations of those texts. That
is to say, initial modifications had already taken place through
translation.13 As has been mentioned above, the novel is not
new to Arabic literature, but it has no doubt acquired a lot of
techniques and features from the Western traditions – through
translation or direct contact with the Western fictions (this also
can be regarded as a manifestation of indirect translation, if not

13
Al-Faisal: 11.
164 - Vaagartha

of words, then of ideas and techniques). What substantiates this

point is that even as Arab novelists attempted to imitate the
Western traditions, they could not completely shackle off many
of the Arabic narratological and stylistic techniques. Possibly, this
is a wise move in the sense that their audience could not have
been abruptly introduced to completely new techniques of story-
telling. What most novelists did was bend the Western traditions
of the novel in order to suit Arabic audience and themes.

Generally speaking, the influence of translated works was

certainly enormous. There is hardly a writer in the modern Arab
world who has not in some way or another been influenced by
Western fiction. Translations not only introduced the Arab
writers of fiction to Western techniques and assisted in preparing
many of them for their craft, but also changed the Arabic
language by the infusion of many borrowed words which remain
in the language. Through imitation and adaptation, and even
through outright plagiarism, Arab writers learnt their craft well
enough to create a body of fiction available to only Arabic
readers. The translations from the Western authors provided
entertainment for the reading public and shattered the
traditional view that fiction was worthless and even detrimental
to its readers. Not until the Arab world was disabused of this
notion could prose fiction exist on a par with those literary
genres which had traditionally enjoyed a dignified position in the
Arab culture. One can but notice the dramatic change of attitude
towards fiction in the tremendous number of existing Arab
novelists now, and in the fact that an Arab novelist, Naguib
Mehfouz, became Nobel Laureate in 1982.

References

Al-Faisal, Sameer Rawhi. 2003. Arabic Novel: Structure and Vision.

Damascus: Arab Writers‘ Union.
Al-Solel. Amin Ali. 2004. Hayy Ibn Yaqthan and Robinson Crusoe: A
Comparative Study. Thamar University: Unpublished MA
Thesis.
 Vaagartha - 165

Baker, Mona. 1998/2001. ―Arabic Tradition‖. in Mona Baker and Kristen

Malmkjær (ed) Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies.
London and New York: Routledge.
Even-Zohar, Itamar. Polysystem Theory. Poetics Today, Vol. 1, No. 1/2,
Special Issue: Literature, Interpretation, Communication,
(Autumn, 1979), 287-310. http://www.jstor.org Accessed:
11/07/2008 00:06.
Even-Zohar, Itamar. 1978/Rev. 1990. The Position of Translated
Literature within the Literary Polysystem. in L. Venuti (ed).
(2000) The Translation Studies Reader. London and New York:
Routledge. pp. 192-97
Lambert, José. 1991. ―In quest of literary world maps‖. in Dirk
Delabastita, Lieven D‘hulst and Reine Meylaerts (ed). (2006)
Functional Approaches to Culture and Translation: Selected
Papers by José Lambert. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John
Benjamins. pp.63-74.
Landers, C. E. 2001. Literary Translation: A Practical Guide. Clevedon:
Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Mohammed Hussein Haikal‘s Zainab. 2010. In Encyclopædia Britannica.
Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com
(Retrieved February 28, 2010).
Moosa, Matti. 1997. The Origins of Modern Arabic Fiction. (2nd edn)
Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Munday, Jeremey. 2001. Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and
Applications. London: Routledge.
Sheffy, Rakefet. 1990. The Concept of Canonicity in Polysystem Theory.
Poetics Today, Vol. 11, No. 3, (Autumn, 1990), pp. 511-522.
Duke University Press. http://www.jstor.org (Accessed:
11/07/2008).

***
Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
 Towards Sociology of Translation:
Actor-Network Theory and Translation

Mehdi Asadzadeh

Abstract

This paper is to have a sociological look at the phenomenon of

translation in a way to present a broader discussion of the so-
called ―sociological turns‖ or ―paradigmatic shifts‖ that we are
experiencing in Translation Studies for last few years. This turn
has led the researchers to initiate a kind of interdisciplinary
research in translation studies realm. The paper would further
try to relocate the interconnectedness and embeddedness of
Actor-Network Theory with and within translation studies. The
aim of this article is to discuss the place of the Actor-Network
Theory in intercultural communication. To narrow down the
scope of the research, the author concentrates on the role of
participants in one type of intercultural exchange, namely
translation. An attempt will be made to show how ANT is also
useful in this area of cross-cultural communication. Hence, those
taking part in the translation process, both human and
nonhuman entities, are treated parts of a heterogeneous, being
a place for technological innovation.

Towards Sociology of Translation

It is nowadays almost consistently admitted that the process of

translation is conditioned by two levels. To name them, we can
refer to ―cultural‖ and ―social‖ concepts. Being structural by
nature, cultural level concerns with prominent factors such as
religion, economics, power, dominance and so called national
interests. The social one encompasses the agents involved in the
translation process that persistently act in internalization of the
aforesaid structures and interact with their culturally connotated
ideological and value systems. The level which this paper deals
with most is the social one. As seen in modern researches, the
―sociological eye‖ has been most elaborated upon in the last few
years and the fact that translation is the outcome of the efforts
 Vaagartha - 167

of individuals, interaction of events in societies, dominant or next

to dominant discourses and social group/institutional allegiances
is nowadays finding a proper position in translation studies
realm.

By trying sociology of translation, we, in fact, are necessarily

challenging the kind of sociology that concerns itself only with
smaller scope of one nation, or perhaps two. In our way of
fulfilling such a job, we have to explain ‗social factors‘ which
matter in translation.

Social factors are the ones which hold a quantitative

attribution and could well be associated with people in terms of
their age, place of birth, education level, income and etc. They
concern with existing relations between people in a society and
assume an interrelational and interactive nature, to know which
would help us understand their functions well and come to see
translation as a ―socially regulated activity‖ (Hermans 1997: 10).

Seen either as a performance or a product, a translation is

doubtlessly and necessarily embedded within social contexts.
The act of translation is, on the one hand, fulfilled by the
translators who come from a social system and, on the other
hand, are undeniably involved in social contexts that, to a great
extent, matter in the selection, production and distribution of
translation and, so, the strategies employed in the process of
translation itself.

To elaborate more on the concept and illustrate it, I would

like to talk about contact zones where the social attribution of
the translation could best be located. In her path-breaking book,
Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation , Mary Louise
Pratt introduced the resonant term ‗contact zones‘ which she
defined as ―social spaces where disparate cultures meet, clash,
and grapple with each other, often in highly asymmetrical
relations of domination and subordination-like colonialism,
168 - Vaagartha

slavery, or their aftermaths as they are lived out across the

globe today‖.14

Having a social look at the texts originating from contact

zones, and relating them to translation studies, we can assert
that they are social texts where the participants bring about
different cultural codes, beliefs, assumptions, values and
different facets of reality into contact with each other. They are
the location of mutual identification and understanding and
could, in cases which concern with symmetrical power
relationships, lead to productive exchanges. A ―‗contact‘
perspective emphasizes how subjects are constituted in and by
their relations to each other‖ and such a perspective can ―bring
together psychological, ethical, and political analysis in mutually
illuminating ways‖ (Edlestein, 2005: 27).

Since the translation has been discussed as the central

model of the contact of cultures15 and the contact zone is the
place where cultures come to interact , we can figure out the
essential relationship between them as such that contact zone is
the point where translated text and the various socially driven
agencies meet. So here we come to the point that translation,
thus, has two fundamental aspects: It is a textual practice, a
form of (re-)writing the contact between different cultures, on
the one hand, and a performative act, on the other.

The relationship which we mentioned above could be the

one that exist between the author of the text, the transfer
agencies, the text itself and the public in their social contexts. In
such a context, analyzing the social innuendos of translation
helps us in better identifying the translator and the translator
researchers as constructing agents of a society who, themselves,
have been constructed in society. In such a constructional
process, translation assumes a significant role. This role is vividly
touched where the area of translational analysis is that of recent
world-wide developments such as globalization and migration,

14
Pratt, Mary Louise. 1992. Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation.
New York: Routledge.
15
See, for instance, Susan Bassnett and Harish Trivedi. (eds.). 1999. In
Postcolonial Translation. Theory and Practice. London/ New York: Routledge.
 Vaagartha - 169

where societal, social and cultural problems do matter a lot,

which could hint that, on the one hand, there is no use in
encouraging the incorporation of separate analytical tools (of
sociology and cultural studies) and, on the other hand, the
methodologies developed in the wake of ― socio-cultural turn‖
seem to no longer suffice for a minute analysis of the role played
by translation within these multidimensional phenomena. Yet,
we have to mention that there is interdependence between
interdisciplinary social and cultural studies of translation and to
see them detached from each other is to make a fundamental
mistake. If we concentrate only on, for example, ‗the social‘ side
of this coin, and neglect the other side i.e. ‗the cultural‘ one
which concern with the conditions that form the translation as a
cultural practice in terms of power, ideology and similar issues,
we will definitely encounter significant problems in introducing
―sociology of translation‖ as a new sub-discipline in translation
studies realm.

So, in our path towards sociology of translation, we should

also note the cultural codes interfering with translation process.
Translating both as an activity and as the result of this activity is
inseparable from the concept of culture. The translational
capacity of culture is an important criterion of culture‘s
specificity. Culture operates largely through translational activity
and the inclusion of new texts into a culture can the culture
might lead to innovation in the culture.

Cultural Studies establishes its bases on the hybridization of

diasporic culture and the mobility of all identities. As we speak of
identity as one of the basics of cultural studies, we, then, can
incorporate translation to our discussions. As we know,
translation plays a significant role in identity formation process in
societies. It has outstanding capacity in shaping domestic
attitudes towards foreign countries, the countries where these
texts originate from, attaching esteem or stigma to specific
ethnicities, races, and nationalities and is able to encourage
respect for cultural differences or even hatred based on
ethnocentrism, racism, or patriotism i.e., some elements which
are also elaborated upon in social studies. So, a cultural practice
like translation can cause social change because neither subjects
170 - Vaagartha

nor institutions can ever be completely coherent or sealed off

from the diverse ideologies that are prevalent in receptor
culture. However it has to be mentioned that the complicated
nature of culture and its vagueness have made it difficult to,
while easily being expound, incorporate it to the discussion of
sociology of translation, and for the brevity of my paper, I see
the abovementioned points enough for showing the connection
of culture and cultural studies to sociology of translation.

Actor Network Theory

When the concept, or better to say the adjective ‗social‘, is

attributed , by social scientists , to some phenomenon, it
represents a stabilized state of affairs or a net of ties which
could, later, be mobilized to account for some other phenomena.
Looking at the nature of the mentioned concept as it represents
what already is assembled together poses no problem for us as
researchers since it does not require us to make assumptions
about the nature of assembled ‗things‘, rather problems arise
when the concept starts to mean a type of material, as if the
adjective, i.e., ‗social‘, roughly becomes comparable to other
terms like ‗woolen‘, ‗chemical‘ ‗political‘, ‗strategical‘, ‗optimistic‘.
This is the point where the meaning of the concept breaks down
since then it refers to two totally different things: firstly a
movement during a process of assembling and secondly as
specific composing ingredients which are supposed to be
distinguished from other materials.

When existing social codes and concepts are redefined,

reinvented or reformed and, also, when new ones are introduced
in the present context of life i.e., era of rapid technological and
social change, a significant methodological dilemma arises in the
path towards conceptualization of the processes that lead to
such phenomenon. This situation is mostly observed in the
interaction of technology and society. This is so because it is
nowadays believed that technology and its outcomes and
consequences are, in a way or the other, planned, implemented
and introduced by the social actors, most often large institutional
entities, to the society itself. So, any kind of change brought
about by technology, from initiation to possible consequence, is
 Vaagartha - 171

done by societal member in social context, and, trying to

understand such a complicated procedure is the concern of most
of the modern sociologists, the main focus of whose is based on
the social construction of the artifact of interest (MacKenzie,
Wajcman, 1986; Bijker, 1994). Social Construction of Technology
(SCOT) ―points to technology as being through and through
social‖ (Pinch, 1996).

A major trend and a modern, interesting approach towards

thinking about social and technological development, and trying
to theorize the interaction between them has been developed as
―Actor-Network Theory‖. ANT emerged during mid-1980s within
the sociology of science and technology. ANT could be traced
through semiotics/ structuralism and also poststructuralism. It
has some affinities with Foucauldin material-semiotics and
employs, well enough, his concepts of power/knowledge. ANT,
for some time, could not fix a due place for itself to be regarded
as a single theoretical perspective since theorists congregated
that advancing a single set of principles was counter to the wish
to affirm ANT as a diverse and dispread series of actions having
transformative properties. Moveability of its core concepts,
however, led ANT to achieve due attentions by mid-1990s. From
then on, ANT has faced many criticisms, specially ending half of
the twenties century and into the twenty first, and has also
developed much as an interdisciplinary concept and has proven
its relevance to translation studies.

The approach is well associated with the French sociologists

of science namely Bruno Latour and Michel Callon and aims to
show humans and non-humans as equal actors which are
interwoven together in the networks and are sustained and
maintained in order to achieve a particular goal. ANT is very
cautious in choosing its vocabulary.

Actor-Network Theory, according to Bruno Latour, is to

overcome what he supposes to be the significant de deficere of
Modernism and Postmodernism: splitting of a continuous,
‗hybrid‘ reality into separate analytical domains. The underlying
philosophy and presupposition of modernism was as such that
172 - Vaagartha

saw society and nature as two incomparable and

incommensurable poles. Nature was never man-made and was
only observed; while society was an outcome of just humanistic
efforts and made by humans. The indirect connecting bridge
between these two was language which allowed us to make
steady references to any of them. When Postmodernism came
into play, it claimed the middle ground of these poles i.e.,
language to be autonomous. In following years, this autonomous
domain was also described as free- floating signs or as self-
referential texts and languages. Latour‘s main discussion is that
the separation brought about by Modernism and further
developed by Postmodernism is artificial. Because of
technological reality being ―simultaneously real, like nature,
narrated, like discourse, and collective, like society‖ (Latour
1993: 6), Latour does not approve the division lines drawn by
Modernism between the aforesaid phenomena.

Looking broadly, ANT has the heterogeneous network

concept at its very core that denotes a network including many
dissimilar and different elements. Such networks are composed
of both social and technical elements which are inseparable. ANT
holds that identification of all interfering elements is ideal but
difficult, if not impossible. It claims that all of involved ones,
whether a person, an object (like software or hardware), an
organization or an institution are of equal importance in an
effective social network. As such, societal order is an effect
caused by the smooth running of an actor network. The lack of
any of such elements could lead to a break down in the network.

ANT puts forward that sociologists cannot, and should not,

assume a priori that one level or element is more important than
the other because of some differences, since it is precisely these
dissimilarities and their contingent causes that keep the network
running properly. This may lead us to make a methodological
inference as such that the sociologists should treat all micro and
macro actors as if they are the same size and try them with
same analytical tools and see how all the heterogeneous
elements work together to complete a process, assuming no
division between society and nature, social and technological,
 Vaagartha - 173

truth and falsehood, context and content, human and nonhuman

or knowledge and the power.

Failure to reject the prevailing assumptions that some

elements are more significant than the others, and so, deserve
more attention is against the fundamental basics of ANT which
claims that the elements assume significance only in relation to
other elements. There is, Latour explains, ―a background /
foreground reversal: instead of starting from universal laws ±
social or natural ± and taking local contingencies as so many
queer particularities that should be either eliminated or
protected, it starts from irreducible, incommensurable,
unconnected localities, which then, at a great price, sometimes
end in provisionally commensurable connections‖ (Latour
1997).16

Followings are the basic concepts of Actor-Network

Theory
 Actor: Denotes any involving element which assumes
some space around itself, making other elements
dependent upon itself, while, at the same time, being
dependant to other elements or actors i.e., take the
shape by virtue of its relations with the other. There
could be human or non-human actors, between which,
there is no difference in their ability to act.

