The phonological analysis of Tea workers' language of Sylhet

The means of communication among the workers of the tea estates in greater Sylhet, locally called 'Deshoali' Bhasha, has a lexicon that contains, among others, words of Hindi and Bengali origin. The present article includes some unfinished reflections on some aspects of the lexicon of this dialect and phonological analysis of 'Deshoali' Bhasha. Key words: Deshoali bhasha; aspect; analyzed; phonology; paradigms.DOI: 10.3329/dujl.v2i4.6906Dhaka University Journal of Linguistics Vol.2(4) August 2009 pp.173-184

Causative Constructions in Kok-Borok

Kok-Borok is the native language of the Borok people in the Indian state of Tripura and its neighbouring areas of Bangladesh. The aim of the present study is to capture the typological analysis of causative constructions of Kok-Borok, a language which belongs to the Bodo sub-group of the Tibeto-Burman language family. Our study shows that the most remarkable aspect of the causative constructions in Kok-borok is that in double causatives, the causative rI 'give' has been reduplicated in order to express 'to make somebody to do by employing a third party', which shows the language Kok-Borok's unique features if we compare this language with the other South-Asian Tibeto-Burman languages. The findings of mixed causatives show that both periphrastic and morphological devices have been employed in Kok-Borok to convey the meaning of causative constructions. Key Words: Causatives; Lexical; Morphological or Periphrastic Causatives; Kok-Borok.DOI: 10.3329/dujl.v2i4.6902Dhaka University Journal of Linguistics Vol.2(4) August 2009 pp.115-137

Identifying the English language needs of humanities students at Dhaka University

Till recently freshmen at all the departments of the Faculty of Humanities of Dhaka University compulsorily attended a centrally conducted English language skills development course titled the English Foundation Course. Since 2006 the Foundation Course was discontinued and replaced by individual courses conducted by the respective departments. However neither the English Foundation Course nor the present individual courses were designed on the basis of Needs Analysis - the primary pre-requisite of any curriculum design nor have they ever been evaluated. This article presents the findings of a formal needs analysis and evaluation conducted by the researcher. Key Words: Needs Analysis; Evaluation; Language skills and sub-skills; Course usefulness and difficulty; Classroom teaching styleDOI: 10.3329/dujl.v2i4.6900Dhaka University Journal of Linguistics Vol.2(4) August 2009 pp.59-91

A contrastive analysis of English and Bangla phonemics

Contrastive phonemics is the field of study in which different phonemic systems are laid side by side to find out similarities and dissimilarities between the phonemes of the languages concerned. Every language has its own phonemic system, which holds unique as well as common features. A language shares some phonemes with other languages, but no two languages have the same phonemic inventory. This article makes a contrastive analysis of the phonemic systems of English and Bangla. The aspects of similarities as well as dissimilarities between the two have been explored in detail. It brings into focus the inventory of phonemes of the two languages along with relevant phonetic and phonological characteristics. The vowel and consonant phonemes of the two languages have been compared with sufficient examples, making it clear where and how they are identical and different. Key words: contrastive; Bangla; English; phonemicsDOI: 10.3329/dujl.v2i4.6898Dhaka University Journal of Linguistics Vol.2(4) August 2009 pp.19-42

Monitoring the 'Monitor': A Critique of Krashen's Five Hypotheses

This article discusses Krashen's Monitor Model and the attendant five hypotheses. Since its 1977 publication, Krashen, through a series of revisions, have tried to explain the way learners acquire a second language. This article closely looks at his basic premises and the criticism they have generated to better understand both the Monitor Model and its various lacunae and biases.Key words: Affective Filter; Krashen; Language Acquisition Device (LAD); Monitor Model; Second Language Acquisition (SLA).DOI: 10.3329/dujl.v2i4.6903Dhaka University Journal of Linguistics Vol.2(4) August 2009 pp.139-146

