Local Dialect Research Articles

Buku dongeng Sunda sebagai literatur budaya pada buku Roesdi djeung Misnem

Sunda dialect is a local dialect from West Java Province that has to preserve. One of the learning materials can be conveyed through storytelling. Roesdi djeung Misnem book is a classic Sunda book that contains Sunda tales. Pabukon Ngadongeng Community Book Corner provides service for this book to material storytelling. This research aims to know the Sunda storytelling book as cultural literature to children in Roesdi djeung Misnem book at Pabukon Ngadongeng Community Book Corner through analysis of story meaning, kind of storytelling, characterization reader, and storytelling as a learning language. The research method used a qualitative approach through a narrative literature review. Roesdi djeung Misnem book has 19 tales with 13 themes from the meaning story: prudence, working together, smartness, gratitude, stinginess, loving, self-measurement, arrogance, brave, trust, honesty, good attitude, and glorifying parents. This kind of storytelling consists of tales with animal and human characters. Animal tales total seven tales, and human figures tales total 12 tales. In characterization reader, Roesdi djeung Misnem book can be read to children over nine. Sunda tales in this book can train to learn the Sunda language. So, librarians or Managers of Community Book Corner can design Sunda dialect learning materials through storytelling as an activity for local dialect revitalization.

The relationship between multilingual ability and poverty in Southwest China

Abstract Language plays a pivotal role in poverty alleviation. This article aims to explore the relationship between multilingual ability and poverty in Southwest China. By adopting a mixed design, this article studies the multilingual ability, occasions for language use, and attitudes towards the importance of language of the participants, as well as the correlations between the participants’ multilingual ability and the cause of poverty in relation to monthly household income. The sample comes from the mainstream Han ethnic group and 13 ethnic minority groups in 34 border poverty counties in Yunnan, Guangxi, and Tibet. The investigation concludes that Mandarin Chinese ability and local dialect ability quantitatively influence the income of the documented households, while ethnic minority language ability and English language ability qualitatively influence their household income to some degree. It is hoped that this study will provide both theoretical and practical implications for rural language strategies in the post-poverty alleviation period and rural revitalization in China.

Lucknow: Literature and Culture

To place Lucknow in today's context, I have attempted to analyse the city's literature and culture in this paper. The paper is divided into three sections: the first gives a brief history of Lucknow up to the end of the nawabi era, focusing on events relevant to this paper; the second discusses music, drama, and poetry, especially the Lucknow School of Urdu poetry, masnavi, and marsia; and the third examines Lucknow's culture from a modern perspective. In his well-known work Guzishta Lakhnau (Purana Lakhnau in Hindi), Abdul Halim Sharar dates the beginning of Lucknow to the period when Lord Ram returned from his banvas (exile in the forest) and assumed the throne of Ayodhya. He granted his brother Lakshman this land as a jagir (estate), and Lakshman erected his home on a rise next to the river that had a deep tunnel that was rumoured to go to Sheshnag (located on the track of Amarnath cave in Kashmir). Around this raised area, a tiny settlement called Lakshman Teela—the word "teela" refers to an elevated area—was established. The unique culture of Lucknow, its secularism, refined manners, etiquette and extreme politeness in conversation lingers on albeit in a diluted form, and it is easy to recognize a person from Lucknow by the way he/she speaks, the use of a blend of Hindi, Urdu and the local dialect Awadhi, often called Hindustani language, the use of ‘aap’ even when addressing children, and the plural ‘hum’ in place of the singular ‘mai’.

Assessment of Seven Conventional Natural Drinking Water Sources in the Periphery of Chamba Town of Himachal Pradesh in India

Chamba town of Himachal Pradesh in India is renowned for its conventional natural underground drains, springs and well water sources known as Panihar, Nara and Boury in the local dialect. These are the major traditional freshwater sources for human consumption in the valley. Water is one of the most essential natural sources required for the survival of human beings. But the quality of water in these natural sources is deteriorating day by day due to the universal impact of climate change and the increasing pollutant load of unplanned human activities. The deterioration of natural water sources is a major concern to human well-being all around the world. Therefore, a study was designed for the assessment of the quality of drinking water from randomly selected seven major traditional water sources in the periphery of historic Chamba town. This paper consists of the historic importance of these water sources, the perception and perspectives of their users along with qualitative analysis of total dissolved solids, total hardness and metal salts. The qualitative and physiochemical analysis confirms that the quality of water in all these sources is still within the safe limits of drinking water with limited variation in range but requires special attention for their safe guard.

