Literature

Literature is a criticism of life.

F r i d a y, J u n e 1 9 , 2 0 0 9

Viva Voice Question- Answers

Myself
I’m Mohammad Tazul Islam Sarker. The meaning of my
name is lightening peace. I hail from Pirgacha of
Rangpur district under Rajshahi division. My father is a
retired Head Master of Government Primary School
and my mother is a home maker. I’ve two brothers and
one sister. I’m the last issue of my parents. I completed
SSC from Sundorganj Abdul Mazid Government High
School and HSC from Pirgacha College. I also
completed Diploma in Human Rights from Dhaka
International University. Currently I’m studying BA
(Hons). in English at Dhaka International University. I
pass my leisure time playing, reading and fishing. I’d
like to go abroad for higher study.
Adobe Systems

Periodical History & Writers’ Works

1. The Old English Period/ The Anglo-Saxon Period: - 450 to 1066
Beowulf, The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Wife’s Complaint, The
lover’s Message, Deor’s Lament, The Ruin are among the remarkable
poems of this age. Wrote by an unknown author in this period
2. The Middle English period: - 1066 to 1500
John Wyclif (1324-1384) (the father of English prose):- Translation
of The Bible
Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) (the father of English poetry):- Prologue
to Canterbury Tales
William Langland (1332- ):- Piers Plowman
Thomas Malory (1405- 1471):- Morte d’ Arthur
3. The Renaissance (means rebirth) Period: - 1500 to 1660
Edmund Spenser (1552-1599) (he is called the poet of the poets):-
The Faerie Queene
Norton and Sackville (1536-1608), (the father of tragedy, first
tragedy “Gorboduc”)
Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586):- An Apologie for Poetries
Milton (1608-1674):- Paradise Lost, Samson Agonistes
Shakespeare (1564-1616) (the father of Drama):- Hamlet,
Francis Bacon (1561-1626) (the father of Essays):- Essays
Ben Jonson (1573-1637) (he is called a neo-classicist):- Every Man
in His Humour
4. The Neoclassical Period: - 1660 to 1785
Alexander Pope (1688-1744):- The Rape of the Lock
William Congreve (1670-1729):- The Way of the World
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745):- Gulliver’s Travels
Henry Fielding (1707-1754):- Tom Jones
William Black (1757-1827):- Songs of Innocence, Songs of
Experience
5. Dark age (this age no remarkable poet): - 1785 to 1798
6. The Romantic Period: - 1798 to 1832
William Wordsworth (1770-1850):- Lyrical Ballads
S.T Coleridge (1772-1834):- Biographia Literaria, The Rime of the
Ancient Mariner
P.V Shelley (1792-1822):- Adonais
Keats (1795-1821): - Ode and other poems
Lord Byron (1788-1824): - Don Juan
7. The Victorian Period: - 1832 to 1901
Lord Tennyson (1809-1892): - The Lotos Eaters
Robert Browning (1812-1889), (dramatic monolog): - Men and
Women
Mathew Arnold (1822-1888): - Essays in Criticism
Charles Dickens (1812-1870): - David Coperfield, A Tale of Two
Cities
Karl Marx (1818-1883): - Das Capital
8. The Modern Period: - 1901 to 1939 & The postmodern Period: -
1939 to still
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928):- In Time of ‘The Breaking of Nations’
(poetry)
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950): - Man and Superman
W.B Yeats (1865-1939): - The Cat and the Moon
T.S Eliot (1888-1965): - The Waste Land
Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965): - Cake and Ale

