IARS-ResEarth (E-Journals - International Association of Research Scholars)
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THE COVID PANDEMIC: RESPONSE OF THE RAJI REVITALIZATION PROGRAMMES
Get PDFRaji is a little known tribal community that resides in twelve geographically scattered hamlets in the state of Uttarakhand, India. According to 2011 Census, their total population is 732. Their language belongs to Tibeto-Burman family. Since, last twenty years or so the author has been working with this group and trying to document, preserve and revitalize their language and culture. Language revitalization requires tackling problems on many fronts and its different approaches depend upon the unique local conditions of the speech community. The author is trying to develop a new revitalization model called \u27South Asian Model of Language Revitalization\u27. This paper discusses the Response of the Raji Revitalization Program towards the present pandemic and sheds light upon the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Raji community and the status of their language
PANDEMIC, LAW, AND INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES IN PAKISTAN
Get PDFPakistan is a multilingual state with 74 languages (Siddiqui, 2019), with Urdu being its national language while English is its official language (Article 251 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan). However, the linguistic diversity, as per the law, has not been given proper status in Pakistan (Rahman, 2002). In the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, the role of medical health professionals, local police officers, media persons and educationists to create an awareness about the precautionary measures to fight Covid-19 among the indigenous communities in different regions of Pakistan is important. However, there is no practice prescribed in the law, to disseminate awareness in the local languages. Moreover, as most of the lexical items regarding the pandemic have been borrowed, the shift to local languages is more than challenging. In urban areas, indigenous communities are aware of the precautions to be taken during this pandemic as they use the mainstream languages (Ali, 2017 & Abbasi, 2019.) However, in the rural and northern areas of Pakistan this is not so prevalent. Some language activists and concerned members of the community in different parts of the state took this opportunity to educate the masses and started an awareness campaign about coronavirus pandemic in local languages (posters in local languages and short video messages on social media and YouTube). Yet, linguists and community members have not been able to work with many indigenous languages, which Rahman (2004) lists in his study, and these speech communities urgently need the required information in their respective heritage languages. Such small steps by community members and NGOs in providing necessary information in local languages suggest that proper education in the mother tongue can protect communities in times like this. The government has to protect endangered and indigenous languages by an effective law-making process that actively encourages the use of local languages and helps provide information in their respective languages in such situations as this pandemic
MECHANISM ON THE ACQUISITION OF BALINESE LANGUAGE AS A MOTHER TONGUE IN THE MULTILINGUAL COMMUNITY OF DENPASAR
Get PDFThis research focusses on the study of the acquisition of the Balinese language in the multilingual community in Denpasar. One of the most important aspects in biolinguistic diversity is the speakers’ acquisition of their own language (Chomsky, 1965; McNeill 1966 in Brown 2000; Fry, 1979) as well as the surrounding environment of the speakers such as the strategies of the parents in transmitting the language to their children (Romaine, 1999). The speakers in the environment strongly determine and directly influence the acquisition, mastery, and the use of language (Holmes, 2001). This research is conducted to investigate: 1) the mastery and the acquisition of the Balinese language of the parents and that of the children at the pre operation period (Piaget, 1972 in Brown 2000:61) or at the level of “adult like grammar” (Fry, 1979), 2) the strategies used by parents to transmit language to their children, 3) the language/s used by the children in the domains of family, friendship, and education. The study was conducted in four main areas; in the North, South, West, and East Denpasar (see Suastra et al, 2017). The subjects were children between the ages of 4 to 6 years and were in kindergartens. The application of a number of theories such as language acquisition (Chomsky, 1965; McNeill, 1966 in Brown 2000; Fry, 1979), strategies of parents in transmitting language (Romaine, 1999), and language used in domains (Fishman, 1972; Holmes, 2001) are important in the analysis. The correlation of mastery, acquisition, and language use of Balinese by the children produces a model of language use in the multilingual community in Denpasar
Women’s Participation in Governance and Political Processes in Kenya: Threats and Proposed Remedies