EVOLUTIONARY DEVELOPMENT OF THE GERMAN LANGUAGE AND ITS DIALECTS

The article is devoted to the evolutionary development of the German language and its dialects (Bavarian and Swabian — Alemannic). The relevance of the topic is determined by the fact that, despite the dominance of the Standardsprache on the territory of modern Germany, local dialects are also sufficiently widespread in it, which have recently gained more and more prestige, especially among young people. The purpose of this study is to analyze the linguistic features of southern German dialects (Bavarian and Swabian — Alemannic) and to identify their genetic links with the modern German language — Standarddeutsch / Standardsprache. Texts (artistic and newspaper) in the specified dialects and identical in Standarddeutsch, dialect maps (atlases) of the German language, ancient and modern dictionaries served as research material. The work uses descriptive and comparative-historical methods. The object of research is German southern dialects (Bavarian and Swabian — Alemannic). The subject of the study is the linguistic characteristics of southern German dialects and their connection with the modern German language. Using the example of the development of German dialects (Bavarian and Swabian-Alemannic) and their interaction with Standarddeutsch, it can be argued that the German language, based on the laws of linguistic synergy, is a complex open information system that is constantly developing, but at the same time preserves information about its former states, and the combination of past and present knowledge provides an opportunity to identify the future development prospects of the system. The results of the study make it possible to predict further changes in the modern German language at all its levels (phonetic, lexical, grammatical), taking into account various dialectological features that are introduced into the German language system. The obtained data on the evolutionary development of the German language and its dialects (Bavarian and Swabian — Alemannic) is of certain importance for the study and teaching of «History of the German Language», «Introduction to Germanic Philology», dialectology, as well as a practical course of the German language.

English Spelling of the Glottal Stop and Voiced Pharyngeal Fricative in Arabic Personal Names by Educated Arabs on Facebook

A sample of 560 Arab Facebook users consisting of students, faculty, schoolteachers, and other professionals with different proficiency levels in English was selected. The study analyzed how Arabic personal names on Facebook to find out how names with the glottal stop (hamza) [ʔ] and/or voiced pharyngeal fricative [ʕ] in initial, medial and final positions, with different Arabic short and long vowels before and after them are spelled; whether there are variations in their spelling; causes of spelling variations, and the spelling strategies used. Results showed that 63% of the names have an initial hamza; 10% have a medial hamza; 24% have a final hamza. 65% have one variant and 29% have two variants. Names with the highest occurrences are Eman (26); Ibrahim (18); Alaa & Ismail (17) each; and Asma (16). In some names there is a cluster of 2-3 vowels (Waeel, Ismaiel, Ismaeel, Ismaeil, Doaa Duaa). The voiced pharyngeal fricative [ʕ] in all names was substituted by a vowel as this phoneme/grapheme does not exist in English. Thus both [ʔ] and [ʕ] are represented by vowels and pronounced the same in English. 64.5% have an initial [ʕ], 30% have a medial [ʕ] and 5% have a final [ʕ]. 85% of the names with [ʕ] have one variant and 13.5% have two variants. اسماعيل has the highest number of variants (Esmail/Ismail, Ismael, Esmaiel/Ismaeil, Ismaeel) because [ʕ] ع is preceded and followed by long vowels. Some names with final [ʔ] and [ʕ] and followed by a long vowel were spelled with a single -a or double -aa. In Asma, Wafa, Haifa and Sana, [ʕ] was deleted because the spelling matches how the name is pronounced in the local dialect. In Abduh, Amro Enayah Waed, transferred the Arabic spelling system was transferred to English. [ʕ] was deleted is some names (Menem, Yakoub, Gomma) and the vowel was retained to facilitate pronunciation. An apostrophe was added in Ro’aa, Asma’a to split the vowel cluster. The study gives recommendations to help EFL students spell names with phonemes/graphemes that do not exist in English accurately and to help English speakers pronounce the English version correctly.

