Transcript Language Technology & Empowerment of the `Bhasha`s

Language Technology &
Empowerment of the ‘Bhasha’s
Udaya Narayana Singh
Central Institute of Indian languages,
Mysore
LTT-IT: VALEDICTORY ADDRESS
Two faces of language
• Language is a human construct,
undoubtedly – which is why the
saying “Language is species’
specific and species’ general” is
so apt.
• Let’s turn the question around:
To what extent is man a
construct of language?
• “To a great extent” will be the
answer for we know that
language shapes our world view.
• Language, then, has two-fold
existence: grammatical and
social, and man has two others –
individual and social.
• If we remove the common
factor then, is language an
individual entity?
•SOCIAL
•GRAMMATICAL
Why did man create languagerelated technology?
•As a social instrument, language acts as the
prime vehicle for encoding, accessing and
disseminating information.
•In all such acts, the attempt of the human
aggregate is to win over the curse of “rapid
fading” which Hockett describes in detail.
•In devising all our technologies – all
through, man’s effort has been to ensure
that words or texts do not get lost…
•This applies to the most primitive to the
most sophisticated language-related
technologies, from the discovery of metrics
and power of rote to stylus or pen to be used
by scribes.
•Also valid for the modern-day technologies
like printing, radio, recording, filming to
computers.
•Rather, texts be preserved (encoded) in a
manner that they become easily retrievable.
Arresting collective knowledge
•Initially, it was thought that it
was possible to arrest knowledge
by depending entirely on
compositional structure of texts
and rote memory but a time came
when its futility was evident.
• It was also thought necessary to
organize public debates and
dialogues to both test application
of accumulated knowledge of a
given school of thought and also
to sharpen it.
One technology replaces
another
•In expanding our knowledge
bases – the real problems came
when those who created and
perpetrated knowledge also
began to realize its immense
power and tried to ensure that
texts are limited to clans.
*This is also the time when
individual authors began
ascribing their names and also
names of their sponsors in each
text – marking the beginning the
IPR in this part of the world.
• What began as a sustained
and sustainable effort in
keeping knowledge in
public space became
activities in privatizing and
monopolizing knowledge.
Politicization of the ‘varna’
became a menace.
•On the other hand,
the opposing trend of
liberating knowledge
also ran parallel to
this limiting trends.
Lessons to be learnt
• From the history of creation, expansion &
distribution of knowledge, there is an
important lesson to be learnt.
• In the world that has become complicated with
IPRs, market restrictions, patenting, and
monopolistic tendencies, one cannot make
everything open and available to all – no doubt.
• Even Universal Digital Library projects or
liberating facilities like internet suffer their
own restrictions.
• But developers of Indian languages
technologies could ensure – in the model of
development and distribution they choose that
big players and software giants do not
monopolize our own language tools.
• Even when we share resources, we must make
sure that benefit goes to end-users of the tools
Contd/
• Be that as it may, events such
as LTT-IT make us think how
such benefits can accrue to
all?
• What could we do to ensure
that their spread percolates
down to all layers of society?
• These questions are specially
important for us at CIIL.
• By setting up an institution
with such focus as ours, the
Government has committed
itself to ensuring that such
technologies change ordinary
lives.
Challenges before Indian
•The emphasis was on
languages
• Here I remember with fond memory
what the likes of Shri Vavilala
Gopalakrishnaiah, in whose
memory this Seminar is dedicated,
had stood for - hand in hand with
stalwarts in linguistics like
Chatterji, Katre or TPM
• What were these enthusiasts of
‘Bhasha’ tradition trying to tell us?
• Their entire thrust was on creation
of conditions that make it possible
for our languages to compete with
international modes of
communication.
opening up of greater
number of contexts that
remained locked firmly for
those who were conversant
only with indigenous
languages.
•This included contexts like
mass media, school
education, legal proceedings
and official work.
•As we could see, each one
has a wide application, and
success that may be
possible to achieve in any
context will benefit millions
of people in one stroke.
Contd./-
• What do we require to bring in this kind of change in the
use of our own languages like Telugu, Bangla or Marathi?