 Actor Network: Denotes a heterogeneous network of

aligned interests. These concepts are connected to each
other in a way to elude the previously in vogue belief of
supposing distinction between agency and structure.
ANT network is conceived as an amalgamation of
textual, conceptual, social and technical actors.
Networks are the outcome of the activities performed by
the actors i.e., actors enter into networked associations,
which in turn are bestowed with their parts to play
hence deriving their nature. In simple words, networks

16
Boyne, Roy. 2001. Subject, Society and Culture. London: Sage Publications
Ltd.
174 - Vaagartha

define, name and provide the actors with substance,

action, intention and subjectivity. Actor and network are
mutually constructive i.e., actors cannot act separated
from the network and networks are necessarily made of
actors. They continuously define and redefine each
other, one being dependant on the other. The relation
between them is well explained by Michel Callon (1987:
93):

the actor network is reducible neither to an actor alone

nor to a network. Like a network it is composed of a
series of heterogeneous elements, animate and
inanimate, that have been linked to one another for
certain period of time. ... An actor network is
simultaneously an actor whose activity is networking
heterogeneous elements and a network that is able to
redefine and transform what it is made of.

 Translation: Is the creation of an actor-network which

includes three major stages: Problematization,
interessmant and enrolment. In process of translation
many different actors take part, each of which having
unique attributes and outcome.

Methodological Principles of Actor-Network Theory

Underlying ANT we have three methodological principles, which

include:
 Agnosticism: Advocates that we should abandon any a
priori assumption about the nature of networks, causal
conditions and the accuracy of actor‘s accounts. It
declares that all the elements should be treated as equal
and supposes impartiality in doing so.

 Generalized Symmetry: Holds that in ANT one should

incorporate a single explanatory frame when trying to
interpret the actors, either human or non-human. There
should not be double standards or register shifts when
investigating individuals and organizations.
 Vaagartha - 175

 Free Associations: Denotes that one should abandon any

presupposed distinction between natural and social
phenomenon, since they are, in a way or the other, the
outcomes of networked activity and not casual.

Translation as the Core Concept of ANT

As is well known, sociological theories and approaches are

widely used in translation research nowadays, and a number of
thinkers and approaches have suggested ways in which the
social spaces, where translation activities take place, could be
construed and understood. ANT is one of the social approaches
to translation and, in fact, has the translation at its cores.

According to ANT, translation, as both a process and effect,

is the process of establishing identities and the conditions of
interaction and of characterizing representations, and
simultaneously, a process of both social and physical
displacement. It is a social phenomenon which encompasses
conversion of entities, making similar( such that one entity might
be replaced with another) and possible simplification while
maintaining differences, in which sense, translation is to be seen
both as a practice and also an outcome ― understood in terms of
the translator the translated, and the translation medium‖
(Ritzer, 2004).

Towards sociology of translation, and according to ANT, the

researcher tries to figure out the connection, interrelations and
interdependences among the seemingly unconnected elements,
hence expanding and developing the network as necessary to
take into account new elements or actors. It claims that nothing
has reality or form outside the web of such relations.

In any project of translation, the translator initiates the

process with the effort to recognize the individual elements
surrounding the translation and then carries on the project trying
to see their connections with each other, either human or non-
human. This helps the translator to step to the next stage which
includes working out the ways in which the individuals‘ roles in
176 - Vaagartha

the network have shaped their due and necessary actions to

keep the network running, which, in its turn, and in fact as its
ultimate goal, leads to understanding their outcome.

To illustrate the point, I put forward my own experience as a

translator. I was carrying out translation project for an
international construction material production firm, being run by
Persian owners. Since it was an international firm, I knew it well
that any translation I do for the interest of the firm, since it was
from Persian to English i.e., lingua franca of the world, is a
potential subject for further translational jobs, yet to another
languages, I found myself located in part of a network, with firm
managers asking me for my expert advice with export of the
new products of the firm and their production engineers‘ wish to
reflect the characteristics of the products well in English as to
achieve the ultimate goal of the production process, which was
to win an international market i.e., the expected outcome of the
network where I was a part. This network had its connection
with previously done translations in the firm in the sense that it
could help me to analyze them for improvement of my own
translations and also come to know the procedure which the firm
used to have. So I was totally bound in that network and well
restricted in using certain terms due to allusions to a previously
translated works. In such a network, each and any element had
its own significance, without considering which, I could never
succeed in fulfilling my job. Thought it was in fact a difficult job
trying to recognize all the interfering elements, figure out their
part in the network and assume possible outcome for them, I
knew it well that the network will not succeed if I did otherwise.
What this example might possibly convey is that, to do an ideal
translation, one must see and take into account all involved
elements.

As a social process by nature, translation, according to

aforesaid points, is a network where different actors do exist and
ANT is also a well concept to incorporate in translation studies
since it grants actantibility to non-human elements also. Using
ANT approach in translation studies, then, adds flexibility
attribute to it. Such flexibility, interwoven with denial of a priori
structure, means that any subject area can be treated, however
 Vaagartha - 177

heterogeneous and fragmented it may be, on the condition that

it accounts for all the elements involved and analyzes them with
the same standard. Analysts should not influence the actors or
evaluate their behavior; ―a strong polemical stance has to be
taken so as to forbid the analyst to dictate to the actors what
they should do‖ (Latour 1996: 375). Nor is there any particular
need to try and delimit the network under study too clearly;
networks have no outside, but can be extended indefinitely to
include all necessary explanatory factors (Latour 1996: 372). It
means that the translator, also otherwise as an analyst, should
see the elements as they are and do not try to dictate his/her
own wish to the network, which, if obeyed correctly, would lead
to a quite acceptable translation.

Some Disadvantages and Criticisms of ANT

Though ANT has the outstanding attribute of flexibility and wide

scope of application, it also has some drawbacks. Referring to
Latour, we have his words saying that while ANT is ―powerful
tool to destroy spheres and domains, to regain the sense of
heterogeneity and to bring interobjectivity back‖, it is ―an
extremely bad tool for differentiating associations‖ (Latour 1996:
380). It is a possible point in ANT as not to have that much
ability in explaining differences between different network
connections.

Over the past years, there have been some criticisms against
ANT. To state some of them, we have the critics saying that ANT
supposes human and nonhumans as being equal players in the
network i.e., fails to distinguish between human and nonhuman
actors in the network. They claim that by doing so, ANT insists,
in fact, on the agency of nonhumans. In turn, ANT scholars have
responded that they firstly do not attribute similar properties to
nonhumans, rather they, in a sense that the word ‗actor‘ is
associated with, see them as, afterall, ‗actors‘ of the same
network. The word ‗actor‘ applies to different elements of the
network noting their different characteristics and properties.
Furthermore, ANT locates agency neither in human ‗subjects‘ nor
in nonhuman ‗objects‘, rather in the heterogeneous associations
of humans and nonhumans. So claims that ANT dehumanizes
178 - Vaagartha

human actors by supposing equality between them and

nonhumans seems not to be valid.

Another criticism claims that ANT does not take into account
the pre-exixting structures and also fails to explain the dynamic
restructuring of the network. This criticism, in my opinion, is
invalid and could be readily refuted because the very basic of
ANT is that all the elements should be taken into account, and
this could also include the pre-existing structures that have led
to the present one. And also, when it takes into account the pre-
existing structures in shaping of new network, it means that the
new one is to be considered in forthcoming restructuring of the
network making a visible chain of interactions, any of which is of
importance and is duly paid attention to in ANT. In previous
pages I mentioned my own experience as a translator. There I
mentioned that I had to see the previous translations for coming
to know the procedure going on in the network. This is a good
example, where unknowingly, I was refuting the
abovementioned criticism since I was considering the past
translations i.e., pre-existing structures, and also, knowing that
my translation from Persian to English would possibly be
translated yet to another language, I was paying due attention
to possible restructuring in the translation network of the firm.

Conclusion

What could possibly inferred from our discussion includes the

fact that within the framework of sociological analysis, either
ruled by an objectivist commitment to real structures or by the
plastic skepticism of contingent constructionism, the subject i.e.,
the network of relations, is entirely resolved and dissolved into
its component social parts. As a sociological model, Actor-
Network Theory has been recently improvised to emphasize the
point that any network in sociological sphere is made of different
elements, which are heterogeneous in nature and have equal
importance when being analyzed in the network, the lack of any
of which could lead to the failure of network. This was firstly
stated about the social and technological development in an
attempt to theorize the interaction between them.
 Vaagartha - 179

As we saw, such a theory has the possibility of leading the

researchers to account for the elements which would otherwise
be forgotten while having significance in the network.
Translation, being a social phenomenon, is not an exception to
the application of ANT. Since it is also made of different
elements which or who play their role in the process, it is a
subject for analysis by employing Actor-Network Theory. So, as
a modern trend in sociological studies, which has also been
recently introduced to Translation Studies, ANT could be the
subject for further researches and discussions since not all the
aspects of it have been minutely looked upon.

Acknowledgement
To my father who taught me that the best kind of knowledge to have is
that which is learned for its own sake, may he rest in peace.

References

Bijker, W. and J. Law, (eds.), 1992. Shaping Technology, Building

Society: Studies in Sociotechnical Change. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Callon, M., Law, J. & Rip, A. (eds.). 1986. Mapping the Dynamics of
Science and Technology: Sociology of Science in the Real World.
London: Macmillan.
Hermans, Theo. 1999. Translation in Systems. Descriptive and System-
oriented Approaches Explained. Manchester: St. Jerome.
Latour, Bruno. 2005. Reassembling the Social. An Introduction to Actor-
Network- Theory. New York: Oxford University Press.
Latour, Bruno. 1987. Science in Action: How to Follow Engineers and
Scientists through Society. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
Latour, Bruno. 1991. Technology is society made durable. A Sociology
of Monsters. Essays on Power, Technology and Domination. In
Law, J. (ed.). London: Routledge, 103-131.
Latour, Bruno & Steve Woolgar. 1979. Laboratory Life: the Social
Construction of Scientific Facts. London: Sage Publications.
Law, J. 1992. Systems Practice. In notes on theory of actor-network:
Ordering, strategy and heterogeneity, Vol. (5) 4. 379– 393.

***
Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
Mediating Cultures, Languages and Confronting
the ‗Other‘: Ethnographic Writings and Inter-
lingual Translations

Niveditha K.

Abstract

Two different genres of writing, least identified as possessing

any mutual resemblance are kept side by side, to look into the
underlying signified of culture present in both. Ethnographic
writing as a product of extensive field-work done by an
ethnographer to describe cultures, peoples, their customs,
beliefs and behaviours is often viewed upon as the outcome of a
scientific and systematic research. So also is its mother
discipline, anthropology, endowed with such a methodology
which is drawn out to produce ‗objective‘ and ‗realistic‘ accounts
of the 'unknown'/ ‗Other‘. Translations between languages
irrespective of their classifications as poetry, travel writing, social
theory, or text books of medicine are tested against scales of
fidelity, originality and by theories of equivalence. The medium
through which an ethnographer makes an 'alien culture'
comprehensible, and the one with which a translator narrates is
the same, so also is the nature of transaction which takes place
in both these tasks. The translator who unlocks the meanings
embedded in the source text and the ethnographer who treats
language as a ‗key to culture‘ use 'language' as a medium to
depict 'culture', always the culture of the 'Other' to his/her
readers. Each language being a product of a specific culture,
when used as a tool to illustrate details of another culture would
in fact create novel representations and images, which in turn
end up in creating new identities. Here, the translator and the
ethnographer face the interference of concepts from his/her
language and culture, as a pertaining intrusion which cannot be
warded off forever. The paper tries to draw out the theoretical
and methodological trajectories through which both these above-
said activities of representation have passed through and tries to
figure out the differences in perceiving ‗language‘ in these
 Vaagartha - 181

junctures of shift, since approach towards language is a decisive

factor to be examined in questions related to representation.

The age-old urge to represent the ‗Other‘ and the ethical

issues related to such an act of representation has always been
a matter of great concern and has often become the nucleus of
many debates. Ethnographies and translations looked upon as
pieces of or acts of representation are bound by similar ethical
parameters in their judgment. Ethnography and translation
though perceived as entirely different kinds of activities and
fostered by different disciplines, lacking homogeneity at a
superficial glance, always work together when examined for the
relations of power that constitute these disciplines. Not only do
they create identities, they play a crucial role in the re-telling of
history, thereby leading to the origination of multiple discourses.
The irrefutable connectedness of the birth of these endeavours
(within their respective disciplines) with the project of
colonialism also binds them and the link thence continues in
terms of the similarities in the theoretical and methodological
trajectories through which both of the above-said activities of
representation have passed through.

On Representation and Faithfulness: Positivism and the

Universal Subject

Ethnographic writings which are products of intensive field work

and inter-lingual translations involving contiguous or distant
languages are bound together by the underlying signified of
culture which is commonly present in both. Both these genres of
writing are tested often against standards of fidelity and
originality, though it happens in slightly varied forms in each
case. We often come across criticisms of translated texts which
try to judge the degrees of faithfulness of the text to its original,
whereas ethnographic accounts are supposed to be crystal clear
representations of the cultures, peoples and beliefs they tend to
describe. The fact is that ethnographies as well as translations
have to confront the same question, which is centred on the
issue of representation.
182 - Vaagartha

Western metaphysics and the ways in which it has viewed

‗language‘ and fashioned the concepts of reality and
representation within the idea of representationalism do hover
around the critiques of ethnography and translation, expecting
these writings to reproduce a pre-existing transcendental reality
through language. This concept of 'objectivity in description'
arises out of those positivistic notions, which often excludes and
ignores the observer's or the author's subjectivity, his/ her
emotions and socio- political stance etc. which are in fact crucial
and decisive in any act of representation. The idea of a ‗universal
subject‘ facing an ‗object‘ that needs to be described slowly
changed, thus investing an agency onto the ‗Other‘/‗source‘
cultures, peoples etc. and giving more emphasis to the
specificity of their cultural artifacts.

A Turn towards 'Culture': Emphasis on the ‗Native‘s Point

of View

The 'cultural turn' in Translation Studies in the 1980s and the

subsequent systemic approaches to language and culture began
to look upon language as a part of a complex system of human
manifestations that we know as culture. The concept of a literary
polysystem proposed by Itamar Evan Zohar demarcated the
translator's task as one of interpreting a complex network of
cultural systems.17 Cultural relativists like the American linguist-
anthropologist Franz Boas had similar notions of culture. The
stress on 'native point of view' and the notion of culture as a
totality of experience and knowledge acquired by members of a
community necessitated the presence of an ethnographer who is
not only bilingual, but also bicultural. ―The ethnographer has to
learn from the people, or in a way has 'to group the native's
point of view', his relations to life, to realize his vision of his
world‖, says Bronislaw Malinowski.18 The tendency to look upon
ethnographies as translations of culture first appeared in the
writings of Godfrey Lienhardt. He talks about the problem of
describing 'Others' from different cultures as acts of translation,

17
Mary Snell Hornby. The Turns of Translation Studies. (Amsterdam: John
Benjamins, 2006) p.53.
18
Alessandro Duranti. Linguistic Anthropology. (Cambridge: CUP, 2002) p.215.
 Vaagartha - 183

of conversion or of exchange, and views the ethnographer as a

mediator of cultures.

―The problem of describing to others how members of

a remote tribe think....begins to appear largely as one
of translation, of making coherence primitive thought
has in the language it really lives in, as clear as
possible in our own.‖19

This makes it vivid that, though the ‗cultural turn‘ effected

new ways of looking at language and brought it to the centre of
many debates pertaining to the issue of representation, it still
relied on the existence of a transferable ‗signified‘ which gets
transferred in any act of interpretation and which can be
captured without fail in a target text and culture. Though there
was an increased awareness about the ‗observer‘s eye‘ and the
translator‘s affiliations, the strong semantic links attributed
between the source text (whether the literary, legal, medicinal
ones or the text viz. the ‗Other‘s‘ culture) and the ‗product‘ was
largely unquestioned.