An Analysis of <i>the Project of Protecting Chinese Language Resources</i> Using Cooper’s Accounting Scheme

This paper utilized Cooper’s accounting scheme to analyze the policy of “the Project of Protecting Chinese Language Resources” or Yubao (中国语言资源保护工程 or 语保) to date. We suggest that the project has achieved outstanding effect on preserving Chinese regional varieties, while further work on living language protection and cultural inheritance is still in progress. In order to further implement the language protection project, we contend that: (1) humans are at the core of the linguistic ecosystem, and each element is not isolated or static; (2) “the Scientific Protection of the Language and Characters of All Nationalities” can synchronize with “the Promotion of the National Common Language”. The key lies in scientifically devising the functional division of different languages and dialects. In the recent decades, rapid economic and social development has weakened the communicative function of local dialects and, to some extent, affected the prestige and the cultures they represent. It is advocated that public confidence in local culture should be boosted through balancing regional economy and developing distinctive cultures, so that citizens can spontaneously become a living force in the inheritance of their mother tongue and culture.

Indigenous Identities, Languages and Narratives: Understanding Issues and their Representation, Survival and Continuity Across South Asia

This paper looks at an identity of a region, being synonymous to their local and indigenous languages and dialects and the paper proceeds to explain these through examples of South Asia, especially spanning the region of the SAARC (South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation) countries. This is an important factor as these languages preserve narratives, which give an insight into many aspects concerning human rights as well as issues of migrations, resettlements and various aspects of regional history. Thus, the languages and their narratives are important representations in the modern global world. The paper also looks into few noteworthy questions, which are often argued as significant in modern times e.g. – ‘Are indigenous languages endangered?’ or ‘The context of indigenous languages in the present global world’. A closer study of these queries provides answers to look at representation, survival and continuity of narratives of indigenous languages across the region and within the subtexts of these narratives, lie questions of human rights and of lives and their everyday struggles, which are oft left in oblivion from the pages of mainstream books. Thus, far from the confines of rigid urban discussions, these narratives can truly reflect issues of human rights and its sublime approach can help to connect across cultures by cutting through geographical boundaries. The paper looks at the issue through few endangered languages across the region of South Asia with few examples of narratives from each. The paper follows an extensive work of the author across the region of South Asia across 2017 till the present.

From Divided to Diasporic: Re-envisioning Italian American Texts through Transformative Translingual Practices

From Divided to Diasporic: Re-envisioning Italian American Texts through Transformative Translingual Practices

Unstressed a/o Vowels in Russian Toponyms: Sources of Variation

The article examines the sources of the unstressed a/o variation in Russian toponyms spelling. This type of variation is known from the works of previous researchers of Russian toponymy and is also presented in Russia’s State Index of Place Names (SIPN), namely in the category of toponyms requiring spelling clarification. The material of the study is constituted by toponyms from the SIPN with variation in the spelling of unstressed a/o. The sources of the study are normative legal acts of the subjects of the country and municipalities, reference books of political divisions, lists of settlements and topographic maps of the 18th–21st centuries. Using different methods of onomastic research such as the analysis of name variants, etymological analysis, geolinguistic analysis, etc., the following sources for spelling variation of toponyms are identified and illustrated with examples: the influence of local dialects, de-etymologization of toponyms, hypercorrection of toponyms, the use of practical transcription rules, oral adoption of borrowed toponyms, phonetization of toponyms. The main prerequisite for variation is the unstressed position of the a/o vowels. The influence of local dialects may affect the spelling of a toponym, particularly in the case of de-etymologization, but it is not mandatory. De-etymologization manifests itself in the loss of connection with a specific appellative or anthroponym the toponym derives from. Toponymic variation is aggravated in the case of a known variation in the spelling of the corresponding appellative or anthroponym. Hypercorrection results from the urge to render a toponym in some form that feels intuitively correct. Hypercorrection and phonetization ignore both the traditions of the use of the toponym and its linguistic origin. The use of practical transcription leads to variation in the toponyms borrowed into Russian, particularly if these have traditional spellings. In the case of oral adoption of borrowed toponyms, variation occurs because of the adaptation of unfamiliar phonemes. It is noted that variation is often complex, and de-etymologization plays a crucial role.