An Overview of Concept Hyponymy in Persian: From Cognitive Perspective

In this paper the author is concerned with the role of cognitive and mental abilities of humans in the formation of hyponymy sense relation at the level of words of Persian language, additionally the importance of the role of developed image schemas in accordance with hyponymy, and also the function of some cognitive and analytical factors in the formation of these image schemas such as construal, consists of perspective (focus point and reference point), profile and scanning are so important to the author. The starting point is the study of the way of the formation of developed image schemas related to hyponymy sense relation. The author's fundamental claim is that the mentioned cognitive and analytical factors have a significant role in the formation of three developed image schemas related to hyponymy, and the mentioned schemas are given different names and they are shown through various figures as well. Next the theory of layered schemas (LST) is provided by analyzing some Persian simple structures including hyponymy. Moreover, we move towards a cognitive inter-lexical semantics in this paper by applying the proposed theory of the author (LST) on Persian linguistic data. For this purpose one example of Persian including hyponymy is analyzed on the basis of (LST). As the last step, the different stages of the formation of hyponymy sense relation between the words of Persian are shown through some cognitive figures to add a kind of consistency and support to the author's proposed program in this paper.Keywords: hyponymy; developed image schemas; cognitive inter-lexical semantics; layered schemas theoryDOI: 10.3329/dujl.v2i4.6897Dhaka University Journal of Linguistics Vol.2(4) August 2009 pp.1-18

Outlines of Bengali Phonology in the light of Generative Phonotactic

According to the theory of G(enerative) P(honotactic) (elaborated in Singh 1984, 1990), a phonemic inventory and a list of the W(ell)-F(ormedness) C(onditions) in addition to three hierarchically arranged strategies (Assimilation/ Substitution > Epenthesis > Deletion) to repair the sequences that violate these WFCs represent the essentials of a phonological description. For instance, the phonology of Panjabi, Chittagonian and Walpiri has, each, a WFC which bans the cluster /sk/ in onset. If these languages must adapt the English loan word school, then, Panjabi and Chittagonian repair it with epenthesis. In Walpiri, the word becomes /kul/ through deletion because no syllable begins with a vowel in this language, and its phonemic inventory lacks fricatives (/f/, /s/, /z/, etc.). The present is an exhaustive account of the phonology of Bengali in the light of GP. Keywords: Well-formedness conditions; Epenthesis; Deletion; Substitution; Mechanism of repairDOI: 10.3329/dujl.v2i4.6901Dhaka University Journal of Linguistics Vol.2(4) August 2009 pp.93-114

A New Process: A New Lexical Evolution

This paper attempts to describe the word formation process known as 'conversion' and a specific lexeme impact which is converted from noun to verb basically by American native speakers or news reports. But many people think that this process is to nouns and exploit them as verbs and many of such usages as impact are really disdainful. My purpose is to provide actual examples of impact taken from American newspapers and give reasons behind the functional shift of impact. As newspapers use the most standard language of time, this paper tries to show how the verb impact has established its transitive use in American Standard English, having gained more semantically emphatic force than its synonymous verb effect. Key words: word formation; American Standard English; news paperDOI: 10.3329/dujl.v2i4.6905Dhaka University Journal of Linguistics Vol.2(4) August 2009 pp.161-172

Wittgenstein's Philosophy of Language: an Introduction

The reputation of Ludwig Wittgenstein, one of the most influential philosophers of the nineteenth century is based on his studies of analytical philosophy, especially the philosophical study of logic, language, mathematics and metaphysics. His contribution to the philosophy of language is considerable. He stated his concepts and ideas in his two revolutionary books: 'Tractatus Logico Philosophicus' and 'Philosophical investigations' where he discussed the picture theory, notion of name, logical atomism, etc. among others. This article briefly describes the life of Wittgenstein, his work and his influence on our thinking. Key words: Picture theory of language; language game; Private; Public; Proposition; Metaphysics; NamesDOI: 10.3329/dujl.v2i4.6904Dhaka University Journal of Linguistics Vol.2(4) August 2009 pp.147-159

Did the Buddha Speak Pāli? An Investigation of The Buddha-Vacana and Origins of Pāli

Traditionally South and Southeast Buddhism, which we now call Theravada Buddhism, claims that the language of the Buddha is "Pali" and hence the language of their sacred texts (Tipitaka=three canons). In this essay, I investigate the notion of the Pali language by reconstructing existing Pali literatures and contemporary works on Pali studies. Among other issues, this investigation explores the following issues: the language (vacana) of the Buddha, the multilingualism and geopolitics, the home of Pali, and the origination of Pali. Key words: Buddhism; Pali language; Pali literaturesDOI: 10.3329/dujl.v2i4.6899Dhaka University Journal of Linguistics Vol.2(4) August 2009 pp.43-57