THE ENGLISH ASSOCIATION INAUGURAL - A REPORT

The Activities of the English Association for the academic year 2010 - 11, were inaugurated today by Dr.Ms.Deepika Subramanian, Head, Marketing and Training, BEC-India, British Council, Chennai, in the presence of our Principal Dr.Alexandar Jesudasan.

Dr.Felix Moses speaks

The programme began with a nice poetic prayer by Dr.Franklin Daniel, followed by the Head Dr.Felix Moses, who welcomed the gathering, and observed that, 'Today marks the beginning of a new initiative - the training programme to be offered by the Dept of English, in association with the British Council. We hope to make a lot of progress in this direction. Two of our staff members have been trained for this purpose by the British Council, Chennai," he added.

Dr.Alexander Jesudasan speaks

The Principal, in his inaugural address, talked on the importance of the English language in communication today, and emphasized the importance of the BEC Exams for better employability. He noted that, "Our mother tongue is not English but what happens eventually is that, we try to learn English to communicate with people. Neither are we confident in our mother tongue, nor in our target language - English." He said it was amazing to see the extraordinary demand among students, to join a course in BA/MA English Literature over the past few years." 

He added that, "The Cambridge Business English Certificate, is being offered by Cambridge University, and that the University is 801 years old. It is the second oldest in England and the seventh oldest in the world. BEC, he said serves to "complement" the student's fundamental knowledge of literature. Today, we are moving into a world where communication is of great importance. Our students are picked up like hot cakes in the job market, for the simple reason that their communication skills are exemplary and it makes sense too. The start of the BEC programme is one more feather in the cap of the Dept of English. To scale up our performance, this BEC is a soliciting exercise. In the past two decades many rural students joined our college without any initiation into communication skills, but soon became masters of communication, and rose up to occupy prestigious posts at the national and at the international level.

Dr.K.Ganesh speaks

Dr.K.Ganesh, President of the English Association, then proceeded to introduce the Chief Guest , and also introduced the Chairperson and the Secretary of the Department for this current academic year.

  

"A few words about the Chief Guest: Ms.Deepika studied at Ethiraj College, and completed an MBA in Strategic Management in the UK and holds a PhD from the US. She has worked in the UK, USA and France for 12 years and returned to India in 2005. At the British Council, she heads Exams - Marketing & Training. Her role involves extensive travel across India, understanding the educational needs across regions. Currently, she manages the largest project, The South East Asia's British Council IELTS Scholarship - 20 scholarships on offer across six countries."

The Chief Guest of the day, Ms.Deepika observed: 'I used to absolutely envy this wonderful place - the environs, professors, students, as i used to be a part of the drama troupe of Prof.Rajani, the legendary theatre personality, and then Professor of English, MCC. Talking about the yawning gap between employability and communication skills, she said that the industry has been trying to bridge this gap. With the growth of the IT sector, the demand has only fuelled the need further. British Council's key project - "Project English" provides quality English language teaching and training, from primary learners to advanced corporate users, which is at the heart of what we do in India and Sri Lanka," she said.

 

Chief Guest of the Day Ms.Deepika speaks

Expanding on the current projects being done by the British Council, she spoke on "Project English" which was launched in the year 2007 with the aim of reaching millions of teachers and learners of English in India and Sri Lanka with the aim of providing them with access to the best educational resources from the UK. Under the project, we are currently working with partners to develop English language teaching and improve communication skills of young people connecting industry and education sectors so as to facilitate a better understanding of each other's needs and priorities," she added, while stressing on the need to address this big gap. "The reason for IELTS Test's popularity today is because it is skill based - on how you understand, assimilate, process and produce it. How you and I fit into the social fabric of an English speaking country. This exam is primarily focused on outbound students. Unlike BEC, which is primarily an English Communication skill which equips you with a lot of confidence. It just gives you additional confidence and the recognition factor, and an uniform platform for employees to assess you. China is racing ahead of us - the government there has stepped in to impart communication skills to all its citizens, - Spoken English, which is quantifiable," she said. Ms.Deepika also had a word of praise for the Literary Activities of the English Association, and said that even the British Council frequently conducts similar Creative Workshops." She ended her speech with a plea to the students to make use of the resources of the British Council to the fullest."