РАСТЕНИЯ В ТРАДИЦИОННЫХ МАГИЧЕСКИХ ПРАКТИКАХ ТВЕРСКОГО НАРОДНОГО КАЛЕНДАРЯ (ЗИМНЯЯ ОБРЯДНОСТЬ)

The article is carried out in line with the author's long–term research of Tver traditional culture and is a continuation of publications devoted to one of the most important elements of traditional calendar rites — the cult of plants [23]. The article describes a group of cultivated plants that are used in Tver calendar-agrarian ritual system. From the vast flora of Tver calendar ritual and mythological field, evidence of cultivated plants — hops and peas — were selected and systematized for the article. Folklore and ethnographic materials on each plant are grouped according to their incantation and prophetic ritual-magical functions in Tver winter rite practices, which determined the structure of the article. The expedition materials, which form the basis of this work, together with the identified printed evidence, replenish and enrich the picture of phytolatry in Tver calendar ritual tradition, allowing to see Tver ritual plant veneration as a rich tradition, preserving archaic ideological meanings. In accordance with the requirements of modern folklore studies, the materials obtained in expedition research through conversations with locals in the areas under study are presented with the highest possible preservation of the local dialect and dialect vocabulary. In addition, each testimony is accompanied by an exact indication of the informant's surname, first name, patronymic, place and year of birth, as well as the time and place of the recording of the conversation.

Museums in China: From Local Dialects to the Languages of the World

A kind of “museum boom” across China arose in the summer of 2023 after the end of the pandemic and in the wake of the increased interest of the Chinese in their history, culture and ancient civilization. Museum visitors paid special attention to the local cultures, which are closely connected not only with the languages of the peoples of China, but mostly with the numerous Chinese dialects. As it was officially pointed out in 2017, any varieties of dialect cultures are to be protected, several large-scale surveys of these cultures, along with the surveys of numerous dialects, have been carried out in the recent years. The results of the surveys are represented in a series of scientific publications and on the websites used mostly by the linguists and ethnographers. On the one hand, dialects are generally perceived by the modern educated Chinese as an important symbol of their own identity. On their initiative, a new life of dialects has begun on the Internet. On the other hand, several museums with the audio and video dialect samples have appeared in different regions. The interest of the Chinese authorities, intellectuals and the general public, however, is not limited to the written and spoken diversity of China. The country’s first Museum of World Languages was established by the Shanghai Institute of Foreign Languages in 2019.

Real-time Assamese Sign Language Recognition using MediaPipe and Deep Learning

People lacking the sense of hearing and the ability to speak have undeniable communication problems in their life. People with hearing and speech problems communicate using sign language with themselves and others. Sign language is not essentially known to a more significant portion of the human population who uses spoken and written language for communication. Therefore, it is a necessity to develop technological tools for interpretation of sign language. Much research have been carried out to acknowledge sign language using technology for most global languages. But there are still scopes of development of tools and techniques for sign language development for local dialects. There are 22 modern Indian languages and more than 19000 languages that are spoken regionally as mother tongue. This work attempts to develop a technical approach for recognizing Assamese Sign Language, which is one of the 22 modern languages of India. Using machine learning techniques, this work tried to establish a system for identifying the hand gestures from Assamese Sign Language. A combination of two-dimensional and three-dimensional images of Assamese gestures has been used to prepare a dataset. The MediaPipe framework has been implemented to detect landmarks in the images. An Assamese Sign Language dataset of 2094 data points has been generated, including nine static gestures with vowels and consonants (অ, ই, ঈ, উ, এ, ও, ক, জ, ল) from the Assamese Sign Language. The dataset was used for training of a feed-forward neural network. The model yielded an accuracy of 99%. The results reveal that the method implemented in this work is effective for the recognition of the other alphabets and gestures in the Assamese Sign Language. This method could also be tried and tested for the recognition of signs and gestures for various other local languages of India.

