Inde Research Articles

Direct articulatory observation reveals phoneme recognition performance characteristics of a self-supervised speech model

Variability in speech pronunciation is widely observed across different linguistic backgrounds, which impacts modern automatic speech recognition performance. Here, we evaluate the performance of a self-supervised speech model in phoneme recognition using direct articulatory evidence. Findings indicate significant differences in phoneme recognition, especially in front vowels, between American English and Indian English speakers. To gain a deeper understanding of these differences, we conduct real-time MRI-based articulatory analysis, revealing distinct velar region patterns during the production of specific front vowels. This underscores the need to deepen the scientific understanding of self-supervised speech model variances to advance robust and inclusive speech technology.

Disfluency annotated corpora for Indian English in technical domains

Disfluency annotated corpora for Indian English in technical domains

Ecological Imperialism and Indigenous Resistance: A Postcolonial Ecocritical Analysis of Selected Indian English Novels

This paper examines the representation of environmental degradation and critique of postcolonial development paradigms in two contemporary Indian English novels: Amitav Ghosh's The Hungry Tide (2004) and Indra Sinha's Animal's People (2007). Employing a postcolonial ecocritical framework, the study analyzes how these works articulate the environmental consequences of development in India, challenge Western models of progress, and highlight indigenous environmental perspectives. The research reveals that both novels effectively portray multi-faceted environmental issues, from biodiversity loss in the Sundarbans to long-term impacts of industrial pollution in urban areas. They offer pointed critiques of anthropocentric development models while presenting indigenous knowledge as a valuable alternative for sustainable human-nature relationships. The study contributes to postcolonial ecocriticism by demonstrating how Indian English literature engages with and critiques the environmental costs of postcolonial development. It underscores the potential of literature to provide nuanced, culturally-specific insights into complex environmental issues, challenging dominant narratives and proposing alternative visions of progress.

“Can I become a tree?”: Plant Imagination in Contemporary Indian Poetry in English

Abstract Indian poetry in English has a deep engagement with plant imagination from its beginning. The discourse of plant imaginary, however, is never monolithic here. The early poems often use trees either as symbols or semantic entities. In other words, the representation of ontological identity of a tree is largely ignored in early Indian English poems barring a few remarkable exceptions. But contemporary Indian English poetry looks beyond the anthropomorphic vision of a tree and portrays plant subjectivity and plant agency. The depiction of a symbiotic relation between the human world and the arboreal world is also at the centre of this poetry. Some poems speak of plant personhood and even human aspiration for becoming a tree. The present paper critically reads the relevant poems of poets like Toru Dutt, Keki N. Daruwalla, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Gieve Patel, Dilip Chitre, Temsula Ao, Sumana Roy, Paresh Tiwari, Kiriti Sengupta among others, and explores all these issues from the perspectives of Critical Plant Studies. The paper also examines how Indian poetry in English is at times implicated in didacticism when it critiques the unprecedented botanical loss in the Anthropocene.

Digital Migration Infrastructure in return-writing: visualizing the migration landscape of India.

Digitization has carved out the migration patterns of immigrants over the recent years of increased technological interventions in human mobility. Migration infrastructures, which typically refer to the physical, commercial, humanitarian, and governmental modes of operation, are multidimensional in nature. Digital infrastructures are equally important to the physical ones as digital technologies facilitate these migration processes through agents like hardware, software, and mediating actors. Amongst the multiple forms of migration, the concept of return-writing and nostalgia-struck-returnees encompass individuals whose life trajectories run parallel to the homeland. The narrative of return to the homeland emerges aβs a dominant motif in literature due to the rising trends of globalization, the writers' reflection on their own migrant experiences, and publishing trends meeting the demand of the global book market. The objective is to assess the role of digital migration infrastructures in return migrations to India through a close reading of the selected texts and review of postcolonial literary theories by using conditional operation in Python. The study here explores the varied nuances of return migration with a primary focus on the external conditions of travel in migration literature. The paper aims to analyze the genre of return-writing in Indian English literature, through three novels over a period of two decades, i.e., from 2000-2023. The selected texts, beginning with Amit Chaudhuri's A New World (2000), Gun Island (2019) by Amitav Ghosh, and Devika Rege's novel Quarterlife (2023), offer a panoramic view of return migration. These novels are extensive in the time period of technological interventions and in depiction of return migration. The Python code examines the extent of existence of a set of digital migration infrastructure keywords by analyzing the content of the novels and creates bar plots and charts to offer a visual representation of the classification results. The resulting trend traces the increased intervention of Digital Migration Infrastructure in the recent migration literature.

