Word Order in Indian Languages


Book Description

Papers presented at the National Seminar on "Word Order in Indian Languages" organized by the Centre of Advanced Study in Linguistics, Osmania University.




The Syntax of Spoken Indian English


Book Description

This book offers an in-depth analysis of several features of spoken Indian English that are generally considered as 'typical', but have never before been studied empirically. Drawing on authentic spoken data from the International Corpus of English, Indian component, the book focuses on the domain of discourse organization and examines the form, function and distribution of invariant tags such as isn't it and no/na, non-initial existential there, focus markers only and itself, topicalization and left-dislocation. By focusing on multilingual speakers' interactions, the study demonstrates conclusively that spoken Indian English bears all the hallmarks of a vibrant contact language, testifying to a pan-South Asian 'grammar of culture' which becomes apparent in contact-induced language change in spoken Indian English. The book will be highly relevant for anyone interested in postcolonial varieties of English, contact linguistics, standardization, and discourse-pragmatic sentence structure.




Word Order in Sanskrit and Universal Grammar


Book Description

This monograph owes its existence to certain puzzles in universal grammar and the theory of language which led the author to an investigation of word order in Sanskrit and its possible analyses and descriptions. Not unexpectedly, the raw material was found to be too vast for a first-hand treatment even to be attempted. Rather surprisingly, however, its inter pretations by Indian and Western theorists and grammarians turned out to be so greatly at variance, that an analysis of these interpretations seemed rewarding. Accordingly, theoretical issues within the framework of generative grammar had to be faced anew, and alternative solutions suggested them selves. In this connexion the Sanskrit grammarians proved not only in spiring but positively helpful. This book may invite the accusation that it wilfully mixes disciplines. There were alternatives: one could try to write a history of the subject; or construct a merely formal edifice, leaving it to others to test its adequacy; or else one could make the notorious attempt to stick to the facts, which is not only unilluminating but also bound to fail. Any such self-imposed restrictions seemed to conflict with the original intent. And so it was decided not only to make available the results of the investigation into Sanskrit word order, but also to introduce a theory of universal grammar to account for these and other results.




Learn Hindi: Sentence Structure Made Easy


Book Description

Learn Hindi: Sentence Structure Made Easy is the essential guide to learning Hindi for beginners. This book is a step by step course designed specifically for learners who are from an English speaking background. The main emphasis throughout the book is word order. It is vital for an English speaking person who wants to learn Hindi to focus not only on pronunciation and vocabulary but also on learning how to order those new words into a sentence. The explanation of grammar is simple and easy to understand. Each lesson builds on the previous lesson in a logical order and provides practical exercises so that the student can immediately apply what is being taught.




On the Origin of Languages


Book Description

Arguing that the prevailing conception of historical linguistics is flawed, the author presents a series of linguistic studies which demonstrate that all extant human languages share a common origin.




NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING


Book Description

This book presents a Paninian perspective towards natural language processing. It has three objectives: (1) to introduce the reader to NLP, (2) to introduce the reader to Paninian Grammar (PG) which is the application of the original Paninian framework to the processing of modern Indian languages using the computer, (3) to compare Paninian Grammar (PG) framework with modern Western computational grammar frameworks.Indian languages like many other languages of the world have relatively free word order. They also have a rich system of case-endings and post-positions. In contrast to this, the majority of grammar frameworks and designed for English and other positional languages. The unique aspect of the computational grammar describes here is that it is designed for free word order languages and makes special use of case-endings and post-positions. Efficient parsers for the grammar are also described. The computational grammar is likely to be suitable for other free word order languages of the world.Second half of the book presents a comparison of Paninian Grammar (PG) with existing modern western computational grammars. It introduces three western grammar frameworks using examples from English: Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG), Tree Adjoining Grammar (TAG), and Government and Binding (GB). The presentation does not assume any background on part of the reader regarding these frameworks. Each presentation is followed by either a discussion on applicability of the framework to free word order languages, or a comparison with PG framework.




