GYAN Bhava

1) Latin influence in the Old English Period - The introduction of Latin words into English vocabulary has taken place over a considerable period of time.This Latin influence on English language was started by England's contact with the Latin civilization. Initially ,words associated with agriculture and war were heavily borrowed. Words related with agriculture and war - camp (battle) , segn (banner) , pytt (pit), mil (mile), pil (pointed stick), millestr (courtesan), etc were borrowed. Words related to trade - ceap (cheap), pund (pound), mynet (coin), mydd (bushel), seam (burden), etc were borrowed. Words related to Wine Trade - Because of enormity of wine trade ,words such as win (wine), must (new wine), eced (vinegar), flase (flask),etc were borrowed. Words related to Domestic life - cytel (kettle), mise (table), scamol (bench), cycene (kitchen), cuppe (cup), disc(disk), etc were borrowed.  A few Latin words entered English language through Celtic transmission. For example: c...

  Discuss the relationship between language and our perception of reality in terms of linguistic relativity and linguistic determinism.  In Linguistics, Sapir -Whorf Hypothesis is a controversial theory of language explored by the famous anthropological linguist Edward Sapir  and his student Benjamin Lee Whorf. They gave the relationship between language and our perception of reality and its representation in the human mind. There are certain thoughts of an individual in one language that cannot be understood by those who live in another language. The way people think is strongly affected by their native language.Thoughts and behaviour are influenced by language, which are determined by the individual, culture and community. The Sapir- Whorf hypothesis has two aspects : linguistic relativity and linguistic determinism.   Linguistic relativity is also known as the weak version .It was given by Benjamin Whorf .Whorf felt that the world is seen ,understood and analyzed...

 Code switching and code mixing are the terms of linguistics. They represent language choice at the micro level, at the interpersonal level. They are strategic interpersed use of two or more languages to achieve communicative and social goals. They increase the functionality of languages. Code-mixing and code-switching gives freedom to the speakers at the individual level, in interpersonal interactions to negotiate their social goals by their choice of language by breaking the language boundaries. Switching between languages is different from mixing languages. It is difficult to distinguish them in linguistic terms. The difference lies in their communicative purposes. Code Switching is the alternative use of another language for the length of a discourse unit when there is a change in the speech event : like in its speech participants or speech content or both in the course of a conversation . These changes necessitate the choice of another language appropriate for the new set of ...

 "The Theatre of Absurd " was derived from Camus philosophy of the absurd and popularized by the publication of Martin Esslin's book The Theatre of the Absurd (1961). The label Theatre of Absurd is often applied to the plays of the dramatists such as Camus, Adamov , Ionesco, Genet, Giraudoux, Anouilh, Satre, Beckett and Albee. The plays by the absurdist  playwrights often start at an arbitrary point and end just as arbitrarily. The arbitrary structure of the plays represents the arbitrary and irrational nature of life. These playwrights views life existentially and expresses the senselessness of the human condition by abandoning rational devices. Most of the plays ,thus, express a sense of wonder and incomprehension , and at times despair at the meaninglessness of human existence. Since they do not believe in a rational and well-meaning universe, they do not see any possibility of resolution of the problems they present, either. The Theatre of the Absurd is a drama  witho...

 The First World War(1914-1918) brought to public notice a group of English poets, particularly among the young men who were directly involved in the war. They wrote from their actual experiences of the horror and massacre of the war. Some of them were killed or died in the struggle, while some of them survived .They are also known as soldier poets. War poets comprised of two generations or two groups. The first generation or first group include Rupert Brooke and Julian Grenfell.   To the first generation war poets,  war evoked the spirit of patriotic self -sacrifice. The had the romantic or sentimental view  of the war , which viewed war as an opportunity for displaying patriotism. They golrified the war and the self -sacrifice of the soldiers. The first generation died before realising the true horrors of war. The second generation comprised poets like Isaac Rosenberg, Wilfred Owen  and Siegfried Sassoon. They were clear-eyed about the practical realities...