Q. What is the Literature?

Literature is nothing but the reflection of human characters. It is the
criticism and interpretation of life through verbosity and ornamental
languages which evokes deep feelings. Literature mirrors the
true/realistic picture of the society and is designed especially for
pleasure of mind.
Q. Importance of literature
Literature mainly means for giving pleasure. Pleasure and profit are
the two motives of reading of English literature. Reading of literature
may be profitable only when it is done properly. We can get
immense pleasure from reading literature. For all this reason we are
very much interested reading literature.
Q. What is poetry?
Poetry is a metrical composition that conveys a certain meaning or
meanings. It is also called verse. William Wordsworth called –
“Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling recollected
in tranquility”. Matthew Arnold called ---“poetry is a criticism of life”.
Q. What is Romanticism?
The term romanticism is a movement and new flavour in literature
and art during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It celebrates
Nature rather than civilization, subjectivity, worship of beauty, deep
feelings and imagination, escapism to the ivory tower from the
harsh reality are the main subject matters of Romanticism. It does
not follow any hard and fast rules like classicism.
Or
The feelings, beliefs and concepts that contain freshness of mind,
seed of sagacity prudence and trends of reformation and trait
protest against the traditional approach and wish to do good to the
humanity are known as Romanticism.
Q. Characteristics of Romanticism.
1. High imagination
2. Subjectivity
 3. Revolt
4. Interest in the past
5. Love of Nature
6. Mysticism, Spiritualism, Pantheism
7. Freedom
8. Supernaturalism
9. Deep feelings
10. Escapism
Q. What is Modernism?
The term Modernism is divided into two sections--- (1) White and (2)
Black. Modern literature mainly reflects ills and evils of modern
times, frustration, and lack of feelings, emotion and capitalism.
Indomitable thirsts for knowledge adventurous voyages, astheism
are also the vital traits of Modernism.
Q. What is Classicism?

Classicism is a movement in literature and art during the 17 th and

18th centuries in Europe that favored rationality, restraint and strict
form. Actually the term classicism is derived from the Ancient Greek
and Romance. Generally by this term we refer to the styles, rules,
models, conventions, themes and sensibilities of classical authors
and their influence on and presence in the works of later authors.
The major English poets and writers who followed classical rules
and modes were Ben Jonson, Pop, Swift, Dryden and Addison.
Q. What is Pantheism?
Pantheism is a new philosophy or ideology developed in the
Romantic Era by William Wordsworth. Pantheism indicates the
existence of God in every part of Nature. Pantheism is an intuitive,
transcendental belief in the unity of all. Through pantheism
Wordsworth tries to preach this doctrine that every living thing in the
world is the part of Almighty God. Actually we can say, God is all and
all is God this is pantheism He mentions in Tintern Abbey.
“Nature never did betray
The heart that loved her.”
Q. What is the Victorian spirit or age?
After coming in power of the dynamic queen Victoria, the Victorian
spirit got its radical changes in all sections of the society.
Industrialization, urbanization, Victorian literature, emancipation of
women, renaissance spirit, scientific progress etc. are the
outstanding progresses in the Victorian Era. In short, the
indomitable thirst for knowledge and remarkable developments are
the Victorian spirit.
Anglo- Saxon: -The term Anglo- Saxon is defined from the names of
three tribal groups– Angles, Jutes and Saxons. Angles and the
Jutes originate from the Jutland peninsula and the Saxons from the
area later called lower Saxony. It is also worth nothing that the
Anglo Saxons knew themselves as the English. Their language was
Old English and Modern English. Anglo Saxon is the collective term
usually used to describe ethnically and linguistically related peoples
living in the South and east of the island of Great Britain from
around the early 5th century A.D to the Norman Conquest of 1066.
They spoke closely related Germanic dialects and they are
indentified by Bede as the descendants of three Germanic tribes
Angles, Jutes and Saxons. “Anglo” comes from “Angle” which
means spear many used to believe that they are called angle. On the
other hand, “Saxon” comes from “Sax” which means sword
historians to believe that they were stronger as sword.

