Pakistan Journal of Languages and Translation Studies

CPEC and Cultural Connectivity: A Study of Media and Literary Productions

Muhammad Abdullah — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Keeping culture at the core, this study tries to establish the possibilities of connectivity between China and Pakistan on softer grounds along with economic activity. To elucidate these possibilities in depth, media and literature have been focused upon amongst a variety of cultural manifestations. By relying on methodological tools from semiotics and comparative literary studies, the data set is approached to trace the elements with shared cultural capital. One significant contribution of the study is that it highlights the cultural potential of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and suggests ways to promote collective cultural activity.

An Acoustic Investigation into Diphthongs of Pakistani Variety of English

Arshad Mahmood — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Pakistani English (henceforth, PakE), like all other Inner Circle, Outer Circle and Expanding Circle varieties (Kachru, 1992) of English, has its own hues and shades, which, naturally, render it a different variety of English. This study reports the diphthongal variation found in PakE with the help of spectrographic analysis of the target speech sounds. Each of the five English closing diphthongs /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/, /əʊ/, /aʊ/ was embedded four times in a sentence and measured about 10% away from the opening and closing consonants (if any) in the syllable to minimize their(consonants’) influence on the sound under investigation. The required data was garnered from 8 study participants (n=8), with even gender distribution, studying in the Department of English Language and Literature, National University of Modern Languages (henceforth, NUML), Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan. The token words embedded in the carrier sentences were recorded at the FM Radio Studio of the university. The recordings were digitized at a 44.1-kHz sampling rate which is the set standard rate for audio files. The acoustic analysis was carried out with the help of Praat (6.1.16 version) with a focus on the overall duration of each diphthong, and the frequencies of F1 and F2. It was found out that PakE, like the other Outer Circle varieties of English, is a distinct variety of world Englishes which is developing/has developed its own phonological norms. The analysis of the data suggests that two of the closing English diphthongs (/eɪ/ and /əʊ/) lack the required glide, which is the hallmark of a diphthong. As far as the issue of gender is concerned, the analysis of the data suggests that it is a key factor in determining the vowel quality.

An Instrumental Study of Speech Variability of English Back-Rounded Vowels Between the English & Karachiites Pinglish

Abdul Malik Abbasi, Dr. Amjad Ali Arain, Dr. Sameena Khokhar , Maha Batool — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The paper aims to examine the physical properties of English back vowels produced by English natives through computerized corpus data of English secondary data and non-native Karachiites ESL speakers as primary data. The purpose of this experimental study is to obtain the data from Karachiites’ Urdu-speaking native speakers’ acoustic values of back-rounded vowels and to investigate the differences in voice quality, duration, and pitch-fundamental frequency of English sound production between native Americans' back-rounded vowels and Urdu speaking native community from Karachi. Based on modifications of F1, F2, F3, F0, and the duration of rounded back vowels, Karachiites L1 speakers were compared to L2 native speakers of English. The English back-rounded vowels examined in this study were four: /u:/, /ɒ/, /o:/, and /ʊ/. The participating students (N=10) took part in this study from different Universities in Karachi. Five participants (n=5) were male and (n=5) were female students. A total of 120 voice samples (4×3×10=120) were calculated. Praat Speech Processing Tool was utilized to record and evaluate four back-rounded vowels. The difference in fundamental and voice quality frequencies and the length of the vowels were the defining characteristics evaluated for the conclusion. The study measured that out of back-rounded vowels, three vowels /u:/, /o:/ and, / ʊ / were higher in American English than in Pakistani English whereas, the vowel / ɒ / is produced higher in Pakistani English than in American English. This study hypothesized that Pakistani English Karachiites speakers differ in voice quality, fundamental frequency, and durational values of the vowels in the production of English back-rounded vowels if compared to American English speech production. The findings of the study revealed that the hypothesis was accepted as true in view of the variability of English speech by Karachiites and English native speakers.

