Devenagari Script and Reading.

‘Segmental Discrepancy Between Script and Reading’
Experimental Findings on Devenagari


Introduction:
There might exist difference(s) between the way a language is written and the way it is pronounced. The variation between two realizations, at orthographic and articulatory levels, has often created the most intriguing debates. This discrepancy between script and sound of a language is observed the best in the events like reading of texts. It is believed that some characters and their resultant word forms will be found more difficult in processing than others. This might, also, vary from language to language, as some languages are alphabetic, some syllabic and some are pictorial.
The Indian languages have also been found to contain such discrepancies between word forms and sound forms. Although the characters in Indian scripts are moreover phonemic in nature, scholars like Sproat, 2006 argue that the Brahmi derived Indian scripts creates a sort of inconsistency between the written and articulated of a certain syllables types. Thus, causing a delay of inaccuracy in the processing of those syllables. They include, for example, in Devanagari script (as used in Hindi) the high front vowels short [i] and long [i:], in words like ‘kitaab’ meaning book and ‘jiivan’ meaning life respectively. According to Sproat, 2006 there is scriptal influence on the phonemic awareness in readers of Indic scripts. Whereas, such influence can be minimized if the script supports phonemic operation in certain environment.
The aim of this paper is to present some experimental findings with respect to segmental processing of ‘Devenagari’ script and present a case against Sproat’s Edit Distance Hypothesis which says the transformation form graphic form of the stimulus to the graphic form of the response. That is to say the discrepancy between orthography and pronunciation of the segments does not result in inadequacy or delay in lexical processing. It’s just convention.

Method
Materials:
The items list included of twenty pseudo words of two syllables each. There were arranged in such a way that each of the four conditions under which the two foresaid vowels may appear was displayed for five times during the whole test. The conditions were:
Condition One: VCVC structure
Condition Two: CVCV structure
Condition Three: VCCV structure
Condition Four: CVVC structure
Both vowels preceding: As in a non-words like ‘pimi’,’kigi’etc.
Both vowels following: As in non-words like ‘piimii’, ‘giikii’ etc.
First preceding and second following: Like, ‘rijii’, ‘pikii’ etc and
First following and second preceding: Like, ‘giipi’, ‘liini’ etc.
Formally summarized as VCVC, CVCV, VCCV and CVVC. Also, there were thirty more pseudo words that looked exactly like the items but were indeed fillers to distract the subject and prevent them from guessing. The words would appear one by one for a set time duration and disappear thereafter. Next there would appear four options out of which only one was true. Once the choice is made the next word would appear on the screen and so on.


Participants:
The participants included 14 native speakers of Hindi language. They aged between 18 and 40 and 12 of them were right hand oriented while the remaining 2 were left hand oriented. The subjects comprising of males and females both, were given clear instructions on what they were supposed to do at the start of the experiment as well as they were given a test run so as to get familiarize with the experiment. It was a voluntary participation from the subjects and no money was involved. They were chosen on uniform criteria and were experimented on the same computer system under the same environment.

Procedures:
The test comprised of 50 pseudo - words display against which centred auto paced reading task was to be performed. Of the 50 non-words twenty were intended items that represented the four conditions viz VCVC, CVCV, VCCV and CVVC. Also, there were thirty more non words that resembled the items but were fillers. The fillers were used just to distract the subject from predicting the items and to maintain the reliability of the test.
1.At first a word would appear for 80-100 Msec in the fixated centre of the screen.
2.And it would disappear after that, leaving the question what did you see?
3.Then there would appear four options out of which one was the displayed word.
4.The subject would press button to decide the word s/he has seen.
5.The display was centred and auto- paced.
6.After a word was chosen from the list another word would appear on the centre of the screen.
7.The time taken in decision making and the accuracy were recorded for computation.
8.During computation incorrect response and the responses to the fillers were not considered.
For the experiment, which involved the use of computer, we used a programme called Linger. A brief introduction to the programme used in the experiment is as under:
Linger is a Tcl/TK application that can be used to perform a variety of language experiments. It can be modified easily and used on all major operating systems like Windows, Linux, Unix and Mac. It can be used with just about any language having left to right horizontal script for which a font is available. Linger can handle a variety of experimental techniques like true/false, multiple choice questions, fill in the blanks, and difficulty ratings, as well as audio playing and recording.

The experiment that can be performed on Linger include:
Masked Self –Paced Reading
Centred Self Paced reading/ Listening
Masked Auto –Paced (fixed rate) Reading/ Listening
Centred Auto – Paced Reading/ Listening
Block Reading
Speak and Listen
Listen and Answer
Auditory Prime Lexical Decision
The choice of the programme Linger was motivated by the following factors:
Specificity: It is specific to computing language experiments.
Sensitivity: It shows up reliable differences for intended results.
Controllability: It matches materials adequately.
Availability: It’s available freely.
The experiment is basically a centred auto paced reading task. It is called centred because, the target stimulus non-word would appear in the centre of the computer screen. It’s called auto paced for the reason that the duration of display would be fixed in advance, meaning that the word won’t stay on screen forever. Here, the display was in the range of 80 -100 msec. The display was followed by four similar choices out of which only one would be right. The subjects were expected to recall that word they had seen and chose the same from the choices. Once done they would press the corresponding button. This would also lead them to the next word. The display of the target stimuli and the fillers was randomized through the programme, so that there is no scope for prediction and the bias on the part of the subjects could be minimized.

Results and Discussion
The time set for display 80 Msec was adequate for the subjects to pick the word [non-word]. So, keeping it in the range of 80-100 msec ensured 85% accuracy with similar time taken for decision. However, the gender, handedness and age did not seem to play a role in this task. We chose non words as target stimuli because the processing of meaningful words can be motivated by several other factors like template matching etc. The response analysis shows that the difference between syllabic form in script and reading does affect the processing in terms of response time or accuracy. So, the transformational delay [Edit Distance Hypothesis] as proposed by Richard Sproat is contradicted. We may conclude that the native or nativized speakers or readers tend to adopt the discrepancy as convention and are quite apt in their own script. There does not seem to be any difference in the difficulty or ease if the script is changed.
Reference
Sproat R et al. 2006, Scriptal Influence On Phonemic Awareness In Readers Of Indic Script.

Organisation Of Polysemy And Differentiation

Organisation Of Polysemy And Differentiation
With Reference To Cooking, Dressing And Perception Verbs In Hindi

Introduction
There is nothing more basic than 'Categorization' to our thought, perception, action and speech. Every time we see something as a kind of thing, for example a tree, we are categorizing. Most categorization is automatic and unconscious. The idea that categories are defined common properties is not only our everyday folk theory of what a category is, it is also the principal technical theory – one that has been with us for more than two thousand years. And any time we either produce or understand any utterance of any reasonable length, we are employing dozens of if not hundreds of categories: categories of speech sounds, of words, of phrases and clauses, as well as conceptual categories. Categorization is not a matter to be taken lightly. Without the ability to categorize, we could not function at all, either in physical world or in our social and intellectual lives. An understanding of how we categorize is central to any understanding of how we think and how we function, and therefore central to an understanding of what makes us human. (George Lakoff in 'Women Fire, and Dangerous Things')
As the title suggests, the objective of this project work is to analyse the Categories of Cooking, Dressing and Perception Verbs in Hindi and account for their polysemous or differential patterns in the lexis of this language. Also, I have attempted to show, with examples, the lexicalization patterns of these verbs in Hindi. For the purpose I have made use of Beth Levin's book 'English Verb Classes and Alternation'.

Words are classified into 'Categories' or 'Semantic Fields' on the basis of their 'Protypical meaning'. The term 'Semantic Field' or 'Lexical Field' refers to the organisation of related words and expressions into a system which shows their relationship to one another. The absence of a word in such an organisation (or Category) is called 'Semantic/ Lexical gap'. Whereas, the term 'Prototype' refers to a particular example of something which is highly typical and which may be taken as representing that category. The prototype theory suggests that human categorization is essentially a matter of both human experience and imagination – of perception, motor activity, and culture on the one hand, and of metaphor, metonymy, and mental imagery on the other.
The organisation of lexicon can be approached within either a componential or a relational framework. From a componential point of view, the internal structure of a semantic field may be looked upon as the outcome of the interaction of a set of more or less field – specific components and a number of general field – independent components. For example, verbs of cooking in Hindi are usually distinguished on the basis of state change, acts of mixing, putting directly on fire/ inside utensil etc. Whereas, the dress verbs in Hindi are based on the proportion of coverage by the dress or manner etc. Accordingly, the perception verbs which include 'see verbs', 'sight verbs', 'peer verbs' and 'stimulus subject perception verbs' tied to a sense of modality.
Lexical relations such as hyponymy, meronymy, antonymy and synonymy of primary consideration in the relational approach. Due to their generality and subtle applicability they are very useful when it comes to account for the organisation for the lexicon.

