Inaugural Address
D.Javare
Gowda
Vice –Chancellor, Mysore University
I
am deeply grateful to Dr. Pattanayak, Director, Central Institute of Indian
Languages for his kind invitation to inaugurate this conference. I know this is
a very rare occasion which has brought together many of the staunch, devoted
and tireless workers and experts who have dedicated themselves to this great
task of disseminating knowledge and culture through the monotonous and
complicated process of collection, analysis, meaning determining and
arrangement of vocables. Having been
associated with the compilation of unilingual and bilingual dictioanries
undertaken by Kannada Sahitya Parishat and the University of Mysore respectively for over half a
decade, I am particularly happy that this conference has made it possible for
me to meet the savants representing all the important languages of India.
I congratulate Dr. Pattanayak on his excellent idea of getting most of
the workers in the field of lexicography together. I am quite sure that Dr. Pattanayak has
fulfilled a long felt need by convening this meaningful conference and I trust
that this will serve a very useful purpose by way of thrashing out often and
also by way of inculcating a sense of oneness and a feeling of common bond that
underlies all the languages of India. That the All India Writers Home
which is located in this serene atmosphere should become the venue of this
conference is a matter of great pleasure for me in particular and the
university authorities in genera.
Lexicon
or dictionary is as old as language whose ingredients are words themselves. In
the beginning it used to be transmitted from man to man and from generation to
generation through oral tradition.
Memory was the repertory of words.
Long after the script was invented, works resembling dictionaries came
into vogue. It is said that a Homeric
glossary compiled by Apollonius the Sophist in the first century A.D. is the
earliest available work with the semblance of a lexicon. Though a large body of
lexical literature has been produced both in the west and the east since then,
scholars had to wait till the middle of the 18th century to see the
birth of a dictionary lines. Samuel
Johnson’s Dictionary of the English language furnishes definitions with
examples of how writers employed words, indication their origin. The publication of the Oxford English
Dictionary in the year of 1928 marked the culminating point in the development
of lexicography.
There
was a time when the compilation of dictionaries was not considered an
honourable job, and was even looked at with disdain. The situation is very well reflected in the
following words of Johnson culled out from his famous preface to his dictionary
: “It is the fate of those who toil at the lower employments of life, to be
rather driven by the fear of evil, than attracted by prospect of good, to be
exposed to censure, without hope of praise; to be disgraced by miscarriage or
punished or neglected where success would have been without applause, and
diligence without reward.....
“Among
these unhappy mortals is the writer of dictionaries. Every other author may
aspire to praise the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach, and even
the negative recompense has yet been granted to very few”.
We
are now very far from Johnson in point of
time and position stated above
does not exist now, thanks to the pioneers of linguistic science. In modern times dictionary has become an
essential household commodity of an educated family. It is an inevitable companion or nay
modernized man. Its uses are
manifold. By being a biography of words,
it is a bridge which connects the past
and the future with the present. Words are
not merely a jumble of sounds, not merely a combination of phonemes, they are
in fact, in the words of a great poet, the footprints of the Goddess
Saraswati. They are the precursors of
knowledge and the repositories of culture.
They are, in other words, the seeds of energy and the source of
creativity. The extension of frontiers
of knowledge and the proliferation of words are interdependent. Hence the usefullness of a dictionary in the
life of any educated person need not be overemphasised.
There
are also other uses of a dictionary. It
may be referred to for checking up spelling and pronunciation; parts of speech
and inflexions, derivatives, cognates and etymologies for quotations, synonyms
and antonyms. It standardises the
language so that speakers hailing from different regions may not find it
difficult to understand each other. Bilingual dictionaries help students to
learn a foreign language efficiently.
The
uses of a dictionary will determine its definition, scope and methodology. I need not expattate on this point. There are several types of dictionaries catering to the needs
of a general reader, a specialist, a scholar, an artisan, an occupationalist
and so on. There are spelling
dictionaries, rhyming dictionaries, of difficult words, dialect dictionaries,
dictionaries of children etc., Each
differs from the other from the point of view of technique selection of
vocables, degrees of emphasis on linguistic features etc.