We need first of all the political will, and once this will is
demonstrated, it must be backed up with hard work by
linguists & language technology groups.
• But one could easily see that for any sophisticated tools to
be created, we must be first equipped with some basic
tools that would contribute to creation and maintenance of
standards and frames of reference.
• What I mean by ‘basic tools’ here are much needed everyday objects like a comprehensive dictionary, a set of
technical glossaries, special-purpose lexicons, thesauri,
style manuals and a reference grammar – which are all
projects that must be done by linguists.
• While implementation of our policy decisions on promotion
of Indian languages need not wait for these tools to be
developed, those who were equipped with the knowledge
and techniques that would construct such facilities were
expected to go on developing them on a parallel track.
• No doubt that these tools required a concerted attempt to
develop and refine.
Sensitivity required
• True – these are activities that couldn’t be
performed without thorough knowledge of
linguistics and the given language structure.
• But then they would also require a rare sensitivity
towards variations that existed in one’s own
language. One must show the respect to the speech
variety a child inherits from her mother.
• I know there are many who would not like deviations
from what is called “the Standard”.
• Nevertheless, we have all witnessed the power
demonstrated by many such varieties in the way
natural history of our languages had allowed them
to be developed.
• Standards, as we know, emerge, and are not made
to design. And yet, the history of language
standardization has had a curious path so far.
Respect for Speech Varieties and
linguistic minorities
• I know some of my colleagues
would like to see all members of
our speech community speak in
the same way.
• But then, we know we cannot
wish speech variation away, nor
can we undermine linguistic
minorities who have chosen to
live with the majority in
harmony.
• Let’s ask ourselves: Isn’t it
wonderful to live in a plural
world? Yes, it is.
• What kind of space is this ‘plural
world’? Is it a world of hope, or a
world full of despair?
• Is it a world in
which only
rivers flow or is
it a place where
the mountain
blows it counch
loud and clear?
Can there be a
place for both,
the stationery
and the hypermobile, the
young and the
old, or the aged
and the agile?
The Plural World
• Didn’t our poets say:
• “The rivers run swift
with
a
song,
breaking through all
barriers. But the
mountain stays and
remembers,
and
follows her with his
love.” (Tagore, 1913.
The Gift, in The Crescent
Moon, In Das, S.K., ed. 1994:
153)
•Even when we talk of streams,
and claim to be in the
mainstream, or at least, swear by
it, where are the other streams –
those numerous torrents and
tributaries?
•Do the edges, the periphery,
have a story to tell? Many may
wonder: Those who have by now
got into a habit of staying only in
their cocoons, can they narrate a
tale of places far and wide?
Managing Multilingualism
• Let me further ask: Do we live in a world where the
alphabet begins with an `I’ and ends with another `I’
– where there is no scope for othering? Shouldn’t
there a scope for you?
• Aren’t we forgetting the fact that the creative
moment comes only when the I and the you begin
to mould each other?
• Let I and you merge into a `we’.
• Talking about us, in India, we have had a rich and
long experience of living together.
• Those who ruled at the regional as well as supraregional levels have also had interesting
experiences in managing our multilingualism.
Tamed and Wicked Problems
• No doubt there have been both
tamed and wicked problems.
• While tamed and tamable problems
have have had their resolutions,
there are many wicked problems that
are still dodging any attempt to
solve, however well-meaning the
attempts may be.
• Coupled with that, there have been
interesting interplay of different
formations.
• The politics of planning and
execution of policies have been as
interesting as the socio-political
forces that any effort of this gigantic
size has to learn to deal with.
Enormity of Indian Experience
• Many other developing nations are now trying to
learn from the Indian experience in managing our
pluri-cultural and multilingual scenario.
• For us, the time has now come to document many of
these problems in the area of language
management and consider situations across our
space which pose problems for social engineers.
• However, any attempt to prepare an archaeology of
living traditions of these large number of languages
in the developing and under-developed world has to
remember the enormity of this task and the
interesting theoretical challenges they throw up for
our disciplines and scholars.
• Ultimately, even this documentation has to depend
on technology we would choose.
