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Affix-based Distractor Generation for Tamil Multiple Choice Questions using Neural Word Embedding

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366 views

Shanthi Murugan & Balasundaram S R

Department of Computer Applications, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli.

Email: shanthicse9@gmail.com & blsundar@nitt.edu

 Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.16

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Abstract

Assessment plays an important role in learning and Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) are quite popular in large-scale evaluations. Technology enabled learning necessitates a smart assessment. Therefore, automatic MCQ generation became increasingly popular in the last two decades. Despite a large amount of research effort, system generated MCQs are not useful in real educational applications. This is because of the inability to produce the diverse and human alike distractors. Distractors are the wrong choices given along with the correct answer (key) to confuse the examinee. Especially, in educational domain (grammar learning) the MCQs deal with affix-based or morphologically transformed distractors. In this paper, we present a method for automatic generation of affix-based distractors for fill-in-the-blanks for learning Tamil Vocabulary. Affix-based distractor generation relies on certain regularities manifest in high dimensional spaces. We investigate the quality of distractors generated by a number of criteria, including Part-Of-Speech, difficulty level, spelling, word co-occurrence, semantic similarity and affixation. We evaluated our proposed method in grammar based Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) dataset. The result shows that affix-based distractors, yield significantly more plausible outcomes in certain grammar based questions.

Keywords: Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs), Assessment, affix-based distractors, grammar, automatic generation.

Translation of Anzaldúa’s book Borderlands in Indian language(s): A challenge in the Indian context

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288 views

Shilpi Gupta

Ph.D. Scholar, Women and Gender Studies, University of Granada, Spain. Email: shilpigupta.jnu@gmail.com

 Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.15

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This paper is a part of a project of translation of the book of Gloria Anzaldúa’ Borderlands/ La Frontera: The New Mestiza (1987) in Indian language(s). Borderlands/ La Frontera: The New Mestiza is one of the path-breaking books which came in the time when Afro-American feminism already stood in opposition to white feminism by questioning the Euro-American centric feminism. Anzaldúa started discussing Chicana feminism together with black feminism. Her book Borderlands is a painful but challenging narration of those who live on the ‘barbwire’ between Mexico and the USA. In defining the border, she goes beyond the physical meaning to its symbolic significance, and one of them is language. Language in her book has been uniquely presented as an identity that is multilingual, creolized, mestiza and subaltern language. Hence, her book is a challenge in the field of translation, especially in Indian context where languages have political, social and historical impact.  Considering the above book as a project, I would primarily discuss why this book should be translated considering the Indian context? What are the different ways in which the translation can be defined in translating a text from One-Third world to another Third world? In this process, we find it relevant to revise the language and its relations to power in a postcolonial India, taking into account caste, class, and colonial discourse. This epitome opens a debate to enter into the new political strategies which Gloria Anzaldúa propagates through her book “Nueva Conciencia Mestiza” as moving towards “new language” which could be more inclusive.

Keywords: Gloria Anzaldúa, Borderlands/ La Frontera: The New Mestiza, translation, Indian languages, postcolonial India, Politics of Language

Analysing Text for Translation: Genesis of Stylistic Categories for Comparing Language Pairs

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Sushant Kumar Mishra

Professor, Centre for French and Francophone Studies, School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Emails: sushantkmishra@mail.jnu.ac.in, sushantjnu@gmail.com

 Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.14

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Translation related issues have been explored since times immemorial in various societies of the world. Transferring language-based knowledge systems and experiences have been an exclusive faculty of the human species. Paraphrasing vs metaphrasing in translating texts have been important concerns of translators while expressing the thoughts in texts of language into another language. Should there be a politics of these two approaches being applied as per the ideological requirements? In the background of this question, we need to understand how and why the successors of Saussure continued working on the stylistic categories of expressions of ordinary language usages while often comparing the two language pairs also in the context of style and translation. The presentation aims to explore the translation theories in the context of the ideological requirements of their times and continues to understand the comparative stylistic categories of Saussure’s successors which are useful in practically translating a text.

