The Hindu Renaissance and its Apologetic Patterns

1970 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agehananda Bharati

An anthropological and linguistic analysis of the idiom of modern Hindu religious specialists and their followers, an audience which embraces all English speaking Indians and a large segment of the urban populations of India. The highly eclectic, quasi-secular and neo-Hindu ideology inaugurated by such charismatics as Vivekananda, other “Swamis” and interiorized by Indian nationalists, expresses itself in a highly stereotyped coded parlance, informed by Victorian English as well as by diffuse elements which could be described as a Hindu Protestant Ethic. Both systematic and conscious obfuscation of scriptural categories as well as complex but predictable patterns of dissimulation extending over virtually all types of cultural and social discourse—the caste-system, “superstitions,” the “scientific” base of Hinduism, political talk, etc., are adduced and investigated as paradigms of contemporary Indian parlance, which is not the grass-roots idiom, but which is gathering momentum as the forensic instrument of India's leadership and of Indian administrators, educators, and the Indian intellectuals.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sumeet M. Jaswal ◽  
Andreas K. F. De Bleser ◽  
Todd C. Handy

AbstractMisokinesia––or the ‘hatred of movements’––is a psychological phenomenon that is defined by a strong negative affective or emotional response to the sight of someone else’s small and repetitive movements, such as seeing someone fidget with a hand or foot. Among those who regularly experience misokinesia sensitivity, there is a growing grass-roots recognition of the challenges that it presents as evidenced by on-line support groups. Yet surprisingly, scientific research on the topic is lacking. This article is novel in systematically examining whether misokinesia sensitivity actually exists in the general population, and if so, whether there is individual variability in the intensity or extent of what sensitivities are reported. Across three studies that included 4100 participants, we confirmed the existence of misokinesia sensitivity in both student and non-student populations, with approximately one-third of our participants self-reporting some degree of sensitivity to seeing the repetitive, fidgeting behaviors of others as encountered in their daily lives. Moreover, individual variability in the range and intensity of sensitivities reported suggest that the negative social-affective impacts associated with misokinesia sensitivities may grow with age. Our findings thus confirm that a large segment of the general population may have a visual-social sensitivity that has received little formal recognition.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 181393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Mollica ◽  
Steven T. Piantadosi

We introduce theory-neutral estimates of the amount of information learners possess about how language works. We provide estimates at several levels of linguistic analysis: phonemes, wordforms, lexical semantics, word frequency and syntax. Our best guess is that the average English-speaking adult has learned 12.5 million bits of information, the majority of which is lexical semantics. Interestingly, very little of this information is syntactic, even in our upper bound analyses. Generally, our results suggest that learners possess remarkable inferential mechanisms capable of extracting, on average, nearly 2000 bits of information about how language works each day for 18 years.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 34-59
Author(s):  
Kazuko Matsumoto

Abstract This paper reports results from a reinvestigation of multilingualism in postcolonial Palau, conducted twenty years after the first study. The first-ever ethnographic language survey conducted in 1997–1998 highlighted the diglossic nature of Palau where English replaced Japanese as the ‘high’ language, while indigenous Palauan remained as the ‘low’ spoken language. It indicated three possible future scenarios: (a) shift from multilingualism to bilingualism after the older Japanese-speaking generation passes away; (b) stability of diglossia with a clear social division between an English-speaking elite and a predominantly Palauan-speaking non-elite; (c) movement towards an English-speaking nation with Palauan being abandoned. The restudy conducted in 2017–2018 provides real-time evidence to assess the direction and progress of change, whilst the ethnographic analysis of recent changes in language policies and the linguistic analysis of teenagers’ narratives reveal the unpopularity of Palauan as a written language and the emergence of their own variety of English.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-64
Author(s):  
Anastasia V. Sycheva