I BSc Pbt/Zoo I CIA Marks - Reg.:

Dear Students of I BSc Pbt/Zoo(Reg),

Your I CIA Answer Sheets will be distributed to you personally, in the S-220 Classroom, at 8.30 am on Friday, 17 September 2010.

A copy of the same will also be displayed, on this, our academic blog on the same day.

Clarifications, if any, can be made to me, personally or by email on or before Friday, 24 September 2010.

Regards and all best wishes,

Rufus
A Note on Valuation Methodology Used:
I look for clarity of expression, presentation and development of your argument in a logical manner, and also for proper sentence structure.
Over-writing has been penalised, yet minimally.
Observation of Word limit criterion has also been looked into.
Grammatical accuracy has been given weightage.
Relevant illustrations, [examples] have been awarded generously.
[Accurate] Quotes and [precise] dates have been appreciated.
Coherence, which makes your sentences hold together, and clarity of thought [clear language]  have been fairly rewarded.
Neatness gives you an additional bonus of one mark.
Remember, symbols like '&' should be avoided at all costs in the examinations, as they can never substitute for the word they seem to represent.!
Last but not the least, numbering all your pages makes my work less complicated!

Well, A bird is known by his note, the man by his words and a student, by his performance.
And that's what i expect from you... dear students...!
Regards and all best wishes,
Rufus

POSTMODERNISM - Excerpts from the Lecture..:

Excerpts from the Lecture on Postmodernism, by Dr.ASD Pillai on 04 September 2010.

Most of the societies in the United States have entered the Post industrial stage. First, there was the Pre-industrial, then the Industrial stage, and then the Post-industrial times.

In the Industrial age, we depended on the machines. Now highly developed societies have entered the post industrial age. The chief occupation of man is to process information and knowledge. Now you find less and less industries, and more and more people working on computers. Machine technology has now been replaced by Industrial technology. During Industrial times, industrialised nations were characterised by availability of raw materials and cheap labour. Today in the Post-industrial age our raw material is information and knowledge, and this has transformed the nature of knowledge.

What is produced, sold and bought is not goods but knowledge. [Like you buy soap and powder]. That is why the Postmodern society is also called knowledge society or information society. Today knowledge has become a commodity, which you can buy or sell, and that has greatly affected education today.

Formerly, nations were fighting for territory. Now they fight for data banks. Hereafter databanks must not be stolen. So, there is a need to protect and govern knowledge. So, knowledge and governance go together.

There are two kinds of knowledge:

1. Traditional knowledge from our own folk tales, epics, puranas, which are otherwise called as narrated knowledge.

2. Scientific knowledge - which always insists on proving whether your knowledge is correct or not. In the former, nobody wants to prove it, but in scientific knowledge, you've got to prove your point. Scientific knowledge is characterised by verification. "The savage mind is equal to the civilised mind", says Claude Levi-Strauss.

So scientific knowledge considered itself superior to narrative knowledge and the Westerners brought scientific knowledge. So the West considered themselves superior to the Non-West. That is how their domination over the East was born.

Postmodernism signifies the fall of science and the fall of Western society and its cultural institutions. Whether there is a fall or not, there is a rethinking.

Science itself has changed somewhere in the 1960s. Virginia Woolf said that human nature changed in 1910. But human nature changed originally in the 1960s. because it was at this time that all these great things were happening in science. Somewhere in the 1960s, science underwent a great crisis because of certain books - by J.F.Lyotard, T.Kuhn and Feyerabend.

You can look at the Postmodern condition from various dimensions. My friend said that MCC has got four gates. Well, Postmodernism has got 14 gates..!!! Architecture being one of the firsts among them. Malcolm Bradbury introduced me to the agony and the ecstasy of Postmodernism.

T.Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), Paul Feyerabend's Against Method (1975), these two books, they did science in. We all think that scientific knowledge is accurate. For the first time they proved that it is not possible to prove anything accurately in this world. How did they do it? through the field of Microphysics. "Can you completely describe the cowness of a cow?"

