Volume 9, Issue 1, 2015

A natural language text stored in a corpus database in electronic version can be tagged at the part-of-speech (POS) level manually or automatically. In both cases, it has to be done carefully starting with the lowest level of hierarchy of tagset meticulously devised for a language or a language group. Once the lower level tag is selected and assigned to words, the higher level tags will be automatically identified and assigned. Although tagging of words may be done with a focus on the part-of-speech of words used in a piece of text, the long term goals should also be envisaged for developing a generic scheme that may be useful for incorporating various kinds of linguistic information easily at the later stages of text annotation. This paper argues for taking a judicious decision for tagging words with different types of information within a text following the universally accepted principles, maxims and rules adopted for part-of-speech tagging. It describes the strategies, rules and methods adopted for manual tagging of a Bengali written text corpus at the part-of-speech level following the guidelines and methods proposed in the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) suitable for the language.
Keywords: Part-of-speech Tagging, Metadata, Tagged Words.

The Two-Worlds theory is a specific result of postcolonial grids of thought that provoke us to rethink the role of English as opposed to that of the vernacular languages of India. All too often, arguments take the form of defending the vernacular and questioning the role of English. Significantly enough, a connection is drawn between the role of English and its function as a proxy for nationalism. This paper examines the theoretical frameworks that articulate such connections and raises some questions with regard to the Two-Worlds theory in Literary and Translation Studies, while charting the current intellectual milieu. Methodologically, the paper discusses underlying assumptions about concepts of culture, nationalism, colonialism and Orientalism.
Keywords:Nation, Postcolonialism, Two-Worlds Theory, IWE, Indian Literature.

The paper looks at the practice of translation in the context of the continuing cultural-linguistic hegemony of the West. Drawing on insights presented by Talal Asad and Prasenjit Gupta, the paper looks at the different manifestations of inequality that are obvious in the process of translation. The paper contends that translation studies as a discipline must take into account the socio-political context of literature and engage in greater self-reflexivity. Finally, the paper pleads for an ethical turn in translation practices.
Keywords:Translation, Politics, Globalization, Language, Power.

The purpose of this article is twofold. The first is to draw attention to a category of texts like Sita Dukham which position themselves between original texts and translations – just below original creations and much above translations (translation is used here in its restricted sense of linguistic transfer). The second is to analyze the process of re-texting which results in the formation of such texts, to establish the validity of this process and to mark its contours. The article is consequently organized in two parts. The first part fixes the context of the study and details the special aspects of the selected text, namely Sita Dukham. The second section discusses the process of re-texting.
Keywords: Literary Tradition, Sita Dukham, Re-Texts, Re-Texting, Seed Texts.

Abstract India and Iran have centuries’ old bond of socio-cultural, philosophical and mystical pursuits firmly deep rooted in the socio-ethical lives of both the countries. They have ever been a potential breeding ground for spiritual endeavours and philosophical reflections. With the advent of Islam there upon the genesis and development of Sufi movement in Iran side by side the Bhakti movement here in India brought both the nations close to each other to interact and share their spiritual gains. These two countries produced many luminaries throughout the ages immemorial. Among them Hafiz, Rumi in Iran and Tagore in India outshined their predecessors in their philosophical outlook and humanistic approach. The present article is a humble attempt to trace, find out and correlate the thread of common elements much pertinent to their works.
Keywords: Mysticism, Humanism and Philosophy.

Abstract This paper attempts to read the VIII Schedule (ES) of the Constitution of India. This is an attempt to find out the criterion for entry into the VIII Schedule and the incentives offered to the languages that are listed. The paper attempts to capture the implications of this Schedule on the multiple languages of India. The paper endeavors to find the underlying vision behind enlisting languages under this Schedule. This hermeneutic study of an appendage of our Constitution begins with the hypothesis that the VIII Schedule reflects the multilingual mind set of the people of India in general and the framers of the Constitution in particular. The text is the VIII Schedule. Primary and secondary sources are referred to read the text. The method is based on both inductive and deductive logic.
Keywords: Eighth schedule, Indian languages, Multilingualism.