The
main source of materials for a dictionary are carefully edited old texts,
inscriptions, and modern literary works.
Language is never static; it is a living organism; it is always
changing; change is the sign of life. It
is true that meanings attached to words are arbitrary. Hence they too change. by usage they acquire new shades of meaning
and connotations, which are sometimes mutually contradictory. Constant borrowal and coinage enrich the
language. It is not the pandit alone
that enriches the vocabulary of a language, the carpenter, the ryot, the
labourer, the cartman, the artisan, the hawker, the newspapers, and the
scientist also contribute largely to the enrichment of the same. It is really here that the lexicographer is
faced with the vital problems of selecting words. Should all the borrowed words find a place in
the dictionary ? What is the fate of the corrupted words? Scientists and
illiterate people coin words quite arbitrarily, sometimes illogically. What would happen to these words? What about
the dialectal variations? My categorical answer to these questions is that all
kinds of words indicated above should be incorporated in a dictionary if they
are in use either by writers or layman.
I am of the firm opinion that words, either corrupted or dialectal,
should have the same status as the rest.
Any
new idea, concept or thought presupposes borrowal from a foreign language or
the coining of a new word from out of the existing material either of the
native or of the foreign source, such words may have to be treated as part and
parcel of the native language. Purism is a great danger to language
development. Borrowal of words should be
resorted to only when it is absolutely
necessary and when once they are borrowed, they should be treated as our own.
The
history of lexicography in India is rooted in the remote past, going
back to the fourth century B.C. The mastery over diction was considered as an
essential requirement of education. Each
of the ancient lexicons namely Ekakshara Nighantu, Vaidya nighantu, Nanartha
Nighantu, Oshadhi Kosa etc. was compiled with a specific purpose. Hence none of
them is exhaustive. They were not based
on historical principles.
Kannada
language does not lag behind in the field of lexicography. The earliest Kannada lexicon is Rannakanda
belonging to the tenth century A.D. The grammatical work, Shabdamanidarpana
belonging to the eighteenth century contain lists of words along with their
meanings. Since then, more than fifty
lexicons, both unilingual and bilingual have come to light. Nineteenth century saw, besides a bumper crop
of lexicons, the publication of a remarkable dictionary by Rev. F. Kittel,
based on scientific method. Perhaps it
was the best dictionary at that time in any of the Indian languages. The Rennaisance movement which was launched
by B.M.S. during the second decade of the present century has been mainly
responsible for the humming activities in the field of Kannada language and
literature. These activities, together
with Kannada having a bright prospect of becoming the medium of instruction and
administration have given an impetus for the development of lexical literature
both at the unilingual levels. The
Mysore University English-Kannada Dictionary at the bilingual level and the
Kannada Sahitya Parishat Kannada dictionary at the unilingual level mark the
beginning of a new era in the field of Kannada language.
India is a multi-lingual nation. With the attainment of freedom, the regional
languages are slowly getting their legitimate status. As a result of this, literary activities are
in the ascedance, text book production is gong on rapidly and one could notice
the upsurge of enthusiasm on the part of all concerned. These and many other events have opened up
new vistas and created unprecedented opportunities for lexicographers. The compilation of many types of lexicons
both at the unilingual and bilingual levels has to be taken up immediately of
our languages have to catch up with times. Hence the compilation of
dictionaries will have to be a quick and continuous process. Dictionaries are a prelude t the growth of
knowledge. Lack of lexicons will hinder
the progress of a nation intellectually.
Dictionary
making is not an easy task as some people wrongly think. This calls for a special knack, perseverance,
patience, industriousness, devotedness and research-ability on the part of the
compiler. HE should be a genius and a
great scholar. Anybody who just goes
through Sabda Vihara by Professor D.L. Narasimhacharya will agree with me that
the qualifications indicated above are very necessary for a successful
compiler.