The very presence of man disturbed the structure. Can you give a 100% accurate census of Madras city? Absolutely not. This whole scenario was brought out beautifully by

Heisenberg's indeterminacy principle - Structuralism took over from this point. The perceiver alters the perceived object at least in a minimal way. If this is true of science, what about social science? - where there's less accuracy. Light - we are not sure whether it is a particle. Normally, as accuracy increases, uncertainty, indeterminacy decreases. But, John Bered argued that when accuracy increases, uncertainty also increases. So, there's no such thing as determinacy in science. Contrary to what we think, scientists are also exchanging ideas about nature, like philosophers and social thinkers do.

Thomas Kuhn talks about "Paradigm Shift". The phrase that's commonly used whenever you study Postmodernism. The phrase "Paradigm Shift" is taken from science. Scientific discovery, scientific growth is continuous. It is not addictive. It is discontinuous, catastrophic, paradoxical.

What is a Paradigm Shift? At one point of time, one scientific theory rules the whole world. Many experiments will be conducted in the light of this theory. But still, certain questions remain unanswered. Then a new theory comes. Before Copernican theory came, there was a Ptolemic theory.

"This world is beyond all your philosophies put together" - Hamlet.

Newton's theory was replaced by Einstein's. Hence, all scientific theories are additive. "Science is producing not the known, but the unknown. It goes on creating new mysteries", says T.Kuhn in Structure of Scientific Revolutions.

This is the first, of a five-part series on Postmodernism, delivered by Dr.ASD Pillai at MCC. The rest will follow soon...!

Be A Better Writer: Three Considerations - An Exclusive Guest Post for our Blog.:

As a composition teacher, I discovered that my students were most frustrated by assignments that failed to give them some sort of context in which to situate their own writing. Too often they felt that academic writing was isolated and irrelevant. As a result, they had been writing rather uninspired essays in order to simply earn a mark. Certainly they had a solid understanding of writing; however, that solid understanding had also somewhat limited their potential to grow into better writers.

What follows are the three considerations I often shared with my students in order to help them better relate academic writing to the greater activity of their lives. I hope these considerations may be of some use to you as well.

1 Consider Your Purpose

Of course, you write in order to earn academic credit, but that’s not the only reason you write. You must also keep in mind that you write in order to explore an idea, to communicate an idea to an audience, or to persuade someone that your idea is worthwhile. If your professor asks you to analyze a speech, then your purpose is to show him that you understand specific rhetorical techniques and can explain how those techniques operate by using textual evidence. If your instructor asks you why grammar is important to the study of language, then you must compose an argument and support that argument with reasons and evidence.

Each prompt requires a certain task, and your writing must match that task with a certain purpose. Think of your purpose as a student: to improve as a critical thinker. Writing aids you in that purpose.

2 Consider Your Audience

As you complete your assignments, try to think of the audience for whom you write. Try to think of an audience that’s more specific than a general academic audience. For instance, your professor makes up part of your audience. As do your classmates. These people participate in a learning community, of which you are an active member, so thinking of them as an audience makes sense.

The knowledge that these people--with whom you often interact--will read your essay should help you write honestly and carefully. And such awareness will help you in the future when you put your communication skills to use in your career.

3 Consider Your Genre

While many genres of academic essays share similar characteristics, you’ll still want to consider how genre affects your writing. Return to the examples I suggested earlier. Both a rhetorical analysis of a speech and a persuasive essay on the importance of grammar make arguments in some way; however, how they do so--what expectations of genre they meet--will vary. A rhetorical analysis will heavily rely upon extensive quoting and interpretation of textual evidence, while a persuasive essay might use many kinds of evidence in order to appeal to an audience. If you turn in a rhetorical analysis with few quotations excerpted, most likely you have not done enough to achieve your essay’s purpose.

This guest post is contributed by Olivia Coleman, who writes on the topics of online colleges and universities. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: olivia.coleman33 @gmail.com.

Teachers' Day - Special Wish for all our Teachers..:

5th September - The day that commemorates the birthday of the greatest alumnus of Madras Christian College - Dr Sarvepalli Radhakhrishnan, a philosopher and a teacher par excellence, who studied in our great and invincible College for five long years - which, as he has later acknowledges, had laid the strong foundations for his future dynamism as the leader of this great country, and for his immense contribution to the Indian education system.

