Semantics, Stylistics and Pedagogics

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Meaning. being the core of the existential reality of language, need to be comprehended and analyzed. properly grasped and talked about. The first part of this book, Semantics, Stylistics and Pedagogics, is planned to strengthen our comprehension of the 'meaning facet of language at 'isolable' level (lexical) and also at 'combinatorial' level (discoursal). The way 'meaning' is viewed and analyzed at different times and in different intellection traditions is presented in the first three chapters which constitute the part called Semantics. The fourth chapter constitutes the second part of the book-Stylistics-dealing with the way 'meaning' is juiced out from a text. One can even say that we actually juice out meaning for a text because the meaning is actually a response from the aesthetic and cognitive capabilities of a reader. So the 'grasping of meaning of a text is again a dynamic process comprising denotative, connotative and suggestive responses. The third part of the book Is 'Pedagogics' which subsumes 'androgogics' too. Here we see how the language teacher who has comprehended and grasped 'meaning' conveys it to the student in the classroom. This conveying is actually facilitating comprehension and grasping in the minds of the students.

Dr. V. Prakasam, D.Phil. (York, 1972) and Ph.D (Nalsar "2013). Retired from The English and Foreign Languages University Hyderabad. He was senior Fullbright Fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and The University of California at Berkeley (1985). He taught linguistics at Osmania University, Hyderabad and Punjabi University Patiala. He was for a while undersecretary at UPSC, New Delhi. He was also Director of EFLU Regional Centre, Lucknow (2002-04). He has published about 100 papers, sixteen books and edited eleven books including The Linguistic Spectrum (1986, Punjabi University); Semiotics of Language, Literature and Culture (Allied, 1999); The Encyclopedia of the Linguistic Sciences (2007, Allied); A Handbook of English Usage (Vijay Nicole, 2013) and Dr Ambedkar the Jnanayogi (Emesco, 2016). He works in the areas of Systemic Functional Linguistics, English Grammar, Telugu Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Comparative Religious Studies, Forensic Linguistics, Ambedkar Studies, Indian Classics and Homeopathy.

Dr. Anvita Abbi, Ph.D. (Cornell University, USA). Retired from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and is currently Honorary Director of the Centre for Oral and Tribal Literature, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi and President of the Linguistic Society of India. She is also the Adjunct Professor of Simon Fraser University. Vancouver. BC Canada. An author of 18 books, Prof. Abbis work on tribal and other minority languages of South Asia has been exemplary and has won several national and international awards. She was conferred with Padma Shri in 2013 by the President of India for her pioneering work on the highly endangered languages of the Andaman Islands. the Kenneth Hale Award in 2015 by the Linguistic Society of America for "outstanding lifetime contributions to the documentation and description of languages of India and Rashtriya Lok-Bhasha Sammaan in 2003 for her contribution to tribal languages of India. She was nominated as 'India Chair' for Vancouver, BC, Canada by the ICCR in 2016. She has occupied positions of Guest Scientist at the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology at Leipzig, Germany, Leverhulme Professor at SOAS England. Distinguished Visiting Fellow at La Trobe University, Melbourne. Australia, and Visiting Professorships in Germany and Canada. She has been advisor to the UNESCO on language issues and has been serving as advisor to many national institutes and universities. Her recent publications include: Grammar of the Great Andamanese Language. An Ethnolinguistic Study (Brill, Netherlands 2013): An Ancient Tale from Andaman (NBT 2012) and Jiro Mithe (NBT 2013): Dictionary of the Great Andamanese language (Ratna Sagar. Delhi 2012); Birds of the Great Andamanese: Names, Classification and Culture (OUP 2011. With Satish Pande): Endangered languages of the Andaman Islands (Lincom Europa, Germany 2006).

Language is semogenic system, i.e., meaning-creating system. Since there can be no meaning without expression, a language event is treated as "doubly articulated" system comprising a "plane of content" and the "expression plane". Meaning then is "the transduction of the phenomenal back into the phenomenal via these two interfaces of content and expression" (Halliday 2002 : 304-355) Halliday adds: "... meaning is a mode of action engaged at the intersection of the material (or phenomenal) and the conscious, as complementary modes of experience.... By the act of meaning, consciousness imposes order on the phenomena of experience" (ibid: 364).

Language, as a system though complex, is learnable and teachable. This has been made possible by the linguists who have shown it as describable.

Meaning, being the core of the existential reality of language, needs to be comprehended and analyzed, properly grasped and talked about. The first part of this book, 'Semantics', is planned to strengthen our comprehension of the "meaning" facet of language at 'isolable' level (lexical) and also at 'combinatorial' level (discourse). The way 'meaning' is viewed and analyzed at different times and in different intellection traditions is presented in the first three chapters which constitute the part called Semantics. The fourth chapter constitutes the second part of the book, ' Stylistics ', dealing with the way 'meaning' is juiced out from a text. One can even say that we actually juice out meaning for a text because the meaning is actually a response from the aesthetic and cognitive capabilities of a reader. So the 'grasping' of meaning of a text is again a dynamic process comprising denotative, connotative and suggestive responses. The third part of the book is 'Pedagogics' which subsumes `androgogics' too. Here we see how the language teacher who has comprehended and grasped 'meaning' conveys it to the student in the classroom. This conveying is actually facilitating comprehension and grasping in the minds of the students.

This tridental activity of 'meaning' study is expected to be of a great help to students, teachers and scholars working on different texts.

In his Foreword to an earlier version of a part of this book, Professor Braj B. Kachru very graciously said that the book was going to be useful to teachers, students and also teacher trainers and researchers.

This volume is intended to be richer and more comprehensive.

We also dedicate this book to the memory of Professor Braj B. Kachru with great admiration for his work and deep appreciation for his support to younger scholars.