Target Orientedness and Functionalism: From Fidelity to

Acceptability

The realization that inter-lingual translations not only involve the

problem of recreating concepts in a different language, but also
carry the burden of trans-culturation of the text resulted in the
shaping of target- oriented approaches to translations. Gideon
Toury sticks on to the opinion that translators operate first and
foremost in the interest of the culture into which they are
translating and not in the interest of the source text and culture
alone, thereby presenting a target-oriented functional approach
to translation. ―Thus, whereas adherence to source norms
determines a translation's adequacy as compared to the source
text, subscription to norms originating in the target culture
determines its acceptability.‖20

19
Godfrey Lienhardt. ―Modes of Thought‖, The Institutions of Primitive Society
eds. E. E. Evans-Pritchard et.al (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1954) p.97.
20
GideonToury. Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond. (Amsterdam: John
Benjamins, 1995.), pp.53- 56.
184 - Vaagartha

Functionalism in anthropology views the ethnographer's task

as one of contextualizing cultural specific concepts to reproduce
the overall coherence present in the native language and culture
in the target text. ―The activities and institutions, in the context
of which a word or a phrase or set of phrases is used, must be
known before that word or those phrases can be understood,
before we can really speak of a concept or belief.‖21 Notions like
social construction of meaning by Clifford Geertz posturizes the
anthropologist and the translator as creators of discourses or of
cultural texts conforming to the conditions of acceptability in the
receptor culture.22 The coherence of discourse and the
readability of a text in its receiving culture, as the yardsticks of
perfection in translation were introduced by the ' skopos theory'
of translation. Here, the text becomes a part of the world
continuum, embedded in a given situation.

The major shift of emphasis to the ‗target‘/‗product‘ results

from a major epistemological shift which admits the impossibility
of access to a transparent ‗original‘ which finally results in a
change in the methodological paradigm thereby fixing
‗acceptability‘ as the new norm to be followed in the creation of
all ‗texts‘ talking about the ‗Other‘. This also hints at the fact that
it is the admittance of ‗opacity‘ of language and the increasing
doubtfulness about the production of ‗exact recreations‘ which
ended up in such a new benchmark.

Post Colonialism, Post-structuralism and the Third

Space: The Construction of Social Meanings

Postcolonial theories of translation tend to view social meanings

as constructed entities and language as an ingredient of power
relations, sustained by forms of inequality. The difference in
structures of world system and difference in the operation of
language with respect to different environments inhibits an exact
reproduction of any concept in a different setting. Ignoring these

21
Ernest Gellner. ―Concepts and Society‖ Selected Philosophical Themes ed.
Ernest Gellner (London: Routledge, 2006) p.21.
22
Acharya Bhabhananda. Clifford Geertz: Selected Writings (Bhubaneswar:
Mayur, 2005) p.197.
 Vaagartha - 185

factors, both inter-lingual translations and cultural representation

in the colonial period tried to construct the ‗Other' using the
stereotyping notions of history, denying the play of difference.
David Pocok says, ―The work of a social anthropologist may be
regarded as a highly complex act of translation in which the
author and the translator collaborate.‖23 Alessandro Duranti says
that fieldwork is nothing but a long series of negotiations and
compromises between our expectations and standards and those
of our hosts. Homi Bhabha presents through his writings the
notion of a 'third space' or the 'space in between', where cultural
and linguistic hybridity takes place. Mary Louis Pratt calls this as
the 'contact zone' where asymmetrical relations of domination
and subordination take place.24 This third space is relevant for a
translator as well as an ethnographer as it is the venue which
witnesses the intermediate stage of methodological invariance
and the meeting of field notes with contexts and behaviours of
target culture.

Post-structuralism and deconstruction shattered the notion

of a structure built around an unchanging centre or origin which
swept away all notions of purity and originality. The term
translation is no longer used to indicate an inter-lingual practice,
but to name an entire problematic.25 Ethnographers started
questioning both the innocence of representation and long
standing asymmetries of translation. The concept of
'overdetermination' in translation proposed by Tejaswini
Niranjana focuses on the fact that every translated text comes
into being overdetermined by religious, racial, sexual and
economic discourse. Ethnography in most cases invent rather
than represent cultures owing to this element of
overdetermination, whereas translation produces newer texts
endowed with the quality of internal coherence rather than
reproducing the original.

23
David Pocock also uses the analogy of relation between the psychoanalyst and
his subject.
24
See Mary Louise Pratt. Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation.
(London: Routledge, 1992).
25
Tejaswini Niranjana. Siting Translation: History, Post-Structuralism and the
Colonial Context (Berkley: University of California Press, 1992.), p.8.
186 - Vaagartha

Translating the indigenous texts into English as a part of the

colonial enterprise of drawing the outlines of the 'colonized', to
control them was supplemented by large scale ethnographic
descriptions of the 'Other'.

This figuring out of the colonial subject in an unfavourable

light often became an ingredient unavoidable in the construction
of the dominant, powerful 'Self.'26 Most interpretations of native
religious documents and books on social law and order came
forth with the argument that they aimed to educate the ignorant
and savage native about his/ her own religion and social order.
Thus the prefaces of most translated texts carried a picture of
the native devoid of the notion of history and alien to the
concept of Western 'modernity'.

Translations form an inter-textual web: Orientalist

translations from the Sanskrit- Charles Wilkins‘s
Bhagavat Gita, William Jones's Sakuntala, Jones and
Wilkins's Manu's Institutes, H.H Wilson's Kalidasa form
a canon, interpellate a colonial subject, construct a
Hindu character, a Hindu psyche, a Hindu way of
life.27

Revelations about the inseparability of language from ‗power‘

and the fairly new ways of viewing any text as entities
embedded in a network of power relations brought into light the
idea that no representation is innocent. Moreover the power
differences that bind languages which regulate every act of
representation began to be the focus of any judgment to which a
translated literary text or a finished ethnographic writing became
subjected to.

26
Said's Orientalism provides the most vivid accounts on such a construction of
identities.
27
Tejaswini Niranjana. Siting Translation. p.60.
 Vaagartha - 187

History, Power and Representation: Symbolic

Domination and Auto-ethnographies

The ethnographer's and the translator's 'innocent' efforts to

bring the colonized to the mainstream history of the world, to
the Hegelian notion of a progressive history, often ended up in
the production of one-sided illustrations of the ‗rulers‘ and the
‗ruled‘. Most anthropologists do not try to find what the natives
believe, but will try to establish that what they believe is wrong,
says Talal Asad.28 The inequalities in the power of languages
involved also influence the discursive properties of translation.
―Translations require a harmonization of intentions and of varied
forms of life‖, says Walter Benjamin. 29 Instead, the British
colonizers and the agents of neocolonialism attempts to create
stereotypes, ignoring the differences in intentions of languages.
The process of ‗interpellation‘ and subjectification also takes
place through these efforts of representation. Translated
versions of the 'subject' derived from the Occidental
interpretations of native literatures presented through the spread
of English education, resulted in the formation of a hybrid self,
sometimes ambiguous in its very nature.

The institutionalizing force of representations and the role of

these interpretations in creating 'folk memories' are also worth
notice. The strategic transformation of fiction into history by
engraving the East as exotic, superstitious and with an elegant
past in addition to the dismissal of history to the Orient,
depicting it as decadent and effeminate was the cornerstone in
building the hegemonic visuals of British progress. Auto-
ethnographies which are products of auto-colonization and the
discourses of anti-colonial/decolonizing spirits are both products
of the same project. Tagore's translation of his poems into
English is marked by his efforts to make his poems fit into the

28
Talal Asad. ―The Concept of Cultural Translation in British Social Anthropology‖
Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. Eds. James Clifford
and George E Marcus (Berkley: University of California Press, 1984) pp.147-
148.
29
See Walter Benjamin. ―Task of the Translator: An Introduction to the
Translation of Baudelaire's Tableaux Parisians‖ The Translation Studies Reader
ed. Lawrence Venuti (London: Routledge, 2002).
188 - Vaagartha

aesthetic ideology of the dominating culture, observes

Mahasweta Sengupta.30 This is an instance of auto-ethnography,
where the 'colonial self' harmonizes exactly with the image of
Orientals as constructed by Europe. Those writings usually
known under the category of responses to the efforts of
colonialism, as the ‗writing back of the empire' is also often
derived out of these newly constructed colonial identities.

Pierre Bourdieu proposes the notion that the construction of

the colonial subject is made possible by 'symbolic domination'.
This symbolic domination and the resultant social order are
produced by a recognition and misrecognition; the recognition
that the dominant language is legitimate, and the misrecognition
of the fact that this language is imposed as dominant on them. 31
This turns out to be a matter of foremost relevance in the
analysis of representations, in this age of neo-colonialism. It is
important to recognize the role of ‗language‘, in its functioning as
a prominent ingredient of this neo-colonial symbolic domination.
To unravel the long-standing dichotomies which sustain such a
power gradient in turn would help to set new standards to judge
representations.

References

Bassnett, Susan & Lefevere, Andre (eds.). 1990. Translation, History and
Culture. New York: Pinter Publishers.
Bhabhananda, Acharya. 2005. Clifford Geertz: Selected Writings.
Bhubaneswar: Mayur Publications.
Clifford, James & Marcus, George E (eds.). 1984. Writing Culture: The
Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. Berkley: University of California
Press.
Duranti, Alessandro. 2002. Linguistic Anthropology. Cambridge: CUP.
Evans-Pritchard et al. (eds.). 1954. The Institutions of Primitive Society.
Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Gellner, Ernest (ed.). 2006. Selected Philosophical Themes. London:
Routledge.

30
Mahasweta Sengupta ―Translation, Colonialism and Poetics: Rabindranath
Tagore in Two Worlds‖ Translation, History and Culture eds. Susan Bassnett
and Andre Lefevere (New York: Pinter Publishers, 1990).
31
Tejaswini Niranjana. Siting Translation. p. 32.
 Vaagartha - 189

Hornby, Mary Snell. 2006. The Turns of Translation Studies. Amsterdam:

John Benjamins.
Niranjana, Tejaswini. 1992. Siting Translation: History, Post-
Structuralism and the Colonial Context. Berkley: University of
California Press.
Pratt, Mary Louis. 1992. Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and
Transculturation. London: Routledge.
Toury, Gideon. 1995. Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Venuti, Lawrence (ed.). 2002. The Translation Studies Reader. London:
Routledge.

***
Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
 A Glimpse of Hamd and Naat

Sheerin Hena

Abstract

Urdu language and literature, beyond their spatial confines, have

been more heard of than read. With the publication of some
notable translations, some of them in the recent past seem to be
emerging from the canons of the old. In recent times, a plenty of
translations on the Gazals and nazms and other forms have
taken place. However, there are fewer translations available on
hamd and naat. Hamd and naat are religious songs widely
prevalent in Islamic community. Hamd is a form of poetry written
in praise of the Allah, whereas naat is a form of poetry written in
praise of prophet. Both are very popular genres of Islamic poetry
sung in social and religious gatherings. In this paper I propose to
discuss these forms of poetry on which very little translation is
available and share the experience of translating them. It is
beyond the scope of this paper to present the poems at length.
However, I have included the lines/ stanzas as and when
necessary.

Introduction

―A traditional brass lamp has several wicks jutting out to be lit.

The more numerous the wicks, the brighter the light. The lamp
is the same, the oil is the same but it is the wicks that
determine the brightness of the light. The lights from the
various wicks merge imperceptibly and produce a brightness
which is the totality of many lights. Just as many wicks
produce one light, India's many languages produce one
literature‖ (George, 1984: x).

K. M. George's analogy between the brass lamp and

literature provides an undoubtedly poetic conceptualization of
Indian literature. Indian literature is very rich and translations in
different languages have made it more accessible. The purpose
of translation is to pass on an understanding to people in their
own language and create the same impact as the original text.
Translation does not happen in vacuum, it is a part of ongoing
 Vaagartha - 191

intercultural transfer. It is a form of cross-cultural

communication, and is a social phenomenon and a cultural
practice. Octavio Paz claims that translation is the principle
means we have of understanding the world we live in.

Translating poetry is in itself a challenging task. The poets

use a lot of figurative devices; imageries, metaphors, similies
etc. Translate of these becomes a herculean task. A translator
should have knowledge of both target language (TL) and the
source language (SL). Being a native speaker of Urdu-Hindi I
have tried to translate some of the untouched genres of Urdu
poetry; hamd and naat.

/naat/ as a form of poetry written in praise of Prophet

Muhammad

The word ‗naat‘ is itself of Arabic root which means, to praise

someone‘s character, his good qualities. Of course, grammarians
of Arab world have defined the word in various ways, however,
we are not connected with those meanings now. As far as the
terminological meaning of the naat is concerned, it is a poem,
written in praise of Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) 32 in any form of
poetry. Unlike ‗Rubai‘ or quatrain naat can be written in any type
of Arabic or Persian or Indian meters. But generally, it is written
in the Ghazal form. That is to say, the singers follow the manner
of Ghazal and not its content. The outer form contains Matlaa33
(the first couplet of the Ghazal having same rhyming in both the
lines) Maqtaa34 (last couplet of the Ghazal in which the poet uses
his/her name) and popular meters of Ghazal. The plural of the
word Naat is Nauooth.

Allah is first to praise Prophet Muhammad in Quran. Then

his companions, specially, Hazrath bin Sabit Ansari who was the
court poet of Prophet Muhammad. Some of his couplets of naat
are still being recited in the Muslim community. Then a host of

32
Salallaho Alaihe Wa Asallam – An expression used along Prophet‘s name.
33
Matlaa: the first couplet of the Ghazal having same rhyming in both the lines.
34
Maqtaa: last couplet of the Ghazal in which the poet uses his/her name.
192 - Vaagartha

poets from Arabic, Persian and Urdu wrote millions of naat. And
in all the well-known languages of the world ‗naat‘ is being
written and sung. The Muslims of the world consider reciting of
naat as the means of salvation to their worldly and the life after
death.

/hamd / as a form of poetry written in praise of God

Hamd literally means to praise. It is a poem which is written in

praise of Allah, the creator of the world. Like naat, hamd can
also be written in any form of the poetry and in any meter;
whether it is Arabic or Persian or Indian. But, generally, the
poets prefer to write hamd in Gazal form. Some poets prefer to
write hamd in nazm form. Whereas, nazm is written on any
given or chosen topic, the Gazal can be written on a number of
topics. In one Gazal there may be ten or eleven different topics.
Each couplet is written on one particular topic and all the
couplets are put under one type of meter and rhymes. This is
not with nazm. So when a poet writes hamd in a Gazal form, he
has to stick to the Gazal form and if he writes in nazm form or
any particular form of nazm, then he has to stick on to the rules
of that particular form. Finally, it is better to mention here that,
naat is written more in number than hamd. The reason may be
that hamd is a form of poetry in praise of Allah whereas naat is a
form written in praise of Prophet Muhammad.

A common understanding of ‗naat‘ and ‗hamd‘‘

Naat and hamd are very delicate and sensitive forms because
they deal with the religious sentiments of the Islamic community.
A significant aspect of hamd and naat is that they are written or
sung by common people i.e. they are not singularly authored.
They are written and sung by common mass which reflects the
spirit and aspirations of the community. Another important
feature is their modifiability, i.e. anyone and everyone can
modify them. They are not fossilized as forms rather they are
dynamic and growing. They are lexicalized differently so as to
show that they fall under or create a genre different from their
look alikes. Cultural meanings are intricately woven into the
texture of language used in the two forms. Hamd being a special
 Vaagartha - 193

genre of poetry holds an important space. Hamd cannot be

written if an individual does not have a divine love towards the
Almighty. Hamd is unique in nature because it is written only in
praise of God. Naat is written in praise of last prophet. It can
again only be written if the poet is a true lover of Prophet
Muhammad. According to the tenets of Islaam Prophets are the
messengers of the God who spread the divine message. Prophet
Muhammad is considered to be the last Prophet sent to the
world. He is very dear to the Almighty. Hamd and Naat are
specific symbols of Islamic culture, usually not observed outside
it.