Dr Radhakhrishnan believed that "teachers should be the best minds in the country". On this great day, we gratefully remember this, our great educationist, apart from honoring all the teachers who have made our lives much more brighter and enlightened in all facets of our life.

Thank you dear Teachers! It is impossible to imagine our lives without you! You are the cornerstone of our future. We can never thank you enough, dear teachers, for your immense love, dedication and encouragement in our lives. Today, it is our duty to celebrate and show our acknowledgement and recognition of the hard work put in by you - towards our development. Thank you dear Teachers.

Dr.ASD Pillai being welcomed by Dr.K.Ganesh for the Guest Lecture Series..:

Dr.K.Ganesh, extending a warm welcome to Dr.ASD Pillai

Dr.ASD Pillai in the first session...

Dr.ASD Pillai giving a thought-provoking, enlightening and absorbing lecture on Postmodernism at Martin Hall Auditorium, MCC, Saturday, 04 September 2010

Actor Nassar Interacting with Students @ Selaiyur Hall [03 Sep]

Actor-Director-Writer Nassar @ Selaiyur Hall, MCC

Guest Lecture for Students of English Literature...:

Dear Students of English Literature,

We invite you for the third in a series of Guest Lectures by eminent Academicians.

Dr.ASD Pillai, a world-renowned exponent of Postmodernism, and an illustrious student of the influential British literary critic F.R.Leavis, is giving a special lecture on Postmodernism, as part of your preparations for the UGC-NET Exams.

Venue: Martin Hall Auditorium

Date: Saturday, 04 September 2010

Time: 9:30 - 12:30 pm (3 hrs)

The session will be inaugurated at 9:30 am by Dr.K.Ganesh, Reader in English, & President of our English Association.

There will be a refreshment break midway, and also a time for personal interaction and discussion.

All of you are invited...! Be there!

Regards, Rufus

Mathemagician Invites U...!

Mathemagician

At Spaces, 1, Elliots Beach Road, Besant Nagar

on 21 & 22 August 2010

Duration: 1 hour 15 minutes

Admission Free Call: 98404 74186

Cast & Crew:

Vocal: Bombay Jayashri

Actor: V. Balakrishnan

The Story

The monodrama interweaves dialogue, music and poetry, to take you to Babylon 500BC, the commercial centre of the ancient world. Castrated and sold into slavery by his father, Nikor is apprenticed to Plautus, the Chief Economist of Babylon.With his brilliance in mathematics and statecraft, he attains incredible fame and wealth as the state’s Chief Mathematician, Accountant General and Keeper of the Seals. When he finds his childhood friend Salla again, now the wife of a debauched prince, Nikor is haunted by questions about himself, and what Salla means to him.

The Music

 The monodrama has a subtext of live music – sung by Bombay Jayashree, and played by Sheejith Krishna. The raags and the lyrics – thumri, ghazal and geet, belong to the Radha-Krishna and Sufi genres of romance, in the tawaif (courtesan) and bhakti traditions.

Mathemagician is being staged at Spaces, Chennai, by JustUs Repertory, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, by the Holy Cow Performing Arts Group, Scotland, on the same days: 21, 22 August 2010

Playwright/Director’s Note

As I was writing Mathemagician, I thought I was looking at issues universal and contemporary:

ravages of empire, effects of war on civilian life, ills of slavery, human trafficking, child abuse, gender issues, misuse of science and knowledge. All MCC-ians are Welcome..!

The Case for Short Words

Guide for Reading the Essay "The Case for Short Words":

1. The title of the selection "The Case for Short Words" gives you a clue to the author's opinion about short words. Did this essay convince you to use short words in your writing? Why or why not?

2. Which of the two student essays did you like better? What did you like about it?

3. What do all the words in the first four paragraphs of the essay have in common?

4. What well-known authors does Lederer quote to make his case for short words?

5. When Lederer compares short words to specific objects - like sparks, the dawn, or a blade, - he is creating powerful images. How does this help make his point?

6. In the last paragraph, the suggestion to set up a sign is not meant literally. Why do you think the author makes the suggestion?

7. Do you think the effectiveness of your writing would increase if you used more short words? Why or why not?

Critical Thinking:

Inspired by his students, a best-selling author and a teacher, Richard Lederer explains that the idea for his essay "was inspired by real-life examples of the power of short words." These examples came from the many fine essays submitted to him by his students in response to an assignment on the topic of long and short words. In making his case for short words, Richard Lederer relies on three different kinds of sources: his own writing, quotations of well-known writers and literary works, and students' writing.