Q. Write the elaborated forms of the writers’ name.

1. T.S Eliot – Thomas Sterns Eliot.
2. W.B Yeats – William Butler Yeats.
3. G.B Shaw – George Bernard Shaw.
4. S.T Coleridge – Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
5. P.B Shelley – Percy Bysshe Shelley.
6. H.G Wells – Herbert George Wells.
7. D.H Lawrence – David Herbert Lawrence.
8. F.R Leavis – Frank Raymond Leavis.
9. R.K Narayan – Rashipuram Krishnaswami Narayan.
Q. Name of American writers and works.
American Novel: - Poet name Work
Herman Melville Moby-Dick
Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter
Saul Bellow Seize the Day
American Poetry: -
Walt Whitman Song of Myself
Robert Frost Stopping by Woods in the Snowy Evening
Emily Dickinson I felt funeral in my brain
American Drama:-
Arthur Miller The Death of a sales Man
O’Neill The Long Day’s Journey into Night
Earnest Hemingway The Sun Also Rises
American Prose:-
Emerson The American Scholars
Thomas Paine The Crisis
Washington Irving Rip Van Winkle
Q. Escapism of Keats.
John Keats (1795-1821) is the greatest escapist in the
Romantic Era. He wants to flee from all rigidities and
conformities and harsh realities to the ivory tower. Keats’s
escapism is based on not only his fear for the hard realities of
life but his longing for the dreamy world of permanent
happiness of the joyous world.
“Away! Away! For I will fly to thee,
Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,
But on the viewless wings of poesy.” (Ode to a Nightingale)
Q. Characteristic of Keats.
(1) Impersonal poetry. (2) Negative capability. (3)
Sensuousness. (4) Love for beauty. (5) Great Ode writer. (6)
Pessimism. (7) Art is long but life is short.
Q. Short note on Shakespeare.
Shakespeare means a virtuoso writer, legend dramatist, a
consummate poet and a good performer on the stage who remains
as a glittering star in the sky not only in English literature but also in
the world literature. He was born about the 23rd April in 1564, at
Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire. In his 19th year he married Anne
Hathaway, a woman eight years senior. As You Like It, Hamlet,
Macbeth, King Lear, Othello, Julius Ceaser, and The Tempest are
well-known creations of Shakespeare. His famous remark-“All’s well
that End’s well.” He is famous for the objective presentation of his
deep knowledge about human psychology. He wrote 37 plays and
154 sonnets, 3 narrative poems. He died in 1616, 23 rd April.
Q. Short note on William Wordsworth.
William Wordsworth was born on 7th April, 1770 at Ceckermouth,
Cumberland. He lost his parents when he was child. He began his
career as a poet. He is a Romantic poet of all Romantic poets of
Nature. He was worshiper of Nature. He enjoyed Nature felt Nature
and found divinity in Nature. He is a spokes man of pantheism. He
believes that there is a divine spirit pervading all the objects of
Nature. So his view “God is all and all is God.” This belief finds a
complete expression in Tintern Abbey.
“Nature never did betray
The heart that loved her”
The first fruits of his genius were given out in the Lyrical Ballads
(1798). Romanticism begins through publishing this book. The
Solitary Reaper, Tintern Abby, and Michael are his remarkable
creation. He also wrote about five hundred sonnets. He died in
1850.
Q. Short note on Tennyson.
Tennyson was born in 1809. He was educated at Cambridge
University. He died in 1892. He was the symbol of Victorian’s spirit,
desire and hope. His poetry is the philosophy of faith and hope. He
gives expression to the scientific spirit of the age. There is
something universal in his poetry that has an appeal to all hearts-
ancient or modern. The Lotos-eaters, King Arthur are the document
of it. He is the mouthpiece of the Victorians. His poetry reflects the
Victorian age-social, political, religious and literary. That is why, he is
truly representative of that age.
