Binary opposition

Divaso judaai na jaay chhe,
ey jahse jarur milan sudhi;
maro haath jhaali ne lai jashe,
mujh shatruo j swajan sudhi.

Na dharaa sudhi na gagan sudhi,
nahi unnati na patan sudhi;
faqat aapne to javu hatu,
are ek-mek na man sudhi.

Tame raank na chho ratan samaa,
na malo ey aansuo dhool ma;
jo araj kabool ho aatli,
to hriday thi jaao nayan sudhi.

Tame raaj-raani na chir sam,
ame rank naar ni chundadi;
tame tan pe raho ghadi-be-ghadi,
ame saath daiye kafan sudhi.

Jo hriday ni aag vadhi gani,
to khud ishwarey j krupa kari;
koyi shwaas bandh kari gayu,
ke pawan na jaaye agan sudhi.

- Gani Dahiwala.

Let us first see what is binary opposition.

Definition -

"A binary opposition is a pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning."

Binary opposition is a key concept in structuralism, a theory of sociology, anthropology and linguistics that states that all elements of human culture can only be understood in relation to one another and how they function within a larger system or the overall environment.

Gani Dahiwala is a well known figure of world of gujrati ghazals. I read some of his poetry and what i have pointed after reading several collections is that he often makes use of binary opposition in his ghazals. He stands by the non privileged side of binary and always tries to glorify it.

For example, in fourth part; he points our that his beloved person belongs to higher class but that is of no use. Its even better that he himself is some elsewhere but its good that he will sustain still till the end. In a way he says that the people who belong to upper class are for limited period of time and that is not good enough.

Plea for Practical Attitude

Hello friends. this blog is in reference to the research work titled as 'Teaching of English : A Plea for Practical Attitude' done by R. K. Singh. He is a scholarly person of institute like 'Indian Institute of Mines, Dhanbad'.

At very beginning, he emphasises upon the topic of research work -
"English is a potential national resource. It is important to develop tolerance and positive attitude towards English. Practical approaches can be adopted in the areas of its teaching by making it more need based, flexible and innovative"

In order to bring the language in practical usage, we have to give it opportunities to use language in intelligent and relevant interaction: they deserve an opportunity to think, to provide information from their world of knowledge, to express their personal opinions and to disagree wirh other people. 

Language as vehicle of Culture.

The blog is going to deal with research work done by Rekha Aslam, from University of Delhi. The work has majorly focused upon area of culture of any particular language, titled as 'Socio-culrural Dimensions of English as a second Language.'

As we all know that language is not just a medium of communication but it is vehicle of social conditions, manners, traditions, cultures etc.

One major reason why English is accepted worldwide is, it grabs the words from variety of languages. If we refer to the history of word which belongs to English vocab, we will find that the word is rooted in other languages like Latin, Greek and many more.

It also carries its own mannerisms to the others. But Rekha have focused upon the Indian culture which was depicted in English. She have worked with three popular works done by Indian English Writers. It is thus -
1) "Fire on the Mountain" by Anita Desai
2) "Nector in a Sieve" by Kamla Markandaya
3) "The Dark Room" by R. K. Narayana.

She quotes numerous examples from the texts that how some of the Indian terms are depicted as it is in our culture. And English readily accepts it.
'Other words used in the Indian novels are, in various categories : 'langur' 'bandars', (animal world), 'churail' (supernatural), 'kheer' 'kababs' 'dhal' (food items), 'rikshawala' (transport) etc.'
-Rekha Aslam.

Later on, she points out at saree, Aarati, kumkum which are very much Indian symbols to depict something. Kumkum is red powder which is generally used in pooja and Indian woman use it as a sign of her 'suhag'. In English, we may not find such appropriate word for all these things. So in order to make some sense clear, one have to use the words as it is.

From Atom to Zip

Again. Title does not stand by any sense right ?
No worries. The given post is regarding The Research work titled as - "Teaching of EST In Indian Conditions". Research scholar - R. S. Sharma comes from BHU, Varanasi (Banaras Hindu University).
The paper was presented at National Seminar on 'Linguistics & Language Teaching' in January, 1990.