Linguistic fanaticism on the rise
• The last five decades in the life of our nation has seen
numerous language problems in different parts of the
country.
• Some problems have arisen from denial of basic language
rights to minor and minority speech communities while
others sprang up from control over scarce resources.
• While some communities have been linguistically tolerant
to others, some have demonstrated prejudices.
• Studies have revealed interesting linguistic attitudes that
a given sub-group has towards others within a speech
community.
• But all these things happen as we do not realize two
things: (a) All said and done, South Asia IS a LINGUISTIC
AREA, and there are greater rewards in exploring the
nature of this convergence; and (b) Language Technology
can now enable us to efficiently manage such a vast
plural state, and also to go from one language to the other
in strategically important ways.
Problems facing our endangered
languages
• Compare this scenario with a recent prediction by a biomathematician called Pagel that, out of 6,000 odd distinct
human languages spoken all over the world, only 10% will
survive the first half of this new century.
• Given that the developing and under-developed countries
house close to 90% of this stupendous figure, it portrays a
bleak picture for many of our languages and their speakers.
• With these languages, their rich cultural heritage – as much
as they are preserved through their speech behavior – will
also disappear.
• I need not elaborate further that there is a serious problem
here for our endangered languages as well as for their
speakers, and they need our urgent attention.
Let’s try to understand the Spread
of the problem in India
• The Scheduled Tribes alone account for 67.76 millions
representing 8.08% of our population – living mainly in the forest
and hilly regions (1991 Census);
• More than 70% are in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa,
Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Gujarat.
• In addition, there are a large number of minor languages spoken
by small segments of population that do not belong to the
reserved category.
• We not only need special provisions for their protection from
social injustices and all forms of exploitation, we also need
concrete plans for development with safeguards including
promotion of educational and economic interests;
• I think a concrete Language Development Plan is needed.
What could we do in India?
• There is a general feeling among those who do not
understand the Indian polity and the administrative
set up of the country that we do not have a
mechanism in place to protect and promote minor
and minority languages.
• The trouble is that they often point to small
countries like Nepal where both in Constitutional
provisions and in Universal Education documents
these issues are specifically mentioned.
• In case of India, the sheer size of the country and
complexity of the administrative set up are such
that it cannot be compared with other nation-states
in this respect.
Divided Responsibilities: Whose baby is it?
• 5th & 6th Schedule of the
Constitution & Article 224
made special provision; the
Home Ministry to implement
• Special representation for
the STs in the Lok Sabha
and State assemblies till Jan
2010 (Art 330, 332, 334);
• Under Articles 164 and 338,
separate State-level and
National Commission at the
Centre was set up in 1999,
but under Ministry of Tribal
Welfare.
• Then there is Commission
for Linguistic Minorities
(Allahabad) under the
Ministry of Social Justice &
Empowerment;
• Grant-in-Aid scheme under
Article 275(1) was also
created;
• Protection of Civil Rights Act,
1955 and the Scheduled
Castes, Scheduled Tribes
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act
1989 were enacted;
• Planning Commission took a
landmark step by opening 43
Special Multi-purpose Tribal
Blocks (SMPTBs) during 2nd
Five Year Plan;
• Later, under 4th Plan, many
projects set up in Andhra
Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya
Pradesh and Orissa, and a
separate Tribal Development
Agency was established.
• The Fifth Five Year Plan
marked a shift in the approach
when the Tribal Sub Plan (TSP)
for direct benefit of the STs
was launched;
• In 1987, the Tribal Cooperative
Marketing Development
Federation (TRIFED) was set
up to provide marketing help;
• The GIA scheme covers 376
NGOs working on them – some
on languages and cultures,
each getting about 90% grant.
BUT ARE ALL
THESE ENOUGH?
A lot more needs to be done
with concerted focus, esp. in
prevention of land alienation
from tribal to no-tribal,
review of National Forest
Policy and Forest
(Conservation) Act 1980, etc
Possible areas we
could move in
Cultural documentation
Dictionaries (general purpose)
Thesauri
Specialized/Technical Glossary
Literacy books
Primers
Style Manuals
Promote initial Literary Attempts
Language Technology for
them will follow this