Page 73 - Academic and Research Book_WEB

languages, absorbing the reasonable factors of commonality of the Germanic languages. Esperanto
is completely consistent in its speech and writing. The stress of every word is fixed on the penultimate
syllable. By learning twenty-eight letters and mastering the phonetic rules, one can read and write
words. With further simplification and standardization, Esperanto becomes much easier to master
than other languages. The ease of learning helps to build confidence and learning Esperanto, as a
learning strategy, constitutes a good introduction to foreign language study.

When Indians came in contact with English literature, the ‘novel’ as a new literary form of
composition entered Indian literature. There were short stories, long stories like the Kadambari of
Banabhatta (in Sanskrit) but not in the stipulated form of a novel. The novel became established as
the dominant literary form during the reign of Queen Victoria of England (1837-1901). Victorian
novelists portrayed middle-class, virtuous heroes responding to society and differentiating wrong
from right through a series of human errors. Sir Walter Scott is a big name as a novelist. The point to
6
be noted here is that when a person comes in contact with a new language he can think of bringing
the new literary form from that language if it is not available in his language. He can engage himself
in the comparative study of the common words in two or more languages as regards the spelling,
pronunciation, shades of meaning. This type of work was initiated by Late Dr. G.B. Palsule from Pune
who was a stalwart in Sanskrit grammar and who has composed a Mahakavya in Sanskrit on V.D.
Sawarkar. His scholarly book (Yu bhatah Sanskritm prati) studies the common words from the Euro-
Bharatiya languages. Such studies can be taken forward with these languages as mentioned above.

There are many Language Institutes in India and some are under the control of MHRD, Government
of India such as the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysore. This institute has seven
centres: 7

• Centre for Classical Languages
• Centre for Tribal, Minor, Endangered Languages and Languages Policy
• Centre for Lexicography, Folklore, Literature and Translation Studies

• Centre for Literacy Studies
• Centre for Testing & Evaluation
• Centre for Materials Production, Publications, and Sales
• Centre for Information in Indian Languages

But it is difficult to know what other types of research are going on there except for linguistic research.
There are three principal approaches of language learning, which also provide new directions to
language research and some institutes are perhaps working on them:

1. The structural view treats language as a system of structurally related elements to code meaning
(for example, grammar).
2. The functional view sees language as a vehicle to express or accomplish a certain function, such
as requesting something.
3. The interactive view sees language as a vehicle for the creation and maintenance of social
relations, focusing on patterns of moves, acts, negotiation, and interaction found in
conversational exchanges. This approach has been fairly dominant since the 1980s (Richards and
Rodgers, 2001).
The talented researchers in India must learn to use the soft powers of the Indian nation as America
does it? Products such as Coca-Cola have been advertised in such a way that people all over the world
think that having a bottle of coke in hand is a prestigious symbol. The origin and development of

62 | University Grants Commission