Issues and strategies

We followed the prose translation in order to preserve the

meaning of the text (SL), no specific meter is followed. Naat and
hamd were difficult to translate because there was a fear that it
should not hurt the sentiments of the people. We have to put
great effort to find the synonymys of certain referential words. It
was also found difficult to choose the appropriate dictions for
culture specific terms.

While translating hamd we preferred not translated culture

specific practice ―sajdaa.‖35 The reason is that it is untranslatable
and has no equivalent. It is a posture acquired during
―Namaaz‖36 (Islamic prayer). Though in common parlance it is
just the bending posture of the head but specifically it denotes
the complete surrender of the individual to the Almighty. It is a
highly meditative act. If it would have been translated as
―bowing‖ the essence and meaning of the diction would have
been lost. To preserve the meaning of the word and in order to
keep the essence of the originality it has not been translated.

The strategy used to overcome this untranslatability was to

provide general explanations and the essential vocabulary after
each translation. ―Hamd-o-sana37‖ is a composite word which

35
Sajdaa: A posture acquired during namaaz (prayer).
36
Namaaz: The usual prayer offered by the followers of Islam.
37
Hamd-o-sana: Hamd stands for praise of God and ‘sana’ means praise; applause;
eulogy. It is a composite word
194 - Vaagartha

means to praise God. ―Sana‖ specifically is a verse recited at the

beginning of the ‗Namaaz‘ which contains the praise of God
whereas hamd also stands to praise God. ―-O-―is the connector,
which means ―and‖.

This word is sometimes translated into ―praise‖ and

sometimes it is left as it is. This was the strategy used to bring
the essence of originality because the literal translation was not
fulfilling the purpose. Especially in a hamd which is the gist of
the opening sura38 of ―The Quran‖ it was the requirement not to
translate the word ―hamd-o-sana‖.

Sample Text – 1
hamd -o- sana ho teri kauno makaan waale
erabbe har do aalam donon jahaan waale
yaume jazaa kaa maalik, khalik hamaaraa tu hai
karte hain sajdaa tujhko teri hi justajoo hai……..

Translation
Hamd- o- sanaa for You O creator of this world
O lord of the worlds, the compassionate
Master of the Day of Judgment, You are our lord
You alone we worship, we look up only for You…..

In other hamds the translation of the word didn‘t affect the

meaning so it was translated.

Sample Text – 2
mein tere saamne jhuk rahaa huun khudaa
mera koi nahin Allah tere siwa
mein gunaah-gaar huun ,mein siyah-kaar huun,
mein khataa-kaar huun, mein sazaa-waar huun
mere sajdon mein teri hi hamd-o- sanaa
mera koi nahin Allah tere siva….

Translation
I bow in-front of you Allah
No one is mine except you Allah

38
Sura: One of the sections/ chapters of The Quran. The Quran is divided into 114 suras.
 Vaagartha - 195

I am the sinner, I'm the wicked,

I'm the guilty, I'm punishable
In my sajdaa is only your praise
No one is mine except you Allah….

Some texts have undergone over translation because they

required additional details and explanation. This translated line is
also comparatively longer than the rest of the other translated
line.

Sample Text – 3
ho shaam laal- afshaan,
yaa subah ruh- afzaa
har rang mein ayaan hai
dil-kash nizaam tera…..

Translation
Be it the sprinkling redness of the evening
or the pleasantness of the morning
Every colour is
The evidence of your fabulous arrangement …

In the text from Naat ‘huzoor‘ is used to refer to Prophet.

We‘ve translated it into the proper name ‗Muhammad‘ so as to to
make it easier for the readers to understand. In general ‗huzoor‘
is an expression for respect.

Sample Text – 4
hai jispe khatam shaane risaalat
huzoor hain
meri nigaah va dil ki ibaadat
huzoor hain….

Translation
There ends the glory of divine mission where
Prophet Muhammad is
My heart and eyes' prayer
is Prophet Muhammad …

39
In the naat forms ‗aayat‘ is not translated because it is

39
Aayat (singular aayah) refers to Quranic verses.
196 - Vaagartha

Arabic word for verse. So to preserve the meaning it was left as

it is. Again, ‗Sardaare Ambiyaa‘ 40 is a composite word used as a
reference for the Prophet, which was translated according to the
meaning of the SL.

The following text is exemplary of typical naat forms

showing the love shown towards the Prophet Muhammad.41 The
specialty of this naat is that it looks like somebody is describing
the divine beauty of his beloved. It basically talks about the
character of the Prophet and defines how important is his place
in this world.

Sample Text – 5
ye to maanaa ki jannat hai baage hansi
khubsurat hai sabkhuld ki sarzamin
husn jannat ko phir jo sametaa gayaa
sardaare ambiyaa ki galii ban gayii…..

Translation
I do not deny that heaven is magnificent
Beautiful is the land of heaven
When the elegance of the heaven was compressed
It turned into the street of Leader of prophets ….

Conclusion

Translation is an ongoing activity of intercultural and intracultural

transfer. The translation experience of the poems has developed
a better understanding of the asymmetry of languages and
cultures involved. Urdu poems are the heritage of Indian culture
and the translations of this render voice to these forms. The
translation of the different forms of poetry was a wonderful
experience. While translating the poems it was found that
though rhyme is lost in translation there is a sort of gain too.

40
Sardaare Ambiyaa referes to Prophet Muhammad, the leader of all Prophets.
41
Muhammad is considered to be the last prophet.
 Vaagartha - 197

While dealing with these forms utmost care is required as

they embody the sentiments of the people. The forms of naat
and hamd were more difficult to translate than the other forms.
While translating the poems the problems that we faced
included: finding of equivalents for untranslatable terms,
maintaining the meter, preserving the meaning and keeping the
essence of the original. Since all the selections were culture-
specific, all the symbols and imagery had to be translated with
utmost care and attention. The reason behind the selection of
these forms is to bring these forms to the forefront of
discussions. It was very difficult to maintain the original meter
and form. Since the main purpose was to bring the meaning so
―prose translation‖ was given preference and rhyme/ meter was
overlooked as it was not feasible to preserve it.

Acknowledgement

This paper is a part of my MA translation project. I‘m pleased to

acknowledge that I carried it out under the guidance of Prof.
Dadegoankar. And, I feel privileged to dedicate it to him.

References

Ahmad A. 1994. Gazals of Ghalib. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Bassnett, McGuire. 1980. Translation Studies. New York: Mathuen & Co.
Newmark, P. 1988. Textbook of Translation. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Newmark, P. 1981. Approaches to Translation. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

***
Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
 Translating Eexpressive Words from Telugu to
English
Thotapally Anjaneyulu

Abstract

Expressive Words (EWs) have in general posed problems for

language translators and language technology like, query
answers, language abstraction, information retrieval, machine
translation etc. Those engaging with these studies attempt to
interpret EWs which vary from language to language. Indian
languages in general and Telugu in particular are no different to
this. EWs are formed through reduplication, onomatopoeic
words, echo words in adverbial and adjectival forms. They are
easily classified. Though the problem is quite profound, little or
no study has been done in Telugu. In this paper I have
attempted to classify and explain EWs as employed in the Telugu
public space. The relevance of this study is that it would help
scholars engaged with the problems of translating EWs from
Telugu to English. I‘ve tried to enlisted and analysed groups of
expressive word that must be considered together for semantic
interpretation. Here, it‘s noted that reduplication of various
forms, nominal and verbs are most frequently used categories.
The potent result would be, to suggest, the preparation of a
comprehensive dictionary of Telugu EWs and phrases with a
wide range of translation, in particular and a comprehensive
dictionary of such terms and phrases from all Indian languages
to the English. The relevance of the study stands, it becomes
fruitful when such a concept will see the light of the day.

Introduction

Translation is a process of transferring the theme from one

language to another. In other words, through translation, the
idea expressed in one language is represented without deviation
and distortion in another language. Ensuring that deviation and
distortion need to be minimized to the least, if not completely
avoided, is very essential for a good translation. In the absence
of this phenomenon, the process does not remain as a
 Vaagartha - 199

translation, but it becomes a fresh presentation of an idea

adopted as the basis in some language.

Defining characteristics of Expressives

1. Most of the expressive words represent different sound usually

found in nature.
2. Expressive words can be language independent.
3. Usually expressive words are not listed in normal lexicons.
4. Most expressive words are reduplicatives.
5. Expressive words need not be restricted to only perceptional
words and manner of actions.
6. Usually, expressives resist change in both phonological and
semantic domains.

Earlier research on Expressive Terms

Abbi (1980) in Reduplication in South Asian Languages carried

out the first noticeable study on these terms. An areal
typological and historical study, it covers almost all Indian
languages with examples of reduplication sentences. However,
she treats reduplication as expressive words. S. Selvam explored
expressive in Telugu from Hindi. He has translated expressive
words from Hindi to Telugu (1988). The present study however
focuses on expressive terms from Telugu to English. One of the
earliest studies on the subject concerned is that of Peri Bhaskara
Rao‘s The Onomatopoeia and Reduplication in Telugu (1977)
which discusses the parts of speech and their functions with
examples from the language concerned. M. L. Apte (1968);
worked on Reduplication, Echo Formation, and Onomatopoeia in
Marathi however, the whole study concerned only the Marathi
language which delimits the scope of his study. M. B. Emeneau
(1969), has worked on Onomatopoeia in the Indian Linguistic
Area the study covers all types of sounds in Indian languages
with a glossary.

The present study aims at helping such translators in solving the

problems of translating expressive terms from Telugu to English.
If a glossary of expressive term is built, it would help the
translators to translate and find some way out to solve the
200 - Vaagartha

problems of translating Expressive Terms from Telugu to English,

without altering the original sense.

Methodology

Telugu expressive terms are collected from several samples,

sources such as Newspapers like Eenadu, Vaartha, Andhrajyothi,
Telugu short stories published in several places, Telugu
nighantuvu (dictionary), and the book Panchatantra, comparative
and analytical methods of research are used in the present
study. However, owing to the time limit, only a few sources are
utilized for this present study.

In this way, Telugu sentences were framed and given to the

translators and they were asked to translate them including the
Expressive Terms into English. Out of the thirty translators, only
ten of them responded positively and returned the translation
within the specified time. In this research, Expressive Terms are
typed in bold letters.

Non-reduplicatives

A considerable number of expressives may not show

reduplicated structure. Many of these are adverbs, adjective and
verbs. e.g., girruna, Takkuna, dabbuna, pussuk, kiTTuk. Again
expressive words can be categorized on the basis of their
endings which are very characteristic. They usually end in -I, -
ukku, -ngu, -El, -na and rarely –ggu, -TTu, etc.

The list of Expressive words is given below

I. Ending with – I, This group of expressive words end with -I.

These words indicate the sound of a heavy fall or sharp jerk.
gabhI ‗quickly, in a quick movement‘.
gubhI ‗jump down heavily‘.
dabhI ‗sound of falling, fall with a splash‘.

II. Ending with – ukku, Part of this categorizes expressive

words which end with– ukku. All of these words are tri syllabic
 Vaagartha - 201

words. These words indicate manner of an event carried out

swiftly and rapidly.
kaTukku ‗biting, cutting with a pliers, an unpleased thing
etc‘.
kaLukku ‗feel of a thorn or a piece of glass broken inside
the sole of foot (when it is moved)‘.

III. Ending with –ngu, These words usually end with- ngu.
These words indicate the sound of metal when hit by thong.
Khangu ‗ringing of a big bell‘.
Tangu ‗noise of a large bell‘.

IV. Ending with –El, These expressive words end in -El and
indicate a sound or light that is produced by soft surface when
hit by hard thing.
dabEl ‗sound of falling, fall with a slash‘.
guBEl ‗a crash resounded as of a water pot fall down a well‘.

V. Ending with –na, These expressive words end in -na. These

words indicate manner of an event carried out swiftly and
rapidly. Surprisingly, these expressive words which end in –ukku
of class and may take –na, become part of this class.
kasukkuna ‗sound made by piercing or stabbing with a knife
or biting with a teeth‘.
kirruna ‗creaky noise of a rusted door, as when someone sits
down in an old chair or cot‘.
Miscellaneous class ending with – ru, - ggu, These
expressive words end in –ru, -ggu. These words indicate sounds
of snoring and sudden catching of fire.
gurru ‗sound of snoring‘.
baggu ‗something catching fire suddenly‘.

Reduplicatives

It stands for repetition of all or a part of a lexical item carrying a

semantic modification. The words involving reduplicatives have
exact or partially reduplicated phonic material. In many
instances the words if not reduplicated become meaningless.
Hence, reduplication is only phonological and not a
morphological process. However, with expressives such a
process is not found and no morphological reduplicatives are
202 - Vaagartha

found. Hence, no semantic function is observed with the

reduplicated material.
e.g., 1. sala sala - noise of boiling (sala is expressive word, it does
not have any meaning)

Adjectives and Adverbs: These qualifiers are often

reduplicated. Reduplicated adjectives intensify the meaning
denoted by corresponding single adjectives. An adverb can be
reduplicated to denote lesser degree of intensity than the
intensity denoted by the original single adverb with suffixes of
verb like, -lADu, manu, etc.
e.g., gajagaja – gajagajalADu, TapTap – TapTaPmanu.

Some of the expressive words are translated either as adjectives

or as adverbs.

1. nILLu salasala kAgutunnAyi – The water is boiling violently.

2. caliki gajagaja vaNukutunnAru – They are shivering from cold.
3. rAju gaDagaDa lADincinDu – The king terrorized the kingdom.
4. Ame moKam kaLakaLalADutunDi – Her face is gleaming.
5. saBa kaLakaLa LADutunDi – The meeting/ gathering is bustling.

Since it is difficult to translate individual words, without

knowing the context, the expressive words are translated in
single Telugu sentences.

Selection of the Translators

Thirty translators were selected based on the following criteria:

1. Knowledge of both Telugu and English. 2. Experience in
translation. 3. Easy accessibility.

Analysis of the Expressives

Ten Translators participated in the task. Their translations have

been analyzed here. The number enclosed in the bracket at the
end of a particular sentence shows the number of translators
supporting that particular English translation of a Telugu
expressive. The bold letters in the sentences represent the
Expressive word and its English equivalents. The sentences listed
 Vaagartha - 203

with alphabet letters represent the various English translations of

the Telugu sentence as suggested by translators. The logic
behind the analysis was to first list out the different types of
translations available for a particular expressive. Secondly, one
particular translation was chosen over the other and the
semantic and grammatical reason is assigned to show why a
particular translation should be preferred.

1. nippu kaNa kaNa manDutundi.

a. The fire is burning rigorously. (5)
b. The fire is raging. (2)
c. The embers are glowing. (3)

The translation ‗a‘ says about fire. But in the given sentence
there is no reference to ‗fire‘. The given sentence mainly
concerns with the cinders. The translation ‗b‘ shows that the fire
is wild. But, to the exact sense the translation speaks about the
cinders being on fire with a great rage. So, the translation ‗c‘
which depicts not only the picture of the cinders but gives the
same sense can be used for the effective translation by the
users.

2. ataDu kaTa kaTAla pAlainnADu.

a. He was sent behind the bars. (9)
b. He ended up behind the bars.

The translated text ‗a‘ somehow puts forward the exact

meaning of the original expressive word whereas translated text
‗b‘ does not indicate the exact meaning of the above expressive
word though it somehow depicts a connotative meaning.
Therefore, the users may have to choose between the two
categories of translations that would suit their purpose
depending upon the situations.

3. pakshulu kica kica arustunnAyi.

a. Birds are chirping. (7)
b. Birds are squeaking. (3)

In both the translations ‗a‘ and ‗b‘ the words ‗chirp‘ and
‗squeak‘ are almost similar in meaning. But the impression left
on the users is what a translator is concerned all about. The
204 - Vaagartha

translation ‗a‘ is more effective than the translation ‗b‘. The user
may use the translation ‗a‘ for an effective meaning of the given
phrase.

4. lata kila kila navvindi.

a. Latha clamored. (4)
b. Latha smiled with sweet sound. (3)
c. Latha laughed gleefully. (2)
d. Latha smiled sonorously.