Get PDFThe most recent studies on women’s political participation demonstrate that women are consistently denied adequate space and a level playing field to participate in politics and governance, especially in many global south countries, unlike their male counterparts. These studies’ most dominant claim is that these contexts’ patriarchal cultural norms mainly limit women’s central involvement in such nations’ political processes. Based on this impediment system, it follows that these environments become more unpropitious, hostile, and insecure for women in politics, which opens up and perpetuates possibilities for all manner of harm to them. Because of such threats, several scholars, religious leaders, and women activists decry the underrepresentation of women in politics, which in their understanding, has contributed to prolonged systemic discrimination through a legacy of insufficient woman-centric legislation and policy interventions. There is a consensus-based claim among the majority of these actors that this kind of inadequacy continues unabated due to a siloed thinking that inhibits a joined-up approach in tackling such discrimination. This paper seeks to further explore this claim through a broad stroke integrated review of literature that deals with women’s political participation in Kenya, where the concept of traditional gender role beliefs provides a vital backdrop for conducting it. Based on this concept’s valuable terms of reference, it is concluded that women need to be accorded a more enabling environment to participate in politics and, in this way, ensure that their ascension to leadership positions in governance becomes tenable. It is anticipated that such an assumption will increase legislation, policy and other interventions geared towards safeguarding women’s general participation in politics. In light of such conclusion, it is proposed that groundswell support is needed to ensure that the creation of a conducive environment for women to be involved in politics is realized, and in this way, their disenfranchisement based on their limited participation in politics is tackled.
COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND ENDANGERED LANGUAGES
Get PDFThis Special Issue of IARS International Research Journal contains eight articles which investigate diverse aspects of Endangered Languages and COVID-19. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has redefined the way we live, work, and think. Consequently, it has become necessary for leaders, specialists, scholars, and academics of various fields to re-examine their positions and research objectives and methodologies in the context of this pandemic. The field of endangered languages is no different: It was soon realised that the effect of the pandemic on endangered languages is far reaching.
In many countries, government and non-government institutions and agencies have attempted to make information about the virus available in minority languages. Sebastian Drude (2020) in a Foundation of Endangered languages blog reports on the effort of Pakistani social activist Zubair Torwali, who worked with the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to produce a series of information videos in a number of local languages and also of Malaysian Rusaslina Idrus who has co-ordinated teams of translators, medical specialists and native speakers to make Covid-19 information posters available in a number of Malaysian indigenous languages
SEGMENTAL PHONOLOGY OF MAITHILI URDU: (A LESSER KNOWN LANGUAGE SPOKEN IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICTS OF BIHAR)
Get PDFThis paper on the Mithilanchal Urdu, a dialect of the Indo-Aryan language family, would be an interesting study in the time of the Corona Pandemic, as it may be considered a minority language or dialect and such languages and dialects have been found to be especially vulnerable in the times of calamities like the present COVID-19 pandemic. However, this paper would basically provide a baseline upon which post-pandamic studies can be based for exploring the effect of the pandemic. The present study reflects the segmental phonology of Maithili Urdu, a dialect of the Indo-Aryan language family, spoken mainly in the Mithilanchal region of the state of Bihar in India. Maithili Urdu does not have its own script or literature, yet it has maintained an oral history over many centuries. It has contributed in enriching the Maithili, Hindi and Urdu language and literature very profoundly. There are ten vowels in Maithili Urdu. It would be very interesting to know that out of these, there are four front vowels, four back vowels, and two central vowels. Lip rounding is not distinctive, but only the back vowels are rounded. Out of these ten vowels, three are short and seven are long. Length, thus, is a distinctive feature in Maithili Urdu, where short and long vowels show full phonological opposition in all positions. These are all pure vowels, non-nasalized. All vowels in Maithili Urdu can be nasalized. Consonantal phonemes in Maithili Urdu show four-way contrast between voiceless and voiced and unaspirated and aspirated at bilabial, dental, retroflex, palatal, velar, and glottal places of articulation. Phonetically, affricates also behave like stops. Similarly, the taps, laterals, and nasals also show a two-way contrast between unaspirated and aspirated. Aspiration, thus, is an overriding characteristic of the Maithili Urdu sound system. This study has greatly benifited from the similar work done by Dixit, 1963; Halle & Mohannan 1985; Masud Husain Khan, 1986; Hyman, 2003. In this paper, a brief overview of segmental phonology of Maithili Urdu will be presented wherein vowels and consonants and their phonotactic behavior will be described in detail
e-RUPI: A Purpose Specific Digital Voucher