The verbal semantic fields tend to be organised around one or at most a few nuclear verbs (Viberg 1993), which are dominant within their fields with respect to frequency of occurrence, the number of secondary senses and the range of constructions they can enter into. The nuclear verbs include the core component of the field but in addition contain some more specific components. They represent the most typical verbs within their fields rather than being the direct exponents of the general meaning shared by all members of the field.
Verbs of Perception
The verbs of perception take the perceiver as subject and what is perceived as direct object. They take a variety of sentential complements. They include:
l See verbs: Detect, Discern, Feel, Hear, Notice, See, Sense
2 Sight Verbs: Descry, Discover, Espy, Examine, Eye, Glimpse
3 Peer verbs: Check, Gape, Gawk, Leer, Listen, Peer, Peep
4 Stimulus Subject Perception Verbs: Feel, Look, Sound
While, see and sight verbs are used transitively the peer and stimulus subject perception verbs are used intransitively. Unlike the first two of the category these verbs also don’t take perceiver as their subject.
Lexicalization of Cooking, Dressing and Perception Verbs in Hindi
The *lexicalization patterns of common verbs such as verbs of 'Cooking' and 'Dressing' in human languages exhibit some striking similarities and differences. These commonness and even differences are motivated by certain features that tell us about the arrangement of the knowledge in the concerned language. For example, the Hindi speakers would make a distinction between eat 'khaa' and drink 'pii' by taking into consideration the state of the object being consumed. However, for smoking [things as solid as cigarette or liquid as Hukka] they would still use 'pii'. Whereas, a Bangla speaker would use 'khawa' referring to verbs of eating, drinking or smoking. They don't lexicalize any distinction based on the state of the object being consumed. Again, for the verbs like chew and swallow Hindi speakers use 'chabaa' and 'nigala' and Bangla speakers use 'khawa' and 'gela'. This shows a similarity in lexicalization patterns of Hindi and Bangla. This section is a part of the project work and it intends to describe the lexicalization pattern of the verbs of 'Cooking' and 'Dressing' in Hindi and Bangla.
The events of cooking are normally distinguished on the basis of state change, acts of mixing, putting directly on fire/ inside utensil etc. And the events of dressing are lexicalized according to proportion of coverage by the dress or manner etc.


Cooking Verbs in Hindi
pakaa naa cook
banaa naa prepare/ make
bhuja naa roast
seka naa bake
tala naa fry
chaana naa filter (deep fry)
sijha naa little heating
galaa naa soften

Hindi speakers employ these words in distinct contexts. When the food is cooked involving a change in its state of the ingredients (for example solid to liquid or semi-liquid) pakaanaa is used. pakaanaa will essentially involve fuel consumption [fire or electricity] except in cases it is ripening of the fruits.

Raaju A pakaa rahaa hE
Raju A cook ing be
Raju is cooking A
*Single word representation of meanings.
Hukka : Refers to a traditional form of smoking prevalent in Indian sub continent as well West Asia.
naa gives the continuant form.

When the food item is prepared by just mixing or grinding the individual ingredients, banaanaa is used.
Raaju B banaa rahaa hE
Raju B make ing be
Raju is making/ preparing B

The verb bhuja, like its English correspondence roast, is used when the food item or ingredient is put directly on fire.
Raaju C bhuj rahaa hE
Raju C roast ing be
Raju is roasting C


The verb seka, like its English correspondence bake, is used when the intended item is put on fire on/in a utensil that can be flat or rounded, but no cooking oil is used.
Raaju D seka rahaa hE
Raju D bake ing be
Raju is baking D

Hindi verb tala, is employed when some cooking oil is used as in the events of frying.
Raaju E tala rahaa hE
Raju E fry ing be
Raju is frying E

The speakers of Hindi also make a distinction between deep and surface frying. In cases where the frying is done like soaking in a concave utensil, different from flat ones, they would rather use the verb chaana.
Raaju F chaana rahaa hE
Raju F fry ing be
Raju is frying F
Hindi speaker use sijhaa when the event of cooking involves cooking / hardening at the surface of the intended item.
G thiika se sijhaa nahii hE
G properly adjmrk cook not be
G is not cooked properly.

However, when the event of cooking involves desired level of softening or dilution of the intended item the Hindi speakers employ galaa.
H galaa/ii nahii hE
H cook+agr not be
H is not cooked properly.

The Hindi speakers also use terms like lagaanaa specially for the events of making pickles and lapetnaa for the event of coating (with sugar, besan etc.). This event of coating is distinguished from application on surface. Some exclusive cases may be worth mentioning here.
1. In an exclusive case of draining (filtering of rice after its cooked), the verb pasaa is used.
2. In another exclusive case of litti (an indigenous preparation), where the traditional form of cooking involves setting of stuffed items in layers and then putting on fire. So, the event of setting on layers is termed chadhaanaa.
3. The Hindi speakers use bharanaa for making stuffed items like samosa.

However, the events of first baking/ roasting and then frying (as is the case with litti or stuffed puri or kachaori) is not lexicalized.
Besides, these distinctions in the terms for the verbs of cooking are are at times not maintained. The reasons can be the wide spread use of Hindi and its contact with other languages, stylistic uses literary versus colloquial uses ................


Dressing Verbs in Hindi
pahana naa wear
lagaa naa wear (put on)
lapeta naa put around
odhaa naa cover
dhaka naa cover (hide)
nikaala naa take out/ put off
utaar naa put off
hataa naa remove
The speakers of Hindi use pahana when the event of dressing involves full covering/ wrapping of the body or part of the body involved. The dressing may involve cloth items with button, zip, hooks while they cover around the body part they are meant for.
Sonu hameshaa M pahan.taa hE
Sonu always M wear cont be
Sonu always wears M
Correspondingly they use utaaranaa for taking out.
They use lagaa for the events involving fixing or tying, which may not involve full covering around the body part concerned.
Sonu hameshaa N lagaataa hE
Sonu always N wear cont. Be
Sonu always wears N
Again, correspondingly they use hataanaa for removing or putting off.
lapeta is used specially in cases where long garments are involved like muffler, belt, etc.
Sonia O lapetati hE
Sonia O put around
Sonia puts around O
In cases where the event involves full blanketing the speakers use odha.
Sonia O odhatii hE
Sonia O cover+ agr be
Sonia wears O
The verb nikaala is used in two contrasting cases.
1. In exclusive case where a bride is supposed to cover her head with extension of saarii hood (ghunghataa).
2. In cases where the particular cloth is being removed.
A = rice / pulse / vegetable
B = cofee/ tea/ chutnee/ salads/
C = bhujaa/ maize
D = roti
E = vegetables
F = puri/ jalebi
G = rice
H = pulse/ rice

M = kurtaa/ salwaar/ kameez
N = cap/ belt/ sun glass
O = duptta/ blanket

Prepositional Sense Selection in English-Hindi Translation

Introduction
The grasp of the intended sense (from among the possible many) of the prepositions is a tricky task during translation from one language to another. This issue of right selection becomes still more engaging when machines have to be taught to do it. Simply, this is so because unlike humans the computers are not endowed with natural analyzers which will carry out the task by default. So, they have to be fed with optimum information regarding their task. Nevertheless, in order to prevent such instructions from becoming extremely exhaustive or redundant some procedures, like identification of categories and subsequently their correspondences, could be followed. Thus, achieving the desired goal. In this report we have followed a similar procedure that of Observing the English Verb Classes and the Prepositions they take. This has enabled us to make some generalizations regarding the sense that English prepositions would take in the Hindi translation.
As part of summer internship project at LTRC/ IIIT- Hyderabad. I had to study the English Verbs Classes and Alternations as accounted by Beth Levin in her seminal work 'English Verb Classes And Alternations'. And I was supposed to decide how the prepositions following those Verbs/ Verb classes would be translated in Hindi (that is their Hindi counterparts). I went through some forty- five verb classes mentioned in her book and followed the procedure. In my observation, most of the time the prepositions would take the default sense, however, there was a good number of occasions when they showed variations. For instance:
Ø She came with her mother.
· Vaha apnI maaz ke sAWa Ayi
Ø She left with anger.
· Vaha gusse me gayi
Ø She opened the lock with key.
· Usne cABI se wAlA KolA