A VERY INDIAN POEM IN INDIAN ENGLISH - Critical Summary

Introduction:

Nissim Ezekiel is one of those Indian poets writing in English who creates an authentic flavor of India, by his use of Indian English - Pidgin English on Bazar English, as it is often called. In this poem, the Indian flavor has been created by stressing the various mistakes which Indians commit in their use of English, by bringing in the hopes and aspirations of free India, and also the attitudes of her two hostile neighbors, China and Pakistan.

Poetic Inspiration for the Poem:

It all started as a comment by a friend who said that you write in English no doubt and you write English well but you don't seem to even know or realise that thousands of Indians speak what can only be called Indian English, So from that time in all his train journeys from Mithibai College back home, he started to take some interest in the way English was being spoken on the train. Every time he heard an obvious Indian English phrase like, "I'm not knowing only." he would take it down. When he had about a thousand of these, he thought of creating this present poem.

The Indian Living Conditions:

Ezekiel presents that the new generation is going after 'fashion and foreign things.' He presents the typical Indian make - up. The Indian living conditions are sought to be portrayed. The India of yester years is no longer to be seen here, as modernization and industrialization have speeded up the process of change.

The regrettable thing in the modern world is the act of violence and anti – social tendencies proving to be a menace. Still the positive aspects like regeneration, remuneration and contraception could be thought of as a way out of the present muddle. One can certainly hope for the better and propagate the best that is thought as unique.

Ancient Indian Wisdom:

In the second stanza, the readers get a peep into things - Indians as Gandhi's heir, he would opt for peace and non - violence. He is puzzled why others are not following Gandhi's advice - while in this estimate, the ancient Indian wisdom is correct, contrastively the modern generation takes it to whatever is western and fashionable - like other Indians, he too has to improve his English language. The student interest and petty agitations make him feel sickening line Antony's appeal to the Roman mob, he will call upon the fellow citizens to think of the past masters.

Thus in the third stanza, he pronounces, In order to get away from that which is disgusting, he wants to have a cup of lassi which is very good for digestion. It can be taken as equivalent to the western wine if only a little salt is added to make it a lovely drink. The poet confesses that he is the total abstainer from drinks while it is taken by addicts to gunch themselves, he for his part would turn to simple drinks like lassi. Thus, the poet tries to receive the old Gandhian days.

The World Situation Today:

In the fourth stanza, the poet is able to think aloud and offer his comments on the world situation today. The present conditions all over the world speak of a bad trend that give an edge to the production of dangerous weapons and try to be superior to others. The countries of the world often tie with each other in keeping themselves ahead of others in this mad competitive world. This retrace often leads to conflicts resulting in loss of precious human lives. If only one considers the other as the brother; the trend could be changed.

Unity in Diversity:

India is a land where the principle of 'unity in Diversity' is practiced. Here many communities live together even though there are some problems. This ideal situation in which one Co-exists with the other is described as Ram Rajya by the poet. He gives the hand of friendliness to the visitor and expects him to come again. The poet is optimistic when he says that he enjoys every moment of good company. So, he ends the poem by saying that he does not feel the necessity of celebrating ceremonies.

Common Mistakes ‘highlighted’ in the Poem:

Substrate influence on grammar is quite common. It is often frowned upon as "wrong", but eventually becomes a regular part of the new language variant. "The Patriot" contains a number of Indian English examples: the reduplication of verbs in "fighting fighting", the lack of indefinite and definite articles in "threw stone at Indirabehn" and "all people of world", the use of one instead of the indefinite article a in "one glass lassi", the excessive use of the definite article the in "not that I am ever tasting the wine", the excessive use of the continuous tense (the -ing form) in "I am standing for peace and non-violence", the omission of an obligatory object pronoun in "modern generation is neglecting" (instead of "neglecting this") etc. Again, this is a satirical poem rather than a genuine example of Indian English, but the phenomena exemplified are genuine enough.