Q. The criticism of life according to Matthew Arnold.
The people are divided in their aims. They flow with the tide without
judging anything. They are going to their destination of unknown
horizon, as they have no definite aim. The poet divided the people
into two groups (1). Scholar Group. (2). Aimless Group.
Q. Short note on Dover Beach: - Dover Beach is one of the short
poems written by Matthew Arnold. This poem reflects the lost hope,
faith and devotion to God. He rightly mentions ---
“Oh, the sea of faith
Was once at the full.”
Here the poet laments over the loss of faith on God as well as
human beings.
Q. Short note on My Last Duchess: -
I gave commands
Then all smiles stopped together.
This quotation has been quoted from the poem My Last Duchess
written by Robert Browning. These lines refer to the killing of a
Duchess by a 1600 century Italian Duke of Ferrara. The Duke talks to
the envoy of the portrait of his wife. The Duchess was innocent
pleasant, good, nature and simple. She was not in the proud and
treated all equally. Even she used to make no difference between
her husbands the Duke and other men. On the other hand, the Duke
was proud of his position as well as of his nine hundred years
aristocracy. The Duke did not like the Duchess behaviour. But he
thought it to beyond his prestige to ask his wife to give up this habit.
The Duke was crud and dictatorial by nature. So he gave commands
to his people to kill her and thus all her smiles stopped at once.
Q. Discuss the four causes/reason of Second World War.
In September 1939, Europe was drawn into a general war. This war
is called the Second World War. The causes of the Second World
War are given below---
(1). Defects of the peace treaties: the causes of the Second World
War related to the failure of the peace terms of 1919-1920. Those
terms, while understandable in view of the passions and hatreds
engendered by the First World War, created almost as many
problems as they solved.
(2). Power Polities: Power Polities were a second cause of the
Second World War. Although Woodrow Wilson and other sponsors
of the League of Nations had acclaimed the league as a means of
eliminating power struggles; it did nothing of the sort.
(3). Economic conditions: Economic conditions were third
important causes of the outbreak of the Second World War. The
depression of the 1930 contributed to the coming of the war in
several ways.
(4). Nationalism: Nationalism was a further cause of of the general
discontent that helped increase the chances for the Second World
War.
Q. Why is Elizabethan age called the golden age of English
literature?
Elizabethan period (1558-1603) is the most flourished and golden
period in English literature. Due to the impact of quick decay of
medieval world, rediscover of ancient learning, renaissance,
widening of horizons, Elizabethan drama, new discoveries and the
peaceful period without war, this age becomes the finest breeding
ground for flourishing literature.
Impact of Renaissance: Renaissance played a vital role in the
Elizabethan period. The Renaissance was both a revival of ancient
classical mythology, literature and culture as well as a reawakening
of the human mind after the long sleep of the dark Middle ages.
Impact of London Theater and Elizabethan Dramas: the time of
Queen Elizabeth was a golden period for theater flourishment. As
many theaters were ÿÿprovÿÿg very rapidly, then were also
pÿÿducing many excellent dramas. At time craved for entertainment
and in response to this demand, there came the dramas and short
stories.
Good governance of Queen Elizabeth: The Queen herself was a lady
of peaceful mentality. Her reign was absolutely of high thinking and
far reaching. Elizabethan period was warless. Then people would
live peacefully. People of all sections enjoyed their life by watching
dramas in the theatres and singing songs. That is why Elizabethan
period was called “a nest of singing birds.