Keywords: Stylistic Categories, Translation, Language Pairs, text, metaphrastic styles

Orality, Literacy and Translation

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Panchanan Mohanty

GLA University, Mathura. E-mail: panchananmohanty@gmail.com

 Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.13

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Though translation activities are more than two millennia old, the most significant activities in this field took place in the 20th century. To be specific, contradictory theoretical positions were taken and entirely new kinds of questions were asked in the second half of this century. Scholars like Susan Bassnett (1998) even claimed that a translation should be treated as an independent and original text. But a number of writers, translators and scholars hold an opposite view. If we consider the translation activities of the ancient western civilizations of the world, we notice that those were mostly commissioned and literal in nature. Contrary to it, the situation in India was different. Though Valmiki and Vyasa composed the Ramayana and the Mahabharata respectively for the first time in Sanskrit, the Ramayanas and Mahabharatas written later in various vernacular languages of India are adaptations or transcreations. A careful analysis of the European, Arabic, and Chinese traditions show that those were literate in comparison with the vernacular Indian tradition that was predominantly oral. This orality gave a lot of freedom to the writers in the vernacular languages in ancient India to be creative and compose new texts. Therefore, orality was the driving force for this creativity and some western scholars’ proposal that a translated text is an original text in not a new concept.

The other point I would like to make is that contrary to the popular belief, a literal translation of a literary text is also appreciated more (Newmark 1988:70-71). This position is validated in two of our case studies, i.e. Mohanty et al. (2008) and Mohanty and Sarath Chandra (2014). Therefore, I want to argue that ‘free’ translation was the mainstream in the climate of orality and not in literacy. This free trend endorsed by those scholars who treat translations as original texts is peripheral in the contemporary literate societies in which translations are usually commissioned. I will also argue that the differences between the free and the literal trends in translation are primarily due to the oral and the literate traditions that prevailed in India and in the other parts of the world mentioned above in the olden days.

Keywords: Translation Studies, Orality, Literacy, Transcreation

Editorial Introduction

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Tariq Khan1 & Priyanka Tripathi2

1Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysuru. ORCID: 0000-0003-2763-9675. Email: tariq.khan@gov.in

2Indian Institute of Technology Patna. ORCID: 0000-0002-9522-3391. Email: priyankatripathi@iitp.ac.in

 Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.12

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Language and translation are phenomena in which the splendours of human intellect abound and become easily perceptible. Perhaps, that is why language and translation are concomitants even though the symbiotic relationship between the two remains occasionally recognized and often ignored. Both language and translation have been playing an instrumental role in creating and carrying forward the access and advances of knowledge, culture, literature, science and technology. Therefore, it is natural that academic writings concerning the issues of language and translation manifest in variegated forms and gets utilized as a means of and pretext for serving different purposes by writers and translators. This issue of the journal encapsulating eight papers may serve as an example to demonstrate the diverse ways in which scholarly pursuits have engaged language and translation and the relationship of mutualism between the two. Here is a bird’s eye view:

An instance of translation necessitates not only a successful transfer of meaning from one language to another but also that of the style of it. Therefore, the instantiations of translation are examples of comparative stylistics. Panchanan Mohanty in his paper liberates translation from the rigmarole of transcreation, adaptation, literal translation etc. and advocates it to be a free text by citing various examples. According to him, the differences that lie between the free and the literal trends in India are primarily due to the oral and the literate traditions. The paper by Sushant Kumar Mishra illustrates the Indian tradition of translation and recreation of metanarrative texts and in doing so he discusses how factors such as ideology and style influence the actions and outcome of the translation. Shilpi Gupta’s paper is an outcome of a translation project. This paper contextualizes the translation of Anzaldua’s book Borderlands in Indian languages. The salient aspect of this paper is that it foregrounds the translation of a work that represents not only mixed language but also diverse perspectives. This paper offers insights about translation challenges arising due to cultural peculiarities and gaps.

