LANGUAGE IN INDIA

A REVIEW OF THE FELICITATION VOLUME IN HONOR OF
PROFESSOR K. KARUNAKARAN

M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

1. Professor Karunakaran and Indian Linguistics

"Many of us reach sixty. But few reach the age with a sense of fulfillment as Dr. Karunakaran," writes Dr. D. P. Pattanayak, the founder-director of the Central Institute of Indian Languages. The Felicitation Volume presented to Professor Karunakaran on his 60th birthday is a reflection of his interests, and the admiration and gratitude his students, friends, and colleagues in India and other nations, have for him. There are sixty-five articles included in the volume, 39 in Tamil and 26 in English. The topics covered range from Tamil grammar, lexicography, folktales, semiotics, psycholinguistics, literature, and sociolinguistics. Methods of teaching Tamil through the use of computer are also dealt with.

Dr. Karunakaran started his career in linguistics in June 1962 when he began his graduate studies in linguistics at the Annamalai University under Professor T. P. Meenakshisundaran. He could have chosen to continue his post-graduate studies in physical and biological sciences, but the love of Tamil and the fascination for the study of human language and intelligence, took him to study linguistics. So far he has helped 26 doctoral students to successfully complete their Ph. D. research. 50 students took their M. Phil degrees under his supervision, and hundreds obtained their M.A. degrees sitting in his classes. Karunakaran has written more than thirty books and hundreds of articles during his illustrious career in India. He founded the department of linguistics in Bharathiar University and guided it for many years before he moved to Tamil University as its Vice-Chancellor. He is loved by all who come across him, for his genuine interest in helping others both in academic and non-academic matters. There is no wonder, then, that so many of his friends, colleagues, and students wrote their best for inclusion in this Felicitation Volume.

Professor Karunakaran is presently the Visiting Professor of Tamil at the Univesity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.

2. A Brief Review of the Volume

It is impossible to review all the articles published in this volume in a brief review such as this. I would like to choose a few articles and place their contents in proper perspective.

H. Chittiraputtiran's article on the first bilingual dictionary in Tamil discusses the structure of the Tamil-Portuguese Bilingual Dictionary published in 1679. The Tamil entries are given in the Portuguese alphabetical order in this dictionary. Meanings for 16,546 Tamil words are given in this dictionary! A Catholic priest-missionary prepared this dictionary for the use of the Catholic priests. It is amazing to note that the author of the dictionary had great insights into the phonology and graphemics of Tamil. He discusses the relationship between Tamil letters and the sounds they represent! Well ahead of his time! Chittiraputtiran presents an excellent listing and analysis of the techniques and strategies adopted by the lexicographer in constructing this dictionary. In just eight pages that present the analysis and discussion of the salient points of the dictionary, Chittiraputtiran is able to create in us a sense of wonder and gratitude for the scholar who prepared this dictionary. We have come a long way in Tamil linguistics, but no one can deny the fact that our skill in constructing dictionaries, especially bilingual dictionaries, needs to be further refined. P. Mathaian, in another significant article in this volume, makes several observations that focus on the problems we face in presenting the definitions of words in Tamil dictionaries. While it is possible to define the meanings of technical terms with ease, it becomes very complicated when we attempt to define the words of ordinary language!

A. Karthikeyan scrutinizes Arden's Tamil Grammar, an excellent book with great insights, in an interesting article. Karthikeyan's analysis brings out the applied linguistics strategies adopted by Arden in writing his grammar. At the same time, Karthikeyan also shows how insightfully Arden identifies and teaches the grammatical rules of Tamil.

V. Jeya's discussion of the linguistic style adopted in one of the eighteen compilations (Eelaati) brings out several interesting insights. The non-human plural suffix -kaL is added to the human nouns in this work, just as we presently use it in modern Tamil. Tamil Jaina/Buddhist works have been studied in great detail in relation to the didactic truths they offer and their literary merit. We need to study these works also in relation to the simplification processes these works may have adopted in communicating what they wanted to communicate. Jainism and Buddhism, as protest religions or faiths, have tried to reach out to the common people with their ideology. In the process they reformed the languages they used. A similar thing might have happened in Tamil, but unlike in other languages, they adopted poetry in Tamil as the medium of expression.

S. Rajendran's article on "Come and Go," or "coming and going," in Tamil, is a delight to read. Written in Tamil, this article discusses the semantics and sociolinguistics of the verbs go and come used in Tamil. We are given an insightful understanding of
T. P. M.'s ideas on gender and number in the Dravidian in Rangan's article.

Madhav Deshpande's article on the beginnings of Indian linguistic analysis takes us to the Vedic period. Early Sanskrit traditions emphasized, "a ritual is truly perfect in form if the recited sacred texts matched the action being carried out." This belief is still held among those who seek purity of the form and its efficacy. Madhav Deshpande presents a thorough analysis of these beginnings and refers to the changes that took place since then. Theology and language often get inter-twined in almost every major religion. Indian linguistics had its birth in the junction of religious practices and the use of language in religious practices. However, even within the Indian tradition, we find later on, attempts are made to separate the study of language from religious practices. Professor Deshpande's article will stimulate research on this aspect of relationship between religious practices and linguistics within the Tamil tradition.

B. Ramakrishna Reddy and K. Nagamma Reddy deal with the role of core grammars in translation across Indian languages. This paper centers around the proposition of the authors that "translation from one Indian language to another Indian language benefits from the cultural as well as structural commonness shared between the source and the target groups." Copious examples from Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Parengi, and other Indian languages are cited. Common structural patterns of Indian languages, word order, structure of noun phrase, structure of verb phrase, relative participle/adjectival clause, quotative or reportative with the verb 'say,' etc. are dealt with. This is a very significant contribution from two scholars who specialize in theoretical linguistics, as well as applied Indian linguistics.

C. Shanmugom discusses the ethnography of speaking with reference to an ancient classical Tamil work, Tirukkural (tirukkuRaL). He correctly points out, "Literary works reveal communal modes and norms of speaking. The norms of speaking are established in order to avoid the misuse of language, and the misuse of language leads to political, social, racial, communal and other problems in a society. But the norms and rules of use of language are not followed by the creators of literature and those who are involved in exploiting the emotive functions of language. … Thirukkural, being a normative literature, reflects directly or indirectly the norms governing the do's and don'ts found in the Tamil society."

Vasu. Ranganathan, and N. Nadaraja Pillai, in separate articles, deal with the use computer for teaching and learning Tamil. S. Soundararaja Perumal reviews the use of Tamil in magazines that publish articles in Tamil on computer science and use of computers.
C. Jagadeesan and R. Vel Murugan, in separate articles, discuss the state of art in the use and teaching of Tamil in Singapore. Sam Mohanlal discusses the aspects of pragmatics, and language teaching and learning in Tamil contexts.

3. To Conclude

As I said in the beginning, it is difficult to review all the articles of the volume, in a brief review. However, the articles presented in this Felicitation Volume not only represent the life-long interest and contribution of Professor K. Karunakaran, but also the state of art in Tamil linguistics. This volume is a fitting tribute to a great teacher and researcher of linguistics in India.

Park Trust, 36 K. P. N. Colony, First Street, Tiruppur 641601, Tamilnadu, India, has published the volume.

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