As we all know that Teaching any language is not the task which covers some specific factors only. And especially when it comes to English, it covers up so many things and fields like Science, Technology, Mathematics, Life Sciences etc. And the area of research goes world wide.

At this point, English becomes the strong medium to gain the knowledge. So language must be precise, to the point, containing the proper name of terminology and symbols. More elaborative, more expressing language as Teaching for purpose of science, must be avoided.

As R. S. Sharma tries to figure out -
" These three aspects of EST teaching, namely,
1) needs analysis,
2) structure of technical English & teaching materials
3) expertise
are inter-related and each of them must be considered in the context of other two."

It becomes language of scientific research when it comes to science n technology. So in order to generate such results, one as teacher should always remain conscious about the language they are generating.

Line between dark & light.

Hey guys. Title doesn't make any sense clear right?
Don't bother. The blog stands for the research paper titled as ' Satan and Saraswati :  
 
As we know that anything on earth have so many donations to study. Similarly, English in India also have some of the sides, dimensions, plus n minuses to look upon.

We all are aware of these two characters mentioned in the title - Satan & Saraswati. Satan is villainous character of Paradise lost by Milton and Saraswati is Holly Goddess of Vidhya according to Hindu mythologies.

Yes. Though English language has been officially declared as legal language after Hindi to proceed, still it have some darker side to see. Some negative sides are there, according to Annamalai.

1) "According to the Constitution, English will be used for all proceedings in the Supreme Court, The highest court of the union and the High Courts, the highest courts of the States, until the Parliament legislates otherwise."

2) "Thus the legislative and judicial documents in the Union and in the states are bilingual in English and an Indian language with equal legal authority."

1), 2) - Annamalai.

Thus, both the language Hindi and English were given equal rights at national level. Because Hindi also at some extent, a regional language. Not all the states of India uses Hindi language to communicate. At the time any other regional language cannot be given name as national language, other regions may find problem with that. That is not the case with English language. So it can be used as common language for official and academic purposes. That is one face of English, which is good enough. (Saraswati)

At the same time, same language were described as THE LANGUAGE OF SATANS BY THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS. Those who were highly patriotic minded people, they thought English as the colonial language. And they were not ready to accept it.

another thing which we can't avoid is --

"English which began as a language of commerce in India has itself become a profitable commodity"
-Annamalai.

Without doubt, English has become the language of market and in order to get connected with world market, we need to acquire the knowledge of English. But. What if English itself becomes the key to earn? We can see that English teaching institutions are mushrooming nowadays like anything. And if we look at the price of that institutions, it keeps on increasing.

Thus. English have two or more than two sides in India.

Critiquing the research work done by Kapil Kapoor regarding 'English as Second Language'

Hello everyone!!! This blog is in response to the research paper named 'Teaching English as 'Second Language In India'. written by Kapil Kapoor, research scholar from JNU.

The very first line of abstract paper itself throws light upon the concept of paper.

"This paper argues that the concept of English as a 'second language' is not a purely pedagogic construct and has to be property understood in the larger historical, social and educational context."
- Kapil Kapoor.

We can see that language is not only the medium of communication but it also stands as cultural, social and historical document. The language carries its own costumes, traditions, manners and so on. Thus so many times, in order to understand the language, we have to understand the context in which the word is used. So, English or any other languages than our mother language, is more difficult to acquire.

English have taken the place on platform of world market. Thus it becomes very much important to learn the language. But Kapil Kapoor is also aware of the politics behind this. As he describes in his paper --

"The political purpose was clear in Macaulay's 1813 report - 'no Bengalee who undergoes this education has any respect left for anything Hindu."
-Kapil Kapoor.

Later in his paper, he describes the harm which was done to Hindi and Sanskrit as language because of English is taking place among us. We cannot surely say that by pointing out such realities he actually is favouring/defending anything or not.

At last he tries to define three term - L1, L2, & L3. And says that English actually is the Third language (L3) in India but now it have started taking place as Second Language (L2).

Thank you for reading my post carefully. :)