Language testing and evaluation are issues that merit attention on par with language teaching and learning. In recent years, automated assessments have become very popular. Shanti Murugan and Balasundram S. R. argue that such popular advances may be easy and economical; however, their application needs to improve considerably. In this paper, the authors demonstrate how affix-based distractor generators can be more reliable especially for generating multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and cloze tests. Automated assessments have also become part of ELT classrooms where a shift towards a student-centric model has been observed. Amal Tom and Nagendra Kumar’s paper discusses the integration of technology in ELT, analyses different perspectives and approaches of individual teachers in developing and evaluating language skills and argues further on how exploring digital avenues have been complementary to traditional classroom teaching especially in the context of effects of the recent pandemic. The paper by Amritha Koiloth Ramat and Shashikantha Koudur examines the role of dictionaries in the modernization of a language. Their paper focuses on Hermann Gundert’s Malayalam-English bilingual dictionary in the context of modernization of Malayalam. Further, this paper discusses the emergence of a new Malayalam that is relatively free of Sanskrit.

The cultural aspects that remain ingrained in translation have frequently occurred in the discussions and the nuanced reading of these translations has successfully stimulated interesting debates too. The paper by Azhar Uddin Sahaji offers a biography of the word ‘noor’ and presents the changes it has undergone while transcending from Classical Arabic to modern languages such as Punjabi and Hindi. Azhar argues that in the process of translation and adaptation the word ‘noor’ has not undergone any large-scale semantic change. The value attached to this word remains unaffected while the change has mostly occurred at the level of transliteration. Febin Vijay and Priyanka Tripathi’s paper explores literature as one the most challenging genres to translate. Exploring the genre of crime/detective fiction through Abir Mukherjee’s A Rising Man enriched with rhetorical devices, puns, and idiomatic expressions the paper clearly indicates how literary genres have evolved significantly over the decades and differs depending on the theoretical framework. The discourse concerning language and translation has kept growing and adding diversity to itself thereby modifying the parameters of the representation. The advancements in various other domains of human intellect have also benefitted from this diversity and contributed to it as well. This issue of the journal stands testimony to the signifying practice of translation. It interrogates our comprehension of reading and writing and also brings to the forefront the location of textual authority along with the possibilities and challenges of translation.

Hope the readers will have a riveting experience!

Pain, Partum and Prayer: The Dis-ease of Motherhood in Early Modern English Literature

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394 views

Namrata Chaturvedi

Associate Professor, Department of English, SRM University, Sikkim. Email: namratachaturvedi.v@srmus.edu.in

 Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.04

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Abstract

This paper is a close study of early modern women’s poetry on childbirth and the imminent circumstances of maternal and foetal/infantile mortality in seventeenth century England. In tracing the development of women’s post-partum mental health from the medieval to the early modern period, this paper argues for a serious investment in literature composed as memoirs, poetry, diaries and funeral sermons as a means of understanding the trajectories and lacunae in women’s mental health in the early modern period. This study also argues for including the religious experience into any consideration of women’s post-partum health and therapeutic interventions. Lastly, it shows how affect studies have proved the recuperative potential in literature of consolation and mourning so that women’s writing begins to get recognized for its interventionist potential rather than a fossilized historical treatment as it has often received.

Keywords: Partum, Early Modern, Women, Mental Health, England

Critical Dialogue: Poetics, Self-Understanding and Health

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393 views

Richard Deming1, Justin Clemens2 & Valery Vino3

1Senior Lecturer, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

2Associate Professor, English and Theatre Studies, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

3Philosopher, Northern Rivers, Australia. Email: valery.arrows@gmail.com

 Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.11

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In the thick of the global plague, Richard, Justin and Valery agreed to hold a conversation on the topic of poetics, self-understanding, and health. An analysis and discussion of this trinity requires love of poetry and philosophy. Both supreme human practices take common root in mythology and religion, and also share a notorious categorical divide, that of reason against affect. Is this Platonic divide indeed categorical, given both practices rely on language and creativity to compose their meaning? Interestingly, the practice of poetics does not have the reputation for boosting one’s health, in the mainstream understanding of that concept. If anything, poetic practice gained notoriety for corrupting one’s mind and, possibly, life. Like philosophy? We touched on these and other classical aporia, on the political struggles in American and Australian poetry. Here is a written record of this encounter, countries and miles apart, three persons simply getting to know one another.