Marginalisation and Portrayal of Women Characters in Indian Diasporic Writings: A Study of Jhumpa Lahiri and Bharati Mukherjee

Most authors of post-colonial diasporic origin tend to write in a formulaic fashion. Inviting readers from all over the world, they use methods as varied as stream of consciousness, immigration, magic realism, alienation, and the capacity to adjust to a new area and culture. The literary world has taken notice of Indian literature in English because of the depth and relevance of its subject matter. The contemporary trend in Indian writing in English is unparalleled, despite the fact that outstanding literary works written in English were discovered a century ago. Numerous authors have gained widespread recognition on both a national and international scale. Some of the most well-known Indian authors of the modern era did not even grow up in India. Modern Indian English literature found a strong ally in India's female authors. They have shed light on many of the ongoing problems that women have had to deal with for centuries. Women who have stepped out to demonstrate their efficacy in numerous fields have been met with resistance from patriarchal culture. An identity crisis does not arise from one specific event or cause. A person's identity crisis may have been brought on by a number of different things.

Crossing Borders Between Languages: The Great Transition of Hindi Literary Translation with Special Reference to Geetanjali Shree’s Tomb of Sand

The surging number of Hindi speakers in recent decades raises an intriguing question: does the expanding influence of Hindi across India lead to the commensurate pan-Indianization or globalization of its literature? Despite its widespread use within the country, Hindi literature often remains overshadowed by Indian English literature (IEL), particularly on the global stage. It appears to be somewhat confined within regional boundaries. However, a transformative event occurred in 2022 when Geetanjali Shree, a Delhi-based Hindi novelist, clinched the prestigious International Booker Prize for her work, Tomb of Sand, originally titled Ret Samadhi in Hindi. The prize was equally shared between Geetanjali Shree, the writer, and Daisy Rockwell, the translator. With this award, Tomb of Sand has emerged as a symbol of Hindi literary translation, heralding a significant transition in the Hindi literary translation scene. This paper aims to explore the challenges and prospects of Hindi literary translation in the era of the great transition, focusing specifically on the translation methods and strategies employed in Tomb of Sand. Through this analysis, I intend to contribute to the ongoing scholarly discourse concerning the promotion and appreciation of Hindi literature in international literary circles.

Exploring Media Perspectives: Coverage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in Leading Indian English Newspapers

In September 2023, Indian politics witnessed two significant events: the transition from the 96-year-old parliament building to a new one in Sansad Marg Area and the passing of the Constitution 128th (Amendment) Bill, 2023—the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam. Women’s Reservation Bill, which passed with an overwhelming majority in both the Houses of the Indian Parliament (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha), culminates several previous attempts. The journey of this bill began in 1996, followed by attempts in 1998, 1999 and 2008, with a 2010 bill passing in Rajya Sabha but lapsing in Lok Sabha. At the time of its passing, around 15% of Lok Sabha members were women, a record high. This historical context is crucial to understanding the significance of the bill and its impact on Indian politics. As a powerful influencer of public opinion, the media responded to the Women’s Reservation Bill with praise and criticism, reflecting the diverse public opinion. Some hailed it as a revolutionary step, while others dismissed it as an ‘election jumla (lofty promise)’. The bill’s delayed applicability and the perceived neglect of OBC reservations sparked controversy. This study examines how the news media framed the Women’s Reservation Bill, using content analysis of six leading English newspapers in India: The Times of India, Hindustan Times, Hindu, The Indian Express, The Pioneer and The Statesman. The researchers identified various frames, including informational, political, policy and conflict that the media used to shape public perception and understanding of the bill. The newspaper coverage intensified from September 19 onwards, offering a mix of news stories, analyses and graphical representations, reflecting the complexity of the bill and the public discourse surrounding it.