The reader response paradigms in the last century have rendered radical interpretations and theorizations to the literary pursuits. The culmination of the same was witnessed in the death of the author. The reader’s issues have always also held a significant position in the deliberations of translated studies. But the translations studies have always been approached through the positions of translation as a process wherein lay the translator’s connection and role exposed to analyses with an assumption of that the reader is position and involvement is fully understood and correctly estimated by the theorists. But this positioning of the reader does not emerge through verifiable sources which is not the case with reader response practices.The present paper takes up this insufficient positioning of the reader in the translation studies through the analysis of Dawn of Dreams which is Mehr Afshan Faruqi’s translation of Abdus Samad’s Urdu novel Khwabon Ka Savera. The paper surveys the theories and paradigms of translation studies and reader-response in order to foreground the need for a strengthened and proactive interface between the two. For the paper a survey was conducted among the readers and responses were solicited through a questionnaire. The findings, suggestions and conclusion supplicate the research questions wherein lay the need to signify the reader’s role in translation studies.
Keywords: Readers, Dawn of Dreams, Translation.

Can an introduction to a text become an appeal, a warning or perhaps a statement on its own? Can it become a site of foregrounding certain uncertainties which the text stands for? This is an attempt of such an introduction to a world of words and actions, to a life which can hardly find a parallel. The paper proposes to do so by taking out three aspects of Monoranjan Byapari’s writing. First, it attempts to delve into the recent debate about the primacy of identity politics and by not trying to be judgemental about this seemingly never-ending debate, this paper will try to reflect upon it from the perspective of the novelist Monoranjan Byapari’s world. Second, this paper will focus on the complexity of identity itself by taking registered clues in the writing of Byapari where instead of the restriction of a single tone what looms large is a spectrum of identity and a man’s breaking into all of them equally. And third, this paper will be an attempt to dissuade attempts of easy linear meaning making by dissecting layers of linguistic complexity that crowds Byapari’s world of letters and imagination.
Keywords: Introduction, Monoranjan Byapari, Itibritte Chandal Jiban.

Minority communities tend to draw a blank in the national imagination. The paper explores the problems of identity crisis and the use of translation to mitigate it. A translated text like Gorkha’s Imagined: I.B.Rai in Translation, becomes a means of communicating with the ‘Other’ through literature the visibility of the Nepali community of India and thereby placing it as an integral part of the Indian nation. For the unrecognized minority, narrating becomes of fundamental importance. Translation and communication of minority texts is instrumental in restructuring the asymmetrical power relations among nations in India.
Keywords: Minority community, Gorkha’s Imagined: I.B.Rai in Translation, Translation

Translation of a text from its original language to another requires not only great skill in both languages, but also in depth knowledge of the background and culture as well. A scripture, particularly the Qur’ān, which proclaims itself as a linguistic marvel, presents a higher level of difficulty. Translating Qur’ān is different from all other texts and scriptures. The Words of God cannot be presented in any human language and it is difficult to have the formal and dynamic equivalence. A comparative analysis of different versions of translation of the Qur’ānic verse Al Nūr 24:31 related to Hijāb is attempted here. The selected translations for the study are those rendered by Yusuf Ali (apologetic and pseudo-rational), Hilali and Muhsin Khan (salafi), Abul Ala Maududi (traditional), Muhammad Asad (apologetic) and Tarif Khalidi (modern). The paper aims to explore the differences of translating the selected verse in five representative English translations. The paper looks at the various aspects of translation like ideological insertion, discourse and translation, culture and translation and formal and dynamic equivalence.
Keywords: The Qur’ān, English Translations, Discourse on Hijāb