Here we see how the preposition 'With' is acquiring varied correspondences in Hindi postpositions. Following is the list of verb classes I observed in the foresaid book (English Verb Classes: Beth Levin).
1. Verbs Of Putting: Put verbs, Verbs of putting in a spatial configuration, Funnel verbs, Verbs of putting with a specified direction, Pour verbs, Coil verbs, Spray/ Load verbs, Fill verbs, Butter verbs, Pocket verbs.
2. Verbs Of Removing: Remove verbs, Banish verbs, Clear verbs, Wipe verbs, Steal verbs, Cheat verbs, Pit verbs, Debone verbs, Mine verbs.
3. Verbs Of Sending and Carrying: Send verbs, Slide verbs, Bring and Take verbs, Carry verbs, Drive verbs.
4. Verbs of Exerting Force: Push/ Pull verbs.
5. Verbs of change of Possession: Give verbs, Contribute verbs, Verbs of Future Having, Verbs of Providing (Fulfilling, Equip), Verbs of Obtaining (obtain, get), Verbs of Exchange, Berry verbs.
6. Learn verbs.
7. Hold and Keep verbs.
8. Verbs of Concealment.
9. Verbs of Throwing: Throw verbs, Pelt verbs.
10. Verbs of Contact by Impact: Hit verbs, Swat verbs, Spank verbs, Non- agentive verbs of contact by Impact.
11. Poke verbs.
12. Verbs of Contact: Touch verbs.
13. Verbs of Cutting: Cut verbs, Carve verbs.
14. Verbs of Combining and Attaching: Mix verbs, Amalgamate verbs, Shake verbs, Tape verbs, cling verbs.
15. Verbs of Separating and Disassembling: Separate verbs, Split verbs, Disassemble verbs, Differ verbs.
16. Verbs of Coloring.
17. Image Creation verbs: verbs of Image Impression, Scribble verbs, Illustrate verbs, Transcribe verbs
18. Verbs of Creation and transformation: Build verbs, Grow verbs, Verbs of Preparing, Create verbs, Knead verbs, Turn verbs, Performance verbs.
19. Engender verbs.
20. Calve verbs.
21. Verbs with Predicative Complements: Appoint verbs, Characterize verbs, Dub verbs, Declare verbs, Conjecture verbs, Masquerade verbs, Orphan verbs, Captain verbs.
22. Verbs of Perception: See verbs, Sight verbs, Peer verbs, Stimulus Subject Perception verbs.
23. Psych Verbs: Amuse verbs, Admire verbs, Marvel verbs, Appeal verbs
24. Verbs of Desire: Want verbs, Long verbs.
25. Judgment verbs.
26. Verbs of Assessment.
27. Verbs of Searching: Hunt verbs, Search verbs, Stalk verbs, Investigate verbs, Rummage verbs, Ferret verbs.
28. Verbs of Social Interaction: Correspond verbs, Marry verbs, Meet verbs.
29. Verbs of Communication: Verbs of Transfer of a Message, Tell, Verbs of Manner of Speaking, verbs of Instrument of Communication, Talk verbs, Chitchat verbs, Say verbs, Complain verbs, Advise verbs.
30. Verbs of Sound Made by Animals.
31. Verbs of Ingesting: Eat verbs, Chew verbs, Gobble verbs, Devour verbs, Dine verbs, Gorge verbs, Verbs of Feeding.
32. Verbs of Killing: Murder verbs, Poison verbs.
33. Destroy verbs.
34. Lodge verbs.
35. Verbs of Change of State: Break verbs, Bend verbs, Cooking verbs.
36. Verbs of grooming and Bodily Care.
37. Verbs Involving the Body.
38. Verbs of Emission
39. Measure verbs.
40. Avoid verbs.
41. Aspectual verbs.
42. Weekend verbs.
43. Weather verbs.
Verbs Of Putting:
Put verbs: arrange, immerse, install, lodge, put, place, mount, position, Verbs of putting in a spatial configuration: dangle, hang, perch,
Verbs of putting with a specified direction:
Pour verbs:
Coil verbs:
Spray/ Load verbs:
Fill verbs:
Butter verbs:
Pocket verbs:

Observation: The English preposition coming after these verbs will be translated in their default sense.
Verbs of Removing:
Remove verbs: abstract, cull, delete, discharge, remove
Banish verbs: banish, deport, expel, recall
Clear verbs: clear, clean, drain, empty
Wipe verbs: wipe, wear, erase, dust, brush, comb
Steal Verbs: abduct, cheat, capture, wrest
All these verbs are followed by the English preposition 'From' which will acquire its default sense 'se' in Hindi translation.
Cheat verbs: bleed, cheat, defraud, deplete, free, rob
These verbs are followed by prepositions like 'of', 'off' and they are translated as 'se' (just as from) – non default sense.
Pit verbs: bark, beard, bone, burl, core, gill
Debone verbs: debark, debone, deforest, descale
Mine verbs: mine, quary
The English prepositions like 'with' 'from' and 'of' coming after these verbs will be translated as 'se' in Hindi.
Verbs of Sending and Carrying:
Send verbs: airmail, convey, dispatch, express
The locative preposition specially 'to' coming after the verbs of bring and take will acquire correspondences:
To: 'ko'
From: 'se'
Slide verbs: bounce, float, roll, slide
Bring and Take verbs: bring, take
The locative preposition specially 'to' coming after the verbs of bring and take will acquire correspondences:
To: a) 'ko' b) 'me' c) 'waka' d) 'ke pAsa'
Carry verbs: carry, drag, haul, hoist, kick
Drive verbs: barge, bus, cart, drive
The prepositions associated with these verbs are 'to', 'into', 'on' and they will be translated as
To: a) 'waka' when the following NP is a location/place etc.
'ko' when the following NP is an animate thing or institution etc.
Into: 'me'
On: 'para'
Verbs of Exerting Force:
Push and Pull verbs: draw, jerk, press, push, pull, thrust
The preposition followed by these verbs 'towards'will be translated into Hindi as 'kI waraPa'
Verbs of Sound Made by Animals: bark, moo, coo, bar
The prepositions 'on'/ 'at' and 'for' that normally follow these verbs will have their correspondence as 'para' and 'ke liye' respectively in Hindi.
Verbs of Killing:
Murder verbs: assassinate, butcher, execute, kill
Poison verbs: crucify, drown, hang, poison, shoot
The prepositions 'by' and 'with' that normally follow these verbs will have their correspondence as 'ke xvArA' or 'se' in Hindi.
The choice between 'ke xvArA' and 'se' will depend on whether the object used for carrying out the action stays with the doer or leaves him/her. Only in case when it stays with him/her the choice would be 'ke xvArA' otherwise it would be 'se'.
Verbs of Separating and Disassembling:
Separate verbs: separate, part, divorce, differentiate.
Disassemble verbs: detach, disconnect, unite
Differ verbs: differ, diverge
The prepositions 'from' and 'into' following these verb groups will retain their default sense that is 'se' and 'me' during translation.
Split verbs: cut, draw, knock, pull, push
These verbs, specially push, pull and knock, are followed by prepositions like 'off', 'out', 'down' etc and they will be translated differently and contextually (not in default sense of the English preposition).
Image Creation verbs:
Verbs of image impression: set, sign, stamp, tattoo, mask
Scribble verbs: carve, chalk, draw, copy, plot
Illustrate verbs: address, adorn, data, label, tag
Transcribe verbs: copy, type, televise, film
The varied prepositions like from, of, on, for, over, under etc. coming after these verb classes will adopt their default sense that is 'se' for from, 'ka' for of, 'para' for on, 'ke liye' for for and 'ke Upara' for over.
However, 'with' will be translated as 'se' when it is followed by a non abstract NP and otherwise 'ke sAWa'
Verbs of Creation and Transformation:
Build verbs: arrange, assemble, bake, blow, build, carve, fold, sew
Grow verbs: develop, grow, evolve, hatch
Verbs of preparing: blend, boil, grill, pour
Create verbs: coin, compute, create, model, style
The prepositions 'from', for, on and 'into' following these verb groups will retain their default sense.
However, 'with' and 'of' will be translated as 'se' or 'ke xvArA'
Knead verbs: beat, bend, freeze, knead
Turn verbs: alter, change, convert, turn
These verbs are followed by the English prepositions 'into' and 'from' that will be translated as 'se'.
Performance verbs: chant, compose, dance, sing, whistle
The prepositions following the performance verbs will be translated as:
To: a) 'pe' or 'para'
b) 'ke liye' when some objective/intention is conveyed.
With: a) 'ke sAWa' when the object is animate.
b) 'se' when the object is inanimate.
Learn verbs: acquire, hold, cram, learn, memorize, read, study
The prepositions preceded by the Learn verbs will be translated in their default sense. However, these variations are possible:
For: a) 'ke liye' when it refers to some person or object.
b) 'waka' when it communicates a duration or quantity.
With: a) 'ke sAWa' when it refers to some person or object.
b) 'se' when it communicates the manner/ style of action.
Hold and Keep verbs:
Hold verbs: clasp, clutch, grip, hold
Keep verbs: hoard, keep, leave, store
The prepositions, like 'for', 'of' etc. following these verbs will be translated in their default sense.
Verbs of Concealment: block, hide, isolate, shelter
The English preposition 'into', 'from' and 'for' coming after these above verbs will be translated as 'me', 'se' and 'ke liye' respectively.
Verbs of Throwing:
Throw verbs: bash, bat, cast, fling, pass, slap, toss
Pelt verbs: buffet, bombard, pelt, shower, stone
The English prepositions at/on coming after the verbs of throwing will be translated in their default sense.
Poke verbs: dig, pierce, poke, stick, jab
The English prepositions 'through' and 'with' coming after the poke will be translated as 'se'.
Verbs of Contact: Touch verbs; caress, graze, lick, pat, touch
The English prepositions 'with'and 'on' coming after the verbs of contact will be translated as 'se' and 'para' respectively.
Verbs of Contact by Impact:
Hit verbs: bang, bash, beat, bump, drum, hammer, hit
Swat verbs: bite, claw, paw, peck, scratch
The prepositions 'with', 'against' or 'through' following these verbs will be translated as 'se' in Hindi. Whereas, 'by' coming after the above verbs will be translated as 'ke xvArA'
Spank verbs: belt, cane, club, whip
Non agentive verbs of Contact by Impact: crash, ram, slam, smash,
The prepositions 'with' and 'into' coming after such verbs will be translated as 'se' and 'me' in Hindi. However, 'with' coming after the verbs like club, paddle, thrash etc will be translated as 'ke sAWa'
Verbs of cutting:
Cut verbs: chip, cut, slash, snip
Carve verbs: bore, bruise, crop, cube, slit
The prepositions (except for 'with') coming after the verbs of cutting will be translated into their default sense. Whereas, 'with' will have its correspondence with either 'se' or 'ke xvArA' depending upon the foresaid criteria.
Verbs of coloring: colour, dye, glaze, paint, tint
The preposition 'with' coming after the verbs of colouring will be translated as 'se'
Engender verbs: beget, cause, create, engender, generate, shape
The preposition 'of' coming after the engender verbs will be translated as 'ka' in Hindi.
Calve verbs: calve, cub, fawn, kitten, foal, pup, whelp
The preposition 'of' coming after the calve verbs will be translated as 'ka' in Hindi.
Verbs with Predicative Complements:
Appoint verbs: acknowledge, adopt, consider, crown, elect, rate, want
Characterize verbs: accept, address, bill, cast, certify, hail, qualify, rank
The prepositions 'as' and 'for' coming after these verbs will be translated as 'ke rUpa me'/ 'ke paxa pe' and 'ke liye'
Dub verbs: anoint, call, rule, style, vote
The prepositions 'of' and 'for' coming after these verbs will be translated as 'ka' and 'ke liye' However, 'to' coming after vote will be translated as 'ke paxa pe' and 'for' coming after rule and showing a period of time will be translated as 'waka'.
Declare verbs: adjudge, assume, confess, think, warrant
Conjecture verbs: admit, allow, deny, feel, grant, mean, repute
Masquerade verbs: act, behave, count, pose, rank, serve
Orphan verbs: apprentice, cripple, knight, orphan
Captain verbs: boss, clerk, captain, nurse, volunteer, witness
The prepositions 'as', 'of' and 'for' coming after these verbs will be translated as 'ke rUpa me', 'ka' and 'ke liye' respectively.
However, 'for', coming after captain will be translated as 'waka'
Verbs of Perception:
See verbs: detect, discern, feel, hear, notice, see, taste
Sight verbs: descry, discover, espy, eye, note, regard,
The prepositions followed by these verbs are 'by', 'at' etc. and will be translated in their default sense.
Peer verbs: check, gaze, glance, look, peep, sniff
Stimulus Subject Perception verbs: feel, smell, sound, taste
The English prepositions coming after these verbs will be translated as:
At: 'ki waraPa'
Into: 'me'
For: 'ke liye'
To: 'ko'
By: 'ke xvArA'
Of: 'ka'
Psych –verbs:
Amuse verbs: affect, agonise, bug, calm, crush, dazzle, depress, elate
The amuse verbs are followed by 'by' in passive constructions and their correspondence in Hindi will be 'se' or 'ke xvArA'
Admire verbs:
Positive: adore, respect, enjoy, fancy,
Negative: deplore, dislike, envy
The admire verbs are followed by 'by' in passive constructions and their correspondence in Hindi will be 'ke xvArA'. Whereas, 'for' coming after these verbs will be translated as 'ke liye'
Marvel verbs: bother, care, fret, mind, moon, rage, worry
The prepositions coming after the marvel verbs will be translated as:
About: 'ke bAre me' or 'ke liye'
At: 'para'
For: 'ke liye'
From: 'se'
In: 'ka karke' or 'karne me'
Appeal verbs: niggle, appeal, matter, jar
The prepositions like 'at'/'on' coming after the appeal verbs will be translated as 'para' whereas 'to' will be translated as 'ko'.
Verbs of Desire:
Want verbs: covet, crave, desire, fancy, need, want
Long verbs: ache, dangle, fall, lust, wish, yearn
The correspondence of the prepositions 'after' and 'for' coming after long verbs of desire (the want verbs and the long verbs) in Hindi will be 'ke piCe' and 'ke liye'.
Judgement verbs
Positive: acclaim, bless, commend, forgive, greet, hail, thank
The preposition 'for' coming after the Positive judgement verbs will be translated as 'ke liye'
Negative: abuse, condemn, scold, fine, vilify
The preposition 'for' coming after the Negative judgement verbs will be translated as 'ke kArana'
Verbs of Assessment: analyse, assess, audit, evaluate
The prepositions 'for' (while communicating the purpose) and 'by' (while communicating the methodology or instrument) associated with these verbs will be translated as 'ke liye' and 'ke xvArA' respectively.
Verbs of searching:
Hunt verbs: dig, feel, fish, mine, poach
The preposition 'for' followed by the hunt verbs will be translated as 'ke liye' and ' about' as 'ke As pAsa'
Search verbs: advertise, check, comb, watch
The preposition 'for' followed by the search verbs will be translated as 'ke liye' or 'ko' or 'ke viSE me'.
Stalk verbs: smell, taste, track
Investigate verbs: canvass, explore, examine, survey
Rummage verbs: bore, listen, look, page, scratch, thumb
Ferret verbs: nose, seek, tease
The preposition 'for' followed by these verbs will be translated as 'ke liye' or 'ke viSE me'
Verbs of Social Interaction:
Correspond verbs: agree, argue, clash, combat, war, pair
Marry verbs: court, marry, kiss, pet, pass
Meet verbs: battle, box, consult, fight
The prepositions 'with' or 'against' coming after the verbs of social interaction will be translated as 'ke sAWa' and 'ke virUXa' respectively.
Verbs of Communication:
Verbs of transfer of a message: ask, cite, demonstrate, explain
Tell verbs: tell
The prepositions 'with' and 'to' coming after these verbs will be translated as 'ke sAWa' and 'ko' respectively.
Talk verbs: speak, talk
The preposition 'to' coming after talk verbs will be translated as 'se'.
Say verbs: announce, blab, claim, confess, confide
The prepositions 'in' , 'for' and 'to' coming after say verbs will be translated as 'me' 'ke liye' and 'se' respectively.
Advise verbs: alert, advise, caution
The prepositions 'against' and 'for' coming after these verbs will be translated as 'ke bAre me' and 'ke liye' respectively.
Chitchat verbs: argue, chat, confer, gossip
The preposition 'for' coming after the above verbs will be translated as:
For: a) 'ke liye'
b) 'waka'
Complain verbs: boast, rag, crab, object
The prepositions 'about, 'against' and 'on' coming after these verbs will be translated as 'ke bAre me' and 'pe'.
Verbs of Combining and Attaching:
Mix verbs: blend, combine, commingle, fuse, join, link, mix, pool
The prepositions 'with' as well as 'to' preceded by the mix verbs will be translated as 'ke sAWa'. However, 'into' coming after the mix verbs will be translated as 'me'.
Amalgamate verbs: affiliate, alternate, amalgamate, associate
The prepositions 'with' as well as 'to' coming after the amalgamate verbs will be translated as 'ke sAWa'.
Shake verbs: band, gather, beat, stir, whirl, pair, attach, stick
The prepositions coming after the shake verbs will be translated as:
With: 'se'
Into: 'me'
To: 'me'
Tape verbs: anchor, belt, cement, hook, gum, seal, wire, zip
The prepositions 'to'/'on' following these verbs will be translated as 'para'
Cling verbs: adhere, cleave, cling
The prepositions coming after the shake verbs will be translated as:
With: 'se'
Into: 'me'
To: 'se' when preceded by the verb cling.
Aspectual verbs:
Begin verbs: begin, cease, commence, end, halt, keep, start
Complete verbs: complete, discontinue, initiate, quit
The English prepositions 'in', 'on' and 'at' preceded by the aspectual verbs will retain their default sense during translation into Hindi.
Weekend verbs: holiday, December, honeymoon, overnight
The English prepositions 'in', 'on' and 'at' preceded by the weekend verbs will retain their default sense during translation into Hindi.
Weather verbs: blow, clear, drizzle, fog, gust, hail, mist, rain
The English prepositions 'in', 'on' and 'at' preceded by the weather verbs will retain their default sense during translation into Hindi.