Experience
shows that proper training should be given to selected candidates before they
are employed as compilers, editors or research assistants. It is high time that arrangements should be
made to introduce diploma courses in lexicography and lexicology and proper
facilities should be provided for the trainees to enable them to acquire
theoretical knowledge as well as practical experience.
I
feel that the Central Institute of Indian Languages would be a proper place for
starting this course. The Institute is
really lucky in having a dynamic person of drive and initiative and a reputed
linguist at the helm of affairs. If Dr. Pattanayak who is known for his
organisational ability is convinced of the need for such a course, I am sure
that it need not wait for long for
implementation.
I
learnt that as many as forty scholars are actively participating in this
conference, perhaps first of its kind in India, by reading papers and taking part
in discussion. I am confident that a
number of problems that the lexicographers have to face during the course f
their work will be solved quite satisfactorily.
I sincerely wish the conference all success. I hope the participants will have a pleasant
and useful time during their sojourn in this beautiful Writers’ Home.
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WELCOME ADDRESS
D.P.Pattanayak
Director,
Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore
Vice-Chancellor, Sir, Delegates to
the Conference and friends, Please permit me to welcome you all to the first
National Conference on Dictionary Making in Indian Langauges. Although dictionary making is an important
activity and considerable resource and manpower is committed to it, the
lexicographers had not up to this time met at a national level to discuss
problems relating to their craft. It is
a matter of great joy for me that the Central Institute of Indian Languages has
convened this first conference and I am grateful to all of you for responding
to our invitation in such an abundant measure.
I am sure that your deliberations during the coming days will help the
Union Government in establishing as national policy in this regard.
This beautiful campus, the All-India
Writers’ Home, has been made available to us by the University, thanks to the
Vice-Chancellor who is intent on maintaining the liberal tradition f the
University. I have no doubt that your
stay here will be comfortable. If their
is any difficulty it is beyond feasibility and not due to any intentional or
unintentional lapse on the organisers.
Dictionary to the lay reader is
omniscient and omnipresent. It is
expected to answer all question about how a word is pronounced, how it is
spelled and what is its current meaning.
A relatively sophisticated reader goes to step further and expects to
find the origin, and the history of word in addition. Nomenclatures like
‘Unabrided’, ‘Sabdamaharnava’ are products of such notion and in turn have
contributed to the perpetuation of such notion. But the fact that the
dictionary is much more than a mere word hunting is lost on the lay reader and
the pedestrian dictionary maker. Let us,
in the interest of our discipline frankly admit that dictionary making ha not
gone much beyond ameteur, adhoc and pedestrian enthusiasm.
Barring the traditional ‘Kosa’
tradition, A dictionary of the Hindustani language, English-Hindustani and
Hindustani-English by J. Ferguson in Roman characters (London 1773) is the first dictionary among the
modern Indian languages.
Grammatical remarks on the practical
and current dialect of the jargon of Hindustani, with a vocabulary, wherein are
reference between words resembling each other in sound and different in their
significations; with literal translations and explanations of the compounded
words and circumlocutory expressions, enlarged with familiar phrases and
dialogues, for the more easy attaining of the language. The whole calculated for the common practice
in Bengal Edition 3, Calcutta 1797
by Hadley George (Capt) represents in dictionary making among the modern Indic
languages. From this stage of word hunting and search for practical usages tot
he modern stage of use of computer in dictionary making is a long
distance-traversed by weary lexicographers peddling their own wares,
proclaiming their to be superior to the others.
Lack of cultural and linguistic
context is as much as problem in unilingual dictionaries as it is in bilingual
dictionaries in India. Bilingual dictionaries from one Indian
language to another are yet to be undertaken on a planned basis. The numerous bilingual dictionaries with
English as one of the languages probably are least conscious of the need of
bilingual and bicultural competence on the part of the lexicographer.