 American English differs from British English in many ways .American English has acquired a distinctive character. There are many dialects in American English . Each dialects spreads over a very large area. But American English is much more uniform in character. It is marked by much less deviation than British English is. Many of the old features that have disappeared from standard British English are well preserved in American English. The distinctive character of American English can be seen in its pronunciation, spelling, vocabulary, and grammar. 1)Pronunciation : American pronunciation differ from British pronunciation in some ways. The lenghtening of short ' a' before voiceless fricatives has not taken place in America. As a result the American  pronunciation of  ' a' in words like   pass and classic is like the 'a' in cat .While the Britishers pronounce these words as  /pa:s/  and   /kla:sik/.   Either and neither are somet...

1) Human language use sound signals .Animals also use sound for communication .But human language can also be transferred to visual symbols(sign language) ,or writing ,tactile symbols(as in the case of Braille system ) which is not possible in the case of animal communication. 2)Human language use arbitrary symbols. There is no logical relationship between the signal and the message (except in the case of onomatopoeic words or expressions). However ,in animal communication, there is an apparent relation between the signal and the message the animal wishes to convey. 3)Human beings require a long exposure to language in order to acquire it .Human child brought in isolation does not acquire language. However, this is not the case with animal communication. Their language is more or less genetically inbuilt. For example: Birds reared in isolation sing songs that are recognizable.  4)Human beings can communicate about things of past, present and future. It does not matter how far away ...

  Absurd play is the play which treats human life and human situation as absurd, unfit or foolish. Like life, an absurd play is meaningless. The absurd dramatist takes things rationally and not romantically. Some of the features of this kind of drama are as follows : There is no traditional plot ,no story or division into acts and scenes.In an absurd play, characters are very few in numbers. The characters generally loose their identity. The meaninglessness of life is communicated through the dialogues of the characters. The dialogues are very short and crisp. Characters in this play do nothing significant. Inaction or lack of action is one of the major features of an absurd play.    This kind of play prefers existentialism. An absurd play deals with themes of  human situation, man existential problems, alienation, salvation, loneliness, suffering, helplessness, loss of identity, loss of meaning and purpose in life ,and loss of faith in God. Sometimes ,an absurd p...

  Back formation is a process of word-formation by which new words are formed by subtracting final elements of existing words. Normally, word formation involves the addition of an element (affixation) But back formation shows a reversion of the normal trend of word-formation: it create words by dropping, instead of adding .Thus, new words are formed by shortening old words. This process involves removal of affixes.   Back formation is an example of "analogical change". It leads to new constructions on the basis of analogy. Thus the verbs beg and edit were formed backwards from the nouns beggar and editor. It was the word beggar and editor that came first.  English contains a number of verbs which have been formed by dropping final elements from nouns. Some examples of back formation are the following: enthuse (verb) is formed from enthusiasm(adjective) by back formation . audit (verb) is a back formation from auditor.   donate (verb) is a back formation from ...

  Reformation movement was the protest movement that started against the absolute powers of the church during the 16th century. It was started by Martin Luther in Wittenburg, Germany in 1517. It was a revolt against the control of conscience by the priests.  The Pope claimed to be the mediator between the human beings and God. He assured that with thev blessings of the Almighty ,one could be liberated from all sins by fulfilling certain demands.This objected by many reformers like Martin Luther. He publicly protested against the sale of letters of Indulgence ,which renounced punishments of the sinners who bought them and which began to be considered as  passports to heaven .His Ninety Five Theses created great urge for Reformation.   As Martin had protested against the Catholic Christians ,his supporters came to be known as Protestants. Henry VIII of England break away from the authority of the Pope and declared himself the head of the church .With the break...

  Renaissance is a French term which means"Rebirth".It was a cultural movement which saw the revival of classing learning ,values, culture, art and architecture between the 14th to 16th centuries.The revival began first in Italy and then spread to the rest of the world. "Humanism" which characterised the concept of the dignity of man was an integral part of this movement.Due to the revival of learning ,new discoveries and inventions were made throughout the world. Voyages to find out new sea -routes to China and India and to discover other continents were frequently undertaken at this time .  Under the influence of Renaissance,there was a changing attitude to religion .Blind faith in religious beliefs was replaced by logic and reasons. The rediscovery of classical literature, philosophy, art and architecture affected many areas of life, from art to exploration. People began to think by themselves and boldly questioned all established principles and institutions. Ev...