Academic literature on the topic 'Hindi language'

This WINISIS Training Manual in Hindi language contains three self-learning modules: WINISIS â A Practical Guide; Creating Web Interface for CDS/ISIS Databases using GenisisWeb; and Publishing CDS/ISIS Databases on CD-ROM using GenisisCD. These self-learning modules are the outcome of the Advanced Workshop on CDS-ISIS for Windows, held at the Thapar University on 14-18 May 2007. The Training Manual covers all aspects of WINISIS: installation of software, creation of the database, database operations, customization of search interfaces and display formatting language. Advanced features, such as hyper-linking, web interfacing, full-text document processing and automation of libraries, are also present in this document. Target audience of this Manual is library professionals working in academic, special and public libraries as well as students of library science courses. The Manual will also be helpful to small organizations, which are building digital archives in local library setup or on CD-ROMs. After practicing the laboratory exercises given in the Manual, the learners will be able to install WINISIS software and its web application tools GENISIS; create and manage bibliographic or full-text databases. This Manual is particularly useful in the South Asian region, where availability of training material in local languages is crucial for providing public information services with the help of free and open source software (FOSS).

A production study is presented that investigates the effects of word order and information structural context on the prosodic realization of declarative sentences in Hindi. Previous work on Hindi intonation has shown that: (i) non-final content words bear rising pitch accents (Moore 1965, Dyrud 2001, Nair 1999); (ii) focused constituents show greater pitch excursion and longer duration and that post-focal material undergoes pitch range reduction (Moore 1965, Harnsberger 1994, Harnsberger and Judge 1996); and (iii) focused constituents may be followed by a phrase break (Moore 1965). By means of a controlled experiment, we investigated the effect of focus in relation to word order variation using 1200 utterances produced by 20 speakers. Fundamental frequency (F0) and duration of constituents were measured in Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) and Object-Subject-Verb (OSV) sentences in different information structural conditions (wide focus, subject focus and object focus). The analyses indicate that (i) regardless of word order and focus, the constituents are in a strict downstep relationship; (ii) focus is mainly characterized by post-focal pitch range reduction rather than pitch raising of the element in focus; (iii) given expressions that occur pre-focally appear to undergo no reduction; (iv) pitch excursion and duration of the constituents is higher in OSV compared to SOV sentences. A phonological analysis suggests that focus affects pitch scaling and that word order influences prosodic phrasing of the constituents.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2002.<br>Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xxiii, 252 p.; also includes graphics. Includes abstract and vita. Advisor: Shari Speer, Dept. of Linguistics; Richard Lewis, Dept. of Psychology, University of Michigan. Includes bibliographical references (p. 240-252).

We introduce and discuss a number of issues that arise in the process of building a finite-state morphological analyzer for Urdu, in particular issues with potential ambiguity and non-concatenative morphology. Our approach allows for an underlyingly similar treatment of both Urdu and Hindi via a cascade of finite-state transducers that transliterates the very different scripts into a common ASCII transcription system. As this transliteration system is based on the XFST tools that the Urdu/Hindi common morphological analyzer is also implemented in, no compatibility problems arise.

Bibliography: pages 308-318.<br>Although Indian languages have existed in South Africa for the last 125 years, there are no academic studies of any of them - of their use in South Africa, their evolution and current decline. Many misconceptions persist concerning their names, their structure, and status as 'proper' languages. This thesis deals with the history of one such language, Bhojpuri (more usually, but incorrectly, referred to as "Hindi"). I attempt to trace the origins of the South African variety of this language by examining the places of origin of the original indentured migrants who brought it to South Africa. A complex sociolinguistic picture emerges, since these immigrants came from a very wide area in North India spanning several languages. I also attempt to describe the early history of Bhojpuri in South Africa as a 'plantation' language. Subsequent changing patterns of usage are then detailed, including phonetic, syntactic, lexical and semantic change. The influence of other South African languages - chiefly English, but also Zulu, Fanagalo, and other Indian languages - is described in detail, as well as changes not directly attributable to language contact. A final section focusses on the decline of the language and the process of language death. From another (more international) perspective this study lays the foundation for comparisons between Bhojpuri in South Africa and other 'overseas' varieties of it, spawned under very similar conditions, in ex-colonies like Surinam, Fiji, Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad and others. Such a comparative study could well make as great a contribution to general and socio-linguistics as the study of creoles has in the recent past. Information concerning this unwritten language was gathered by field-work throughout Natal. This involved informal interviews with over two hundred fluent speakers, including four who had been born in India during the time of immigrations. The study also draws upon the author's observations on language practices as an 'inside' member of the community under study.