The translation ‗a‘ uses the word ‗clamor‘, but it fails to

express the exact meaning. The translation ‗b‘ shows the normal
way of expressing laughter. The translation ‗c‘ is highly
recommended for the effective translation as it gives out the
wider meaning of what the given sentence really intends to
express. The translation ‗d‘ is also beneficial in this regard, but is
not so effective. The users can opt for translation ‗c‘.

5. ataDu kora kora cUstunnADu.

a. He is giving nelson‘s eye.
b. He is looking at me pointedly.
c. He is glaring at me. (8)

The translation ‗a‘ makes use of a phrase to express the

meaning. The translation ‗b‘ is the ordinary way of expressing
the given sentence. But this is not intended for effective
translation. The translation ‗c‘ has something to do with the way
a person keeps staring at others. It is the best way to express
and is recommended for the users.

6. ame tala girruna tirigipOyindi.

a. She became dizzy suddenly. (10)

All the translators have opined ‗a‘ to be the best. Hence, this
can be used by the translators.

7. vADu guTa guTa nILLu tAgutunnADu.

a. He is drinking water rapidly. (4)
b. He is drinking water in an anxiety.
c. He is gulping down water. (4)
d. Water is seething.
 Vaagartha - 205

In the above translations the usage of ‗a‘ and ‗b‘ is very

common and do not provide the original sense of the meaning
as that much of ‗c‘. The translation‗d‘ is not at all suitable to the
very meaning of the given sentence. So use of ‗c‘ is the best for
the users. So the user can use either ‗c‘ or rest of translations
depending upon the context.

8. ataDu nApai cira cira lADutunnADu.

a. He is furious on me. (4)
b. He is irritated on me.
c. He is angry with me. (5)

In the above translations both ‗a‘ and ‗c‘ convey the meaning
of the expressive word but ‗b‘ does not convey the meaning. It
fails in translating the expressive phrase. ‗c‘ conveys the
meaning of the expressive word. The users can use ‗a‘ or ‗c‘ and
not ‗b‘.

9. daba daba varsham kurisindi.

a. It‘s raining heavily. (3)
b. It rained cats and dogs.
c. It‘s pitter-patter. (4)
d. Its pouring.
e. It‘s down -pouring heavily.

The translation ‗a‘ speaks about the amount of rain. The

translation ‗b‘ also uses the phrase to explain the amount and
the intensity of rainfall. The translation ‗c‘ explains the correct
sense; it also uses the expression which is pleasant to hear. The
translations‗d‘ and ‗e‘ explain the rain in a normal sense which
does not contain the meaning as a whole. Hence the translators
can use the translation ‗c‘ for their work.

10. baTTalanu para para cimpADu.

a. He rapidly tore the cloths. (3)
b. The cloths are tore.
c. He ripped the cloths. (6)

The clothes were not torn out rapidly as given in the

translation ‗a‘. The translation ‗b‘ also loses the expressive word
206 - Vaagartha

in the given sentence. The translation ‗c‘ is the best way of

expressing, and this can be used by the translators.

11. ceTTu peLa peLa virigindi.

a. The tree wrecked. (5)
b. The tree crumbled down. (5)

Any of the above translations are quite good to the given

sentence. Both the translations are equally potent and any one
can be used by the users.

12. nakshatrAlu miNuku miNuku manTunnAyi.

a. The stars are flickering. (3)
b. The stars are twinkling. (7)

The translations ‗a‘ and ‗b‘ depict the same picture. The only
thing that differs is the words used. The translation ‗b‘ looks
good as twinkling is the natural property of a star.

When the sentences were given to the prospective

translators, they came up with a number of equivalents. The
variations in translation of equivalence from very good to
unacceptable, indicates that these expressive terms can be
translated differently as they may have different senses. Another
aspect of evaluation is in the current lot of selected sentences
with expressive terms which contain sentences with only one
meaning. Many of the expressives are ambiguous i.e. they may
be interpreted differently in different contexts.

Conclusions

Expressive words form an important category in the process of

translation and the study of language. These words are rich in
cultural meanings and historical significance. A study of historical
texts, fables, stories, epics, etc. will show the prevalent use of
expressive words in writing. The words thus can also be studied
independently for the range of linguistic and semantic properties
they have. For example, Peri Bhaskar Rao in his study
Reduplication and Onomatopoeia in Telugu (1977) deals with an
onomatopoetic Telugu short story, which has the expressive
 Vaagartha - 207

phrase- puTukku jarajara Dabukku me. The story is significant as

the whole story revolves around the mystery of the phrase, and
its conclusive solution. The classical text,
SuryarAndhranighaNTuvu, mentioned by Peri Bhaskara Rao
(1977:30) talks about a poem that has expressive words and
phrases, which are also reduplicatives:

peTa peTa gAsen ravi

paTa paTa paTa manucu girulu
pagilen raligen, jiTa ciTa ciTa
manucun vani giTa giTa giTa

Expressive words belong to spoken as well as written

communication. They are used for creative purposes like adding
spoken flavor to the written language. They have multiple
meanings varying in contexts and aspects. So, it becomes
important to study of them.

To conclude, the need for a comprehensive dictionary of

expressive terms is highly recommended for translators. We
have carried out a primary survey and the result is splendid. It
not only proves the possibility of translating expressive terms
and phrases from one language to another, but also shows the
effectiveness of such translations. Furthermore, it indicates the
possibility of making translation easy from an Indian language to
Indian languages and Indian language to foreign languages. A
step to initiate here would be the preparation of a
comprehensive dictionary of Telugu expressive terms and
phrases with a wide range of translation, in particular; and a
comprehensive dictionary of such terms and phrases from Telugu
to English.

References

Abbi, Anvita. 1991. Reduplication in South Asian Languages. An Areal,

Typological and Historical Study. New Delhi: Allied Publishers.
Abbi, Anvita. 1994. Semantic Universal in Indian Languages. Indian
Institute of Advanced Study. Shimla.
Abbi, Anvita. 1968. Semantic Grammar of Hindi. New Delhi: Bahri
Publications.
208 - Vaagartha

Apte, M. 1968 Reduplication, Echo Formation, and Onomatopoeia in

Marathi. Poona: Deccan College.
Bhaskararao, Peri. 1977. Reduplication and Onomatopoeia in Telugu.
Poona: Deccan College.
Emeneau, M. B. 1994. Dravidian Studies: The South Dravidian
Languages, JAOS: 87, 365-413 (1967), Motilal Banarsidass
Publishers Private Limited, New Delhi.
Emeneau, M. B. 1969. Onomatopoetics in the Indian Linguistic Area,
Language, Vol. 45, 1969, pp. 274- 299.
Emeneau, M. B. 1980. Language and Linguistic Area. Essays by Murry
B. Emeneau, Selected and introduced by Anwar S. Dil Stanford:
Stanford University Press.
Zimmerman, Ellen K. 1980. Expressive in Telugu: Iconicity as a
Linguistic Mode of Meaning. Osmania Papers in Linguistics.
Osmania University, Hyderabad, Volume 06, June, pp. 01-40.

***
Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
 Part 3

In Reverence and Retrospect

 Dr. Padmakar Dadegaonkar:
A Good Friend and a Formidable Author

D. D. Punde

:1: A Good Friend

I should mention at the very outset that I have been friends with
Dr. Dadegaonkar for last 30 years; and we are indeed close
friends. Even then while talking to each-other we use the
honorific pronoun. Even while mentioning each other in third
person we have never used the singular non-honorific. In my
case, I am older than Dr. Dadegaonkar by 7-8 years. So, going
by seniority it would not have been unfair to address him in
singular. But I could never do so. May be because overall he has
a serious disposition. This disposition and his studious nature
have left such an impression upon me that I find it awkward to
address him in non-honorific terms. Atmost, as a mark of
familiarity I address him as `Padmakarjee‘ and he addresses me
`Dattopanta‘.

The other thing that I mean to clarify is that the readers

may please not think that I am praising Prof. Dadegaonkar only
because I am writing this article in his honour. I have been
speaking all facts about Padmakarjee and so am I going to write.
And it is indeed a matter of fact that one happens to speak out
about him with all honour and respect. For instance, I once got
an opportunity to deliver a lecture in the late R.S. Jog lecture-
series. Then I had said that there has been good deal of
discussion in Marathi on the Rasa theory. As far as my reading
goes, only two scholars have aesthetically accomplished the task
of applying the Rasa theory in Sanskrit to Marathi literature. One
of them being a teacher and Guru of mine Prof. G.K. Bhat and
the second, was my close friend Dr. Dadegaonkar. The
systematic and step-by-step appreciation of the entire poem
`Rainbow‘ (my heart lips up when I behold a rainbow in the sky)
212 - Vaagartha

done by Dr. Bhat in terms of Bhava, Vibhava, vyabhichari bhava,

rasa-nispatti etc. of Rasa-theory, has left a mark on my memory.
So also, Dr. Dadegaonkar has read, `khedyatil ratra‘ the poem
by Balkavi, and the plays – Mahanirvan and Ghashiram Kotval, in
the light and reference of the Rasa-theory. I had discussed in
detail the task of Dr. Dadegaonkar of validating the theoretical
potential of the Rasa-siddhanta through actual application of it.

It is indeed an interesting story to know how I became

friends with Dr. Dadegaonkar. Marathi Department, Osmania
University, Hyderabad had organised a three-week workshop on
`Ancient Marathi Manuscripts: Research and Editing‘. All of the
students, research scholars – participants had got
accommodation in the University Club-house. So, we spent the
rest of the time in scholarly discussions in a light mood. We
could sense that all the senior professors of Marathi in
Hyderabad were scholars of the medieval Marathi literature. Not
that they didn‘t know any modern Marathi literature but none of
them were spontaneously discussing anything about that. None
of them would mention in the flow of discussion the names like
Mardhekar, Gangadhar Gadgil, Indira Santa, GA, Khanolkar (Arti
Prabhu), Mahanor etc. The young lecturers and M.Phil/Ph.D
students would not mix with us. There was no way we could
know the status of the modern Marathi literature in Hyderabad.
All of us were puzzled. However we got a pleasant surprise
within three days. Dadegaonkar joined the workshop and swiftly
mixed up with us. In the evening conversations he started
speaking about fate, destiny and mystery in the short stories of
GA. Then, Prof. Dadegaonkar became a friend, philosopher and
guide of all of us in the rest of the workshop. All the shopping
that we wanted to do, was done by his advice and most of the
times he accompanied us. The movie Shankarabharnam was a
big hit then. I was looking for the Gramophone records of it.
Finally, I told this to Prof. Dadegaonkar. He took me to an
electronic shop at Secunderabad. And I got the records. Most of
 Vaagartha - 213

us had purchased clothes, stones, pearls etc. in their shopping. I

was the only one to buy the gramophone records and Prof.
Dadegaonkar was greatly surprised by that. He appreciated the
fact that in the times when Tape-decks were in vogue I had
retained my old Gramophone. (But he had not spoken a word
about his own collection of records.)

Well before the workshop Prof. Dadegaonkar had joined

Marathi Mahavidyalay of Hyderabad as a Principal. This
workshop of ours was being conducted in the months of
September-October. The festivals of Kojagari and Dasra fell in
these days. I remember, Dadegaonkar taking us to see the
Dasra procession of Hindus in Hyderabad. More importantly, I
remember that Prof. Dadegaonkar had invited us to the Marathi
Mahavidyalay at a night next to the Kojagari one. It was a night
College then. All the three years, only Marathi was taught in this
institution. Then these students are awarded the degree of BOL,
bachelor of language by the university and these students are
preferred for the job vacancies in the schools and colleges. Such
a degree was unheard for us and this was entirely new
information we gathered. All the lecturers, teachers in the
College we introduced to us. We had conversation on literature,
then all of us enjoyed the Kojagari delicacy of milk and then it
was called a day. I remember it very well that inspite of being a
Principal himself he was offering us hospitality and a cordial
reception. I can also remember that in this program
Padmakarjee spoke very little and encouraged his colleagues to
speak out.

The workshop ended and I returned having befriended

Padmakarjee. Sometime in the following year I got a letter from
Padmakarjee. He was in need of the book Aesthetic Rapture of
Masson and Patwardhan published by Deccan College, Pune.
First I went to Bhandarkar Institute with an intent that if I get a
copy of it I would photocopy it. But the librarian over there for
214 - Vaagartha

several reasons did not even allow me to have a look at the

book. Then I went to Deccan College, only to find the stringent
discipline and tedious procedure to buy books from the
publication section, and finally I could procure no books. In the
meantime, Prof. Dadegaonkar himself came to Pune in search of
the book and he could procure the book. This book was essential
for his doctoral research. He had spent his own money for this
trip to Pune. (It should be noted that those our salaries were
meagre, then.) No one suffers this kind of exertion unless one
has love and integrity for one‘s own research.

Inspite of being good friends, Padmakarjee and me have

met only a few times in last thirty years. It won‘t be more than
eight to ten times, if we were to count. We have very little of
mailing and hardly talk to each other on the telephone unless
there is something urgent. This has not caused our friendship to
diminish. We certainly see each other if I go to Hyderabad or if
he comes to Pune. All India Linguistics Conference was to be
held in Hyderabad in 1988. Dr. Shreerang Sangoram, Dr. Kalyan
Kale, Dr. Anjali Soman and me, four of us from Pune, with great
enthusiasm had gone to Hyderabad for the conference. On the
day one, the keynote address and the first session were
sufficient enough to make out that the conference was a failure.
And our accommodation was also badly pathetic. So, we decided
to give up on the conference and enjoy the city of Hyderabad.
We shifted to a decent lodge I knew in Kacheguda. Then I took
these friends of mine to see Prof. Shreedharrao Kulkarni, Prof.
D.P. Joshi, Prof. P.G. Lalye, Shreekrushnadas Mahanubhav. And
one evening we went to see Prof. Dadegaonkar without any
formality of prior appointment or intimation. He forced to stay
back for the dinner. Sangoram is one connoisseur and scholar of
Music. Padmakarjee already had come to know about Sangoram
through hearsay. And Prof. Dadegaonkar is himself a diehard
connoisseur of Hindusthani Classical Music (Only that day I
learnt this). Sangoram and Dr. Dadegaonkar got along very well
 Vaagartha - 215

and thee was a little workshop on Hidustani Music. Discussants

were Sangoram and Dadegaonkar; and Dr. Kale, Dr. Soman and
me formed the audience.

Only that I for the first time I came to know about the
Padmakarjee‘s interest and deep knowledge of Hindustani Music.
It is only in a later meet that I further came to know how really
deep is his liking for Classical Music.

Dr. R.R Gosavi, Dr. Kalyan Kale and I were in Hyderabad for
the project of editing the volume on ‗History of Marathi
Literature in Southern India: Andhra-Karnataka Volume‘. A
dinner was planned at Dadegaonkar‘s place during this stay as
well. Dr. R.R. Gosavi loved classical music so much that while
being student he used to close his mess card for a couple of
days and would buy tickets of the classical musical concert from
the money that he saved after having fasted. (Having known this
I would call him ‗fasting devotee of the Classical Music‘). Dr.
Gosavi and Prof. Dadegaonkar (now he was really a professor in
Hyderabad Central University) had an absorbing conversation on
the old singers of the classical music. Padmakarjee shared and
played some old and rare pieces of music in his collection for us.
While leaving Dr.Gosavi said to Mrs. Umatai that he was indeed
satisfied with the delicious stuffs that she had cooked for us, but
he was even more satisfied having seen the collection of the
musical records of Prof. Dadegaonkar.

I started thinking while going to bed that night. How

composed is Padmakarjee! When I wanted the records of
Shankarabharnam, he took me the shop but did not mention
about his interest in Music. Had a brave discussion with
Sangoram but did not mention about the collection of rare voices
he has. Had a free and open discussion with Dr. Gosavi there
was no tinge of haughtiness about possessing the collection of
rare records. Such a composed and non-self-praising personality!
I keep on advertising if I happen to do a little bit. How does
216 - Vaagartha

Padmakarjee manage to remain silent? Is he an ascetic or a

Yogi?