Mind-Modelling in Characterization of Hanif Kureishi's Novels: A Corpus-Based Analysis

Adil Aleem, Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Qasim, Muhammad Khalil — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Cognitive stylistics is the most recent discipline on the interface of linguistics, cognitive science, and literary studies, seeking the integration of language research with cognitive ideas. It helps understand mind-modeling in the characterization of a story by the writer through the use of various intentionally built textual structures. The current study has analyzed the text of Hanif Qureshi’s novel Intimacy with the help of AntConc 3.5.9 to explore the technique of mind-modeling used by the writer in the novel for the development of characters and generation of themes of love and sexual desires. The keywords, collocations and cluster patterns produced by AntConc 3.5.9 have been interpreted by the model of Stockwell and Mahlberg (2015). Findings of the current study show the themes of love and sexual desires through mind-modelling with the help of collocations, clusters and concordance lines of two major keywords and characters of “Susan” and “Victor”. The linguistic choices and textual structures are highly significant for the development of characters and themes along with the progression of events of the story. The current study may assist in the field of psycholinguistics to evaluate the characters’ psychology, and the author to develop the cognitive process in his piece of literature for a better understanding. It may illustrate a useful relationship between linguistics and literature.

Translations of Perveen Shakir’s Selected Poems: A Pragmatic Analysis

Saba Sikander, Dr. Huma Batool , Dr. Maria Farooq Maan — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Language is a powerful tool and a medium to convey meaningful information. In addition to its communicative functions, it could imply underlying meanings that are not directly stated. The pragmatic analysis considers the multiple layers of unstated meanings that are at play in literature, especially in poetry. Hence, this study aims to conduct quality evaluation of the translated work through pragmatic analysis of five poems by Perveen Shakir, which have been translated into English by Rashid (2019) in her book Defiance of the Rose. Preliminary Pragmatic Model (PPM) (Pallavi & Mojibur, 2011) is used to examine the comparison between source and target text. PPM is a pragmatically functional model that compares, contrasts and tests whether the target or translated text is pragmatically equivalent to the source text since equivalences play a vital role in translated works. Thus, to appreciate the aesthetics of poetry and translation, the current study does not simply highlight the pragmatic features but also leads to a sensible conclusion that unveils whether or not there is a naturally dynamic equivalence between the source text and the target text. The model facilitates to understand the translation as dynamic and to evaluate whether the original text has been transposed dynamically into the source language. The study's outcome advocates that only one of the selected poems out of four is pragmatically and dynamically equivalent.

A Corpus-driven Stylistic Analysis of Hardy's Novels

Muhammad Ansar Ejaz, Dr. Sajid Ahmad, Dr. Sajid Ali, Aamir Nazeer — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Stylistics is the study of impressions that a writer wants to produce. It has been critical for the interpretation and understanding of literary texts. Corpus-driven stylistics analysis employs a variety of computer-run techniques to analyze texts on a scientific basis. It studies a large number of corpora to find out the style of the writers and the way they inject themes through their styles. Thomas Hardy is well known throughout the world for his peculiar style of injecting themes in the keywords and collocations of the text. The current research study has analyzed the text of the novel The Return of the Native by Hardy to find out how he uses words and collocation patterns to support his themes using two software namely AntConc and Wmatrix. The results have been interpreted in accordance with the model presented by Mahlberg (2013) This study has found that Hardy is very much deliberate in the selection and placement of lexical items. He masterfully supports his themes with the help of the selection and placement of lexical items. The research will help teachers and students in understanding writers’ styles. Future researchers are suggested to work on novels by Hardy or other writers for the production of more comprehensive results.