How do we as translators who do not know the “original” language, Urdu perceive Dawn of Dreams? To us then the English text becomes the “original”. How then do we look at the author of the Urdu text, Abdus Samad and the translator/ author of the English text, Mehr Afshan Farooqi? Are we to look only at the themes in the text and their relevance to contemporary India? Abdus Samad wrote the book in 1991. Mehr Afshan Farooqi translated it in 2001. We are given to understand that she has edited the text, even omitting chapters. We cannot but read the text aware of this fact and wondering what has been left out and why. Would her choice have been determined by notions of readability, about the balancing act of a translation being readable and reading like a translation? Would it have been determined by her location as a Muslim woman in the 21st century? We have no answers to these directly as we know no Urdu. We have to depend on others’ views on these—but those are just their readings. So we have no option but to go by the English text, even as our reading may be coloured by other people’s views. At a time when we are bombarded with images of Muslims being equated with terrorists, this text becomes all the more significant. The text is not just a re-visiting of Partition, but a re-locating of Partition in the present context. It is the translating of the experiences of Muslims who are trying even today to assert their “national” identity. Our paper attempts to come to terms with some of the above issues. How do we as translators who do not know the “original” language, Urdu perceive Dawn of Dreams? To us then the English Translation becomes the “original”. How then do we look at the author of the Urdu text, Abdus Samad and the translator/author of the English text, Mehr Afshan Farooqi? Are we to look only at the themes in the text and their relevance to contemporary India? Abdus Samad wrote the book in 1991. Mehr Afshan Farooqi translated it in 2001. We are given to understand that she has edited the text, even omitting chapters. We cannot but read the text aware of this fact and wondering what has been left out and why. Would her choice have been determined by notions of readability, about the balancing act of a translation being readable and reading like a translation? Would it have been determined by her location as a Muslim woman in the 21st century? We have no answers to these directly as we know no Urdu. We have to depend on others’ views on these—but those are just their readings. So we have no option but to go by the English text, even as our reading may be coloured by other people’s views. At a time when we are bombarded with images of Muslims being equated with terrorists, this text becomes all the more significant. The text is not just a re-visiting of Partition, but a re-locating of Partition in the present context. It is the translating of the experiences of Muslims who are trying even today to assert their “national” identity. Our paper attempts to come to terms with some of the above issues.
Keywords: Dawn of Dreams, Partition, Translation, Woman translator

There are two kinds of translations, literary translations and business, other kinds of content related translations, such as telling someone what directions appear on a packet of instant noodles. There may be a few instances in which the types seem to merge. But by and large, given access to the original, one can make out the difference beyond quibble. The second type is done only in classrooms and during an introduction to a piece of writing or in business contexts where information matters and nothing else does, for someone who does not know the original language. That is a more or less literal translation, which does not have to satisfy any rigorous linguistic criteria regarding acceptability in the target language. Communicating the gist or a particular twist of the original is the motivation for such translation. The first kind of translation comprises rendering a whole text with significant human or experiential content into another language so as to become a genuine counterpart of the original in the target language and literature. There is no doubt at all that Dawn of Dreams aspires to become a translation of the first type. In fact it appears that while the original Urdu novel adopts a simple and at times even literal style of narration, the “literalness” of Dawn of Dreams is minimal and unintentional, clearly arrived at from inability to exploit or employ idiomatic English.
Keywords: Dawn of Dreams, Novel, Translation

History of translation in Odia could be studied either by surveying the major translated works in Odia chronologically or by reflecting on the development of Odia literature through translation socioculturally and politically, although both the approaches are not mutually exclusive. Translation is central to the development of Odia literature like that of any modern Indian literature. If one goes through the history of Odia literature, one can find that the quantum of Odia literature is more through translation. This essay deals with the historical account of the translation into Odia.
Keywords: History, Odia, Translation, Adaptation, Transcreation

This essay examines the imperatives of the English literature classroom in a non-metropolitan milieu and contends that bilingualism in such a setting is intellectually empowering and helps fashion, in the true spirit of literature, the empathy between the global and the local without which cultural cosmopolitanism is impossible.
Keywords: Language proficiency, Indian classroom, Bilingualism, Text, Pluralism, Translation