Q. Name of Romantic writers and works.

Name Work
1. William Wordsworth Lyrical Ballads
2. S.T. Coleridge Biographia Literaria
3. Lord Byron Don Juan
4. P.B. Shelley Adonais
5. John Keats Odes, Letters
6. Jane Austen(Female) Emma
7. Charles Lamb The Essays of Elia
8. William Hazlitt Elizabeth
Q. Short note on Shelley.
Shelley (1792- 1822) was one of the greatest poets of the
nineteenth century. He was a reformer and revolutionary poet.
Shelley became a rebel against all the existing evils of human
society. His famous poem The West Wind is the symbol of the
destroyer and the creator. The West Wind is called the destroyer as
well as the preserver because while it destroys the leaves, it
preserves seeds to grow later. Another poem is The Skylark. The
Skylark is a symbol of man’s aspiring vision. The Skylark belongs to
a world of perfection but the poet is chained to a world of hatred,
pride, fear and pain.

Q. P.B. Shelley’s characteristics.

(1). Great Ode writer. (2). Great Lyric. (3). Poet of platonic love.
(4). Wonderful imagery. (5). Revolutionary poet. (6). Poet of
nature. (7). Melancholic tone.
Q. Shelley’s Platonic Love: - All earthly things are in a state of
flux and are shadows of the unchanging eternal reality. The one
remeans the many change and pass.
Q. What is Transcendentalism ?
Transcendentalism means “beyound” and “above” hence a
transcendentalist is one who believes in the existence of a divine
world, beyound and above the world of essences. The divine can’t
be known by reason or national analyses but it can be felt and
experienced by the spirit through intuition.
Q. What is Phi Beta Kappa?
It is a society for college and university students who are very much
successful in their studied.

Q. Four great quotations of Shakespeare.

(a) “Life is a tale, told by an idiot full of fury,
Signifying nothing.” (As You Like It)
(b) “To be or not to be that is the question” (Hamlet)
(c) “Have more than thou showest,
Speak less than thou knowest
Lend less than thou owest.
Ride more than thou goest.” (King Lear)
(d) “All the world’s a stage
And all the men and women merely players.” (As You Like It)
Q. Three great quotations of Alexander Pope.
(a) “To err is human, to forgive divine.” (An Essay on Criticism)
(b) “A little learning is a dangerous thing.” (An Essay on Criticism)
(c) “Charms strike the sight,
but merit wins the soul.” (Rape Of The Lock)
Q. Three great quotations of John Keats.
(a) “A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.” (Endymion)
(b) “Away! Away! For I will fly to thee,
Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,
But on the viewless wings of poesy.” (Ode to a Nightingale)
(c) “Heard melodies are sweet,
but those unheard sweeter.” (Ode on a Grecian Urn)
Q. Three great quotations of P.B Shelley.
(a) “If winter comes, can spring be far behind.” (Ode To The West
Wind)
(b) “Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.” (To
a Skylark)
(c) “Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth.” (Ode to The West Wind)
Q. Three great quotations of Wordsworth.
(a) “The sounding cataract
Haunted me like a passion; the tall rock,
The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,
Their colours and their forms, were then to me
An appetite.” (Tintern Abbey)
(b) “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling: it takes
its origin from
emotion recollected in tranquility.” (Preface to The Lyrical Ballads)
(c) “The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and the soul
Of all my moral being.” (Tintern Abbey)
Q. Three great quotations of John Milton.
(a) “Eyeless in Gaza at the mill with slaves.” (Samson Agonistes)
(b) “To justify the ways of God to men.” (Paradise Lost)
(c) “My race of glory run, and race of shame,
And I shall shortly be with them that rest.” (Samson Agonistes)
Q. Three great quotations of John Donne.
(a) “For God’s sake hold your tongue and let me love.” (The
cannonizatoin)
(b) “love all alike, no season knows, nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.” (The Sun
Rising)
(c) “Busy old fool unruly Sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains call on us ?
Must to thy motions, lovers’ seasons run ? (The Sun Rising)
Q. Three great quotations of Francis Bacon.
(a) “A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure.” (Of truth)
(b) “Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability.” (Of
studies)
(c) “Wives are youngmen’s mistresses; companions for middle ages;
and old men’s nurses.” (Of Marriage and Single Life)
(d) “Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing
an exact man.”(Of studies)
Q. Three great quotations of S.T Coleridge.
(a) “Water, water, everywhere
Nor a drop to drink.” (The Ancient Mariner)
(b) “Alone, alone all all alone
Alone on a wide, wide sea !” (The Ancient Mariner)
(c) “He prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small
For the dear God who loveth us.” (The Ancient Mariner)
Q. Three great quotations of Rabindranath Tagore.
(a) “At the immortal touch of thy hands my little heart
Loses its limits in joy and gives birth to utterance ineffable.”
(Gitanjali)
(b) “I touch by the edge of the far-speeding wing of my
Song thy feet which I could never aspire to reach.” (Gitanjali)
(c) “Life of my life, I shall ever try to keep my body pure,
Knowing that thy living touch is upon all my limbs.” (Gitanjali)