Dialect Representation in the Elderly Native Speakers’ Mind on the Territory of the Ilmen Lake District

The article focuses on the reception of the dialect by its native speakers, namely representatives of the older generation living on the territory of the Ilmen Lake district. Despite the fact that the introduction and imposition of standard Russian language as the only correct and legitimate version through the education system and public institutions could not completely eradicate the local dialect, it did not contribute to its prestige and positive representation in the minds of native speakers. The examples from the interviews with local residents prove that they evaluate their own dialect in axiological categories in relation to the ideal norm – codified Russian. It appears that the native speakers have contradictory opinions regarding their dialect as a reaction to the situation of unbalanced diglossia. In addition, the article analyzes factors contributing to the displacement of regional dialects on the territory of the Ilmen Lake district. The examples of the representatives’ discourse help to describe current linguistic situation in the Lake district villages, the main characteristic of which is that linguistic competences of the representatives vary.

THE HISTORY OF REPRESENTATION IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: THE GENESIS OF A NEW LINGUA FRANCA

The South Asian Subcontinent has experienced invasions from different directions. In the ancient period we see Sanskrit and Pali, Prakrit and proto -Hindi languages evolve. With the advent of the Muslim conquerors, Persian the cultural language of the Ajam, became the court and official language. There was a natural intermingling of both peoples with different language tradition and a local dialect first called Hindavi emerged. The word Urdu meant Cantonment in Turkish. Where exactly in South Asia Urdu began to be used and recognized has become a matter of scholarly contention, which is traced here. The British invasion and the subsequent foundation of Fort William in Calcutta in 1800 led to the dissemination of both Urdu and Hindi and the political interplay of languages. This article delves into the role of the colonial power in promoting a language or a set of languages. It further dilates as to how lending a religious veneer to a certain language by design can further bolster its power positioning, particularly if the language is common among the lower denomination of the economic strata. Urdu was variously known as Hindavi, Deccani and the later more exalted epithet; Urdu i Mualla. The Islamization of Urdu and the Sanskritization of Hindi unravel efforts aimed at bifurcating languages along socio-religious lines preponderantly by the colonial agency. Thus, the apparent patronage for indigenous languages on the part of the Orientalists turned out to be a colonial venture driven by the ulterior motive to prolong colonial foothold in the Indian Subcontinent and to mitigate chances of rebellion. The article deliberates upon the making of a new lingua franca in the then Subcontinent which was home to a host of multicultural and multiethnic communities. Keywords: Lingua Franca, Hindavi, Urdu i Mualla, Deccani, Fort William College, Multicultural, Multiethnic, Sanskritizarion, Islamization, Marginalization.

French Language as a Major Factor in the Development of Enugu State of Nigeria

The linguistic apparatus of a people is in no small way one of the determinants of what they achieve on developmental issues. This is not only limited to their own local language or dialects but the extent to which they embrace other languages of international standard like French. Enugu state, as the unofficial headquarters of the south-eastern part of Nigeria, has shown an open hand for meaningful investors who sometimes come armed with a wonderful linguistic tool. Thus, the Alliance française of France came at a time when Nigerians were thirty for a new linguistic escapade to embellish the country's land border operations with their neighboring francophone countries; Benin republic, Togo, Cameroun, Ivory Coast, Gabon, etc. Hence the establishment of Alliance française in the country and Enugu state as a French language institute in 1959. In light of the foregoing, the researchers have come up with their biggest question: How has the entrance of French language aided in the development of Enugu State? The responses to the problem would be accompanied by an empirical research that provides, to an extent, the claims of some of the Enugu residents. This question made the researchers observe that since many Enugu residents were of the opinion that studying French has helped in boosting their Academic profiles, overcoming some immigration difficulties, and linking them with the outside world for business purposes, undoubtedly, it becomes clear that the coming of French language in Enugu has done more good than harm because it has helped in human development which according to the research stands out as the best form of development on earth. Finally, the research is an addition to the already researched works on the effects of French language studies on Igbo States, especially Enugu, which serves to a great extent as the epicenter of the Igbo nation.

