LANGUAGE IN INDIA Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow Volume 17:11 November 2017 ISSN 1930-2940 Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D. Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D. Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D. B. A. Sharada, Ph.D. A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D. Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D. Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D. G. Baskaran, Ph.D. L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D. C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics) N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D. Renuga Devi, Ph.D. Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D. Dr. S. Chelliah, M.A., Ph.D. Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A. Contents Language in India www.languageinindia.com is included in the UGC Approved List of Journals. Serial Number 49042. Materials published in Language in India www.languageinindia.com are indexed in EBSCOHost database, MLA International Bibliography and the Directory of Periodicals, ProQuest (Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts) and Gale Research. The journal is included in the Cabell’s Directory, a leading directory in the USA. Articles published in Language in India are peer-reviewed by one or more members of the Board of Editors or an outside scholar who is a specialist in the related field. Since the dissertations are already reviewed by the University-appointed examiners, dissertations accepted for publication in Language in India are not reviewed again. This is our 17th year of publication. All back issues of the journal are accessible through this link: http://languageinindia.com/backissues/2001.html Language in India www.languageinindia.com ISSN 1930-2940 17:11 November 2017 Contents i Amudhu Sankar, MASLP, Vaidyanathan Raghunathan, Ph.D. in Linguistics, Prakash Boominathan, Ph.D. in Speech & Hearing and Usha Rani A., Ph.D. in Linguistics Pragmatic Comprehension of Different Types of Questions in Tamil 1-17 Baiju.D, Ph.D. Research Scholar and Eldho Joy E. Ph.D. Research Scholar Myths and Beliefs of the Aka Koro Community of Arunachal Pradesh 18-27 Barnali Sikder Bodo Poets: A New Beginning 28-34 Bhuvaneswari. B., M. Phil., Ph.D. Candidate and Prakash Padakannaya, Ph.D. Environmental Print Awareness in English and Tamil in Indian Children 35-59 Chandan Kumar, Ph.D. Research Scholar Location of Identity in Language Contact and Replacement: A Case of Hindi-ized Magahi and Magahi 60-79 Jessica Chandras, Ph.D. Candidate Marathi Use and Identity in Higher Education in Urban Maharashtra 80-97 Dr. S. Chelliah, M.A., Ph.D. The Poetic Art and Vision of Robert Frost with a Focus on His Pragmatic View of the Relationship between Man and Nature: A Brief Analysis 98-112 Ishfaq Hussain Bhat, M.A. Kamala Das’s Poetry: A Feminist Perspective 113-123 Ismarita Ida Rahmiati & Ive Emaliana Developing Reading Test Using Lower to Higher Order of Thinking for ESP Students 124-144 S. Johny, Ph.D. Candidate and Dr. J. G. Duresh Angst of the Tyrannized: A Reading of Omprakash Valmiki’s Joothan 145-151 Hema. N., Shyamala. K. C. & K. P. Priya Narrative Discourse of Kannada-English Bilingual Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury: A Comparative Study 152-173 Dr. R. Joseph Ponniah, Ph.D. and Paul Abraham, M.A. We Acquire Language by Reading: A Comparison between Avid Readers and Moderate Readers 174-182 Language in India www.languageinindia.com ISSN 1930-2940 17:11 November 2017 Contents ii X. Merlin, M.A., M.Phil. Candidate and Dr. Helen Unius Backiavathy New Historicism Applied to To Kill A Mockingbird 183-192 X. Merlin, M.A., M.Phil. Candidate A Study of Resoluteness of Calpurnia in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mocking Bird 193-199 Monika Dhillon, UGC NET, M.Phil. Dynamics of History, Power and Dissent: A Study of Theatrical Tradition of Dario Fo 200-209 Dr. D. Nagarathinam King Janamejaya and Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi – A Comparative Study 210-222 Agniva Pal, Ph.D. Scholar, Dr. Gautam Ganguly and Prof. Vaishna Narang Fluency in Discourse for Female RHD Participants 223-249 Dr. N. Pratheeba Can You Give a Constructive Feedback? 250-253 S. S. Saranya M.A., M.Phil., M.B.A., Ph.D. Candidate From Oral Tales to Percy Jackson – A Bird’s Eye View of Children’s Literature 254-269 Savitha Vadakkanthara Hariharan, Vaidyanathan Raghunathan, N. Sreedevi and Padmasani Venkat Ramanan Expressive Language and Vocabulary Development of Tamil Speaking Children with Repaired Cleft Lip and Palate 270-286 Selvi Bunce Lao She’s Teahouse Act 3 and Rickshaw Boy: The Role of Women 287-292 Shakeel Ahmed Sohil (Shakeel Rahi), Ph.D. Scholar Sanskrit Elements in Panchali (Poguli/Khah) Language 293-312 C. Shanmuga Priya, M.A., M.Phil., SET., Ph.D. Candidate Saadhu Sriram, B.Com., MCA., M.Phil., MHRM., Ph.D. Candidate Shakespeare’s King Henry V as a Skillful Rhetor 313-319 Dr. P. Sreenivasulu Reddy and Dr. Ramanadham Ramesh Babu A Critical Appreciation of the Poem My Grandmother’s House by Kamala Das 320-323 Language in India www.languageinindia.com ISSN 1930-2940 17:11 November 2017 Contents iii M. Balasubramaniyan, M.A. and R. Subramani, Ph.D. Inequality in Education: Journalistic Descriptions from