The article deals with the problem of preserving the rhyme traditional for Russian poetry in translations into English. A brief analysis of Russian and foreign linguists’ works on the theory and practice of poetic translation shows that rhyme in English poetry does not play such a significant role as it does in Russian poetry. Opinions of English-speaking readers coincide with the opinion of translators. However, adequate versions of Russian poems in English with preservation of rhymes of original verses are the preferred type of poetic translation. The article deals with the problem of preserving the rhyme, characteristic of Russian poetry, in translations into English. The purpose of this scientific research is to conduct a brief analysis of the works of Russian and foreign linguists on the theory and practice of poetic translation to reveal the role and significance of the category of rhyme in English and Russian poetry. The author pays special attention to the opinion of translators of Russian poetry into English and English-speaking readers of translated Russian lyrics in the context of preserving rhyme or deviation from it. As a result of the conducted research, the author comes to the conclusion that rhyme does not play such a significant role for foreign linguists and translators as it does for their Russian-speaking counterparts. A more attractive form of poetry for them is vers libre. Consequently, the issues of rhyme reproduction for English translators are not of paramount importance. The main emphasis is on the meaning of the translated text, not its form. Opinions of English-speaking readers coincide with the opinion of translators. In addition, the article presents summary information of the conducted comparative linguistic analysis of 275 poems by B. Okudzhava and their originals. The analysis shows that in percentage terms the number of rhymed translations from the total number of translated texts is about 40%. However, the overwhelming number of English translations of poems Okudzhava - about 60% - belongs to unrhymed translations. Nevertheless, the author of the article emphasizes the need to preserve rhyme in translations as an integral part of the Russian classical verse and believes that adequate versions of Russian poems in English with preservation of original rhyme are the preferred type of poetic translation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aisha Sayidina

Situated within the Intercultural Rhetoric (IR) framework, this study uses text linguistic analysis of Arab students’ English academic papers to investigate the transfer of the Arabic language instruction practices into ESL written texts. The analysis involves a comparison of surface linguistic features (syntactic relations and cohesive devices) in a corpus of Arab students and English-speaking students’ papers. Furthermore, the Arabic and English-speaking students completed surveys about the skills emphasized in their L1 classrooms. It is believed that the methods of writing instruction in Arabic, which are influenced by diglossia, are transferred into ESL written texts. The results show that the Arabic speaking and English-speaking students’ texts exhibit differences at the rhetorical level. The characteristics of the ESL texts are similar to Arabic native texts which suggest a transfer of L1 learned writing methods into L2 texts. The findings from the linguistic analysis and the data obtained from the surveys are discussed with reference to Arabic teaching methodology, diglossia, orality, and learning experience transfer from Arabic into English. 


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 991-1016
Author(s):  
Shameka Stanford ◽  
Ovetta Harris

Purpose In 2011, the United Nations estimated there were between 180 and 220 million youth with disabilities living around the world, and 80% of them resided in developing countries. Over the last 6 years, this number has increased significantly, and now, over 1 million people live in the Caribbean with some form of disability such as communication disorders resulting in complex communication needs (CCN). Method This publication discusses the benefits of an exploratory, descriptive, nonexperimental study on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) classroom integration training for 8 special educators in the Bahamas who work with children with CCN. Results The results of this study revealed that 100% of the participants reported the study to be effective in increasing their knowledge and skill in the area of implementing AAC into their classrooms, enhancing their ability to team teach and incorporate AAC opportunities for all students with CCN within their classrooms, and increasing their knowledge and skill overall in the areas of AAC and CCN. Conclusion The findings highlight an important area of potential professional development and training that can be replicated in other English-speaking Caribbean territories focused on AAC classroom integration training program for special educators who teach students with CCN.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 1148-1161
Author(s):  
Camilo Maldonado ◽  
Alejandro Ashe ◽  
Kerri Bubar ◽  
Jessica Chapman

Background American educational legislation suggests culturally competent speech and language services should be provided in a child's native language, but the number of multilingual speech-language pathologists (SLPs) is negligible. Consequently, many monolingual English-speaking practitioners are being tasked with providing services to these populations. This requires that SLPs are educated about cultural and linguistic diversity as well as the legislation that concerns service provision to non-English or limited English proficiency speakers. Purpose This qualitative study explored the experiences of monolingual, American, English-speaking SLPs and clinical fellows who have worked with immigrant and refugee families within a preschool context. It investigated what training SLPs received to serve this population and what knowledge these SLPs possessed with regard to federal legislation governing the provision of services to culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) communities. Method Ten American clinicians with experience treating CLD children of refugee and immigrant families in the context of preschool service provision participated in the study. Semistructured interviews were utilized to better understand the type of training clinicians received prior to and during their service delivery for CLD populations. Additionally, questions were asked to explore the degree to which practitioners understood federal mandates for ethical and effective service provision. The data collected from these interviews were coded and analyzed using the principles of grounded theory. Findings The results of this study revealed that there was a general sense of unpreparedness when working with CLD clients. This lack of training also attributed to a deficiency of knowledge surrounding legislation governing service provision to CLD populations.


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