Language Conflict and Language Rights


Book Description

As the colonial hegemony of empire fades around the world, the role of language in ethnic conflict has become increasingly topical, as have issues concerning the right of speakers to choose and use their preferred language(s). Such rights are often asserted and defended in response to their being violated. The importance of understanding these events and issues, and their relationship to individual, ethnic, and national identity, is central to research and debate in a range of fields outside of, as well as within, linguistics. This book provides a clearly written introduction for linguists and non-specialists alike, presenting basic facts about the role of language in the formation of identity and the preservation of culture. It articulates and explores categories of conflict and language rights abuses through detailed presentation of illustrative case studies, and distills from these key cross-linguistic and cross-cultural generalizations.




Theoretical Approaches to Disharmonic Word Order


Book Description

This book considers the implications of cross-linguistic word-order patterns for linguistic theory. One of the salient results of Joseph Greenberg's pioneering work in language typology was the notion of a 'harmonic' word-order type, whereby if the verb appears at the left or right edge of the verb phrase, other heads (e.g. prepositions, nouns) also tend to do so. Today, however, there is recognition in both the typological and generative literature that very many, and possibly even the majority of languages, fail to be fully harmonic in the sense that all head-complement pairs pattern alike. But does this imply limitless variation? The chapters in this volume, written by international scholars, discuss the issues arising from this basic question, drawing on data from typologically distinct disharmonic languages, including Mandarin Chinese, Basque, Mócheno (a Tyrolean variety spoken in Northern Italy), French, English, Hixkaryana (a Cariban language), Khalkha Mongolian, Uyghur Turkic, and Afrikaans. The volume begins with a substantial introduction to the study of word order and its relation to linguistic theory. It is then divided into sections on the nature of disharmony; the role of prosody; the question of Antisymmetry and novel alternatives to Antisymmetry; and the Final-over-Final Constraint. Aside from introducing new empirical findings, the volume also offers a range of new perspectives on disharmonic word orders, the status of word order in linguistic theory, and theoretical accounts of typological gaps.




Basic Word Order (RLE Linguistics B: Grammar)


Book Description

This book examines the frequencies of the six possible basic word (or constituent) orders (SOV, SVO, VSO, VOS, OSV, OVS) provides a typologically grounded explanation for those frequencies in terms of three independent, functional principles of linguistic organization. From a database of nearly 1,000 languages and their basic constituent orders, a sample of 400 languages was produced that is statistically representative of both the genetic and areal distributions of the world’s languages. This sample reveals the following relative frequencies (in order from high to low) of basic constituent order types: (1) SOV and SVO, (2) VSO, (3) VOS and OVS, (4) OSV. It is argued that these relative frequencies can be explained to be the result of the possible interactions of three fundamental functional principles of linguistic organization. Principle 1, the thematic information principle, specifies that initial position is the cross-linguistically favoured position for clause-level thematic information. Principle 2, the verb-object bonding principle, describes the cross-linguistic tendency for a transitive verb and its object to form a more tightly integrated unit, syntactically and semantically, than does a transitive verb and its subject. Principle 3, the animated principle, describes the cross-linguistic tendency for semantic arguments which are either more animate or more agentive to occur earlier in the clause. Each principle is motivated independently of the others, drawing on cross-linguistic data from more than 80 genetically and typologically diverse languages. Given these three independently motivated functional principles, it is argued that the relative frequency of basic constituent order types is due to the tendency for the three principles to be maximally realized in the world’s languages. SOV and SVO languages are typologically most frequent because such basic orders reflect all three principles. The remaining orders occur less frequently because they reflect fewer of the principles. The 1,000-language database and the genetic and areal classification frames are published as appendices to the volume.




Hindi: An Essential Grammar


Book Description

This text provides a reader-friendly guide to the structural patterns of modern standard Hindi. Ideal for both independent learners and classroom students alike, this book covers the essentials of Hindi grammar in readable, jargon-free sections. Key features include: sections on the speech sounds of Hindi detailed analysis of Hindi sentence structure full examples throughout.