Features of Slavization of Oikonіms in the Peripheral Lithuanian Dialect

The article aims to analyze the peculiarities of the Slavization of place names – oikonyms – of the Voronovo district (Belarus) based on names of places of residence collected from the living language of the inhabitants. The aim of the study is to determine what possible ways of Slavization of oikonyms are characteristic of this continuation of the Southern Aukštaitian dialect outside the Republic of Lithuania. The study takes into account the sociolinguistic situation of the region, which influenced the formation of toponyms of the research area. Since the 20th century, the ethnic and linguistic situation in the vicinity of the Voronovo district changed dramatically. From the bilingualism of Lithuanian and Belarusian, there was a transition to exclusively Slavic languages: Belarusian, Polish, and Russian. The characteristics of the Slavization of the oikonym were influenced by the different rates of Slavization in the surrounding areas.Oikonyms are translated into another language in two ways – by translation and word-of-mouth. Therecorded examples of translation show that when translating Lithuanian oikonyms into the local Belarusianpoprostu dialect, the same gender and number are kept. Interpretive rendition is considered the main method of Slavization of oikonyms, which can be based only on morphological equivalents: prefixes, suffixes, and endings. A prefixed way of rendering oikonyms is not productive. Suffixing is the most complex form of morphological adaptation. The following rule is consistently followed: the vowels of the Lithuanian suffix acquire a phonetically well-chosen counterpart in the Belarusian suffix, but other elements of the suffix are already combined according to morphological, not phonetic, criteria. The limb rendering group is the largest. This method is the closest to phonetic rendering.

Folklore of the Polish-Ukrainian Borderland in the Studies of Mikhał Łesiów (On the Occasion of the 95th Anniversary of Birthday)

The article is based on a review of the published works of Ukrainian folklore by the Polish scholar Mikhał Łesiów (1928–2016), who is known primarily as a Slavic studier and dialectologist. He is the author of scientific works in the history and culture of language. Studies dedicated to folklore, inter-ethnic contacts, folklore aspects of linguistic interaction on the Polish-Ukrainian borderland occupy a significant place in his scientific heritage. He is also the author of the studies representing folklore materials from the Lublin region and Podlasie. In the 1950s M. Łesiów, while collecting dialect material, has recorded casually oral literature from the inhabitants of the Podillian village of Stara Huta in Buszacki County. These people have been relocated to the territory of the Western Voivodeships of Poland to the villages of the Szczecin Voivodeship (now it is the West Pomeranian Voivodeship) in the 1945–1946. Collected factual material has been published in a number of the researcher’s studies. Cohabitation over the centuries has influenced the folklore of both ethnoi. Ukrainian oral literature has become an integral part of the spiritual culture of Poles, who have incorporated a number of systemic features of the local dialects and Ukrainian folklore into their speech. Characterizing the situation of folklore usage on the Polish-Ukrainian borderland, the scholar has concluded that the works of oral literature continue partially to function among the representatives with a conscious belonging to both Polish and Ukrainian people. These works can have Polish, Ukrainian and even mixed linguistic form. Regardless the language in which folklore texts are performed, they have become the property and common ownership of the borderland cultural space. The existence of linguistically mixed folklore texts is one of the main external distinguishing features determining the specific identity of the culture of the Polish-Ukrainian borderland. Folklore bilingualism is a consequence of borrowing, as well as the fact of two-way translation of works, where certain sentences, phrases or separate words have been preserved in the original state.

Research Partnerships and Guidance in Academic Global Ophthalmology.

Research Partnerships and Guidance in Academic Global Ophthalmology.

Idiolekt Jana Drewnickiego – analiza wybranych cech językowych

The main purpose of the article is to analyse the personal language (idiolect) of Jan Drevnitski - a well-known Belarusian ethnographer, folklorist, great educator and human being from the village of Kutski ( Myadzel district, Minsk region in Belarus). The interviews, fragments of which are presented in the article, were collected over a period of 8 years (2010–2018), I also noted down free discussions with the interlocutor and his thoughts. This made it possible both to present the identity profile of the ethnographer and to characterise his personal language. Among the selected idiolectal aspects were phonetic, lexical, word-forming, morphological and syntactic elements. The analysed interview fragments included in the text present: 1) characteristic articulation, accent and intonation; 2) rich vocabulary: in addition to the Belarusian literary language that Drevnitski used every day, his speech contains dialect words, colloquial words, borrowings from Polish or Russian; 3) word-form peculiarities; 4) interesting grammatical forms, characteristic of the local dialect; 5) specific syntax. Each of the aforementioned elements contributes to an individual, unique language and style, through which a person's personality manifests itself.