Resources for South Asian Language Studies in the United States: Report to a Conference Convened by the University of Pennsylvania for the U.S. Office of Education, January 15-16, 196 [Reprint 2016 ed.] 9781512814897

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Resources for South Asian Language Studies in the United States

Resources for South Asian Language Studies in the United States Report of a Conference convened by the University of Pennsylvania for the United States Office of Education, January 15-16, 1960

W . Norman Brown

Philadelphia

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS

Copyright © 1960 by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania Published in Great Britain, India, and Pakistan by the Oxford University Press London, Bombay, and Karachi Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 60-15611 All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America T h e research reported herein was performed pursuant to a contract with the United States Office of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Preface

On January 15-16, 1960, the University of Pennsylvania convened a Conference at the request of the United States Office of Education to survey the resources available in the United States for the development of language and area studies of South Asia and to make recommendations for a program of development. South Asia was considered to include: India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, and the southern fringes of T i b e t . T h e Conference participants included scholars representing all the universities in the United States where modern South Asian languages are taught, most of those where classical South Asian languages are taught, and the Foreign Service Institute. In addition there was a representative from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Among the participants was also one of the members of the international Study Group on Asian and African Languages convened in London, May 25-29, 1959, on the initiation of the N.A.T.O. Parliamentarians' Conference of 1958. T h e Philadelphia Conference was therefore a fully representative body of South Asian language teaching in the United States and abroad. It comprised almost all the American personnel qualified to prepare the needed teaching materials. Participants present at some or all of the sessions were: Ernest Bender, University of Pennsylvania William Bright, University of California, Los Angeles W. Norman Brown, University of Pennsylvania O. L. Chavarria-Aguilar, University of Michigan 5

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Preface

T . W. Clark, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London Henry L. Deimel, School for Advanced Study of International Communication and Understanding, Washington Edward C. Dimock, University of Chicago Murray B. Emeneau, University of California, Berkeley Gordon H. Fairbanks, Cornell University Austin E. Fife, Language Development Section, Financial Aid Branch, Division of Higher Education, U.S. Office of Education Chadbourne Gilpatric, T h e Rockefeller Foundation H. A. Gleason, Hartford Seminary Foundation J o h n J . Gumperz, University of California, Berkeley Carleton T . Hodge, Foreign Service Institute, Department of State H. M. Hoenigswald, University of Pennsylvania Daniel H. H. Ingalls, Harvard University Gerald B. Kelley, University of Wisconsin Richard D. Lambert, University of Pennsylvania Horace I. Poleman, Library of Congress Franklin C. Southworth, University of Pennsylvania Burton Stein, University of Minnesota Lawrence L. Van Mourick, Jr., International Communications Foundation Norman Zide, University of Pennsylvania (under appointment at University of Chicago) Eleven work papers were prepared in advance and distributed to participants. This booklet consists of a report of the Conference and all the work papers prepared for it, printed here with such changes as the authors wished to make after the Conference. W.

University of Pennsylvania April 20, 1960

NORMAN

BROWN

Contents Page Preface

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Report of the Conference by W. Norman Brown

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Post-Basic Training in South Asian Languages by William Bright

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Cooperation of South Asian and United States Scholars in Preparing Teaching Materials for South Asian Languages for Use by Americans by O. L. Chavarria-Aguilar

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Notes on Language Training for the Study of Modern Literature by Edward C. Dimock, Jr.

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Priorities among South Asian Languages by Murray B. Emeneau

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Contents and Organization of a Student's Reference Grammar and Dictionary by Gordon H. Fairbanks

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Teaching the Writing System by H. A. Gleason, Jr.