Resources:

· Samar Husain: 'Simple Preposition Correspondence' ·

Beth Levin: 'English Verb Classes and Alternations'

UGC - NET/JRF Previous years' questions - Linguistics

Paper III

Section II - 15 Definitional Type Questions to answered in 30 words each. (15x5=75 marks)

What is a spectogram?
Distinguish between inflection and derivation with suitable examples.
What is the lexicalist hypothesis? Explain.
What is the main difference between weak cross-over and strong cross-over. Provide examples.
Provide a syntactic definition of scrambling.
How do you differentiate between tense and aspect. Give suitable examples.
Discuss salient features of generative phonology.
Provide logical formulation of English universal and existential quantifiers.
Distinguish between intimate, dialect and cultural borrowings.
Distinguish between elaborated code and restricted code.
Write a short note on Broca's aphasia.
List some of the important linguistic features of the languages spoken in South Asia.
Distinguish between corpus planning and status planning.
Write the major differences between literary and scientific translation with examples.
Explain with examples the differences between interlanguage and intralanguage errors.
Section III - Electives

Computational Linguistics
How is computational linguistics related to Philosophy, Psychology and Artifitial Intelligence (A.I)
Discuss the role of morphological analyzer in P.O.S tagging.
Give an account of limitations of machine readable dictionaries.
Write the advantages of tree adjoining grammar in analyzing sentence structure.
Write a short note on the technology of text to speech systems.
Syntax
Discuss the importance of locality of minimalist system of case checking. Illustrate your answer with ECM and small clause constructions.
Discuss the relative advantages of AGR based clausal architecture over a traditional one.
Discuss the advantages of multiple specifiers in the clausal structure.
Discuss the role of least effort principle with respect to the derivation of 'Roshan did not write letters' from the Roshan T Neg AGR following..
Discuss the advantages of Copy Theory of Movement.
Phonology
Distinguish between the phomological phrase and intonational phrase with examples.
Discuss the importance of 'Tableux' in Optimality theory.
Explain the following concepts in relation to prosodic phonology - the syllable, the word and the foot.
Distinguish between marked constraints and faithfulness constraints and discuss their effect on the output.
Write short notes on (a) Constraint Ranking (b) Prosodic Morphology.

Sociolinguistics
Men specially provide norm against which women speak judegement. Explain.
Critically evaluate the statement "Language standardization does not depend on inherent quality of language but power is the main factor leading to standardization.
Enumerate the three ideological barriers Labov has encountered in course of his studies on social motivation of sound change.
What kind of linguistic signals are used to indicate that speaker is about to give up a turn? Discuss.
What is Linguistic Competence? How does Communicative Competence differ from Linguistic Competence.
Neurolinguistics
What is meant by cerebral dominance?
What are the different types of aphasia?
Write a note on stuttering.
Explain how linguistic knowledge helps in devising assessment and therapeutic tools and procedures in disorder of communication.
What are the different types of developmental disorders? Enumerate the recommended intervention procedures.


Section IV - Essay question - To be answered in 1000 words. (40 marks)

Evaluate the merits of Unification based grammars. [Computational Linguistics]
Discuss the status of AGR in Minimalism and the effects of eliminating it from the clause structure. [Syntax]
Write an essay on Prosodic Phonology. [Phonology]
Diversity is precisely the suject matter of sociolinguistics. Explain the statement. [Sociolinguistics]
Write an essay on Models of brain - language relationship. [Neurolinguistics]

December 2008 Paper III Section II-

To be answered in 30 words each. 15x5=75 Marks

Copulative Compounds (Dvanda).

Distinguish between code mixing and code switching.

Distinguish between internal reconstruction and comparative method.

Salient features of communicative language teching.

Distinguish between etymological dictionary and general dictionaries.

Give a semantic definition of proposition with examples.

Distinguish between pre-supposition and entailment. Give suitable examples.

What is air stream mechanism. What is subjacency?

Distinguish between formal and substantive universals.

Mention some types of morphs. Give examples.

Distinguish between acquisition and learning.

Distinguish between topic and focus.

Electives - To be answered in 200 words only. 12x5=60 Marks

Neurolinguistics

What is dyslexia?

What are tests and tools for different types of dyslexia?

What are different models of language - brain relationship? Discuss any two of them.

What are scopes and need of linguistic interventions in disorders of communication?

Write a short note on language in mental retardation.

What are Lateralization, Handedness and Language Deficits?

Essay Question - To be answered in 1000 words. 40 Marks

How can studies on disorders of communication help in understanding language - mind - brain relationship? (Neurolinguistics)

Write an essay on gender in language. (Sociolinguistics)

What is the use of corpus in the study of language.(Computational Linguistics)

Optimality theory. (Phonology)

G.B - Minimalism.(Syntax)

June, 2008 Paper III Section II - [Incomplete]
To be answered in 30 words each. 15x5=75 Marks

Root & stem
Clitics
Synonym & paraphrase
Mono-lingual & Bi-lingual Dictionaries
18 months old child's lg
Entailment
Agent & patient
Typological & aerial classification of lg
Anaphor & Anaphora
Pidgin & Creole
Piaget's theory of lg learning
Elective Syntax
What is parameter?......
Diff. between LF & PF
What is D-str. & S-str.? Do they play any role in M.P.
Sub categorization
Binding
Essay Question
Development of features and lexical items from syntactic str. Till M.P.

Focus Particle 'hI' in Hindi-Urdu Language

Deciphering focus particle 'hI' in Hindi-Urdu
Tariq Khan
safertariq@gmail.com
CALTS, University of Hyderabad
The particle 'hI' in Hindi-Urdu language is used to emphasize constituents, relate information, signal attitude and prevent ambiguity. The positioning of 'hI' adjacent to a constituent make it salient. In a discourse it contributes to the complete interpretation of utterances. And in a sentence, open for interpretation, the putting of hI serves for disambiguation. Let's consider a few sentences with hI occuring at diverse positions within them.
a) XonI hI Sawaka lagAegA
Dhoni only century hit
Only Dhoni will hit century.

b) XonI Sawaka hI lagAegA
Dhoni only century hit
Dhoni will hit century only.

c) XonI Sawaka lagAegA hI
Dhoni only century hit certainly
Dhoni will certainly hit century.

d) jo wumahe pasanda hE vahI miTAI lAyA Huz
that you like same sweet have brought
I have brought the same sweet which you like.

e) vaha WodI hI xera meM calA gayA
he short only time left
He left in a short while.

f) mEM Gara pahumca kara KAUngA
I home reach eat
I will take food after reaching home.

mEM Gara pahumca kara hI KAUngA
I home reach only eat
I will take food only after reaching home.
The position of hI decides the emphasis within an emphatic sentence. As a particle it is invariable in form and does not belong to one of the classes. And still, it has grammatical and pragmatic meaning. As its function is to give prominence to the constituents, it occurs but only once in a given sentence.

A large number of combinations is possible with the merger of pronouns and the particle hI. These combinations may refer to persons, events as well as objects. They are used to perform illocutionary functions.