Comparison of listening efforts in typically developing children and children with central auditory processing disorders

ObjectivesThe study's main objective was to compare Listening Effort (LE) in children with central auditory processing disorder [(C)APD] and typically developing children in quiet and at −2 and −6 dB SNR conditions. And to determine the relationship between LE and auditory processing abilities in children with (C)APD. MethodsThe study included 30 children (15 typically developing children and 15 diagnosed with (C)APD) aged 10–12 years. LE was measured using a dual-tasking paradigm. The primary task required the child to repeat the words. The second task required the child to click the mouse based on the image displayed on the laptop's screen. The primary task was done at quiet, −2 dB SNR, and −6 dB SNR conditions. LE was correlated with dichotic CV, duration pattern test, speech perception in noise - Indian English, and gap detection test in children with (C)APD. ResultsA mixed ANOVA was performed with LE in various conditions as the within-subject factor and group as the between-subject factor for both repetition and reaction time. The study found that LE repetition and reaction time had a significant main effect across conditions and groups. The correlation results revealed a significant relationship between LE reaction time with dichotic scores and GDT thresholds only at −2 dB SNR and −6 dB SNR conditions. There was no significant correlation between other auditory processing abilities and LE under different conditions, such as quiet, SPIN-IE, and DPT at −2 dB SNR and −6 dB SNR. ConclusionThe study emphasizes the importance of cognitive abilities for adequate listening comprehension in challenging situations. As a result, assessing LE in this population may provide additional information for developing therapeutic activities and assisting the child in overcoming listening difficulties.

Reclaiming Voice and Agency through Resistance in Meena Kandasamy's Poetry

One of the leading voices of Indian English Literature, Meena Kandasamy is a candid activist, fierce poet, critically acclaimed novelist, and noteworthy translator of the current era. As a writer, she excels in the stark portrayal and deconstruction of caste and gender-based violence in contemporary Indian society. Her poetry reflects aggressive resistance towards oppressive hierarchy promoted by the champions of casteism and cultural supremacy. With her unique and raw style, she covers the shocking atrocities engineered against underprivileged beings in her poetic collections like Touch and Ms Militancy. She deftly examines sexual politics and unapologetically questions the norms of a male-dominated society. With blatant rawness, she dissects the power dynamics of patriarchy and challenges certain taboos & stereotypes about femininity. This paper examines how her poetry seeks to reclaim the voice and agency of the silenced and underprivileged women, destined to live on the fringes. It explores the fierce spirit of resistance in her discourse of subversion. It also traces how she reinterprets and dismantles the instruments of colonization and constructed dominance of the female body by the power institutions of patriarchy.

A multifactorial approach to war and corruption metaphors in South Asian Englishes

AbstractThe present paper provides a corpus‐based study of war and corruption metaphors in South Asian Englishes (specifically Indian English, Bangladeshi English, Nepali English and Pakistani English). Considering the highly news‐relevant nature of these concepts, the South Asian Varieties of English corpus (SAVE2020) serves as the database. In an initial step, we outline the source domains at different levels of schematicity used to construe war and corruption, revealing the salient domains at location and person. By pursuing a multifactorial approach, this study aims at answering the question whether the choice of source domain is governed by the sociolinguistic factors gender and variety, and intra‐linguistic factors, for example, length and semantic prosody of the metaphor‐related words. It furthermore investigates whether multifactorial analyses, which are still a novelty within research on metaphor variation, constitute a suitable methodological approach. By doing so, our research demonstrates the need to complement this quantitative approach with a qualitative one that offers a more fine‐grained description of the source domains used to structure metaphorical concepts like war and corruption.