A small thesis of a student of mine called Miss Anjali Joshi,

entitled ‗Sangeet Sharada: A descriptive reference list‘ was sent
to Mrs. Uma Dadegaonkar so as to be examined. The thesis was
not only neat but the topic and presentation were different. It
was a real research. Mrs. Umatai gave `excellent‘ remark. Prof.
Dadegaonkar personally called me and conveyed that he was
happy to see the research. Padmakarjee does not hesitate to
praise something that is good.

Later a thesis of another student of mine was sent to Prof.

Dadegaonkar to be examined. He found some faults and errors
in the thesis. He not only mentioned the faults in the report but
also expressed his resentment in the oral viva voce. He did not
conceal his resentment only because we are friends. He was
outright to point out that a satisfactory research has got a
blemish of some fault. Instead getting angry with him, I felt
proud of him. During Tea-time my colleagues asked me, ―Dr.
Dadegaonkar is a close friend of your know? Then, how could he
speak so?‖ I said, ―he could say so only because he is a close
friend. This was a test of ours as friends‖.

Padmakarjee is an atheist. But the way atheists look at the

spiritualists and spiritualism with a disapproval, Padmakarjee
does not. Padmakarjee is in true terms liberal; the one who
respects individualism and individual freedom. Once I was in
International hostel of Ramkrishna Math for three days to meet
an ascetic there. Padmakarjee had come there to see me.
Actually the Ramakrishna Math of Hyderabad is ahead of Indira
Park, which is twelve-thirteen kilometers away from his place. It
means he had travelled more than twenty-five kilometres of
distance to see me. We were talking to each other in the open
space in front of the hostel. The Swamiji to whom I have been
meaning to see, came towards the hostel. I went ahead and
 Vaagartha - 217

bowed him having bent. Dadegaonkar too offered him a bow. I

was amazed to see this and I asked him about this. He said, ―I
have not bowed him through religious superstition. We do bow
the elders at home and outside, don‘t we? As you say, this
Swamiji is a learned man. Just assume that I have bowed the
learned one‖.

It is an old but a true axiom that the little deeds of an

individual reflect his personality. Let it be any kind of task that
Padmakarjee executes, may it small or big, it is always well-
planned, designed and importantly it is aesthetically beautiful.
Let me share an interesting event that I remember in this
regard. Dr. V. D. Kulkarni had come to stay in Pune after 1984.
Once I had gone to see him and he was checking his mails. So, I
sat at a distance from him. In a short while he asked me to sit
beside him and while placing an envelope in my hand said, ―You
see, it is just a matter of writing an address over an envelope,
but one could do that so very mindfully, so carefully and so
indeed aesthetically!‖ I found it to be a letter written to V. D. by
Padmakarjee. Not only did the envelope betray the beautiful
hand, the lay out was also very appealing. Above the address
appeared a red line and just next to the red line a blue line and
then followed the address; at the end of the address, a blue line
followed by a red line. Address of his own appeared at the same
height on the left of the envelope and a postal stamp on the
same height on the right hand side. I said, ―Prof. Dadegaonkar
seems to believe putting address on an envelope as a creative
art. There is an absolute coherence in writing this address.‖ Prof.
V. D. said, ―That‘s true! One‘s tastefulness, one‘s culture is
portrayed in the simple things one does. This is an instance of
it.‖

I have enshrined many such pretty things about

Padmakarjee in my mind. There is one significant thing I would
like to share. The whole journey of Padmakarjee resides in an
218 - Vaagartha

essence. There is a brave and composed personality

accompanying him. It is none other than Mrs. Umatai. Dr. Mrs.
Uma Dadegaonkar, the one who has made an index, a
researcher, a critic and above that a kind person and a great
homemaker. My wife in a jocular mood always says that there is
a lady behind every successful man. This means that the woman
lags behind inspite of being capable. Due to the domestic
entanglement she finds no time and she remains ‗status quo‘.
Though we might leave the jokes apart, this still remains a fact.
The women like Mrs. Umatai always encourage their husbands
and let them have all the opportunities. The dedication Umatai
has towards Padmakarjee is like the Reserve Bank. The rest of
the banks work on the sole support of the Reserve Bank. In all
the accomplishments of Padmakarjee there is this Reserve
support of Umatai. One kindness of Padmakarjee is that he has
not let the author in Umatai down. ‗Index for the Sadhle-
literature‘, ‗three forms of Barrister‘ are the books authored by
Dr. Uma Dadegaonkar that have been well-received and
gathered respect in the Western Maharashtra. She is a co-author
of the Rasa siddhanta ani siddhi. Such an able and successful
lady is taking care of our Padmakarjee. She has shaped children
well. Uma-Padmakarjee have a happy family life. I pray to the
God that let it remain so. Let me close this Purana of the good
friend with a prayer that let the post-retirement time of
Padmakarjee and Umatai be peaceful, full of satisfaction,
conducive to the pleasure of writing and may they experience
the shanta rasa throughout!

:2: A Formidable Author

Dr. Padmakar Dadegaonkar‘s academic career began in the year

1968. He retired from the academics in 2010. (The dedicated
professor in him would never retire; in one way or the other he
is going to be active, all of us know this indeed). He has been
disseminating knowledge for more than last forty years. A
 Vaagartha - 219

teaching professor of a serious disposition is bound to produce

some writings, either for some occasions or by sheer willingness.
Having seen his short introduction one would come to know that
Dr. Dadegaonkar has hardly written anything for some occasion
or so. Most of his writings are there because he found them to
be compelling. Mainly he has written on the literary thought –
Rasa in Sanskrit. That should be marked as an area of his special
interest.

He has got a flair for most of the areas in literature. 23

books, 1 work that is almost like a book, 34 research papers, 25
translated works, 20 literary critiques and many more literary
writings (like poems, autobiographic articles and other writings
etc.) and many such writings are there to his credit. Mere figures
should reveal the intellectual endeavours of his in several areas.

For a long duration from 1996 through 2000, Dr.

Dadegaonkar was the chief editor of Panchadhara – the
trimonthly brought out by Andhra Pradesh Marathi Sahitya
Parishad. Besides this, he has edited several souvenirs, journals,
periodicals, anthologies etc. of Sanskrit Pradhyapak Parishad of
Akola, BruhanMaharashtra Mandal of New Delhi, Marathi
Bhashak Parishad of Hyderabad and Hyderabad Central
University. It is indeed a difficult and tedious task to edit such
things. (In English this is called ‗thankless job‘). While doing this,
one has to please many people and to add to it, one has to
spend a lot of time of one‘s own life. Editing articles, lay out,
printing, proof-reading many such arduous tasks (yes indeed
arduous) have to be accomplished that generally produce a
mental anguish. Going by his disposition Dr.Dadegaonkar must
have gone through a lot of distress.

Dr. Dadegaonkar is known for his Marathi translations of

Kannada novel of Sara Abubkar entitled Chandragangechya
teeravar and Malayalam author Shree. Ananda entitled Vyas ani
vighneshvar. While reading these translation I felt one thing
220 - Vaagartha

intensely that apart from being conversant in the task of

translation there is a quality called prudence or discrimination
in/of translation which should be an essential quality of a
translator.

On the request of the Education Department of the Andhra

Pradesh state, Dr. Dadegaonkar has also edited the textbook of
General Science for the sixth class. It is a challenge for one who
is into teaching and research in the college and university level
to edit book of a school level. As it needs a familiarity with the
mind of the students of the age-group. On the other hand there
are certain dos and donts set by the board involved in making of
the text-books. To add to that there are certain things insisted
and imposed upon by the national educational board. For
example, national unity needs to be taken care of, there should
be no mention of religion, caste etc., there should be regional
equality and balance, the writing should not be in conflict with
the values enshrined by the Constitution. I was wondering how
Dr. Dadegaonkar must have managed all this but I was soon
convinced as I thought of the prudent, just and composed
disposition of his. There is saying with great powers there come
great responsibilities. having modified it a bit I would say with
great on powers there comes a power to shoulder the great
responsibilities.

Many things could be written in details on the writings of Dr.

Dadegaonkar. But there is no scope for it over here. I shall only
say that all that has been written by Dr. Dadegaonkar that has
been done with enough seriousness, attention, care and within
the given framework. It is his disposition to accomplish the task
that he undertakes and he puts all possible efforts of his into it.
An epitome of this should be the recently published biography of
Mahamahopadhyay P.V. Kane.

Dr. Dadegaonkar has written in several branches of

literature and that is of a high class, of a high standard. Even
 Vaagartha - 221

then he is known for in the Marathi literary circles as Dr.

Dadegaonkar who has authored a book on the Rasa theory. His
book Rasacharcha (1994) has received five awards. (Going by
the [Marathi] saying pachamukhi parmeshwar, [the god or the
truth lies there what many people say] this book has gained
credibility of the best book). The book has won the Maharashtra
State‘s best book award. I find yet another award won by this
book even more important. The first eminent Justice M.G.
Ranade of the modern Maharashtra was one to inspire many to
write original works in Marathi. And therefore Deccan Vernacular
Translation Society (now known as Maharashtra Granthottejak
Sabha) was established. That society celebrated its centenary
year in 1994. On this occasion the society announced the best
contribution book award in Marathi in the decade 1984-1994. It
was a special centenary award to be given to any book on any
subject (not limited to literature) that edifies the life in the state
of Maharashtra. It was a pleasant news, indeed, that the
examining committee with all consensus had chosen Dr.
Dadegaonkar‘s book Rasacharcha for the award. In my opinion it
is the greatest honour of Dr. Dadegaonkar to have received the
award from an organization that was established by Justice M.G.
Ranade who wanted quality, edifying books to be published in
Marathi language. I appreciate this award, therefore and believe
it to be a great honour.

Dr. Ganesh Devi is a critic and professor of international

repute. He had got a fellowship in Yale University and had gone
there for studies. One of the two authors of the world famous
book in the literary theory ‗theory of literature‘, as I remember,
Mr. Wellek was residing in a sub-urban town nearby Yale
University. When Devi had been to see Mr. Wellek, naturally they
had some discussion on literary theory. While objecting Mr.
Wellek‘s opinion about absence of any literary theory in India, he
promoted the Indian Rasa theory of Bharata. Mr. Wellek said,
then why doesn‘t any one of you translate a book in the Rasa
222 - Vaagartha

theory into Englsih? Why do you guys keep us deprived of that

knowledge?‖ Dr. Devi himself has narrated this incident to me. I
think there is an immense need for Dr. Dadegaonkar‘s book
Rasacharcha to be translated into English.

Rasacharcha (1994) and Rasa: siddhanta ani siddhi (1983;

co-author Dr. Uma Dadegaonkar), these two books of Dr.
Dadegaonkar are of immense help to re-establish the Rasa
theory meaningfully and for good reasons. Rasa: siddhanta ani
siddhi, is the book that discusses the questions about the Rasa
theory. Having situated a sense of priority over the theory of
Abhinav Gupta, Dr. Dadegaonkar identifies the injustice done to
the theory and thought of Bharata. Therefore, he has made an
attempt to ―understand the original thought of Rasa of Bharata
without taking any aid from Abhinava Gupta, and thereafter
validating the Rasa theory‖ in the several articles/chapters of
this book. But in my opinion there is yet another significance of
this book. Dr. Dadegaonkar, through this anthology has given a
concrete answer to the modern critics of the Rasa thought who
believe that Rasa theory is outdated and to the ones who are
under the spell of the western literary criticism alone and
without reading the Rasa theory in original object over the
validity of it. ―Bharat, Mardhekar ani ‗khedyatil Ratra‘‖, ―Bharat,
Tendulakar ani Ghashiram Kotval‖, ―Bharatachi samhita
sadarikaranachi sankalpana (‗mahanirvanachya sandarbhat)‖,
these three articles in the anthology in my opinion are the
epitome of the applied criticism on the basis of the Rasa theory.
The three articles establish that rather than being outdated the
Rasa theory id more pertinent in the literary thought today. The
external social pressures that are exerted upon the artistic
creativity and Criticism, today. In this regards, the article
pertaining ―…Ghashiram Kotval‖ has a sensible and insightful
analysis and explanation regarding how should one think about
the social pressures while being in the limits of the research
domain of Arts and Literature. Interestingly, this analysis makes
 Vaagartha - 223

the viewer aware that they are moving out of the axis of
decency. It also counsels Tendulkar who is moving out of the
rules of the arts and of the pertinence.

I would like to share another piece of information here.

Application of the thought of Rasa is possible and was applied
even in the medieval age. The critics and commentators of Rasa
provided examples that were needed in spite of the availability
of plenty of Sanskrit and Prakrit literatures, they avoided them
and composed something by themselves. That means they
offered artificial specially tailored examples. Therefore, the
insight that Bharata had for applied poetics, was lacking
amongst the latter critics. Such an observation of Dr.
Dadegaonkar is indeed true. For the very reason they seem to
be satisfied with the artificial examples. Mardhekar and
Gangadhar Gadgil of the modern times had not read the Sanskrit
Poetics in the original. Ofcourse they had not checked the
expositions of Bhamaha, Dandin, and Abhinava Gupta‘s
commentary on the pretext of Bharata‘s fundamental exposition.
So, there remained many faults and errors. In this connection
two observations of Dr. Dadegaonkar are extremely valuable,
and they are:

(1) Instead of having evaluated poetry through the eyes of

a connoisseur and then propounding the Poetics, the
authoritative act of expounding one‘s own opinion made
poetry and poetics lose their inter-relation.
(Dadegaonkar; 1983; p.9)

(2) Erroneous meanings and nature of the technical terms in

poetics caused them to lose their coherence with the
poetry and then there never happened a criticism of
poetry as such; only commentaries were written.
Consequently, due the influence of the Western literary
Criticism and Poetics this Indian Poetics was thought to
224 - Vaagartha

be useless and therefore worthy only of giving up.

(Ibid.)
We shall come to know that Dr. Dadegaonkar is trying to re-
establish the Rasa theory or Indian Poetics in general in a
systematic and convincing way. This is the sole purpose of his
book Rasacharcha. And while re-establishing the Rasa theory
and thought he has looked into the questions like when and
what all happened regarding the Rasa theory, which scholars
took what stand. He has also objectively examined and
scrutinized which thought was rejected and which was
embraced. He has undertaken a historical scrutiny of
development of the Rasa thought. Issues are sorted out when
placed on a historical plane, as law of causation alone is active in
History. Therefore Dr. Dadegaonkar‘s book Rasacharcha stands
out amongst all the books that pertain to the Rasa theory.
[Intellectual] History ponders upon growth and development of a
thought. And therefore, Dr. Dadegaonkar attempts to envisage
and edit the Rasa thought before Bharata.

While thinking about the book Rasacharcha we should, at

first, draw out attention to a couple of issues. Firstly, Dr.
Dadegaonkar is neither a fanatic follower nor an advocate of
Bharata. Nor is he someone who detests Abhinava Gupta nor
does he hold his theories of any less worth. Dr. Dadegaonkar is
looking at the Rasa thought in general in a historical perspective.
Therefore, he is bound to consider the line of thinking that was
prevalent about the Rasa thought, even before Bharata. He finds
some pre-bharatan elements within the text of Bharata itself. On
the basis of that he tries to put forth the Rasa thought before
Bharata. This is called Proto-history within the discipline of
History. The dictionary meaning of the term Proto is ―of first
period of formation of growth‖. Rasa theory or the thought of
Rasa is not a subject matter that popped up in a few minutes.
Neither is it a stable and a settled concept. Though un-
organized, Rasa thought was extant well-before Bharata.
 Vaagartha - 225

Therefore Dr. Dadegaonkar goes on to say, ―When a new theory

having fully manifested settles in a book, it is bound to have
undergone arguments for and against it well before the book
came into existence.‖ (Ibid, p 36). This shows up how Dr.
Dadegaonkar sets out the disciplinary logical rigour to work.