Example Set One
yaha + hI = yahI 'this one'
vaha + hI = vahI 'that one'
If X = {yahI, vahI}
X AdamI AyA Wa
man had come
is + hI = isI 'this one'
us + hI = usI 'that one'
If X = {isI, usI}
X ne JagdA kiyA WA
had fought

Examples Set Two
in + hI = inahIM 'these ones'
un + hI = unahIM 'those ones'
wuma + hI = wumahIM ' you only'
If X = {inahIM, unahIM, wumhIM}
X ko Pala diyA WA
To fruits had given

Examples Set Three
aba + hI = aBI 'now'
jaba + hI = jaBI 'whenever'
waba + hI = waBI 'then only'
saba + hI = saBI 'all' (inclusive)
If X = {aBI, jaBI, waBI, saBI}
X Gara jAeMge
home go

Examples Set Four
yahAz + hI = yahIM 'here only'
vahAz + hI = vahIM 'there only'
kahAz + hI = kahIM 'wherever'
If X = {yahIM, vahIM, kahIM}
X se Karixa ke lAo
from buy bring

Examples Set Five
Such contracted forms are not possible with the following pronouns:
First person pronoun 'mE'
Second person honorific pronoun 'Apa' and
Possessive pronouns 'merA', 'werA', 'uskA' & 'hamArA'
'hI' exists independently when it is preceded by the above pronouns.
{merA hI, werA hI, uskA hI, mE hI, Apa hI}

The Hindi-Urdu word order and the focus particle 'hI'

The focus particle hI can occur at various constituent positions in a given sentence, but never in the sentence initial position. In all these positions it highlights the constituents preceded by it..

Free word order and hI
a) wumahe hI jAnA WA to mE kyuM AyA?
you only go had then I why come
If only you had to go why did I come?

b) wumahe jAnA hI WA to Aye kyuM We?
you go only had then why come
If you had to go (only) why did you come?

c) wumahe jAnA WA hI nahI to mE kyuM AyA
you go only had then why come
If you did not have to go why did I come?

d) wumahe jAnA to padegA hI
you go have to
You will have to go.


Verbal suffix –we preceding hI
Communicating the sense 'as soon as'.

a ) vaha Gara jAwe hI KAnA banAwA hE
he home reach as soon as prepare food
As soon as he reaches home he prepares food.

b) pEse milwe hI majaxura cale gaye
money get as soon as labourers go home
The labourers went home as soon as they got money.

c) Kela Kawama howe hI hamane paDAI Suru kI
Game end as soon as we studies start
We started the studies as soon as we finished the game.

Alteration with 'siraPa'
a) yaha Gara sirPa Apake liye hE
this house only you for is
This house is for you only.

b) yaha Gara Apake liye hI hE
this house you for only is
This house is only for you.

Oblique infinitive + para hI
a) usake bulAne para hI mE vahAM gayA.
His/her call on only I there went
I went there only on her/ his call.

b) wuma mere bawAe rAswe para hI calanA
you my asked path on just go
You just follow what I have asked you.

Reflexivex plus hI
apane Apa, Kuxa,
a) wuma apane Apa hI gIre We
you self fell
you fell on your own.

b) mE Kuxa hI bimAra WA
I self sick was
I was myself sick.

hI preceded by conjunctive constructions 'kara'
mE kAma Kawama karke hI sone jAuMgA
I work over finish only sleep go
I will go to sleep only after finishing the work.

With dates and time
aBI hI, Aja hI, kala hI, {days of the week/ dates}
Xoni aBI hI Sawaka mAregA.
Dhoni now only century hit
Dhoni will hit century now only.


hI preceded by 'jEse', 'vEse', 'Ese' , and 'jyoM'
a) mEne jEse hI xarvAjA KolA Apa aye
I the moment door open you came
The moment I opened the door you entered.

b) jEse mE boluM vEse hI karo
like I say same way do
Act the way I do.

c) Ese karoge wo acCA hoga
Like this do then good it will be
It will be good if you do like this.

d) jyoM hI mEne GadI xeKI Ce bajane vAlA Wa
the moment I watch look six going to be
The moment I looked at watch it was going to be six.
hI followed by negation marker nahI
a) usane nahI hI bawAyA
he not tell
He did not tell.
b) jaba Xoni Sawaka lagaegA hI nahI jitegA kEse
when Dhoni century hit not win how
When Dhoni will at all not hit century how will they win.

hI Followed by 'ke binA', 'ke sAWa' and 'ke bAxa'
a) vaha juwA pahne binA hI KelawA hE
he shoes wear not even plays
He plays without even without wearing shoes.

b) vaha sirpa apne piwA ke sAWa hI Ayi WI
she only her father with come had
She had come with her father only.

c) mE Gara pahuMcne ke bAxa hI ArAma karungA
I home reach after only rest
I will rest only after reaching home.

hI followed by defining / non defining relative clause.
a) usane hI to KAyA hE
s/he only eaten has
S/he has eaten only.

b) Wumane hI to bulaya WA
You only called had
You only had called


Scambling within a phrase containing the particle hI without altering the meaning or emphasis.
For instance:
isI jagaha pe = is jagaha pe hI
usi ke liye = usa ke liye hi
Apake hI liye = Apake liye hI
a) mEne ye kiwAba Apake liye hI KarixI hE
I this book your for only bought
I bought this book for you only.

b) mEne ye kiwaba Apake hI liye KarixI
I this book you only for bought
I bought this book only for you.

Interface with 'waka', 'ki', 'wo', 'BI', 'ko'
a) wApamAna aBI 40◦C waka hI pahucA hE
temperature now 40◦C upto only reached has
Temperature has reached only 40◦C.

b) kAma yahAz waka hI purA huA hE
work here upto only finished is
Work is finished upto here only.

c) jaba Apa xe rahe ho wo lenA hI padegA
when you giving then take afterall have to
When you are giving I will have to take.

d) vaha BI AyegA hI
he also come emphatic marker
He will definitely come.

e) muJa ko hI xenA
me to only give
Give to me only.

f) vaha pada wo rahI hE hI sAWa me liKa BI rahi hE
she reading with writing also
She is not only reading but writing also.

g) vaha pada hI wo rahI hE liKa wo nahI rahI
she reading only writing not
She is reading only not writng.
Sentences with BI in them if contrasted with those containing hI in them communicate alack of fulfilment or negation when hI is only limiting the boundary or extent to which the work has been completed.
Consider the following sentences.
a) XonI Kela raha hE wo Sawaka lagAega hI
Dhoni playing then century hit
When Dhoni is playing he will definitely hit century.
b) XonI Kela raha hE wo Sawaka hI lagAega
Dhoni playing then century only hit
When Dhoni is playing he will hit century only.

The scope of focus particles is not confined to just discourse marking or emphasizing – they have a role in disambiguation too as the above sentences show. And an optimum understanding of the focus particles, here the focus particle 'hI', will be quite useful in developing instructions for the machines too which are not endowed with disambiguation systems.
References:
Brown, Keith. Encyclopaedia of Language and Linguistics
Shapiro, Michael C. 1994. A Primer Of Modern Standard Hindi. Motilal Banarsi Dass Publishers. Delhi.
Kachru, Yamuna and Rajeshwari Pandharipande. 1983. Intermediate Hindi. Motilal Banarsi Dass. Delhi.
Subbarao, K. V. 2004. The Role of Particles and Clitics in Disambiguation.
Scott A Schwenter and Shravan Vasisth. Absolute and Relative Particles in Spanish and Hindi.
Note: All examples are in w x notations.

-- TARIQ KHAN09490036424

Focus Particle 'hI' in Hindi-Urdu Language

Deciphering focus particle 'hI' in Hindi-Urdu
Tariq Khan
safertariq@gmail.com
CALTS, University of Hyderabad
The particle 'hI' in Hindi-Urdu language is used to emphasize constituents, relate information, signal attitude and prevent ambiguity. The positioning of 'hI' adjacent to a constituent make it salient. In a discourse it contributes to the complete interpretation of utterances. And in a sentence, open for interpretation, the putting of hI serves for disambiguation. Let's consider a few sentences with hI occuring at diverse positions within them.
a) XonI hI Sawaka lagAegA
Dhoni only century hit
Only Dhoni will hit century.

b) XonI Sawaka hI lagAegA
Dhoni only century hit
Dhoni will hit century only.

c) XonI Sawaka lagAegA hI
Dhoni only century hit certainly
Dhoni will certainly hit century.

d) jo wumahe pasanda hE vahI miTAI lAyA Huz
that you like same sweet have brought
I have brought the same sweet which you like.

e) vaha WodI hI xera meM calA gayA
he short only time left
He left in a short while.

f) mEM Gara pahumca kara KAUngA
I home reach eat
I will take food after reaching home.

mEM Gara pahumca kara hI KAUngA
I home reach only eat
I will take food only after reaching home.
The position of hI decides the emphasis within an emphatic sentence. As a particle it is invariable in form and does not belong to one of the classes. And still, it has grammatical and pragmatic meaning. As its function is to give prominence to the constituents, it occurs but only once in a given sentence.

A large number of combinations is possible with the merger of pronouns and the particle hI. These combinations may refer to persons, events as well as objects. They are used to perform illocutionary functions.