Individuals collating words from
different sources to bring out concise or pocket dictionaries often wonder at
the necessity of the study of linguistics on the part of a lexicography. That the most important task of the
lexicographer. That the most important
task of the lexicographer is to tackle problems arising out of “the mapping of
semantics into the linguistic structure” is yet to be comprehended with all its
implications. Questions like “what is a semantically primary word? ‘How is the
semantic field constituted and categorised in a specific language’? are yet to
be realised in their full import. Whether
to list base stems or derived stems, how to deal homonyms and synonyms, how to
deal with compounds and whether to list function words, how to mark
pronunciation and what aids are needed for correct spelling are questions which
require considerable amount of linguistic sophistication and insight. The individual aspirants to authorship of
dictionaries in India
unfortunately, often lack even elementary training in linguistics. As a result, in spite of our past glory in
this area, precious little, has been achieved in recent times.
So far the source material for most
Indian bilingual dictionaries have been
other bilingual dictionaries. That good
text editions are essential source of a good lexicon is yet to be
realised. In most Indian languages manuscript
editing is considered to be an antiquarian activity and lexicography is seldom
seen to be related with it. Similarly
dialectology and the study of oral traditions which are rich sources of
material for a good lexicon are seldom considered as fit subjects of serious
scientific study by our academic institutions.
The philology departments could have contributed considerably in these
areas besides furthering grammatical research by establishing reliable text material,
had it not been for changing their names to departments of Linguistics to keep
up with modern fashion and gain pseudo prestige. In consequence these departments lapsed into
mediocrity on both counts and as a result lexicography suffered considerably in
the country.
To what extent can a dictionary act
an aid to pronunciation and spelling? In most Indian language dictionaries pronunciation is seldom
marked. As regards spelling the
situation is worse as research supported information on various languages is
almost non-existent. For instance child
and adult word frequency is yet to be worked out in most languages. Information on the spelling difficulty
arising out of the lack of phoneme-grapheme correspondence within a word,
regional pronunciation variations,
incidence of homophones, repetition or non-repetition of double
consonants and double vowels where they have a non-phonemic status, number of
perceptual breaks in words and their representation in conventional writing is
yet to be considered legitimate to be included in a dictionary.
I do not wish to make a lot of
negative statements merely to dramatise the situations. I have made the above statements with a view
to focus on some of the areas of our deficiency and areas which need immediate
attention. I hope this conference will
discuss all these and many other questions and will give a direction to
dictionary making in the country.
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RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE CONFERENCE
(1)
Assessment
of Existing Materials :
Existing materials are badly in need of up-dating, multiplying, and
diversification. They have to be brought into line with the practices of modern
lexicographers. There are not
available in sufficient quantities in all the fields.
There are many gaps to be filled by new dictionaries which will very
often be the first of their kind. By
diversification is meant both different and languages combinations and different
needs and purposes of the users. In
general a mere revision or re-printing of older dictionaries will not be enough.
Such a revision or reprinting should be thought of merely as a emergency
measure. Instead the creation of
new dictionaries along modern lines and adapted to Indian needs should be
emphasized.
(2)
Scale
of Priorities : The
Conference recognized that since the currently available resources and felt
needs vary from region to region detailed recommendations cannot be made on an
All-India level but will have to be taken up at the regional level.
The following types of dictionaries,
however, may be taken into consideration in the next few years
(a) In the following listing “Indian” stands for a language in the
Eighth Schedule other than Hindi and Sanskrit and “Foreign” stands for non
Indian languages like German, Russian, Japanese etc.
|
Indian-unilingual;
|
Hindi-Unilingual;
|
|
Indian-Hindi;
|
Indian-English;
|
|
Hindi-Indian;
|
Hindi-English;
|
|
Foreign-Indian;
|
Indian-Indian;
|
All
the unilingual and bilingual dictionary types mentioned so far will be
dictionaries of the present-day colloquial and literary usage and will be
general purpose dictionaries.
(b) Technical dictionaries which define each term carefully and which clearly
separate terms in existing use from terms that are recommended for the future
may be prepared on a priority basis.