Conclusion:

Nissim Ezekiel occupies a unique position among Indo-Anglian poets of post-Independence era. Nissim opposed the idealism and romanticism of the earlier group of Indian writers in English, and tried to look at any typical Indian situation with an Indian attitude, with a novel and dynamic Indian insight. He cleverly manipulated Indian English to bring out the Indian worldview.

Thus Ezekiel uses 'Indian English,' or 'Babu Angrezi' in his poetry to depict the characteristics of Indian attitude. He used irony as a weapon to depict the characteristic features of Indian attitude.

I CIA Test - Portions for I BSc Pbt/Zoo Students..:

Dear Students of I BSc Pbt/Zoo (Reg),

You will be tested on the following three texts, for your I CIA which is to be held on 16 Aug at 11.30 am.
1) Ezekiel's "A Very Indian Poem in Indian English"
2) Kipling's "If"
3) Lederer's "The Case for Short Words".

Clarifications, can be made, (not when the exams are around, but much ahead) directly, between 1.30 and 2 pm on all working days, at the Dept of English, or through email at rufusonline@gmail.com
Regards and all best wishes,
Rufus

Guest Lecture - II - on 31 July - A Report...:

The second series of Guest Lectures, for students of Literature, [or rather, for students having a love of literature] was inaugurated by Dr.Stephen Jebanesan, Warden, Selaiyur Hall, MCC at 9.45 am at the Sel Hall Indoor Theatre.

Prof.Daniel David introduced Dr.Bennet Sundersingh, from National College, Trichy.

Dr.Bennet started off with the modus of preparing for UGC-NET Exams, and outlined the new format of paper III. He started from Chaucer's contribution to literature, his narrative poetry, the "Mutability Cantos" of Spenser, [The Faerie Queene], the curtal sonnet form, invented by Gerard Manley Hopkins, and used in three of his poems, etc. He explicated on the various genres and the important adherents to those genres, from ballads, sonnets, plays and novels. While making a comparison between the Jew of Malta - Barabas, the Jew of Venice - Shylock, the Jew of Oliver Twist - Uncle Faggins, he emphasized the fact that studying facts of history become simpler by making these subtle connections between characters in literature. He asked a lot of interesting questions like, 'how Mephistophilis was related to Beelzebub?', on why Greene called Shakespeare an 'upstart crow', 'sieze the day' poem of Marvell, 'Sieze the Day' - a novel by Saul Bellow, etc.

He asked for an elaboration on the nine muses, and had special facts about Dryden, Swift and Pope, and their unique contributions to literature. He also gave info on closet plays, which were meant to be read, than to be performed, on the influence of "Gulliver's Travels" in Carroll's "Alice in Woderland," which inspired the comedy film "Honey, I shrunk the kids".

"Having a chronological, historical sense, as to who/what comes after who/what, helps a lot in easy approach to that particular literature", he said.

In the second session, Dr.Bennet touched upon Literary Criticism, and expounded the various theories of the Literary Critics, right from Aristotle down to Antonio Gramsci. Dr.Bennet finished his talk at 1:20 pm., and then interacted with students at the Guest Room.

The afternoon session, which started at 2:20 pm, saw Prof.Daniel David give a splendid explication on Structuralism. (excerpts on that, to follow...)

[Our sincere thanks to Dr.Stephen Jebanesan, Warden, Selaiyur Hall, for being a great source of support and encouragement to us. We also thank the L&D Secretary, Selaiyur Hall, for facilitating in the successful conduct of the program. ]

Guest Lectures for Students of English Literature, Part - II..:

Dear Students of English Literature,

We invite you for the second in a series of Guest Lectures by eminent Academicians.

This Saturday, 31 July, Dr.Bennet Sundersingh, Tiruchirappalli, is giving a special lecture on preparing for the UGC-NET Examinations.

The first session will be inaugurated at 9:30 am by Dr.Stephen Jebanesan, Reader in English, & Warden, Selaiyur Hall.

The second session will be from 2 to 4.30 pm, and Prof.Daniel David, Asst Professor of English, SFS, MCC, speaks on Structuralism.

There will be refreshment breaks in both the sessions, and also a time for personal interaction and discussion.

All of you are invited...! Be there!