Example Set One
yaha + hI = yahI 'this one'
vaha + hI = vahI 'that one'
If X = {yahI, vahI}
X AdamI AyA Wa
man had come
is + hI = isI 'this one'
us + hI = usI 'that one'
If X = {isI, usI}
X ne JagdA kiyA WA
had fought

Examples Set Two
in + hI = inahIM 'these ones'
un + hI = unahIM 'those ones'
wuma + hI = wumahIM ' you only'
If X = {inahIM, unahIM, wumhIM}
X ko Pala diyA WA
To fruits had given

Examples Set Three
aba + hI = aBI 'now'
jaba + hI = jaBI 'whenever'
waba + hI = waBI 'then only'
saba + hI = saBI 'all' (inclusive)
If X = {aBI, jaBI, waBI, saBI}
X Gara jAeMge
home go

Examples Set Four
yahAz + hI = yahIM 'here only'
vahAz + hI = vahIM 'there only'
kahAz + hI = kahIM 'wherever'
If X = {yahIM, vahIM, kahIM}
X se Karixa ke lAo
from buy bring

Examples Set Five
Such contracted forms are not possible with the following pronouns:
First person pronoun 'mE'
Second person honorific pronoun 'Apa' and
Possessive pronouns 'merA', 'werA', 'uskA' & 'hamArA'
'hI' exists independently when it is preceded by the above pronouns.
{merA hI, werA hI, uskA hI, mE hI, Apa hI}

The Hindi-Urdu word order and the focus particle 'hI'

The focus particle hI can occur at various constituent positions in a given sentence, but never in the sentence initial position. In all these positions it highlights the constituents preceded by it..

Free word order and hI
a) wumahe hI jAnA WA to mE kyuM AyA?
you only go had then I why come
If only you had to go why did I come?

b) wumahe jAnA hI WA to Aye kyuM We?
you go only had then why come
If you had to go (only) why did you come?

c) wumahe jAnA WA hI nahI to mE kyuM AyA
you go only had then why come
If you did not have to go why did I come?

d) wumahe jAnA to padegA hI
you go have to
You will have to go.


Verbal suffix –we preceding hI
Communicating the sense 'as soon as'.

a ) vaha Gara jAwe hI KAnA banAwA hE
he home reach as soon as prepare food
As soon as he reaches home he prepares food.

b) pEse milwe hI majaxura cale gaye
money get as soon as labourers go home
The labourers went home as soon as they got money.

c) Kela Kawama howe hI hamane paDAI Suru kI
Game end as soon as we studies start
We started the studies as soon as we finished the game.

Alteration with 'siraPa'
a) yaha Gara sirPa Apake liye hE
this house only you for is
This house is for you only.

b) yaha Gara Apake liye hI hE
this house you for only is
This house is only for you.

Oblique infinitive + para hI
a) usake bulAne para hI mE vahAM gayA.
His/her call on only I there went
I went there only on her/ his call.

b) wuma mere bawAe rAswe para hI calanA
you my asked path on just go
You just follow what I have asked you.

Reflexivex plus hI
apane Apa, Kuxa,
a) wuma apane Apa hI gIre We
you self fell
you fell on your own.

b) mE Kuxa hI bimAra WA
I self sick was
I was myself sick.

hI preceded by conjunctive constructions 'kara'
mE kAma Kawama karke hI sone jAuMgA
I work over finish only sleep go
I will go to sleep only after finishing the work.

With dates and time
aBI hI, Aja hI, kala hI, {days of the week/ dates}
Xoni aBI hI Sawaka mAregA.
Dhoni now only century hit
Dhoni will hit century now only.


hI preceded by 'jEse', 'vEse', 'Ese' , and 'jyoM'
a) mEne jEse hI xarvAjA KolA Apa aye
I the moment door open you came
The moment I opened the door you entered.

b) jEse mE boluM vEse hI karo
like I say same way do
Act the way I do.

c) Ese karoge wo acCA hoga
Like this do then good it will be
It will be good if you do like this.

d) jyoM hI mEne GadI xeKI Ce bajane vAlA Wa
the moment I watch look six going to be
The moment I looked at watch it was going to be six.
hI followed by negation marker nahI
a) usane nahI hI bawAyA
he not tell
He did not tell.
b) jaba Xoni Sawaka lagaegA hI nahI jitegA kEse
when Dhoni century hit not win how
When Dhoni will at all not hit century how will they win.

hI Followed by 'ke binA', 'ke sAWa' and 'ke bAxa'
a) vaha juwA pahne binA hI KelawA hE
he shoes wear not even plays
He plays without even without wearing shoes.

b) vaha sirpa apne piwA ke sAWa hI Ayi WI
she only her father with come had
She had come with her father only.

c) mE Gara pahuMcne ke bAxa hI ArAma karungA
I home reach after only rest
I will rest only after reaching home.

hI followed by defining / non defining relative clause.
a) usane hI to KAyA hE
s/he only eaten has
S/he has eaten only.

b) Wumane hI to bulaya WA
You only called had
You only had called


Scambling within a phrase containing the particle hI without altering the meaning or emphasis.
For instance:
isI jagaha pe = is jagaha pe hI
usi ke liye = usa ke liye hi
Apake hI liye = Apake liye hI
a) mEne ye kiwAba Apake liye hI KarixI hE
I this book your for only bought
I bought this book for you only.

b) mEne ye kiwaba Apake hI liye KarixI
I this book you only for bought
I bought this book only for you.

Interface with 'waka', 'ki', 'wo', 'BI', 'ko'
a) wApamAna aBI 40◦C waka hI pahucA hE
temperature now 40◦C upto only reached has
Temperature has reached only 40◦C.

b) kAma yahAz waka hI purA huA hE
work here upto only finished is
Work is finished upto here only.

c) jaba Apa xe rahe ho wo lenA hI padegA
when you giving then take afterall have to
When you are giving I will have to take.

d) vaha BI AyegA hI
he also come emphatic marker
He will definitely come.

e) muJa ko hI xenA
me to only give
Give to me only.

f) vaha pada wo rahI hE hI sAWa me liKa BI rahi hE
she reading with writing also
She is not only reading but writing also.

g) vaha pada hI wo rahI hE liKa wo nahI rahI
she reading only writing not
She is reading only not writng.
Sentences with BI in them if contrasted with those containing hI in them communicate alack of fulfilment or negation when hI is only limiting the boundary or extent to which the work has been completed.
Consider the following sentences.
a) XonI Kela raha hE wo Sawaka lagAega hI
Dhoni playing then century hit
When Dhoni is playing he will definitely hit century.
b) XonI Kela raha hE wo Sawaka hI lagAega
Dhoni playing then century only hit
When Dhoni is playing he will hit century only.

The scope of focus particles is not confined to just discourse marking or emphasizing – they have a role in disambiguation too as the above sentences show. And an optimum understanding of the focus particles, here the focus particle 'hI', will be quite useful in developing instructions for the machines too which are not endowed with disambiguation systems.
References:
Brown, Keith. Encyclopaedia of Language and Linguistics
Shapiro, Michael C. 1994. A Primer Of Modern Standard Hindi. Motilal Banarsi Dass Publishers. Delhi.
Kachru, Yamuna and Rajeshwari Pandharipande. 1983. Intermediate Hindi. Motilal Banarsi Dass. Delhi.
Subbarao, K. V. 2004. The Role of Particles and Clitics in Disambiguation.
Scott A Schwenter and Shravan Vasisth. Absolute and Relative Particles in Spanish and Hindi.
Note: All examples are in w x notations.

-- TARIQ KHAN09490036424

Deciphering Particle 'hI' in Hindi - Urdu Language

Abstract

Submitted to ICON 2008

Tariq Khan

CALTS, University Of Hyderabad

'Focus' is an intrinsic property of the 'Human Languages'. Among the variegated functions it performs are: highlighting the constituents in a phrase and sentence and relating the information between phrases. This paper deals with 'hI' as a focus particle in Hindi-Urdu language. It begins with a brief description on 'hI' as a focus particle. Next, it observes 'hI' at morphophonemic and Syntactic levels. I have used some example sentences to show the various positions it acquires in order to perform the roles assigned to it in different contexts. Then, I have attempted to show its interface with other particles like 'wo', 'ko', 'waka', 'para', 'BI' etc. My endeavour is to describe 'hI' not merely as an 'emphasizer' or 'discourse marker', but also as a tool for disambiguation. Finally, I have put a belief that, the understanding of 'hI' may prove computationally relevant, too. Specially, tasks like instructing machines how to parse Hindi-Urdu sentences and/or translate them into other language(s).