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The Content of the First- and Second-Year Language Course by John J. Gumperz

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Laboratory Aids for South Asian Languages by Carleton T. Hodge

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Contents

Page Development of Teaching Aids for the Study of Traditional Cultures and the Classical Languages of India by Daniel H. H. Ingalls

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Bilingual Training in South Asian Languages by Gerald B. Kelley

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Prospects for the Use of Modern South Asian Languages in Social Science Research by Richard D. Lambert

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Resources for South Asian Language Studies in the United States

Report of the Conference W . Norman Brown University of

Pennsylvania

1. The Conference began by defining its primary objective as consideration of American resources for language studies of South Asia, and then gave consideration to the kinds of persons for whose benefit South Asian languages should be taught in the United States. These include not only those whose major interest is in language disciplines but also those social scientists and humanists who do not have language as their first concern but need South Asian languages as tools of research. Since in South Asia English is more widely used than in many other parts of the Asian and African world, most American and European social-science and humanistic scholars have tended to ignore the South Asian languages. The disadvantages for those following this practice include inadequate communication with South Asians, inability to use valuable research materials, a mistaken belief that in covering English-language materials (comprehensible to only about one or two per cent of the South Asian population) they have covered all that is of value. T h e Conference was of the opinion that scholars in the general social-science and humanistic disciplines who deal with South Asia, and also United States government personnel or American personnel engaged in United States government-sponsored projects in South Asia need language training. In this connection the Conference noted with satisfaction the positive approach of the Ford Foundation in requiring a certificate of language competence submitted by a competent authority for all fellowship candidates going to Asian fields. 2. The Conference then considered study of the classical 11

South Asian Language Studies

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languages of South Asia (Sanskrit, Pali, Persian). It was the consensus that these need to be studied, even in teaching programs concerned primarily with modern South Asia. Classical languages are necessary for knowledge of the cultural background, for the enlightenment they give concerning the modern languages, for the prestige in South Asia which attaches even to persons knowing only a little of them. In socialscience studies there are many points at which the study of classical languages makes a contribution to knowledge of the subject. 3. The languages of South Asia were arranged in five groups of descending priority for teaching and the preparation of teaching materials (within each group the languages are arranged alphabetically): I. These should be available in many institutions: Hindi

Urdu

II. Each of these may be taught at several institutions: Bengali Marathi Persian

Sanskrit Sinhalese

Tamil Telugu

III. Any of these not available at present need to be made available soon in at least one institution: Gujarati Kannada Malayalam

Nepali Pali

Pashto Tibetan

IV. All not now available should eventually be made available in at least one institution: Assamese Kashmiri

Oriya Punjabi

Prakrit Sindhi

V. These are primarily fields of linguistic research: M u n d a languages Lesser Dravidian and Indo-Aryan languages Other languages

R e p o r t o f the Conference

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The South Asian languages at present taught or soon to be taught in the United States, as far as was known to the Conference, are the following: Arizona, California (Berkeley), Chicago, Cornell, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Foreign Service Institute URDU: California (Berkeley), Chicago, Pennsylvania, Foreign Service Institute BENGALI: Chicago, Pennsylvania MARATHI: Pennsylvania PERSIAN: California (Berkeley), Chicago, Columbia, Hartford, Harvard, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Princeton, Foreign Service Institute SANSKRIT (usually accompanied by Pali and Prakrit): California (Berkeley), California (Los Angeles), Chicago, Columbia, Cornell, Hartford, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Michigan, Minnesota (?), North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Princeton, Texas, Wisconsin, Yale SINHALESE: Pennsylvania TAMIL: California (Berkeley) (to be added 1961), Chicago (to be added 1961), Pennsylvania TELUGU: California (Berkeley) (to be added 1961), Pennsylvania, Wisconsin (to be added 1960) GUJARATI: Cornell (to be added 1961), Pennsylvania (to be added 1961) TIBETAN: California (Berkeley), Columbia, Harvard, U. of Washington, Yale MUNDA: Chicago (research) HINDI:

In the case of the most important South Asian languages— that is, those listed in Groups I and II above—the Conference agreed that it would be proper to give support to the preparation of more than one set of teaching materials. Some teaching materials are already available or in process of preparation for all languages in Groups I and II. These

