Böcker av Anvita Abbi

Globalization, by incessantly promoting uniformity, is not only destroying biological and cultural diversity but also leading to language shifts because linguistic imperialism and linguistic marginalization are two ends of the same spectrum. Linguistic Diversity in South and Southeast Asia brings together the contributions of scholars concerned with this loss from Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, and India. It is a compendium on the depleting linguistic diversity, loss of oral cultures, erosion of indigenous knowledge system, and the widening gap between dominant and dominated languages which has created a situation of linguistic apartheid in this part of the world. Interestingly, these essays also reveal that despite globalization some communities have managed to retain their languages, which must now be sustained and treasured and not allowed to die out. Documenting the first-hand experience of working with the diverse and obscure linguistic communities of South and Southeast Asia, this volume not only delves into the complexities of issues but also suggests measures to arrest the loss of languages and to revive those that are on the brink of extinction.

Meaning, being the core of the existential reality of language, need to be comprehended and analyzed, properly grasped and talked about. The first part of this book, Semantics, Stylistics and Pedagogics, is planned to strengthen our comprehension of the 'meaning' facet of language at 'isolable' level (lexical) and also at 'combinatorial' level (discoursal). The way 'meaning' is viewed and analyzed at different times and in different intellecting traditions is presented in the first three chapters which constitute the part called Semantics. The fourth chapter constitutes the second part of the book-Stylistics-dealing with the way 'meaning' is juiced out from a text. One can even say that we actually juice out meaning for a text because the meaning is actually a response from the aesthetic and cognitive capabilities of a reader. So the 'grasping' of meaning of a text is again a dynamic process comprising denotative, connotative and suggestive responses. The third part of the book is 'Pedagogics' which subsumes 'androgogics' too. Here we see how the language teacher who has comprehended and grasped 'meaning' conveys it to the student in the classroom. This conveying is actually facilitating comprehension and grasping in the minds of the students.