Epic: - An epic is a long narrative poem that tells of grand style the
history and aspiration of a national hero. The term ‘epic’ comes from
the Greek word ‘epos’, which means narrative poetry, celebrating
heroic incidents or achievements. There are two divisions in epic
poetry- Primary epic and secondary epic.
Lyric: - Lyric is a short poem, expressing personal or subjective
thoughts and feeling of a single speaker. It is identical to a song
sung with a lyre. The word “Lyric” belongs to the word “lyre”. Lyre is a
musical instruments used in ancient Greece.
Ode: - Ode is an exalted Lyric that begins with an address to some
one expressing grief or agony but ends with consolation. It deals
with a serious theme. For example: - Shelley’s Ode to the West Wind,
Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale, Wordsworth’s Ode to Duty.
Characteristics of Ode.
1. Exalted theme
2. High seriousness
3. Rhyme and Rhythm
4. Selected diction
5. Glorification and Magnification (the main theme for any Ode)
Ballad: - Ballad is a long narrative poem that tells a grave story
through action and dialogue. It is divided two parts (i) Folk Ballad or
Popular Ballad (ii) Literary Ballad.
Metaphysical Poetry: - The word “meta” means distance and
“physics” means substance or objects. When the poet mingles
abstract ideas or conception along with far- facet objects, it is called
Metaphysical poetry. Metaphysical poetry is usually based on
logical development of thoughts.
Poetic justice: - The word poetic justice is an important tool of the
writer to provide due respect, honour or reward to the hero or
heroine and to give due punishment or damnation to the villain or
criminal.
Simile: - Simile is a figure of speech which indicates explicit or
direct comparison between two unlike things. e.g –Your face is like
the full Moon.
Metaphor: - Metaphor is a figure of speech that indicates implicit or
indirect comparison between two unlike things. e.g – Saiful is a
tiger.
Irony: - Irony is a figure of speech which a speaker says one thing
but means the opposite. e.g - Sweets are uses of adversity.
Paradox: - Paradox is a figure of speech that seems false
apparently but actually indicates the truth. e.g - Wear ornaments if
you want to be rich?
Allegory: - Allegory is a figure of speech which states the inner
meaning beside the surface meaning that means an allegory
has double meaning. e.g – Mr. Bush wants to make our country
Iraq.
Tragedy: - Tragedy is a piece of writing where the hero or
heroine or both suffer a lot for their hammartia and finally die.
e.g – Macbeth, Hamlet.
Drama: - A literary from intended to be performed on stage
using physical movements and dialogues. It consists of three
parts: beginning/ exposition, middle/ climax and end/
denouement. It is also called Play. Basically it is of two types
(1) Comedy and (2) Tragedy.
Novel: - A ficticious prose narrative of a certain length 50000
and above words, the progress of the story follows a time
sequence, a realistic picture of a particular society, a world
vision, characters of the story and a plot are the common
features of novel.
Satire: - A literary attack on the follies and vices of an
individual or a society with a view to correcting them through
laughter and ridicule. It may be prose or in verse. It is two kinds
(1) Formal (direct) and Informal (indirect).
Sonnet: - A lyric poem of fourteen iambic pentameter lines. It
is of three types- (1) Petrarchan (also known as Italian) (2)
Shakespearean (English) and (3) Spenserian. The first eight
lines of a Petrarchan sonnet are called octave and last six lines
of it are called sestet. The rhyme of the octave is abba abba
and that of sestet is cd cd cd or cde cde.
Conceit: - A figure in which two far fetched objects of very
different nature are compared. It surprises its readers by its
ingenious discovery and delights them by its intellectual
quality. A famous example is Donne’s comparison between two
lovers’ souls and the two arms of a pair of compasses.
Q. What is language?
Language is the ‘species-specific’ and ‘species- uniform’ possession
of man. It is God’s special gift to mankind. Without language human
civilization as we now know it, would have remained impossibility.