One of the main features of the correlative construction is the necessity of an appropriate correlate (either a demonstrative or a pronoun) in the main clause. While the syntactic features of the correlative construction are well established, the relationship between the correlative clause and its correlate remains unclear. In this dissertation, I propose that the correlative clause is the overt pronunciation of the index of the demonstrative. The correlative, therefore, does not adjoin to IP (Dayal 1996) or the demonstrative (Bhatt 2003) but enters the syntax as the indexical argument of the demonstrative phrase (Nunberg 1993; Elbourne 2008). I then turn to the adverbial correlative clause, which involves an adverbial relative phrase, and show that it is also the overt pronunciation of the index and, further, that it is interpreted as a definite description and contributes an individual of type e. Having established the relationship between the correlative clause and its correlate, I develop a new analysis of the semantic contribution of both the single headed correlative, involving one relative phrase, and the multi-headed correlative which involves multiple relative phrases. I propose that the correlative gets its interpretation through a Q particle, QCOR, which raises from the relative phrase to Spec-CP. It is QCOR which allows both adverbial and nominal correlatives to have a definite interpretation. I present new data from Hindi and Marwari which shows that the multi-headed correlative is basegenerated inside of the main clause, at the highest demonstrative or below, and denotes an ordered pair. Each member of that set is then an argument of one of the demonstratives in the main clause. Finally, if the proposed analysis is correct, then it should be follow that other types of phrases can occur in the same position. Not only is this possible in Hindi and Marwari, but sign languages and Mandarin Chinese allow overt indices as well.

This dissertation contributes to an ongoing debate on the types of linguistic features which can be acquired in a second language by looking at the multiple learning challenges related to the ergative case system (the appearance of –ne with the subject) in Hindi-Urdu by classroom learners. Some hypotheses in second language research hold that interpretable features (features which contribute semantic information) can be acquired in a second language, whereas uninterpretable features (features which express grammatical information) cannot be easily acquired, if ever. Additionally, hypotheses in second language processing hold that the second language learners are able to process semantic information but not grammatical information. This dissertation investigates at the acquisition process of second language learners of Hindi-Urdu acquiring the uninterpretable ergative case. In Hindi-Urdu, the subject of a sentence appears with the ergative case marker –ne, when the verb is transitive and in the perfective aspect. In my dissertation, I test the validity of the aforementioned hypotheses and investigate the acquisition and acquisitional process of ergative case in L2 Hindi-Urdu by L1 English speakers by analyzing data collected by using an acceptability/grammaticality judgement task, a self-paced reading task and a production task from Hindi-Urdu learners and native speakers.

A persistent interest in a particular type of Christian witness is found in a substantial amount of Hindi-language Protestant (hereafter, ‘Hindi Christian’) literature in modern India. Across a range of texts like Hindi translations of the Bible, theo-ethical works, hymns, biblical commentaries, and poems, this literature calls attention to a form of Christian witness or discipleship that both is credible and recognizable and is public. This witness aims to be credibly Christian: as I will show, Hindi Christian texts have regularly rejected a Hindu concept like avătār in favor of a neologism like dehădhāran to communicate a Christian notion of incarnation in a predominantly Hindu context. Yet, the variety of polytradition (or, shared) words found in Hindi Christian texts suggests a comfort with loose religious boundaries. The witness aims also to be recognizably Christian. For instance, Hindi Christian texts on theology and ethics persistently reflect on a virtuous Christian life with a view toward perceptions in multifaith contexts. Perceptions of Christians matter to the authors of these texts. The attention to Christian witness in such literature, then, is to a very public form of witness. A reading of the works of three prominent Hindi Christian scholars – Benjamin Khan, Din Dayal, and Richard Howell – will show how a focus on the pluralistic context of Hindi Christian witness has shaped influential texts on ethics, theology, and evangelism in Hindi. This dissertation is a first attempt in the academy of religion to study Hindi Christian texts in modern India. As a result, it seeks to achieve two goals: provide an introduction to Hindi Christian literature, and understand a prominent theme found in such literature. It is by no means an exhaustive study of Hindi Christian literature. Rather, it maps a literary landscape and subjects one trope therein to further examination. Protestant Christian literature in India has generally portrayed the purpose of Christian discipleship in two ways: by describing it as a response to salvific grace and by denying it is works righteousness. Hindi Christian texts shed light on another rationale: to present a credible and recognizable witness in a multifaith public context.

In the multilingual scenario of India, the choice of a link language has been a point of significant controversy since Independence. Alternated language policies not only haven't been successful in finding a decisive resolution of the language question, but have also left room for the controversy between Hindi and English in their role of lingua franca. In this work we will outline the development of English-Hindi bilingualism question, that, starting from post-Independence linguistic policies, has brought nowadays to a language continuum in which Hindi purism on one side, and the phenomenon widely known as Hinglish on the other, can be considered the extremes. Hinglish is a particularly interesting linguistic variety because, despite the long presence of English in India, English pressure on Hindi grew enormously in the last twenty years, thanks, also, to the economic development of India and its opening to a globalized World. Our focus, then, will be directed towards the sociolinguistic factors involved in the use of Hinglish, and towards the possible processes that make this variety so peculiar as compared to other well examined cases such as, for example, Indian English. Since its presence is remarkably evident in the language of digital media and film industry, we will analyse the main patterns of this linguistic variety through authentic material such as movie lines, magazine articles, and advertisements, in order to delineate the characteristics of a potential Hinglish speakers community.