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South Asian Language Studies

should be brought to publication stage and published as soon as possible. Teaching materials should be prepared for the languages in Group III as soon as possible. Teaching materials for the languages in Group IV should be prepared at convenience. Research should be promoted in all the languages in all groups without any effort to observe a close order of priority. Here let it be that the wind bloweth where it listerh. 4. With respect to methods of teaching South Asian languages, the following propositions were discussed: (a) T h e approach should be through the spoken language before the written and through conversation before reading. This was universally accepted. (b) A roman transliteration should be employed before introducing a nonroman script. Opinion varied concerning the point at which the nonroman script should be introduced. (c) A basic course should preferably be on an intensive basis. The definition of "intensive" in terms of contact-hours per week of teacher and pupil varied according to the circumstances in which the language is taught. In colleges and graduate schools the number of hours during the regular academic session is likely to be seven or eight per week, at most ten. Inservice intensive training, as conducted by the Foreign Service Institute, has twenty or more contact-hours per week. It was agreed that there is also need for nonintensive basic courses. (d) In the case of South Asian languages, as being neglected languages, it was recognized that, for the present, elementary study for most students has to be pursued in graduate school, though ideally they should enter upon their graduate work equipped with at least two years of the language. (e) It was assumed that teaching should be done with the assistance of an informant using the language as his mother tongue, and that mechanical aids, such as tape recordings, are of great use, even though not always indispensable.

Report of the Conference

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5. The Conference considered the kinds of teaching materials which need to be available for South Asian languages as recommended by the London Study Group, noting that for no South Asian language are all the kinds available at present. The Study Group's recommendations are quoted below in italics. (a) An elementary text and exercise book based on the spoken language and designed on modern principles for use in conjunction with a competent speaker of the language or with recorded speech. This was universally accepted. It was thought that in some cases a course could be so devised that it might be used for full coverage on an intensive basis and at the same time, by the use of proper indicative devices of omission and selection of material, be suitable for a short course of a more conventional character. (b) An introduction to the writing system and simultaneously to the written language. It was felt that this should ideally be part of the basic language course above. However, since basis language materials so far produced do not usually include such introductions to the writing systems, it might be useful to entertain proposals that they be prepared separately. (c) A substantial quantity of graded readings up to newspaper difficulty. There was a general feeling that a graded reader would be of maximum usefulness if it contained not only material of graded grammatical, syntactical, and stylistic difficulty, but also material drawn from a variety of intellectual fields, such as the short story, essay, and other kinds of literature as well as material relating to the various socialscience and humanistic disciplines. (This kind of reader was described by one or two of the conferees as a "cultural reader.") Such a reader would be a large one or might even become a series of readers, with an extensive vocabulary, the latter being especially useful since adequate dictionaries are not yet available for South Asian languages. A suggestion was

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South Asian Language Studies

made that specialized word lists for social scientists would be useful. A warning was expressed that such specialized lists should not be given priority over the so far nonexistent general list. Along with the reader, the group felt, advanced conversational materials illustrating specialized fields might be developed. (d) A bilingual dictionary of the modern spoken and newspaper language. T h e difficulty and time involved in preparing a dictionary were recognized, and it was pointed out that the Office of Education is planning to call a conference on the total problem of lexicography of foreign languages. In respect to the South Asian languages, the phraseology of the London Study Group's recommendation was discussed, and the final wording adopted was "a concise bilingual dictionary of the modern language." (e) A reference grammar. T h e Conference felt that this should be a grammar useful to nonlinguists as well as linguists and so arranged that it can be used in conjunction with the elementary text and exercise book after a semester's study. It should be comprehensive and not restricted to any particular kind of material. (f) Graded recordings up to the level of broadcasting difficulty. Such recordings might be made with the aid of broadcasting organizations in South Asian countries, in conjunction with a trained linguist. 6. T h e Conference then made a survey of (a) personnel available for devising teaching materials and (b) the materials which this personnel would produce. T h e results appear in the accompanying Table A, "Preparation of Teaching Materials for South Asian Languages."

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R e p o r t of the Conference

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