Language is ubiquitous. It is present every where –in our thoughts
and dreams, prayers and meditations, relations and
communications, and sanskars and rituals. According to an ancient
linguist of Indian, Patanjali --- “Language is that human expression
which is uttered out by speech organs.”
Characteristics of language:-
a) Language is verbal, vocal: language is sound.
b) Language is a means of communication.
c) Language is a social phenomenon.
d) Language is symbolic.
e) Language is systematic.
Q. What is linguistics?
The word “Linguistics” has been derived from Latin word
“lingua” and “istics.” Here “lingua” means tongue/sound and
“istics” means knowledge/science. So etymologically
linguistics is the scientific study of language. But it is the study
not of one particular language but of human language in
general.
Q. What is Applied Linguistics?
Applied linguistics is a wide conception of linguistics. The term
Applied means “used” or importance and linguistics means
“the scientific study of language as system of human
communication”. Applied linguistics includes SLA (Second
Language Acquisition), psycholinguistics, Sociolinguistics, ELT
(English Language Teaching), IELTS, TOEFL etc. which are very
important in our day to day life.
Q. Which one is more important between literature and linguistics?
Why?
Both the field of knowledge is important in the present world.
Undoubtedly, literature seems to be food our soul and provides
immense pleasure. But in the third-world country like Bangladesh
the study of linguistics is much more emphasized, because almost
everybody gets educated in order to get jobs and for commercial
purpose.
Q. Why are you interested to read Linguistics?
Obviously the study of linguistics is relevant in the present
day-world. There are some logical reasons behind it-------
(a). This is the day of Globalization and trance language functions
as a global-phenomenon.
(b). Language is a mutable aspect. So to have a good idea on
language, the study of linguistics is a must.
(c). In order to have a wide and cosmopolitan idea about the world–
literature, the proper and versatile knowledge of linguistics is
mandatory.
Q. What is the difference between linguistics and literature?
(a). Linguistics is the scientific study of language as a system of
human communication. On the other hard, literature is the criticism
and interpretation of life and is the mirror of the society.
(b). Linguistics functions both as instrumental (for getting job,
TOEFT, IELTS etc) and integrative (for communication).
(c). Linguistics is read for realistic as well as instrumented and
integrative purposes. On the other hand, literature is real for how to
differentiate between good and evil and for moral lesson.
Lingua franca: - The term Lingua franca is derived from the Italian
word (Frankish tongue). It is a language used for communicating
between the people of in area in which several languages are
spoken. e.g – English is functioning as lingua franca.
Pidgin: - A pidgin is a contract language or lingua franca, a mixture
of elements from different natural languages. Its use is usually
restricted to certain groups, e.g. traders and seamen. Pidgin traders
communicate with the local population or workers or with their
bosses. It has limited vocabulary, reduced grammatical structure.
Elements from another language have been absorbed in the form of
vocabulary or in the form of sentence structure.
Creole: - When a pidgin becomes a lingua franca. It is called a
Creole. Creoles are classified according to the language from which
most of their vocabulary comes. e.g. - English based, French based,
Portuguese based, Jamaican Creole, Hawaiian Creole, Krio in Sierra
Leone.
Morpheme: - Morpheme is the minimum grammatical unit. Such as
the four components un, -faith, -ful, -ness of unfaithfulness are
called morphemes. Morphemes are customarily described as
minimal units of grammatical analysis—the units of “lowest” rank
out of which words, the units of next “highest” rank are composed.
Morpheme may or may not have meaning, may or may not have a
phonological representation. A morpheme may be monosyllabic as
(man, a, an, the) and polysyllabic as (happy, nature).
Morphology: - Morphology is the study of the ways and methods of