For the very reason, Dr. Dadegaonkar had to undertake a

twofold task. The first being to sort out the confusion prevalent
amongst the modern critics and the medieval age commentators
of Bharata and the second being the re-establishment of the
fundamental theory put forth by Bharata. Then he goes on to
show how the Rasa thought is pertinent today. The book has
entirely historical and philosophical setting and therefore excels
to be a valuable book amongst all the books about the Rasa
thought. And for this reason alone, I find Dr. Dadegaonkar to be
a formidable author.

I would like to attribute him to be so for another recent

biographical work of his. Gandharva Prakashan Sanstha of Pune
planned to bring out the biographies of 61 pioneering figures
who contributed to the formation of the modern Maharashtra.
Dr. Dadegaonkar was asked to write biography of
Mahamahopadhyay P.V. Kane. It was a difficult task. The author
had to do the arduous task of collecting the dispersed literature
of Dr. Kane. Mainly, he had to gather the details about
upbringing of Kane as a person and formation of his personality.
Dr. Dadegaonkar was far away from Maharashtra, in Hyderabad.
Everything indeed was difficult. But Dr. Dadegaonkar strove
really hard. He managed to find out the son of Dr. Kane,
Prabhakar Kane. Used Internet to reach out people and
information in this regard. Visited Pune and Mumbai several
times. Even then the biographical details that he could gather
about Dr. Kane were meagre. But Dr. Dadegaonkar successfully
accomplished the task of writing the biography. He adopted the
method of ‗author through his literature and institutional work‘.
226 - Vaagartha

And so could Dr. Dadegaonkar give birth to an original piece of

biographical writing. The complete series was published in 2010.
It comprises of the biography written by Dr. Dadegaonkar. The
‗dedication page‘ of the book elucidates the disposition of Dr.
Dadegaonkar. ―The inheritance of the setting generation‖ is
dedicated to ―the rising generation‖. The purport being ‗may the
tradition of knowledge and education be on and on‘. This indeed
shows up an aspect of Dr. Dadegaonkar‘s personality.

My best wishes to Dr. Padmakar Dadegaonkar for his post-

retirement life! O Friend who is a great author! I pray to the
goddess Saraswati – the deity of knowledge and intellect that if
you have any projects to accomplish may She bestow upon thee
the strength, good-health and overall conducive circumstances!

***
Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
 Our teacher: ‗those‘ days in Akola

Arvind Vishvanath

While skimming through some old stuff I found an old picture. It

was a picture of the group of my first one-act-play that was
produced by Prof. Padmakar Dadegaonkar. This created a storm,
a storm of intense nostalgia.

I had joined Sitabai Arts College, Akola, as a student. In the

very first year I played a small role in the one-act play called
―Boot-polish‖. The one-act play was directed by the professor of
Sanskrit, Prof. Padmakar Dadegaonkar. None of us had opted for
Sanskrit. But during the rehearsals Prof. Dadegaonkar took a
keen interest in every aspect of the play and a genuine effort to
make it a successful performance. His personality mesmerized us
and he became ‗our teacher‘. The bond that was formed then, is
still getting closer and closer. The relation, the bond that he has
with me, with many of his students, colleagues cannot be
described using a conventional idea of relation. A friend,
philosopher, guide, brother, father he has been everything to
me. He has all that is good and desirable in these relations.

Before we joined the College, Prof. Dadegaonkar had

already made a mark on the cultural field of Akola. He used to
produce the one-act plays in the youth festivals and several
plays in the annual gathering. He would be judge for several
other theatre competitions. The ones in the field of music, would
feel at home at his place. His collection of rare songs, was very
rich, even then. Alongwith music, he has genuine interest in
literature, theatre, films and cricket, so all of those in the fields
were also close to him. His enthusiasm was blended with a rare
skill of discerning the hidden spirit among the individuals and
that contributed in foundation of several cultural organizations in
Akola. The organizations holding concerts of classical music,
those arranging literary programs, bringing out the literary
magazine called daut-lekhani (Ink and pen) etc, for all of them,
he was the source of inspiration. People from diverse fields have
a rapport with him because of his soft, courteous and loving
228 - Vaagartha

personality. His acquaintance and guidance, has brightened

many lives.

After having played a small role in the one-act play Boot

Polish directed by Prof. Dadegaonkar, I went on to write a one-
act play of my own. It was titled kahāṇyā. I was, then, an FYBA
student of just 18-19. I went to see him with hesitation. There
was some program, either Mandar‘s birthday or naming
ceremony, at his place. Inspite of being occupied with all that,
he kept the script with him to have a look at it. After reading it
he decided to produce it for the festival. I later learnt that,
initially it was planned to produce the one-act play written by
him. But the promising gesture of love and encouragement that
he showed then, towards a rising writer, continues even today!
After many rehearsals, wherein he had put a lot of efforts, it
came out well and it was well received. Precisely this was the
foundation of Prayog: the theatre group established by him.
Many of us had to leave the college after graduation, only to find
ourselves all alone and homeless. There was a strong urge to
do something. He channeled our energy in the right direction.
Emerson has said somewhere that, to get a person to inspire us
to become someone what we think we can, is what is needed in
life. He was one such person, for us, Prayog. Prayog was
formally established on 7th June 1978. He thus proved to be an
epitome exemplifying how to put one‘s soul into a noble cause.
He had several plans and ideas and he successfully
accomplished them. Staging a one-act-play each month, annual
membership scheme, arranging shows of one-act play, play
writing competitions, shows of street-plays, Hindi one-act plays,
organizing theatre workshops, many such activities were started
with a bang. Swarayatra was a remarkable program organized
by Prayog, where the poems of the poets from Vidarbha were
sung by the singers of Vidarbha on the tunes composed by
them. Great singer Sudhir Phadke appreciated this program, a
lot. Prof. Dadegaonkar produced many plays and street-plays.
He also gave several on-stage performances. Many of those in
Hyderabad may not be aware of this aspect of his personality
that he is an excellent director and a director for background
music. On the establishment of Prayog, Yatra was the first play
to be staged. While directing he used techniques similar to visual
 Vaagartha - 229

images and magical realism. These terms were not conventional

then. His direction-skills were seen in his organization of several
other programs. All the activities and programs of Prayog would
be successful and excellent because of his perfect planning and
organization. His prolific creative energy amazed us. It is a
pleasure to remember the then full-blown personality of his.

We would not know then, but now we see how hectic the
initial years of his married life must have been. Because we were
equally attached to both of them, him and Vahini (that is how
we used to call Mrs. Dadegaonkar. As still we are. During his
stay in Akola his house was a cultural organization. We had left
no privacy for him. Any passionate artist from any field would
come any time, discuss, plan, sing and make him listen to songs,
rehearse or read out plays etc. to name a few activities! May it
be Kojagiri or preparation of ice-cream at home, followed by
night-long discussions of plans and programs. Many a times we
used to have dinner at his place. The affectionate conversation
would continue even after the unwashed hands after the dinner
would completely dry. Madam would take part in this with all
enthusiasm and willingness. It is not only a companionship but a
sense of being one. They never seemed to be different. They
seem to be one personality, indeed. She played a few roles in
the plays of Prayog and participated actively in all the activities.
She shouldered the complete responsibility of the Prayog, after
Prof. Dadegaonkar joined a College at Hyderabad as a Principal.

He had a tape-recorder of a size of a briefcase, then. Very

few people had one such, in those days. Once he was roaming
with us carrying the heavy tape-recorder, just to record the
sound of the siren of a mill. It would be very typical of the
professors, then, to have worry-lines over the forehead, be
pensive and solemn. It was therefore a cultural shock to many,
to find this man with students relishing a cup of tea at a
common tea-spot or with a cigarette and discussing along or
riding his scooter with a transistor to listen to the cricket
commentary even while being on the go! It is in fact, his
personality, due which, not only students, but his colleagues and
people from other fields gel with him well.
230 - Vaagartha

The organizations established by him did well later and are

still doing well. Many encouraged by him have been successful in
their fields. Even today they are grateful to him. The plays
presented by Prayog, written by me and directed by him
received a Maharashtra State Government literary award. I have
dedicated that book to him, because it is indeed his. He has
indeed shaped us.

The days of Akola in his company were mesmerizing. Even

today we long for his pleasant company. And I am sure even in
future we will keep getting his precious company. The memories
of how he brightened our lives in that tender age, are really a
treasure. On this occasion I could visit and traverse the past
through memories, I therefore, thank the editor of this issue.

I long for the ever-lasting love and affection of ‗Sir‘ and

Vahini towards me. I pray for their long life and health.

***

Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

 We Two

Uma Dadegaonkar

The moment Dr Shivram Padikkal informed me that I was to

write about my husband, the movie reels of the 40 years of our
married life began to move in front of my eyes! I ask you to
imagine a busy morning in the ―Vidharbha Mahavidyalaya‖
college in Amaravati, Maharashtra. I was in Pre-University
science at the time. Classes began at the ungodly hour of 7 AM.
The campus itself was vast! The Biology department was almost
half a kilometre away from the main building.

A few of our classes were scheduled in the main building as

well, so we had to cross the entire distance in the 5 minute
break between classes! If we were unable to reach the
classroom before the second bell, the lecturer used to close the
door on us. Therefore, a few of us boys and girls used to literally
run full pelt across the building in the desperate hope that we
would reach on time. Now the route that we took crossed the
men‘s hostel as well. Early in the morning, the gentlemen in the
hostel were treated to the spectacle of a bunch of us running
this race. So, while making a desperate bid to run as fast as
possible, we could hear them taunting and teasing us from the
balconies. ―Here come the race horses,‖ ―Don‘t think they‘re
going to make it today, buddy,‖ ―They‘re going to stand outside
the classroom today for sure,‖ and ―Be careful... you‘ll fall if you
run any faster.‖ Mr Dadegaonkar was also one of these men.
Being the prefect of the hostel, he never participated in the
taunting and the jeering, although I am sure he made it a point
to witness the spectacle. He was studying for his MA back then.
Also, our lines of study were completely different. And being just
a pre-university student, I was quite the sapling when compared
to him. So us meeting or even being introduced was out of the
question.

By the next year of college, I began to find my feet. I

discovered that there was a wall magazine that came out which
was dedicated to literature. The inherent fondness that I had
towards literature began manifesting in some prose and poetry I
232 - Vaagartha

wrote for the periodical. However, there was one particular

writer, whose style and almost impossibly beautiful handwriting
immediately caught my eye. That writer was Mr Padmakar
Dadegaonkar. I was completely enamoured by his prose, not so
much by his poetry, though! I found his poetry to be too sappy,
a little too romantic. I began to become very curious to find out
who this favourite writer of mine was like in person. On top of
that, I heard people raving about his intellect as well. People told
me about the fact that he had completed his entire studies solely
on scholarships and that he was always on the merit list. Our
paths soon crossed. We came face to face at a literature
meeting of the college. As is my nature, I immediately began to
wax lyrical about his writing style and his mastery of the subject.
All I got in return was exactly two words and a blank stare!

Unfortunately my brother was transferred to other city and

my desire to know this person more closely had to wait. Our
next meeting was almost 3-4 years later. He was working as a
lecturer of Sanskrit in a college in Akola. I was attending the
same college gathering along with my brother in law. Now this
meeting sparked off old memories. By that time, I had
completed my Bachelors in Science. He also had a reputation of
being popular in the college, and especially a student favourite.
Our families agreed to the match and we were soon married! I
must confess that although I was aware of his love for literature,
I was a little apprehensive whether he would fully accommodate
a wife into his life. But in a very short time, I found that his
fondness of reading, theatre, cinema, music and literature
completely matched mine. Also, he shared my distaste for
religious rituals, any sort of discrimination and irrational beliefs.
Our ―bookish‖ married life chugged along happily.

Noting my yearning to study further, he constantly

encouraged me to keep doing different things and to keep
studying. He used to conduct private tuitions at our home for
some girls doing their MA. After witnessing his teaching style
and the enormous depth into which he went in an effort to
understand the subject, I ventured to do BA in Sanskrit as well.
Going forward in life, it was this ―Guru‘s‖ encouragement (and
sometimes threats) that led me to complete my MA, M Phil and
 Vaagartha - 233

PhD. He had a unique way of testing if I had actually studied a

topic. He would debate with me intentionally taking the opposite
view and in that way make sure that I understood the subject
through and through. I speak from experience when I assure
you that he deserves to be in the teachers‘ hall of fame for the
methods he used!

I hold him in the highest regard as a critic as well. When

reviewing any piece of art, he firmly believes that the critic
should immerse himself into it as a ―rasik‖, an enjoyer of the art
in the greatest sense. He maintains that the critic should find a
balance between being a rasik and a scrutinizer. It‘s because of
this ideology that his critiques are of the highest order. That
intelligence need to be harsh or defensive is disproven by this
man!

I‘ve talked about how he is as a writer, teacher and a critic.

Now let me tell you about the husband and the father he is.
Thankfully, there were not a lot of compromises that we had to
make since our likes and dislikes were almost always the same.
Since we both had the same thoughts about the way we raised
our children, there were no disagreements there as well. Since
the children realised fairly early that both of our ideologies were
the same, there was no chance for them to take any sort of
advantage of disagreements. Since we both believed in
independent thought, we inculcated the same belief in the
upbringing of our sons as well. We always let the children do
what they believed what is correct, be it their choice of studies,
career or even their life partner. Our children are forward
thinking and independent, however, there remains that sense of
respect toward the family. Our relation is very open and free.
The children were never scared of their father. If there is a bond
between the children and their father, it is of pure love and
admiration.

It‘s his loving nature that has created strong bonds with not
only his children, but also with his students. We still maintain
almost homely relations with his students who have done M Phil
and PhD under him. I HAVE to mention something at this point.
Since we do not have a daughter, and since he has always
234 - Vaagartha

wanted a daughter, he pays special attention to his female

students. He wishes every girl student to study hard and be
stable in life. At times, I have seen him actually worry about
them and take measures to ensure their stability. We often
tease him and call him ―Kanvamuni‖ because of this!

His silent, almost reclusive nature meant that apart from

relatives, he had very few friends who would visit us. That is my
trait! I love meeting new people. And thankfully, he has never
had a problem with it. His motto has always been – ―Home
Sweet Home.‖ He is the one who would like to sit at home, read
up, write a bit, listen to music, eat something nice or once in a
while, if the mood struck him, debate a book with his wife. This
is the simple way he leads his life. He is always the first to buy a
book by his favourite author. The same applies to music as well.
His collection of Hindustani Classical music is immense and
invaluable. Another of his fancies is electronic gadgets. Any new
gadget in the market has to find its way into our house. What is
interesting is that he understands these gadgets and then
tweaks them to work into ways that suit him. These days all the
reading in the house is done on e-books on Kindles and iPads.
While traveling, he might forget to pack something, but
definitely not his iPod. The way he gets completely involved in
any gadget or the way the gadget completely involves him is
something out of this world.

As great as Mr Dadegaonkar is as a husband and a father,

he is even better as a grandfather. If you were to stand the
entire family in a line, and ask our grandson Param or our
granddaughter Aanya who their favourite person in the family is,
their answer would unfailingly be ―Aaba.‖ I am sometimes
jealous of the way he manages to become a child among
children. The silent and sometime grim Mr Dadegaonkar
becomes completely childlike and lively in the company of
children. The brattiest and the haughtiest of children somehow
become manageable and even nice, when he is around. They
say that children have a gift of understanding when a person
loves another wholly. This is never better illustrated than when
seeing him in the company of children.
 Vaagartha - 235

He has managed to be very non-controversial as a person.

He has never had any strong leanings to any political ideology.
His tendency to think broad and be open to both sides of the
story has led him to stay away from any unnecessarily rigid or
right wing/left wing beliefs. Because he has always believed that
others‘ opinions are as important as his own, he has had very
few misunderstanding with people. But this does not meant that
he is weak or unstable by nature. Au contraire, once he decides
that he will not do something, then, God help anyone who tries
to persuade him otherwise.

There are three men in our house with three different ways
of doing this. When Dr Dadegaonkar says no to something, it‘s a
firm no and almost like it‘s etched in rock. Our elder son,
Meghdoot, never says no to do anything (but there‘s no
guarantee he‘ll do it.) Our younger son, Mandar, first asks a
hundred questions about why he should do something and if it‘s
necessary to do it (but ends up doing it, nevertheless.) This is
how our lives have run so far!

