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Mother Tongue (mother + tongue)
Selected AbstractsLicked by the Mother Tongue: Imagining Everyday Sanskrit at Home and in the WorldJOURNAL OF LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 1 2008Adi Hastings This paper examines the ways in which Sanskrit revivalists in contemporary India imagine social contexts for the production and reproduction of Sanskrit speech. In contrast to the received view of Sanskrit as being a ritual language par excellence, opposed at every step to the domestic sphere and everyday life, Sanskrit revivalists treat Sanskrit as a "mother tongue," figuring the home as the primary site for the creation of an "everyday Sanskrit" world and the mother as the primary agent of this process of Sanskritizing the domestic sphere. "Domesticating Sanskrit," the process of bringing the elevated ritual language down into everyday life, at the very same time "Sanskritizes the domestic," that is, ritually transforms or elevates the home into a "Sanskrit home." Moving outward from the Sanskritized domestic sphere, activists also imagine other contexts in which one could use Sanskrit, which nonetheless conforms to a notion of a Sanskrit interiority or domesticity.,[India, Sanskrit, language revival, mother tongue, middle class, ritual] [source] Ethnic differences and determinants of diabetes and central obesity among South Asians of PakistanDIABETIC MEDICINE, Issue 7 2004T. H. Jafar Abstract Aims To study the within ethnic subgroup variations in diabetes and central obesity among South Asians. Methods Data from 9442 individuals age , 15 years from the National Health Survey of Pakistan (NHSP) (1990,1994) were analysed. Diabetes was defined as non-fasting blood glucose , 7.8 mmol/l, or known history of diabetes. Central obesity was measured at the waist circumference. Distinct ethnic subgroups Muhajir, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtun, and Baluchi were defined by mother tongue. Results The age-standardized prevalence of diabetes varied among ethnic subgroups (P = 0.002), being highest among the Muhajirs (men 5.7%, women 7.9%), then Punjabis (men 4.6%, women 7.2%), Sindhis (men 5.1%, women 4.8%), Pashtuns (men 3.0%, women 3.8%), and lowest among the Baluchis (men 2.9%, women 2.6%). While diabetes was more prevalent in urban vs. rural dwellers [odds ratio (OR) 1.50, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.24, 1.82], this difference was no longer significant after adjusting for central obesity (OR 1.15, 95% CI 0.95, 1.42). However, the ethnic differences persisted after adjusting for major sociodemographic risk factors (unadjusted OR for Pashtun vs. Punjabi 0.59, 95% CI 0.42, 0.84, adjusted OR 0.54, 95% CI 0.37, 0.78). Ethnic variation was also observed in central obesity, which varied with gender, and did not necessarily track with ethnic differences in diabetes. Conclusions Unmeasured environmental or genetic factors account for ethnic variations in diabetes and central obesity, and deserve further study. [source] Kinship systems and language choice among academics in Shillong, Northeast IndiaINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS, Issue 2 2001Anne Hvenekilde In Shillong, the capital of the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya, Indo-Aryan languages from the plains meet the Tibeto-Burman and Austro-Asiatic minority languages of the hills, and the result is a degree of multilingualism that is high even by Indian standards. English is widely used by academic groups everywhere in India, but structured interviews with all 17 faculty members of two departments at North-Eastern Hill University in Shillong reveal special reasons why some parents now choose to use English with their children rather than their own mother tongue. Caste imposes fewer barriers in this part of India than elsewhere, and marriages across ethnic groups are common, but con ?icting kinship practices can bring complications. If a woman from a matrilineal group marries a man from a patrilineal group, both families will, according to their traditions, consider the children to belong to their kinship group. Using English with their children, rather than choosing the language of just one set of grand-parents, can be a way of avoiding potential con?ict. Thus, in addition to the use of English in higher education, increasing geographic mobility, and the general prestige of English, the con?icting demands of different kinship systems needs to be considered among the factors contributing to the spread of English at the cost of local languages in Northeast India. [source] Licked by the Mother Tongue: Imagining Everyday Sanskrit at Home and in the WorldJOURNAL OF LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 1 2008Adi Hastings This paper examines the ways in which Sanskrit revivalists in contemporary India imagine social contexts for the production and reproduction of Sanskrit speech. In contrast to the received view of Sanskrit as being a ritual language par excellence, opposed at every step to the domestic sphere and everyday life, Sanskrit revivalists treat Sanskrit as a "mother tongue," figuring the home as the primary site for the creation of an "everyday Sanskrit" world and the mother as the primary agent of this process of Sanskritizing the domestic sphere. "Domesticating Sanskrit," the process of bringing the elevated ritual language down into everyday life, at the very same time "Sanskritizes the domestic," that is, ritually transforms or elevates the home into a "Sanskrit home." Moving outward from the Sanskritized domestic sphere, activists also imagine other contexts in which one could use Sanskrit, which nonetheless conforms to a notion of a Sanskrit interiority or domesticity.,[India, Sanskrit, language revival, mother tongue, middle class, ritual] [source] The perception of speech sounds by the human brain as reflected by the mismatch negativity (MMN) and its magnetic equivalent (MMNm)PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 1 2001Risto Näätänen The present article outlines the contribution of the mismatch negativity (MMN), and its magnetic equivalent MMNm, to our understanding of the perception of speech sounds in the human brain. MMN data indicate that each sound, both speech and nonspeech, develops its neural representation corresponding to the percept of this sound in the neurophysiological substrate of auditory sensory memory. The accuracy of this representation, determining the accuracy of the discrimination between different sounds, can be probed with MMN separately for any auditory feature (e.g., frequency or duration) or stimulus type such as phonemes. Furthermore, MMN data show that the perception of phonemes, and probably also of larger linguistic units (syllables and words), is based on language-specific phonetic traces developed in the posterior part of the left-hemisphere auditory cortex. These traces serve as recognition models for the corresponding speech sounds in listening to speech. MMN studies further suggest that these language-specific traces for the mother tongue develop during the first few months of life. Moreover, MMN can also index the development of such traces for a foreign language learned later in life. MMN data have also revealed the existence of such neuronal populations in the human brain that can encode acoustic invariances specific to each speech sound, which could explain correct speech perception irrespective of the acoustic variation between the different speakers and word context. [source] THE TRAVELING SEMINAR: AN EXPERIMENT IN CROSS-CULTURAL TOURISM AND EDUCATION IN TAIWANANNALS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL PRACTICE, Issue 1 2005DAVID BLUNDELL This article explores the anthropologist's role in facilitating and guiding international educational traveling seminars through interaction with local people, based on my experiences with such seminars in Taiwan. Since the late 1980s, the Taiwanese authorities have reviewed restricted space, converting it into scenic areas and national parks. Martial law was lifted, allowing for changes in the society and introducing a "green" consciousness concerned with examining local roots. In 1992, a method of tourism was developed in which the participants of traveling seminars visited places in Taiwan or other world locations expecting to (1) explore, (2) learn, (3) interact, (4) respect, (5) share qualitative feedback with one another, and (6) enjoy the process. When addressing a topic for discussion, such as cultural heritage or the environment, each member of such traveling seminars speaks in his or her own language to share with the group. That is to say, participants explore through travel as a learning process, interacting with others with concern and respect for differences, sharing experiences, and conversing in their mother tongues with translation assistance. [source] |