grouping sounds into sound-complexes or words, of definite,
distinct, conventional meaning.
Dialect: - A regional, temporal or social variety within a single
language is a Dialect. It differs in pronunciation, grammar and
vocabulary from the standard language, which is in itself a socially
favoured dialect. So a dialect is a variation of language sufficiently
different to be considered a separate entity within a language but
not different enough to be classed as a separate language.
Everyone speaks in Dialect.
Phonetics: - Phonetics is the scientific study of the production,
transmission and reception of speech sounds. It studies the
medium of spoken language. Touching upon physiology and
physics, phonetics is now a pure science that studies speech
processes, including the anatomy, neurology and pathology of
speech, as well as the articulation, description, classification,
production and perception of speech sounds.
Phonology: - Phonology is the organization of sounds into patterns.
In order to fulfils the communicative function, languages organize
their material, the vocal noises, into recurrent bits and pieces
arranged in sound patterns. It is the study of this formal
organization of languages which is known as phonology.
Graphics: - Graphics is the systematic study of writing and writing
systems in general. It is the science of visual marks and symbols
used in writing human language. It is a branch of semiotics which is
the science of signs.
Syntax: - Syntax is the grammar of sentences. It is the science of
sentence- construction. It is the study of sentence-building, of the
ways in which words are arranged together in order to make larger
units. A syntactic analysis is generally concerned with sentences
and the constituents of sentence.
The Sentence: A Sentence is a word or set of words followed by a
pause and revealing an
intelligible purpose. --- A.H Gardiner
The Sentence is the largest unit of grammatical description, that is,
it is the maximum unit of grammatical analysis. --- Bloomfield.
The Word: The term has been defined differently. It is defined as (1)
speech, utterance, verbal expression (2) an element of speech.
According to Bacon --- Words are the tokens current and accepted
for conceits, as moneys are for values.
Registers: Dialects are the varieties of language according to users.
Registers are the varieties of language according to use. Registers
are those “varieties of language which correspond to different
situations, different speakers and listeners, or readers and writers
and so on”. --- R.M.W Dixon
Some important Abbreviations and
Elaborations
ELT: English Language Teaching
CLT: Communicative Language Teaching
SLA: Second Language Acquisition
TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language
TESOL: Teaching (Teachers of) English to Speakers of Other
Languages
IELTS: International English Language Testing System
IPA: International Phonetics Alphabet
SAT: Scholastic Aptitude Test
GRE: Graduate Record Examination
O Level: Ordinary Level
A Level: Advanced Level
BBA: Bachelor of Business Administration
MBA: Master of Business Administration
BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation
ABC: Australian Broadcasting Corporation
CNN: Cable News Network
AP: Associated Press
ISSB: Inter Service Selection Broad
BSS: Bachelor of Social Science
AD: After Death
BC: Before Christ
AM: Ante Meridiem (Before noon)
PM: Post Meridiem (After noon)
BCS: Bangladesh Civil Service
PSC: Public Service Commission
UN: United Nations
NB: Nota Bene (take notice)
NO: Numero (Italian word) Number
DO: Ditto (Italian word) Same
SP: Superintendent of Police
OSD: Officer on Special Duty
RAB: Rapid Action Battalion
CID: Criminal Investigation Department
DC: Deputy Commissioner
OC: Officer-in- Charge
CNG: Compressed Natural Gas
SIM: Subscriber Identity Module
FM: Frequency Module
SAARC: South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation
CD: Compact Disc
DVD: Digital Video Disc
VCD: Video Compact Disc
NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
CEDAW: Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination
Against Women
ICDDRB: International Center for Diarrhoea Disease Research
Bangladesh

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