Ayyothidhasa Pandithar’s Oru Paisa Tamilan and Tamilan Magazines 324-331 Dr. Sweta Sinha Gender Reflection in Number Markers: A Case of Hindi Disyllabic Words and their Gendered Behavior 332-343 Varun Gulati, M.A. (English, Education), M.Phil., Ph.D. A Female against Autonomy: A Study of Meerabai’s Poetry 344-350 Dr. Jernail Singh Anand Poetic Creation and Recreation: The Magic Spell and the Cloud Syndrome 351-357 Language in India www.languageinindia.com ISSN 1930-2940 17:11 November 2017 Contents iv ================================================================= Language in India www.languageinindia.comISSN 1930-2940 Vol. 17:11 November 2017 UGC Approved List of Journals Serial Number 49042 ================================================================ Pragmatic Comprehension of Different Types of Questions in Tamil Amudhu Sankar, MASLP Vaidyanathan Raghunathan, Ph.D. in Linguistics Prakash Boominathan, Ph.D. in Speech & Hearing Usha Rani A., Ph.D. in Linguistics ================================================================== Abstract This study discusses the comprehension of questions in Tamil speaking children. The participants were 315 typically developing children in the age range of 5;1 to 9;0 years of age. Each child was assessed individually using material that consisted of pictorial short scenarios and stories that had specific probe questions. The language samples were analyzed and percentage of correct responses was calculated for various types of questions. The ranking order of various types of questions was obtained. The results indicated that as children grew older, they were able to answer complex contextual questions. The “yes or no” question exhibited highest rank and “why” question had the lowest rank order in children between 5;1-9;0 years. Relevance theory has been utilized in this study to explore the pragmatic comprehension abilities of children in relation to varied contextual complexity of different question types. The results obtained can be employed in clinical setting to evaluate the pragmatic status of children with language disorders. Keywords: Pragmatics, Comprehension of questions, Relevance theory, Tamil children Introduction Children use different types of questions in everyday situations when they communicate with peers as well with others. They also use their linguistic knowledge to comprehend the pragmatic intentions in question of others. ‘Questions’ are special speech acts where speaker uses them to obtain specific information from listeners, and the listener provides the requested information to the speaker. Analysis of questions produced by ================================================================== Language in Indiawww.languageinindia.comISSN 1930-294017:11 November 2017 Amudhu Sankar, MASLP, VaidyanathanRaghunathan, Ph.D. in Linguistics, Prakash Boominathan, Ph.D. in Speech & Hearing and Usha Rani A., Ph.D. in Linguistics Pragmatic Comprehension of Different Types of Questions in Tamil 1 children provides information about semantic/conceptual, syntactic, and pragmatic development. Semantically, questions are used to indicate literal meaning (Bach, 1999), and to know about the conceptual knowledge. Syntactically, questions are viewed as individual units with varied distinctive features and word order where each question has both subject and object form (Dekker, Aloni, & Butler, 2007). Wh-questions tap both grammatical and pragmatic aspects of language. Studies in the past have focused on production of semantic and syntactic components of questions in children (Tyack &Ingram, 1977). There is, however, little information on pragmatic functions of child’s use of questions. The pragmatic intent of an utterance is independent of its syntactic form. For instance, in the sentences “Can you pick up the toy now?” and “It’s time to pick up the toys” are syntactically classified as question and declarative sentence respectively. However, the pragmatic function of both these sentences is to direct the child to pick up the toys. All listeners do not equally interpret the speaker’s information accurately. Relevance Theory (Sperber & Wison, 1995) explains that comprehension of utterances is not complete only with the linguistic aspects, as it does not give the intended meaning. Thus, pragmatic aspect of language is necessary for the comprehension of utterances. The framework of Relevance Theory (RT) has been widely used in studies on comprehension of pragmatic language (Happé, 1993; Leinonen & Kerbel, 1999). Reference assignment, enrichment and implicature are three subtasks of RT, which helps in perceiving the contextual meaning of the spoken utterances. In reference assignment, the hearer finds the person/objecting spoken or referred from a given context. Thus, there is no need to process beyond the given information. On the other hand, in enrichment; persons do not communicate with complete sentences most of the time. So, it is understood that the listeners can use the information from their thought process and comprehend the information in the particular context. Also, in everyday communication, many of us use indirect utterances. The implied meaning of these indirect utterances is extracted by utilizing the contextual information, such as prior verbal information, physical context and world knowledge.