Regards, Rufus

Lectures by Eminent Academicians - Saturday, 24 July

The first in a series of UGC preparatory lectures, started with Dr.Seshasayee, Head, Department of English, A.M.Jain College, delivering an effective and motivating lecture on Language, Grammar, and Structural Linguistics to our students from 10 am to 12.45 noon, on Saturday, 24 July 2010. 

Excerpts from Professor's lecture:

"A car driver does not need to know about the various nuts and bolts of the car. He just needs to know how how to drive a car! On the other hand, a car mechanic has to have a good working knowledge about everything relating to the functioning of the car! The same is the case with the linguist!" he said.

"There's a kind of mental / psychological block, when we utter the word "linguistics". But it is not as tough as it is made out to be!", he said.  

He outlined the aims and objectives of Traditional grammarians, for whom the grammar book takes the position similar to that of a Holy Book. You've got to obey it, without questioning it. Then he spoke on the Latinate fallacy, which argued against William Lylye's proposition that all grammar rules are Latin-based. The Latin Fallacy, which believed that what applies in Latin must also apply in English, was abandoned as the prescriptive approach to grammar came under challenge from Linguistics scholars, when the science of linguistics came to the fore in the late 19th century, who claimed that English could not be satisfactorily described or explained in terms of the rules governing Latin. a prescriptive grammar is one that lays down the rules for English language usage, while a descriptive grammar synthesises rules for English usage from the language that people actually use. A prescriptive grammarian believes that certain forms used are correct and that others, even though they may be used by native speakers, are incorrect.

Then in the 19th century came Robert Lowth, the author of one of the most influential textbooks of English grammar. Lowth's method included "correctness" - to teach us what's right and what's wrong, thus criticising "false syntax"; his examples of false syntax were taken from Shakespeare, Milton, Swift, Pope, etc.

Then appeared Lindley Murray, often called "the father of English grammar", who based his grammar on Lylie, but didn't say that the roots are Latin. Instead he adopted it as logical rules which we call "logical fallacy". Following Murray, came along Otto Jespersen, who along with Paul Passy, he was the founder of the International Phonetic Association, and concentratred more on morphology and syntax.

Traditional grammarians refuse to accept the fact that language keeps changing. But the fact is, there's no point in asking today's student to write like a Shakespeare, or a Milton, or even that of a 19th century writer. It is difficult to adopt the writing style of the past. Language must constantly be in a state of flux. But the Traditional grammarians based their study on writing. They totally ignored the spoken part. They believed that writing is primary and speech is only secondary. Hence, Traditional Grammar is normative and prescriptive. You can't question why it's prescribed. That is why, it is unscientific.

Thus Traditional Grammar was replaced with Modern Grammar, which is descriptive. Modern grammar doesn't tell you which is right or which is wrong. In other words, it prescribes the language as it is being used by the native speakers. So here we find the shift from the grammarian to the native speaker.

Prescriptive grammar has a collected corpus. It does not say what is right or what is wrong. It just says whether it is correct or incorrect. On the other hand, Modern grammar tells us whether a particular usage is acceptable or not acceptable. Because, what is unacceptable today may become acceptable at a later period of time.

Consider the sentence:

"I didn't do nothing."

[In Traditional grammar, this is not correct, as they go by the logical rule - two negatives make a positive] but the other way round, to emphasize that I did nothing, I say, "I didn't do nothing"

Modern grammar says that it is unacceptable because native educated speakers do not use it. They depend on 'Social Acceptance' as the sole criterion.

That is, "I seed you" is not incorrect. On the other hand, it's unacceptable.

Georgina, thanking Dr.Seshasayee

Linguists see language as a part of human behaviour. Though there are more than 5000 languages, there are some commonalities among them. A linguist thus studies language as a human aspect, and try to formulate general theories based on that - General Linguistics. GL is not language-specific, followed by a variety of linguistics, like micro-linguistics, in which language is studied for the sake of itself, along with the elements of syntax and phonology. It contrasts with macro-linguistics, which includes meanings, and especially with sociolinguistics, which studies how language and meaning function within human social systems.

Then he spoke about the two ways in which language can be studied - the synchronic and the diachronic, and also elaborated on the common language theories, concerning language. He then outlined the basic characteristics of language, and then proceeded to expound the concepts of Fedinand de Saussure (the father of 20th century Linguistics) - la langue, le langue, la parole, etc.