Get PDFe-RUPI is an advanced online resolution that has been launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in collaboration with the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, National Health Authority, and partner banks. It is just like a prepaid voucher that can be used by users to redeem an amount without a card, online payment application, or without accessing internet banking services. The present learning has explored the existing literature and aimed to discuss the merits and demerits of this emerging prepaid voucher, in the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been found that the e-RUPI initiative of the Modi government will be fruitful for the beneficiaries as they will receive a direct benefit. It will be reliable and secure for both companies and customers. It suffers from ICT-related risks such as cyber fraud, hacking, lack of efficiency, and attitude of people towards adoption of this new resolution
Online Education during Covid-19: A Safe and Effective Way of Learning Research Techniques from a Mentor
Get PDFThe Covid-19 pandemic has changed social mechanisms of our world causing many countries to impose either partial or complete lockdowns. Consequently, many people have resorted to online platforms for undertaking their daily business activities and jobs. Similarly, there is also an increasing trend of online education followed by both teachers and students around the world. Therefore, the aim of this research paper is to explore how a mentee learnt research techniques from a mentor through online platforms. Although researchers have studied the challenges and opportunities of online education during the pandemic, this research will explore how the mentee learnt research techniques from the mentor through emails, WhatsApp interaction, and Microsoft Word track changes feature. In this paper, we have used experiential research methodology for carrying out research. Employing qualitative method of data analysis, we have found out that the feedback and suggestions provided by a mentor to a mentee’s research work through the online platforms have been very safe and effective in improving the mentee’s research skills. Moreover, purposively selected chunks from the mentee’s six revised drafts have been discussed to demonstrate how online education facilitates practical learning during the pandemic. Finally, we are of the view that online platforms may be used as effective pedagogical tools because these facilitate learners to read their mentor’s feedback and suggestions as many times as they desire to improve their performance
Challenges to Data Collection: Digital Divide Causing Double Marginalization of the Bagri Community in Sindh, Pakistan
Get PDFIn the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, we conducted qualitative research on the Bagri community in Pakistan’s Sindh province. The Bagri community is considered an indigenous community in Pakistan’s Sindh and Punjab provinces. They also live in some states in India. The community has been referred to as ‘scheduled caste’ in Pakistan’s constitution. They speak Bagri language and practice Hinduism. Unfortunately, some Hindus and Muslims discriminate against the Bagri community and give them a wide berth and the community is seen as untouchable (Shah, 2007). Due to lockdowns caused by Covid 19, it has become difficult to access members of the community in order to collect data. Many of the members of the community have no digital literacy and the few who had mobile phones were contacted through mobile phone, but unfortunately voice quality of the interviews was not good and there was either network or noisy interruptions which made it difficult to understand what the interviewee was saying. Given this difficult situation, we used the strategy of using a friend of a friend to conduct the interviews on our behalf. However, even this solution faced challenges as the community was perceived as untouchable. In this way, the Bagri community was not only socially but also digitally marginalized. Therefore, this qualitative research will explore the digital and social challenges coresearchers faced during data collection, and we discuss how these challenges, were to some extent, surmounted
An Effective Techniques Using Apriori and Logistic Methods in Cloud Computing
Get PDFThis paper presents a creativity data prefetching scheme on the loading servers in distributed file systems for cloud computing. The server will get and piggybacked the frequent data from the client system, after analyzing the fetched data is forward to the client machine from the server. To place this technique to work, the data about client nodes is piggybacked onto the real client I/O requests, and then forwarded to the relevant storage server. Next, dual prediction algorithms have been proposed to calculation future block access operations for directing what data should be fetched on storage servers in advance. Finally, the prefetching data can be pressed to the relevant client device from the storage server. Over a series of evaluation experiments with a group of application benchmarks, we have demonstrated that our presented initiative prefetching technique can benefit distributed file systems for cloud environments to achieve better I/O performance. In particular, configuration-limited client machines in the cloud are not answerable for predicting I/O access operations, which can certainly contribute to preferable system performance on them