Key words: poetics, philosophy, conflict, self-understanding, health

Epilepsy, Forgetting, and Convalescence in Ondaatje’s Warlight

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326 views

Jan Gresil S. Kahambing

Social Science Unit, Leyte Normal University, Philippines. ORCID: 0000-0002-4258-0563. Email: jan_kahambing@lnu.edu.ph

 Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.10

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Michael Ondaatje’s Warlight (2018), his latest novel to-date, contains nostalgic elements of strangeness and cartography. In this paper, I short-circuit such themes with health under medical humanities, which heeds a Nietzschean counsel of close reading in literature. To do so, I explore the case of Rachel’s illness, namely her epileptic seizures, as an instance that drives her impetus for active forgetting and eventual convalescence. A close hermeneutical reading of the novel can reveal that both of Nietzsche’s ideas on active forgetting and convalescence provide traction in terms of what this paper constructs as Rachel’s pathography or narration of illness. Shifting the focus from the main narrator, Nathaniel, I argue that it is not the novel’s reliance on memory but the subplot events of Nathaniel’s sister and her epilepsy that form a substantial case of medical or health humanities.

Keywords:  Forgetting, Epilepsy, Health, Humanities, Nietzsche, Convalescence

Teaching Philippine Literature and Illness: Finding Cure in Humanities

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716 views

John Paolo Sarce

Lecturer, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, Philippines. Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines. ORCID ID: 0000-0003-4428-778X. Email: john.sarce@obf.ateneo.edu  

 Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.09

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Health and illness as themes are uncommonly being touched in literature classrooms. Other than the lack of interdisciplinary studies or specialists in this field in the Philippines, often teachers are also confronted with tons of materials that they are either overwhelmed to teach or find it difficult to deliver on their classes. This is the goal of this paper, help teachers gain confidence and basic knowledge of teaching literature that discusses health and illness especially at this time of history. Helping both teachers and students to understand and appreciate literature as a space for developing empathy while also honing their communicative and critical thinking skills. This paper will execute this goal by providing teachers in high school a guide in teaching literature that tackles health and illness using Philippine literature. I will translate theories and concepts from other studies into easy and clear language that teachers and students will find accessible to learn and use. And to organize this article, I will divide this into three parts the first is backgrounding and developing the framework in teaching literature about health and illness. Second, the application of the framework developed using two Philippine literature texts. And lastly, this paper will demonstrate how to teach Philippine literature that tackles health and illness using an online learning management system like Canvas or Google Classroom.

Keywords: Philippine Literature, Teaching Literature, Health Literature, Illness Literature, Medical Humanities

Dis/embodied Body: Representation of Plague in Thomas Nashe’s “A Litany in Time of Plague” and Thomas Dekker’s London Looke Backe

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Khandakar Shahin Ahmed

Assistant Professor, Department of English, Dibrugarh University. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0482-4835. Email: shahenahmed252@gmail.com        

 Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.08

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Abstract

Understanding of disease is not merely confined to the pathological perception of the somatic symptoms. Instead, a society’s understanding and management of disease may necessarily also take recourse to ideas referring outside and beyond the human body. The explanation of the plague in early modern England, an era marked by the rapid recurrence of the epidemic, is a notable event in this regard. The plague-ridden body of the early modern times is located in a state of pre-medicalization of the human body, and in the absence of a medicalized narrative, the understanding of the epidemic is not based on the somatic paradigm. The incipient state of the medical study precipitates the ground for understanding the epidemic in the light of religious discourse. From a reading of Thomas Nashe’s “A Litany in a Time of Plague” and Thomas Dekker’s London Looke Backe it can be deciphered that the plague-infected body is perceived as a site of divine justice. In interpreting the epidemic as vengeful God’s rage inflicted upon the sinful humanity, the early modern explanation disembodies the diseased body from its somatic dimension. In doing so it resurfaces the problematic dichotomies of body and soul, medical science and religion. In taking cognizance of the fact that the understanding of a disease is largely determined by the socio-cultural ‘constructs’ of the disease, this paper, through a reading of the above-mentioned works, attempts to explore how the diseased body is caught in a complex network of contesting ideas and beliefs in early modern England.

Keywords: epidemic, somatic, medicalization, gaze

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