Parentheticals in spoken Indian and Sri Lankan English

AbstractWhile an increasing number of studies into the pragmatics of world Englishes indicate that sociobiographic factors—such as the speakers’ age or gender—influence pragmatic choices, most empirical investigations do not include sociobiographic information beyond said speaker characteristics. This study investigates parenthetical I assume/believe/feel/ guess/suppose/think in the spoken parts of the Indian and Sri Lankan English components of the International Corpus of English to answer the question of to what extent parenthetical function, that is, expressing either the speaker's opinion or insufficient knowledge, is influenced by structural, contextual and sociobiographic factors. Based on 1265 parentheticals, the results of multifactorial statistical analyses indicate that the speakers’ educational background and additional languages spoken at home are important predictors for the choice of parenthetical function. Therefore, the study calls for the inclusion of wide‐ranging sociobiographic factors (and combinations thereof) in the description of pragmatic speaker choices in world Englishes.

CONTINUITY IN THE DISCOURSE ON THE PROMOTION OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE FROM THE 19TH CENTURY UNTIL NOW

The article compares the documents defi ning the priorities of the UK language policy in relation to the English language. The study is relevant for understanding the prerequisites and principles of language planning. The object of the study is the offi cial discourse that substantiates the spread and promotion of the English language. Research methods include conceptual-textual analysis, retrospective-diachronic and comparative methods. The key document that recorded the essence of the language policy of the British Empire was the “Minute on education in India”, prepared by Thomas Babington Macaulay in 1835. Macaulay carried out political technological manage-ment of the process of spreading the English language, which was called upon to enlighten the Asians. In 2010, the report “English Next India” by David Graddol was published, which made the case for maintaining the position of the English language training industry. A comparative analysis shows signifi cant strategic continuity between these documents, which is also confi rmed in the actions of the British Council as a conductor of British language policy abroad. Both works make the case for the importance of English in the Indian educational system. Macaulay argues that English should become the main language of education in India as it provides access to information and educa-tion and facilitates economic linkages. Graddol, in turn, emphasizes that introducing English into every classroom and every home in India will signifi cantly improve the country’s prospects in all areas. In 2008, Gordon Brown, then Prime Minister of Great Britain, expressed his commitment to spreading the English language around the world, which he believed could boost the UK economy by billions of pounds. As part of this strategy, the British Council launched a program to recruit “master trainers” to improve the skills of 750,000 English teachers. However, despite British commercial interest in the Indian and other English language markets, there are concerns about the mono-lingual paradigm promoted by proponents of English-medium education. This paradigm may lead to restrictions on the use of national and minority languages and potentially have a negative impact on multilingual education

EVOLUTION OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN INDIAN WRITING THROUGH THE POSTCOLONIAL LENS

English as a language has undergone many fundamental and linguistic changes over the ages. From Old English, or Anglo-Saxon that was spoken in England and Scotland in the early Middle ages, to the Middle English, which underwent a lot of changes after the Norman conquest until the late fifteenth century. English saw many changes during the Renaissance all through to the modernist period to finally become what it is today. English, consequently, emerged as a language that is ever-changing in nature, a language that adapts and accommodates all. One such evolution in the language can be seen through the postcolonial experience of the former British colonies. The adoption of English in India, like other colonies, was a result of the Raj. Indian writing in English emerged as an honest enterprise that has turned out to be a new form of Indian culture and voice that has been adopted and adapted by the native people. Indian writers- poets, novelist, essayists and dramatists, have been making great contributions to world literature while gaining immense recognition and fame. It has achieved independent stature in world literature. Subsequently, the use of English became essential for postcolonial writers as it works towards the enlightenment of both the colonizer and the colonized about the ‘Self and the ‘Other’. This paper attempts to highlight the evolution of the English language by navigating through the postcolonial narrative of writers who have not only adopted the language but also have changed it

Lexical Changes in Indian English: A Case Study of Novel “One Indian Girl”

Lexical Changes in Indian English: A Case Study of Novel “One Indian Girl”