Linguistic Suicide

"Linguistic Suicide"
A New Coining for an Old Concern.
Tariq Khan
safertariq@gmail.com

Introduction:
Languages are said to be born, flourish in their life time and decay finally. "A language is said to be dead when no one speaks it any more. Its a situation when a given language ceases to have a single fluent speaker" David Crystal. However, language death is a generic term and the focus of my presentation is "Linguistic Suicide" to be exact. Suicide may easily be distinguished from death in terms of agency and autonomy. "Linguistic Suicide refers to a situation wherein parents, who are the speakers of a minority language, deliberately choose not to teach this language to their children and instead adopt a majority language in their homes" . "Linguistic Suicide occurs when an older generation of speakers dominant in a minority language adopts a majority language as the language of child rearing, thereby willfully interrupting the transmission of their language to the next generation" Beck and Lam.

Presentation Outline
After giving an introduction I have tried to explain the issue of Linguistic Suicide and Language Death in more details. For the purpose I have used the contents of David Crystal's book 'Language Death' and have also tried to incorporate from Denison 's perspective on the subject. I have assembled some commonly agreed causes for this problem and listed down the evident consequences. Keeping the sensitivity of the issue I have freely borrowed some quoted texts from the likes of David Crystal, Norman Denison , Nancy Dorian, Yvonne Lam and David Beck . There is a list of some Active Organisations followed by the Reference List at the end of this handout.

Description
The term " Linguistic Suicide" was introduced by Norman Denison in the year 1977. Denison argues that languages die not for the loss of or decay of formal rules, but instead are lost when parents cease transmitting the minority language to their children. And incidentally India which is so rich and diverse linguistically faces an equally precarious situation. Here that which is indegenous is endangered and that which is endangered is indegenous. Lets us see some queries which contemplate on Linguistic Suicide and Language Deaths:
What is Linguistic Suicide ?
How is it different from Language Death?
Why do languages have to die?
Is language death really bad or a sort of boon for humanity?
What are some of the predominant factors behind linguistic suicide?
How can we alter the situation ?
Is language death or linguistic suicide assimilating evolution of languages ?
Language is the mirror of mind. Linguistic suicide would mean curtaining over this mirror. Any reduction of language diversity diminishes the adaptation strength of our species because it lowers the pool of knowledge from which we can draw. The balancing between identity and intelligibility has failed and needs to be worked out again. This issue is significant as it is not about mere observing sound change or vocabulary preference or stylistic shifts and contextualizing them. It is about death, self-annihilation called suicide of language as well identity and with the catastrophic loss of knowledge system embodied in the languages that cease to be. Naturally, this endows with our ethical responsibility, to act in the best of out capacity.


Causes
Languages are not like people. So, its not possible to write a single cause on the death certificate for a language. Broadly speaking the causes are socio-economic and socio-psychological. Economic progress through other languages, influence of other dominant languages in the vicinity etc. However, single major factor like quest for economic prosperity is plausible but not as relevant as the effects of Educational System, Mass Media, Government's Policies and Business Environment. Some the very pressing causes are as following.
Shifting of identity.
Switching over to prestigious tongues.
Prejudice against the native tongue.
Displacement of the community.
The march of civilization.
Impact of regional media.
Negligence from the government and industries.
There is an agreement among the linguists that over half of the world's languages are moribund that is not effectively being passed on to the next generation. We are at that point of history where, within perhaps, two generation most languages will die out.

Consequences
Like the causes the consequences of Linguistic Suicide is also multifaceted. A native language is like a natural resource, it cannot be replaced once it is removed from the Earth. just as the extinction of any animal species diminishes our world, so does the extinction of any language.
Loss of identity.
Social disintegration
Lack of cultural continuity between generations.
Loss of indigenous and traditional knowledge systems.
Attack on tribal ethnicity preserved in language structure e.g. Lexicon and Grammar
Loss of repositories of ancient wisdom, worldview and philosophy of life.
Loss of tribal lore, oral literature in the form of tales, songs, ballads, epics, proverbs, riddles and myths.
"Having waited too long before undertaking to rally support for the threatened languages, we may find ourselves eulogizing extinct languages whose living uniqueness we had hoped to celebrate" Nancy Dorian.


Conservation
Language diversity, like a gene pool, is essential for our species to thrive. If we are to prosper we need the cross fertilization of thought that multilingualism gives us. To fight to preserve the dying languages may turn out to be the struggle to preserve the most precious things that make us humans before we end up in the land fill of history.
Spreading awareness.
Persuading agencies like government and media.
Activism through electronic means (digitization).
Solidarity for the organisations engaged in the acts of conservation.
Documentation of language and literature by recording digitizing etc.
Descriptive grammar with phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics highlighting the uniqueness of each language.
Involve native speakers in material production.
The list may go very long. But we in the given situations and compulsions can be at least as honest with our course as we can. This is required in order to acquire the skills being imparted perfectly.


Conclusion
Languages are dying at an unprecedented rate. There is a possibility of losing half the world's languages within next hundred years and survival of only one language in it a few hundred years hence. "Language death is a terrible loss, to all who come into contact with it. Facing the loss of language or culture involves same stages of grief that one experiences in the process of death and dying" Crystal. We don't have to be members of an endangered linguistic community to sense this grief, or respond to it. Now, given the situation we have too contrasting choices. One, we can sit back and do nothing. Are we willing to shoulder the blame for having stood by and done nothing? Alternative, we act using as many means as possible to confront the situation and influence the outcome. Among the active people and agencies there is a need for convergence of efforts and solidarity with all who are involved in the act of conservation.
List of Organisation
Ad Hoc Committee On Endangered Languages (M366050@er.uqam.ca)
Ethnologue (www.sil.org/ethnologue)
The Endangered Languages Fund, Inc (www.sapir.ling.yale.edu/~elf/study.html)
UNESCO Study of Endangered Languages (unescopv@eurosur.org)
Universal Declaration Of Linguistic Rights (ciemen@tros.es) (www.indigo.ie/egt/udhr/udlr.html)
Logosphere (logosphere@aol.com)

List of Reference
'Language Death' by David Crystal. Cambridge University Press. Year 2000.
(Available in IGML library Call No. 417.7 C88L, Accession No. 198897
'Concise Encyclopedia of Sociolinguistics' Rajend Mesthrie.
'Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics' Keith Brown.
(Volume 7, Pages 199 & 200)
'Language Loss and Linguistic Suicide' David Beck and Yvonne Lam.


Welcoming your ideas and appreciation
With Regards

Summer School Camp @ IIIT-Hyderabad.

I have been at the IIIT- Hyderabad since May 26, 2008. All it began as participation in the Summer School Camp there. There were students and faculties from various instituations like IIIT- Hyderabad, IIIT- Allahabad, IIT-Bombay, IITChennai, JNU, BHU, Indian Science Scool etc.
Overall it was a nice experience there. There were lectures and projects and presentation. There were lectures on parsing chunking and tagging. Some were easy to understand while others were extremely technical. Among the lectures, the one delivered by K.V. Subba Rao was a real treat to attend. The participants were the students of linguistics and computer sciences. As participants they were supposed to do a project under a mentor and present the same in the open symposium.
I, along with an M.A student from BHU, took a project called Comparison Of Dependency Parsers on English Sentences. Our mentor was Prashanth, a research scholar from IIIT-Hyderabad. Initially it was not a very entertaining project, however, later on when the time for presentation was approaching it transformed into a highly absorbing activity. We worked really hard and followed our own style of working. We stayed awakened the whole night on the eve of presentation. When our presentation was ready we had to share the time between us and we made a plan for it. Both of us were anxious as the presentations before us were really fantastic.
When the time came and we reached the stage Shailendra, my partner told me that he would not be able to speak anything without really stammering or collapsing. It was very late indeed. I decide to go ahead and deliver the entire presentation myself. When I climbed up the stage I realized that the paper we had prepared for the introduction also remained with. I felt it safe to admit that I was new in this field. I was happy and relieved when I saw that things were still going well. When the questions round came I wanted to curse that Italian Linguist, Leonard Laslo and Rajesh Bhatt Who teaches at Massachusetts University, Why they had to get interested into our presentation. But Lo they had some points to agree with. There was big relief when I came down the stage. It was my first presentation in Computational Linguistics (at IIIT-Hyderabad).

I AM INTERESTED IN LINGUISTICS.

I HAVE SOME ISSUES TO THINK ABOUT

AND WILL SHORTLY PUBLISH THEM HERE

Tariq Khan

I welcome one and all to my blog.
Here, I intend to share my experiences and experimentations with the Science Of Language. Besides, I will try to update this blog with the quests I have in Linguistics.
You constructive suggestions are most welcome and thanked in advance.
At present I doing my M. Phil research, at CALTS, University of Hyderabad, India.
Tariq