He then spoke about Received Standard, Regional Standard, and Modified Standard, and also elaborated on dialect, idiolect etc. He then talked on the basic concepts of Structural Linguistics, and the three broad aspects of language - Phonological level, grammatical level, and the semantic level. He also outlined the difference between phonetics and phonology, and also gave a morphological rendering of a few sentences as illustrations.

To sum up, - the lecture, not only helped in giving the students a refreshing view on the subject, but also helped in dispelling certain notions about the subject, which were preventing the ordinary student from venturing into the field boldly. The fresh perspective into Language, Grammar and Linguistics was indeed an intellectual treat to the student of literature. Thank you sir. You made our day..!

Our sincere thanks are due to our beloved Professor Dr.Stephen Jebanesan, Professor of English, and Warden, Selaiyur Hall, for giving us the needed infrastructure as well as the much required motivation to keep the lectures going. Thanks are also due to all the members of Staff of the English dept, and especially, Prof.Wesley Santharaj, for his invaluable help, Prof.Dinesh, for his support and guidance, Prof.Jayanthi, for her presence and motivation, Prof.Jubi, Dept of Journalism, for covering the occasion, Prof.Rayson, for his presence and moral support, and Anand, student from SFS, Selaiyur Hall, for videographing the whole event for us. Thank you...! Thanks and kudos - a million - to our self-motivated students who make the best use of the once-in-a-lifetime - opportunites that come their way. It's indeed you - who keep us going..! Thank you...!

I MA Students scoring music..:

III BA English Lit Students..:

II BA English Lit Students performing a play..:

Prof.David, "our Chocolate Professor," giving a lovli Hindi number..:

Students of English Lit @ the Freshers' Party..:

Prashant, III BA giving a soulful number...:

Freshers' in the English Dept..:

Shloka and Ankita (I MA) preparing to give a special number

Freshers' Party started with a delicious and sumptuous lunch, hosted on behalf of the freshers. Rita (II MA) gave the opening prayer, followed by a variety of performances.

Cultivating a Lifetime Reading Habit..:

This could change your life

Set times: You should have a few set times during every day when you’ll read for at least 5-10 minutes.

Always carry a book: Wherever you go, take a book with you.

Make a list: Keep a list of all the great books you want to read. You can keep this in your journal, in a pocket notebook, on your personal home page

Find a quiet place: Find a place in your home where you can sit in a comfortable chair (don’t lay down unless you’re going to sleep) and curl up with a good book without interruptions. There should be no television or computer near the chair to minimize distractions, and no music or noisy family members/roommates. If you don’t have a place like this, create one

Reduce television/Internet: If you really want to read more, try cutting back on TV or Internet consumption. This may be difficult for many people. Still, every minute you reduce of Internet/TV, you could use for reading

Keep a log: Similar to the reading list, this log should have not only the title and author of the books you read, but the dates you start and finish them if possible.

Go to used book shops: it is very fun to browse through the new books people have donated. Make your trip to a used book store a regular thing.

Have a library day: Even cheaper than a used book shop is a library, of course. Make it a weekly trip.

Read fun and compelling books: that really grip you and keep you going. Even if they aren’t literary masterpieces, they make you want to read — and that’s the goal here. After you have cultivated the reading habit, you can move on to more difficult stuff, but for now, go for the fun, gripping stuff.

Make it pleasurable: Make your reading time your favorite time of day. Have some good tea or coffee while you read, or another kind of treat. Get into a comfortable chair with a good blanket. Read during sunrise or sunset, or at the beach.

Blog it: One of the best ways to form a habit is to put it on your blog. If you don’t have one, create one. It’s free. Have your family go there and give you book suggestions and comment on the ones you’re reading

Set a high goal: Tell yourself that you want to read 50 books this year (or some other number like that). Then set about trying to accomplish it. Just be sure you’re still enjoying the reading though — don’t make it a rushed chore

Have a reading hour or reading day: If you turn off the TV or Internet in the evening, you could have a set hour (perhaps just after dinner) when you and maybe all the members of your family read each night. Or you could do a reading day, when you (and again, your other family members if you can get them to join you) read for practically the whole day.

Thanks to: Leo Babauta