It‘s been more than 40 years of our married life now. I look
back and find myself as a happy, and more importantly,
successful person. And this is only because of Mr Dadegaonkar,
who has always treated me more than a wife. He is my friend
and my guide. And for that, I am eternally grateful!

***

Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

 Dad

Meghdoot Dadegaonkar

My earliest memories of dad are from when I was 3-4 years old
– we were staying in a rented house in Akola, Maharashtra, and
there was an open area around the house. We used to play
cricket in that place. We had a dog, Tommy, and he used to run
all around the place.

Dad had brought a spool tape player and I think one of the
first tapes he got was that of the dialogues of the movie
―Sholay‖. This tape was my lullaby for a long time! Even today, I
can recite all the dialogues of that movie from memory!

Dad always loved music and books, and had a huge

collection of both. When we shifted from Akola to Hyderabad,
the truck driver actually asked whether we owned a library!

Dad instilled in us the habit of reading – I think I started

reading everything I could lay my hands on from the age of 6-7
years. I owe this habit to him as it has helped me become a
better individual and professional as well!

I was always closer to mom, but whenever I hear the great

poet Javed Akhtar recite this couplet, I can identify it with Dad:

―Ek jara mushkil se khulne wala

sheesham ka darwaza,
Jaise koi akhkhad baap,
apne khurdure seene mein
shafqat ka samander chupaye huye ho!‖

Translation:
A heavy teak door
that opens with some difficulty,
like a strict father,
who in his rugged heart
hides a sea of love!
 Vaagartha - 237

Dad taught me to think for myself, and not go by existing

explanations or dogma. My growth as an independent thinker
has been greatly facilitated by watching mom and dad debate
upon various topics – be it mom‘s PhD dissertation, or some
book that they had read. I always believed that there is bound
to be another view point, and I must listen to it, even if I don‘t
agree with it. This ability has helped in my married life also!

Dad never scolded us or used force. He would explain things

and then let us take our own decision.

One thing I liked was, when I decided to get married, dad

told me that I would have to set up house independently as it
would help me appreciate my partner, and also understand how
difficult it is to run a household! This decision has helped me and
my wife tremendously.

The only time I felt dad did not reach out to me was when I
could not get through my 10+2 exam. His disappointment was
natural, since he himself had always secured scholarship for his
own studies. But when I announced my intention to get into a
job so I could earn while I learn, I received full support from
him!

Dad dotes on his grand-children. My son Param was named

by him after the first Indian Super Computer.

One great thing about dad is that he encourages his children

and grand-children to try things without worrying about if they
will break or damage those things. This quality of dad has
ensured that none of us are scared of technology and this has
given us a huge advantage over other people of our generation.
In the next generation, my son was able to work on a computer
by the time he was 3 and Aanya, my niece, can play on dad‘s
Macintosh without any problem, even though she is just 2 ½
years old!

Dad‘s collection of books and music continues to grow.

Some of it has rubbed of me also and I have a sufficiently large
collection of books and music of my own. I have passed it on to
238 - Vaagartha

my son, and he is also an avid reader.

Dad has gone through many difficulties in his early life, and I
am sure he learnt a lot from those experiences. To be uprooted
from your family homestead and driven out into the world
without any means for sustenance, I am sure, must have been a
horrifying experience. Thankfully, dad never let any of that
bitterness come our way.

To conclude, I think I can summarize Dad‘s life in the words

of the poet, Ogden Nash:
―When I consider how my life is spent,
I hardly ever repent.‖

Love you, dad!

***

Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

 About Dad

Mandar Dadegaonkar

My first memory of Dad is him playing cricket with me when I

think I was about 4-5 years old. I remember him batting left
handed and I also remember me asking him why he would write
and eat with his right hand, but would bat left handed. His reply
was that when he was younger, he did not want to stand out in
a crowd and therefore, through discipline and hard work, he
taught himself to write with his right hand! I believe many of
you have seen his immaculate and beautiful handwriting. How
many of you can tell that he was originally left handed?

This is a perfect example of the kind of person Dad is. He is

patient, disciplined, focused and a perfectionist. And if
something is wrong, he will work on it till every crease is ironed
out. Fortunately, he‘s never demanded that kind of perfection
from others. These qualities would be problematic for a person
in any other field, but as a teacher, it‘s these very qualities that
put him head and shoulders above the rest. He is extremely
patient with his students, he keeps them focused on their goals,
and more importantly, like every good teacher, allows them to
make mistakes so that they learn from them! It‘s these ideals
that he has passed on to his sons as well.

All that I consider good in myself has been passed to me by

this man. He taught me to put intelligence above grades; to love
a subject instead of cramming up for exams, to face pain instead
of taking it easy!

My grandfather passed away when my father was very

young. Soon, their family fell upon many misfortunes and what
was once a well to do family, was reduced to living in poverty.
This meant that my grandmother and my uncle bore the burden
of raising my father and 6 other siblings. Never the one to be
240 - Vaagartha

dependent on others, I am proud that my father completed his

entire higher studies through scholarships. He was always on the
merit list! Growing up saving each penny meant that he did not
always have the best in life. These morals were again handed
down to us as well. In any other family, when a child achieves a
high grade, he is rewarded with a toy or some cash. My brother
and I were given money all right, but we could only spend it on
books!

Now once in a while, I would want to buy a toy or some

chocolates. So I would try to sneak around Dad and reach out to
my mother. But alas! It was as if they were two different people
who shared one mind. In my mother, Dad managed to find the
perfect companion. So it was utterly useless trying anything
sneaky! It was not as if I was deprived of things. Not at all! I
was always taught the importance of the 1st of every month in a
working man‘s life. If I wanted something extravagant, I would
be told to wait till the 1st. By the time that date came around, I
would have forgotten all about what I wanted, but my parents
would remember it and try their best to fulfil my wish.

What can I say about the power of speech this man

possesses? I have seen him move entire audiences to tears
when he speaks about the Gnyaneshwari. It was almost as if for
those 45 minutes or so, the sounds of traffic from outside
stopped and even the birds forgot to tweet! I am not
exaggerating when I say that when he spoke about the
Gnyaneshwari or any other topic, he never failed to completely
enthral the audience.

When my mother was pregnant with me, they both were

hoping for a girl to complete their family that already had a boy.
They even had a name picked out – Mandarmala! Unfortunately,
a boy was born and dad cut short the name and I was named
Mandar! He has a special place in his heart for girls. He has
welcomed his two daughters in law as if they were always a part
 Vaagartha - 241

of the family. In fact, he still claims that he cares more about

them than his sons. He has paid special attention to his girl
students, making sure that they were well settled in life. He paid
our maid‘s daughter‘s school and college fees for more than 12
years. He cares a lot about the education of the girl child and we
brothers proudly carry on this tradition. When my daughter
Aanya was born, I believe the happiest person in the entire
room, if not the hospital, was my father. His craving for a girl
child had finally been fulfilled!

Through all the hardships he faced in life and all the troubles
I caused him (and believe me, there were lots), he has managed
to stay patient with me and has never lost faith in me. If I turn
out to be half the men my father ever was, I will consider myself
a very lucky man!

***

Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

 Padmakar Kaka

Kalpana Palnitkar & Archana Medhekar

Life has many facets and every person could be seen in many
angles. We will describe Padmakar kaka as a wonderful family
man. We all know his contributions in academic and literary
world. However, we will try to unfold him from the family
perspective.

Kaka lived in Hyderabad, and we were at Nanded and

Aurangabad. We always looked forward to his calm, comforting
but cheerful interaction with us. He was always there for us,
lending ear to our problems, ambitions, and aspirations. Unlike
other adults, he did not give advice and expected us to follow.
He walked us through the options, analysed them and helped us
arrive our own decisions. We think that respecting others as
equal human beings is his great quality. He is very soft-spoken
but determined. He is true to himself and lives a very
transparent life.

We appreciate the space he gave to us, and others in the

family. We always admired his relationship with Uma kaku, both
his children-Meghdoot and Mandar, and later his daughter-in-
laws. Kaka's marriage is role model for perfect tuning between
the couple. They have many things in common and have
different views on many issues, but they reconcile it so well. It is
a very healthy and rich relationship, where they both have
grown wonderfully- independently and together. As parents,
they gave freedom, independence but support to their children.

He is a loving grandfather to Aanya and Param, and to

Kalpana's daughters as well. He can play their games and has
very warm interaction with them. We always wondered how he
beats the generation gap! Kaka's family was never limited to
four of them; it was always extended to many other people. He
has a big open heart to accept people as they are. He has
intense friendships, which are maintained for lifetime. His
relationship with his friend and famous Marathi writer Anand
Sadhle was on personal level and they connected intellectually
 Vaagartha - 243

as well. Listening to their discussions about language and

literature was pure pleasure. Many of his friends became part of
our lives as well. We have always wondered how he has
managed to maintain such lifetime relationships, and keep any
bitter experiences and feelings away from his heart. He carries
positive energy with him, which kept him focussed on creative
work.

Kaka is an artistic, persistent and curious person. He loves to

read wonderful literature from various languages. His house is
obviously full of books. He has the musical ear and loves all
types of music, ranging from Indian classical music, semi-
classical to Hindi film music. He has an amazing collection of
Indian classical music, Marathi songs, Hindi film songs. He is a
big fan of Ustad Aamir Khan. He can very well recognize the
Ragas and has keen interest in various schools of music, forms
of singing, etc. He has a meticulously maintained list of his
collection, and he is able to find anything he wants to listen
instantly. He is always willing to share his music collection with
others. Some music lovers meet every month at his house to
listen to his collection of classical music, and later to discuss it.

Learning new technology has been Kaka's another trait. Any

new electronic gadget that comes in the market, he likes to
know about it. He is willing to invest time and energy to learn
new things, and use it to make life better. His organizational
skills coupled with the use of technology gives access to his vast
collection of music, photos, documents, etc. to the interested
people. He started with the use of computer, internet, to
creating blogs to share various things – from his musical
collection to his thoughts about Marathi language and literature.
He is on Facebook, and likes to connect with people worldwide.
We are very proud of his achievements, and wish him healthy
and happy life ahead.

***
Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
 List of Contributors

Abdullah Aziz is pursuing PhD in Translation Studies at the Centre for

ALTS, UoH. He may be contacted at [a_aziz2010@yahoo.com].

Amba Kulkarni is Associate Professor of Sanskrit and heads the

Department of Sanskrit Studies. She may be contacted at
[ambapradeep@gmail.com]

Arathi Raghunathan is working with C-DAC Trivandrum. She may be

contacted at [bhadraraghunathan@gmail.com].

Archana Medhekar is working as Barrister in Toronto, Canada. She is

a poet and writer on social problems. She may be contacted at
[arctul@gmail.com]

Arvind Vishwanath (Kulkarni) is Head, English Department, Shri

Shivaji Arts, Science and Commerce College, Akola (Maharashtra). He
involves in creative writing, poetry and street plays. He may be
contacted at [arvinkul@gmail.com]

B. R. Bapuji is Professor of Linguistics at the Centre for ALTS. He may

be contacted at [brbapuji@yahoo.com]

Bindu Madhavi B. is pursuing PhD in Translation Studies at the Centre

for ALTS, UoH. She may be contacted at [madhavihcu@gmail.com]

Christopher M. is System Manager in IL-ILMT project Phase-II at

Centre for ALTS, UoH. He may be contacted at
[efthachris@gmail.com]

Chinmay Dharukar is pursuing PhD at IIT-Mumbai. He has translated,

from Marathi to English, the two articles written by Prof. Arvind Kulkarni
and Prof. D. D. Punde. He may be contacted at
[chinmayvijay@gmail.com]

D. D. Punde is Pune based Professor of Marathi, Modern

Mahavidyalaya, Pune. He is a pioneer of Philosophy of literary History in
Marathi and has has authored several books. He may be contacted at
[NA]

K. Rajya Rama is Associate Professor at the Centre for ALTS, UoH. She
may be contacted at [krajyarama@gmail.com].
 Vaagartha - 245

K. V. Subbarao has retired as Professor of Linguistics from the

University of Delhi. He took up Prof. Radha Krishna Chair at University
of Hyderabad. He may be contacted at [kvs2811@gmail.com].

Kalpana Palnitkar is reputed singer of Indian Classical music. She was

a disciple of Padita Malinibai Rajurkar for some time. She may be
contacted at [mohanr_palnitkar@yahoo.com]

Mandar Dadegaonkar is working with Element14 as Search Engine

Marketing Manager Asia Pacific. He may be contacted at
[dmandar@gmail.com]

Meghdoot Dadegaonkar is employed as Senior Manager, Learning

Delivery Management at NIIT Uniqua. He may be contacted at
[meghdoot@gmail.com]

Mehdi Asadzadeh is pursuing PhD in Translation Studies at the Centre

for ALTS, UoH. He may be contacted at [graywolf650@gmail.com]

N. Krupanandam is Professor of Translation Studies and is serving as

the Director of Centre for ALTS, UoH. He may be contacted at
[nityakrupa@yahoo.co.in]

Naresh Annem is pursuing PhD in Translation Studies at the Centre for

ALTS, UoH. He may be contacted at [nareshannem@gmail.com]

Niveditha K. is pursuing PhD in Translation Studies at the Centre for

ALTS. She may be contacted at [kunjikavu@gmail.com]

Panchanan Mohanty is Professor of Linguistics and former Director of

Centre for ALTS. He is the Coordinator of Centre for Endangered
Languages and Mother Tongue Studies, UoH. He may be contacted at
[panchanan_mohanty@yahoo.com]

Parmeshwari K. is Assistant Professor of Linguistics at the Centre for

ALTS, UoH. She may be contacted at [cuteparamesh@gmail.com]

Probal Dasgupta is Professor of Linguistics and former Head of Centre

for ALTS. Presently he is the Director of Linguistic Research Unit at
Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. He may be contacted at
[probal53@gmail.com]
246 - Vaagartha

Sheerin Hena is pursuing her PhD in Applied Linguistics at the Centre

for ALTS. She may be contacted at [sheerinfalak@gmail.com]

Shivarama Padikkal is Professor of Translation Studies at the Centre

for ALTS, UoH. He may be contacted at [shivaraama@gmail.com]

Srinivasulu N. V. is Junior System Administrator IL-ILMT Phase-II

Project CALTS, UOH. He may be contacted at
[nv.sreenivasulu@gmail.com]

Sudhakar Marathe is critic and Professor of English. He is former

Dean, School of Humanities, UoH. He may be contacted at
[sudsems@vsnl.net]

Swathi P. G. is pursuing PhD in Applied Linguistics at the Centre for

ALTS, UoH. She may be contacted at [swathipg@gmail.com]

Tariq Khan is pursuing PhD in Applied Linguistics at the Centre for

ALTS, UoH. He may be contacted at [safertariq@gmail.com]

Thotapally Anjaneyulu is pursuing PhD in Translation Studies at the

Centre for ALTS, UoH. He may be contacted at
[anjaneyuluedu@gmail.com].

Udaya Narayan Singh is Professor of Linguistics. He has worked as

Head of Centre for ALTS and Director, CIIL, Mysore. Presently, he is Pro
Vice Chancellor at Viswa Bharati, Shantiniketan, Kolkata. He may be
contacted at [unsciil@yahoo.com]

Uma Dadegaonkar is Professor of Marathi, Marathi Mahavidyalaya,

Osmania University, Hyderabad. She is Prof. Dadegaonkar‘s wife and has
authored several award winning books and translations. She may be
contacted at [umapadmakar@yahoo.com]

Uma Maheshwar Rao G. is Professor of Linguistics and former Head

of the Centre for ALTS, UoH. He may be contacted at
[guraohyd@gmail.com]

Param and Aanya are Prof. P. R. Dadegaonkar‘s grandchildren.

***
Go to Contents: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
 Vaagartha - 247

Illustration – I
Param

Aba, me and Aanya in a boat

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248 - Vaagartha

Illustration – II

Aanya

Me butterfly and Aba, Aji flowers

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