Hindi Stories: A Dual Language Reader for Area and Advanced Language Students. Translated by Usha Saksena Nilsson. Madison: South Asian Language and Area Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison (Publication Series, No. 1), 1975. xix, 324 pp. Glossary, Abbreviations, Vocabulary, About the Authors. $3.00 (paper).

This paper focuses on the linguistic work of John Gilchrist (1759–1841), one of the first British grammarians to produce a detailed and systematic study of the language known in the 18th century as ‘Hindustani’. An interesting feature of Gilchrist’s grammatical texts is the fact that, within the framework of a grammatical account of a South Asian language, they often include short passages discussing contemporary problems in the analysis of English. In these passages, Gilchrist engages directly with the work of writers such as John Horne Tooke, Samuel Johnson, Robert Lowth, and Thomas Sheridan, taking up a position in relation to their work and drawing upon his research on Hindustani to support or challenge their analyses of English. In one typical example, discussed in this paper, he mobilises evidence from his own work in support of Thomas Sheridan’s innovative account of the vowel in words such as mine and thine, an analysis that characterises this sound as a diphthong rather than a simple articulation. In the light of Gilchrist’s later visibility as a political radical, some commentators have seen his allusions to Horne Tooke as evidence that his linguistic work has a demonstrably radical character. However, the diversity of the thinkers with whom Gilchrist engages suggests that it is better to interpret his interventions in the analysis of English as attempts to build a reputation as a scholar, not only in the colony but in the metropolis as well. As such, the passages in which Gilchrist discusses the nature of English can be seen as political in the sense that they helped him to find a platform from which he could voice his radical ideas. But they do not always constitute a radical account of the language itself, their importance lying in the opportunities they offered for self-promotion and, indeed, self-transformation.

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Resources for South Asian Language Studies in the United States

10.9783/9781512814897 ◽

1960 ◽

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

South Asian ◽

The United States ◽

Language Studies ◽

Asian Language

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Fundamentalism, Revivalists, and Violence in South Asia

American Journal of Islam and Society ◽

10.35632/ajis.v6i2.2684 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 345-349

Author(s):

Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo

Keyword(s):

South Asia ◽

South Asian ◽

Religious Fundamentalism ◽

Sufficient Evidence ◽

Asian Religions ◽

University Of Wisconsin ◽

Human Situation ◽

Contemporary Reality ◽

Role Of Religion

The volume under review is essentially a collection of papers presentedat a two-day workshop on the changing division of labor in South Asia heldat the University of Wisconsin in 1984 at which the two major themes werethe emerging role of women; and the “increasingly violent role of religion.”IThe latter theme became the subject of this book.Concerning this subject, the editor, Dr. Bjorkman, writes:“If, then, you have been perplexed about the chronic religiousviolence in contemporary South Asian states, you need search nofurther for relief. The following chapters examine, explore, andexplain aspects of religious fundamentalism, self-righteousrevivalists, and murderous mayhem among the four major faithsof South Asia."Then, evincing his concern for the human situation in the area, and hisown obviously painful experiences there, Dr. Bjorkman continues:“. . . one may justifiably conclude that a no-win situationcharacterizes the South Asian mosaic. Contemporary reality isdepressing, if not gruesome; the daily documentation of death anddestruction, cruelty and carnage, is sufficient evidence thereof?Candidly assessing the objective of his work, Dr. Bjorkman states:“The aim of this book is to uncover some of the socio-politicaltruths disguised by the frequent invocation of “fundamentalist” and“revivalist” claims in contemporary South Asian religions.”And in order to prepare the reader for what lies ahead, the learned editoradds:“One can come away from this volume wringing one’s hands indespair at the utter hopelessness of human foibles. Or one cancatch glimpses of truth and possible points of leverage by whichthe certain slide into anarchy might be arrested and even reversed.Sigmund Freud once wrote: ‘The truths contained in religious doctrinesare after all so distorted and systematically disguised thatthe mass of mankind cannot recognize them as truth (Freud1928 :78) .“Thus, before moving on to even the editor’s introductory chapter, theinterested reader, in the sense of his or her faith or allegiance to one or theother of the four major religions of South Asia, will begin to feel queasyat the prospect of what lies ahead. Many such, I suspect, will put the volumedown and start wringing their own hands at the utter hopelessness of humanfoibles in the guise of Western academic treatments of Eastern affairs of thespirit. But no, gentle reader, dismay not; the volume is not your averagewitch hunt. On the contrary, as food for thought it is immediately engaging,and as an opportunity for self-exam ...

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Plagiarism in higher education across nations: a case of language students

Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education ◽

10.1108/jarhe-09-2020-0309 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Majid Farahian ◽

Farnaz Avarzamani ◽

Mehrdad Rezaee

Keyword(s):

University Students ◽

Cultural Differences ◽

Initial Section ◽

Academic Misconduct ◽

Background Information ◽

Asian Students ◽

Content Type ◽

Language Students ◽

Level Of Understanding ◽

Asian Language

PurposeMany scholars have recognized the cultural dependency of the concept of plagiarism and have investigated the influence of cultural attitude on university students' plagiarism; however, since the findings are inconsistent and because plagiarism is a major concern in academic institutions in Asia, we were motivated to examine the understanding and prevalence of plagiarism among Canadian and some Asian language students.Design/methodology/approachTo elicit the data, the questionnaire developed by Maxwell et al. (2008) was adapted for this study. The scale included three sections. In the initial section, the students' background information was inquired. Section two included 10 scenarios, all of which consisted of two levels; understanding and experience. Section three of the scale consisted of five open-ended questions. In fact, the questions intended to complement the survey findings. Finally, in the fourth section, five yes/no questions were asked. Because the respondents could evade answering some open-ended questions, we developed five questions with yes/no answers in order to probe deeper into the participants' answers.FindingsThe results showed significant differences among the participants concerning both understanding and prevalence of plagiarism. Most of the differences were between Canadian and Asian students in that Canadians had a higher level of understanding. They also enjoyed a lower rate of incidence of plagiarism. Nevertheless, further analyses revealed that the students' academic misconduct is probably influenced by other factors including lack of proper education rather than cultural differences.Social implicationsThe findings lead us to argue that cultural differences may not be the main source of the prevalence of plagiarism across nations and that Asian language university students plagiarize mainly due to a lack of understanding of the principles of plagiarism. Therefore, Asian universities should take measures to make sure that they promote language students' understanding regarding the misconduct.Originality/valueApart from a few studies, no other study has scrutinized plagiarism across cultures. As such, our study attempted to shed more light on the student, especially language students' plagiarism across different nations.

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