Prey or Predator: Probing the Undercurrents of Class in Adiga’s The White Tiger

Shaehroz Anjum Butt, Zareena Qasim , Dr. Ahmed Nadeem — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The current study is an endeavor to investigate the undercurrents of the class by keeping in its center the lines of social stratification which pervade through the general and specific levels of society. The core of this research is to analyze the nature of class permeating Adiga’s fiction. It takes into account the trends of modern capitalism which can aptly be illustrated by seeking guidance from the theoretical framework of Marxist critical theory. Additionally, it tends to inquire whether the level of consciousness attained by working class members makes them eligible for wheeling an organized movement or not. The current elucubration confirms to the parameters of qualitative research and encompasses Adiga’s The White Tiger (2008) as its primary source of data. The selected text has been subjected to close textual analysis. Extensive reading of the novel brings forth the outcomes which have been interpreted in the light of much-celebrated Marxist concepts. The results vividly indicate that class segregation and class consciousness thrive in Adiga’s fictional expedition. It seems as if the characters gradually develop class consciousness and exercise it within their social circle. The contemporary period is under the spell of capitalism and globalization which certifies the segmentation of human societies on the basis of social class. This work can undoubtedly assist cultural studies. It can also lend a helping hand to the social theorists attempting to comprehend the pros and cons of social stratification in society at large.

Derivation of Feminine Nouns in Rangri: A Word-and-Paradigm Analysis

Raza-E-Mustafa, Behzad Anwar, Shamshad Rasool — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The present study tries to analyze the derivation of feminine nouns from the masculine base forms in Rangri language using the Word-and-Paradigm Morphology of Haspelmath and Sims (2010) as a theoretical guide. It is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in different regions of Punjab and Central Sindh of Pakistan. It is a marker of Rangar identity of mostly the Rajput clans that migrated from the Haryana region of India during the Partition in 1947. The data were collected in the form of recordings of interviews with old rural men and women from Sanghar, Nawabshah and Matiari districts of Sindh. The derivation of feminine nouns from masculine base forms is reasonably regular. Most of the nouns ending with the regular masculine marker /ɑ/ are converted into feminine nouns by removing the masculine marker and then attaching the regular feminine marker /ɪ/, and the masculine nouns ending with the marker /ɪ/ are converted into feminine by the addition of the formative /æɳ/ in place of the masculine terminal phoneme. The nouns ending with consonants usually take /ʌn/ or /nɪ̃/ as the feminine marker to derive the feminine nouns. The efficacy of the Word-and-Paradigm Morphology as a theoretical framework for derivational processes was proved as successful as for inflectional processes.

On ‘Sadiq and Ameen’ Clause: A Pragmatic Exploration of (un)Truthfulness in Pakistani Culture

Saima Mubashra, Dr Ghazala Kausar — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Notwithstanding that Truth and Lying appear to be universal constructs, the meaning and nature of (un)truth are culturally contingent. Labels used to denote these concepts have unmistakable cultural imprints which can be uncovered by using semantic and pragmatic explications (Wierzbicka 2002, 2003). The present study aims to explicate meta-pragmatic awareness about the meaning of (un)truthfulness in Pakistani culture with special reference to the political context and present it in culturally neutral terms using the theory of cultural scripts. Apart from the standard semantic analysis of the relevant lexical items, the data for the study comes from the linguistic evidence gleaned from various constitutional petitions filed by invoking Article 62 (1) (f) or the 'Sadiq and Ameen' Clause in the Pakistani Constitution: A constitutional provision that makes it obligatory for the public office holder to be truthful and honest. The findings are presented in the form of a set of cultural scripts written by using Natural Semantics of Metalanguage (NSM) which comprises standardized semantic primes found in all the languages of the world. The petitions and the resultant trials provide a rich ground for the hermeneutic process to unearth the cultural meanings of 'Sadiq and Ameen' clause. The court proceedings and the final verdicts try to pass over the constitutional ambiguity by weaving linguistic, religious and legal strands of meaning together. The findings reveal that truthfulness refers more strongly to the sincerity of a person rather than the integrity of the statement. The truthfulness of a person is a stable, all-or-nothing personal attribute likely to be irrevocably impacted by a single or any number of not only mendacious but also inconsistent or contradictory statements.

Key Words: Truthfulness, Lying, Sadiq and Ameen Clause, Cultural scripts, NSM