(c)
Vocabularies of non-standard regional dialects and usages of pre-industrial
occupations and crafts (there is a danger that these may disappear in our
changing society and therefore have to be recorded scientifically) are an urgent
necessity.
(d)
Dictionaries of the Tribal languages
of
India
,
(3)
Recommendations for Research : Books and research papers should be prepared and
published on the following topics :
(a)
History of lexicography and lexicology in
India
prior to and after western contact.
(b)
Lexicographical and lexicological theories especially from different schools of
thought in the world.
In encouraging a dictionary project
specific care should be taken that the scholarly preliminaries are available.
For example, there is no point in undertaking a dialect dictionary
without a dialect survey having been undertaken.
Again a historical dictionary on the liens of the Oxford English
Dictionary is not feasible if texts properly edited and clearly assigned to
periods and regional dialects are not available.
Similarly frequency counts should be
undertaken for those Indian Languages for which they are not available.
A bibliography of dictionaries of
Indian languages published so far (whether out of print or in print) should be
undertaken. It is also necessary to
take stock of dictionaries that are in existence only as unpublished
manuscripts. Those that are worthy
of publication should be published.
4.
Technical Specifications :
(a) Explicit discussion and conscious formulation of policies in such matters as
transliteration, phonetic transcription, alphabetization, abbreviations, and
other externals of dictionary making should be encouraged.
(b) The use of pictorial aids should be encouraged. Perhaps good-quality
pictures, diagrams, etc. could be
made available on an All-India basis to ensure low costs.
(c) Preparation of model entries that follow modern scientific methods
should be undertaken by linguists.
(d) Sample pages and fascicules may be put out for trying out typography
and lay out.
5. Peronnel :
(a) Dictionary projects should seek the co-operation f specialists in
different branches of knowledge like Botany, Zoology, Music, Medicine, ritual,
etc. so that accurate definitions are given and the encyclopaedic part of the
dictionary is properly taken care of.
(b) Bodies like literary academics and language institutes etc. should
maintain a file of quotations illustrating changing current usages and the
coining of new expressions with the help of individual correspondents interested
in language but not necessarily experts in it.
This should help to enlist the interest of the general public into
dictionaries.
(c)
Workshops should be arranged for the training of people already engaged in
lexicographical work in modern methods.
(d)
University departments of Linguistics should include lexicology and lexicography
in their regular courses for M.A. etc.
6.
Channels of Information :
(a)
The participants of the Conference feel greatly benefited by the new persona
contacts. It is felt that the CIIL
may usefully undertake to prepare a list of names and addresses usefully
undertake to prepare a list of names and addresses of person, institution,
projects, and other agencies active in the field of Indian lexicography.
(b)
It is suggested that the Linguistic Society of India should serve to build up
and maintain contacts between different lexicographers and between
lexicographers and linguists.
(c)
Indian Linguistics the Journal of the Linguistic Society of Indian may be urged
to act as a vehicle for discussions on lexicology and lexicography.
(d)
Vartavah,* the bulletin of the CIIL, should be utilized for conveying
information.
(e)
Information on the use of modern mechanical aids such as punch-cards, sorting
machine, computers, tape recording, photo-copying etc. should be made more
widely available to scholars.
(f)
After the completion of a dictionary, the card file and other material should
not be disposed of but preserved for the use of scholars.
The possibility of using modern archiving methods such as micro-filming
and magnetic tape should be explored.
7.
(a) The CIIL should offer advice and guidance to individual projects in the
obtaining of funds and in the seeking of international
co-operation.
(b) Some standardized
procedures should be established for the scrutinizing of proposals for reprints,
revision, and new compilations; of the progress of on going projects and of the
finished products.
(c) The possibility of
evolving a standardised form of project contract for cost-reimbursing should be
looked into. The formulation of the contract should include, among other things,
a clear statement of the purpose of the proposed, conditions for the recruitment
of qualified people in the project, etc., Also the conditions of payment can be
made more reasonable and should be such as to encourage quality rather than mere
quantity.
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