Vol 13 No 2 2021 - Page 4

The Word ‘Noor’: Tracing a Long Journey through Translation and Adaptation from Classical Arabic to Contemporary Punjabi/Hindi Pop Songs

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466 views

Azhar Uddin Sahaji

Assistant Professor (ad hoc), Department of English, Zakir Husain Delhi College (M), University of Delhi. ORCID id: 0000-0001-8675-4716. Email: info.azharsahaji@gmail.com  

 Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.19

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Abstract

In contemporary India, through popular Punjabi, Bollywood songs, we often come across the word “Noor” (tere chehre ka noor etc.) in reference to a female beauty most of the times. We have become so familiar with the word that we almost forgot that the Arabic original word gained its immortal significance when it is mentioned in the Quran in association with the God. The exact and a fixed meaning of the of word “Noor” is not given in the Quran and perhaps, that gives an opportunity which enabled the word to travel worldwide in different languages with different significance attached to it, from spiritual Sufi literature to sensational pop music. This paper will attempt to show how the word Noor has been translated, transliterated, adopted not just literally but the spiritual and religious significances attached to it. This paper will argue that the word Noor itself has  not gone through so much of translation apart from transliteration but the significance associated with it have gone through tremendous translations in different languages and cultures. The paper will also argue that the journey of the word through different linguistic and cultural spheres have lost some of its significance as well gained significances through the process of translation.

Keywords: Noor, Translation, Adaptation, Arabic, Persian, Vernacular languages, Punjabi/Hindi Pop Songs

Of Dictionaries and Dialectics: Locating the Vernacular and the Making of Modern Malayalam

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Amritha Koiloth Ramath & Shashikantha Koudur

National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal. E-mail ids: amrithakr27@gmail.com/ sasikant@nitk.edu.in

 Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.18

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This paper looks at Hermann Gundert’s Malayalam-English dictionary at the juncture of the modernisation of the Malayalam language in the 19th century.  Gundert, the then inspector of schools in the Malabar district, saw the dictionary as the first step towards the cause of a universal education through the standardisation of Malayalam language. But what did a dictionary for all and by implication a language for all mean to the Kerala society? For centuries, much of the literary output in Kerala was in Sanskrit language, even as Malayalam continued its sway.  The diversity of the language system in Kerala navigated its way through the hierarchies of caste and class tensions, springing up new genres from time to time within these dichotomies. Like many other vernacular languages in India, the Malayalam language system remained as the society it was in, decentralised and plural. This fell into sharp relief against the language systems of modern post-renaissance Europe with its standardised languages and uniform education. The colonial project in India aimed at reconstructing the existing language hierarchies by standardising the vernaculars and replacing Sanskrit as the language of cosmopolitan reach and cultural hegemony with English. Bilingualism and translation was key to this process as it seemed to provide a point of direct cultural linkage between the vernacular Indian cultures and Europe. This paper argues that  Gundert’s bilingual dictionary features itself in this attempt at the modernisation of Malayalam by reconstructing the existing hierarchies of Kerala culture through the standardisation of Malayalam and the replacement of Sanskrit with a new cosmopolitan language and cultural values.

Keywords: Bilingual Dictionary, Colonial Language Policy, Vernacular, Education, Malayalam

Going Online! Use and Effectiveness of Online Mode of Instruction in the Teaching of English Language

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299 views

Amal Tom1 and Nagendra Kumar2

1PhD candidate, Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, IIT Roorkee, India. ORCID: 0000-0002-6072-0451 Email: amal_t@hs.iitr.ac.in

2Professor, Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, IIT Roorkee, India. ORCID: 0000-0002-8292-7947. Email: nagendra.kumar@hs.iitr.ac.in

 Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.17

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Abstract

Contemporary time necessitated the use of advanced, scientific and digital technologies to take forward the teaching-learning process uninterrupted, making teaching online effective, cheap, convenient, and an alternative to traditional classes. It has been a drastic change that revolutionised English Language classes. Unprecedented levels of digitalisation in the field of education cropped up many logistical and pedagogical problems. This research paper attempts to look into these problems through a survey, analysing the different perspectives and approaches of individual teachers in developing and evaluating language skills, developing primers and ICT tools, and using them for effective, pleasurable online language teaching-learning, making classes student-centred. It also analysed the scope of making online and traditional classrooms supplementary and complementary to each other. Certainly, there is a need for better infrastructure, training, connectivity, integration of Augmented and Virtual Reality to provide experiential learning and to cope up with emerging challenges

Keywords: Online classes, I.C.T. Tools, Evaluation, Syllabus, Teaching-Learning Process.

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

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280 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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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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Abstract:

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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Abstract:

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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268 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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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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Abstract

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

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