Saleem Speaks, the Nation Listens: A Historical and Literary Exploration of Child Narrators in Indo-Anglian Fiction

ABSTRACT While the use of child narrators or child focalization in Indian English adult fiction has slowly gained prominence since the publication of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, it remains an understudied and relatively under-theorized trope. This research paper seeks to trace the history and development of this motif, from its roots in ancient Indian literature to its contemporary manifestations. It examines how child-focalized adult novels offer a unique perspective on India’s cultural and political identity during and after independence, providing a valuable space to revisit and reexamine history. By examining key works and authors, including R.K. Narayan, Mulk Raj Anand, Salman Rushdie, and Arundhati Roy among others this study addresses the central question of how the child’s voice emerged as a powerful narrative force in Indo-Anglian novel. In doing so, it argues that the presence and centrality of the child narrator in Indian English adult fiction is a significant and innovative contribution to the genre.

ZOOMETAPHOR AS THE СORE OF EXPRESSIVENESS IN POLITICAL MEDIAAND INTERNET-DISCOURSE

The paper analyzes the use and translation of zoometaphor in political media and Internet discourse. Translation of zoometaphors is discussed based on an English fable about the Donkey, Tiger and Lion. The research has revealed that in British English the word donkey metaphorically objectivizes the semes of ‘pomposity’ and ‘stubbornness’; in American English, like in Russian, the semes of ‘stupidity’ and ‘stubbornness’. However, the Chinese English discourse reveals a new meaning - ‘humbly doing hard work’, which is similar to the Russian derived verb ishachit ‘to drudge’. Meanwhile, a Chinese English context can be either negative and positive when the semes ‘without tiredness’ and ‘perseverance’ are activated. The word lion creates a metaphoric image due to the semes ‘power’ and ‘majesty’. British and Indian Englishes, as well as Chinese English reveal one more meaning - ‘power guard’. The word tiger as a metaphor has traditionally activated the semes of ‘danger’, ‘aggressiveness’, and ‘force’, but nowadays in the Asian context it has the positive seme ‘rapid development’ and the negative ‘high-ranking corruption’. The article compares the participation of these words in making phraseological units used in the political discourse and points to the challenges they present in translating to Russian. The paper concludes that it is a cultural underpinning that causes most problems in translating pluricentric English.

Examining identity crisis in Samina Ali’s Madras on Rainy Days

An identity crisis, a term devised by Erik Erikson, is a phase of rigorous study of different means of looking at oneself. Modern Indian English writers have been in the pursuit to restore order and meaning in their lives, especially the women. Women writers have presented their women protagonists as the one who are taking control of their lives, eventually, with or without the support of their family. Samina Ali is one such writer, who explores the identity of her characters in a Muslim community. The novel, Madras on Rainy Days determines the identity of a contemporary Muslim woman protagonist, Layla who is torn between her liberated life in the USA versus her controlling life in India. She faces several difficulties as she cannot be her independent self. She’s forcefully married to Sameer, whose real identity is revealed later by the end of the story. In search of her own home and identity, Layla chooses to stay in India as a brave and enlightened single woman rather than moving out to free America with her gay husband. This paper tends to discover in the text that how a character deals with the fluctuating notion of identity, by breaking free from the shackles of the dominating society. Keywords: Examination, Identity, Women, Self-expression, Modernization, Liberation

Mythology Meets Modernity: Urban Settings and Mythological Characters in Indian English Literature

This paper explores the intricate relationship between ancient Indian mythology and contemporary urban settings in Indian English literature. It examines how authors such as Ashwin Sanghi, Amish Tripathi, Samit Basu, and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni reimagine mythological characters within modern contexts. This trend not only revitalizes traditional narratives but also addresses pressing societal issues, acting as a cultural bridge between India’s mythological past and its urban present.

Postcolonial Identity and Cultural Hybridity in Indian English Novels: A Study of Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy

Postcolonial Identity and Cultural Hybridity in Indian English Novels: A Study of Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy