Classified Recall Vocabulary in Bengali Bakul Chandra Chowdllury Central Institute of Indian Languages Mansagangotri, MYSORE, INDIA Classified Recall Vocabulary in Bengali CENTRAL INSTITUTE OF INDIAN LANGUAGES PUBLICATION N0.454 Major Indian Languages: Bengali Editor B. Syamala Kumari ii Classified • Recall Vocabulary In Bengali Bakul Chandra Chowdhury Central Institute of Indian Languages Mansagangotri, MYSORE, INDIA ill Classified Recall Vocabulary in Bengali Bakul Chandra Chowdhury February 2000 First published: Magha 1921 0 Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore 2000 This material may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Address {or correspondence: Director Central Institute of Indian Languages Manasagangotri, Vinoba Road MYSORE 570 006, INDIA. Phone: 91-821-515558, 515820 Grams: BHARATI Telex: 0846-268 CIIL IN Fax: 0091-821-515032 E.mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.ciil.org ISBN-81-7342-060-2 Price: Bs. 140.00 Published by Dr. Omkar N. Koul, Director for Central Institute of Indian La.nguages, Mysore. Printed by Mr. S.B.Biswas, Manager, at CIIL Printing Press, Manasagangotri, Vinoba Road, Mysore 570 006, India. Production: K. Srinivasacharya EDITOR'S NOTE Word power is a great asset for any language speaker. Ability to use appropriate words in contexts that demand them is a skill that all users/learners of a particular language should aim at. But this does not mean that the mastery of vocabulary items alone-can be equated with the mastery of that particular language. Still in the process of language acquisition, learning words has a crucial role and the mastery of words is a good index of the command a speaker/learner has in that language. Knowing a word means acquisition of many abilities such as to be able to listen and recognise the word, to pronounce it, to relate it with some concrete object or abstract idea thereby linking with its meaning, to write it, use it (orally and in writing) in many contexts, recognise its synonyms and antonyms etc. All these abilities cannot be acquired by rote memorization. Repeated listening and reading and use in various contexts enable the learners to master a word. Vocabulary lists/glossaries and dictionaries are tools that help a learner for reference. These are also very useful to materials producers in the preparation of different kinds of instructional and testing materials. The vocabulary stock of individual speakers vary with respect to number and areas of usage. But there will be a number of words which are in the possession of all users in a particular language with some regional and social variations and these could be termed as basic or core vocabulary items. Some times, all the items in this core may also need not be frequently used constituting the active vocabulary but are certainly in their possession and remain as part of passive vocabulary. Body parts, kinship terms, verbs of day to day activities, common flora and fauna, etc., fall within the core vocabulary. Since a word is nothing but a label denoting a concrete or abstract experience vocabulary stock of the speakers/learners of a language go on increasing as their experiences increase in quantity as well as in coverage and this makes vocabulary learning a continuous and a life long process. While there may not be a great difference in the core vocabulary stock of the speakers of a language, the quantity and covemge can vary depending upon the experiences and the exposure of language users to varied environments such as regional, social, academic and scholastic. It is helpful for a second language Ieamer to have a tool for ready reference of words that an educated speaker has in different semantic contexts. This will be a bigger stock than the basic vocabulary and can function as a working list. With this view, the regional Language Centres of the CIIL have prepared Recall Vocabularies in the regional languages. While preparing these, the authors - faculty members of the Centres were given a list of various semantic groups and were asked to recall as many vocabulary items as could be covered under each semantic group. The recalling process had to be done in 2 to 3 weeks time and no reference material was used for recalling so that the words which were natura.lly recalled by the educated native speakers II were obtained. Since it is the result of one speaker's recalling process depending on his background we may find some pluses and minuses. But it certainly helps to have a s basic matcrial for the language learners and wriLCrs of text books. In the recall process it is natural that both active and some of the passive vocabulary items have come and they have been included. Some times, words that are purely dialectal or those which are less frequent and even some archaic words also have made their appearances. All these show the variety in the recalling process. Though this book is prepared primarily as a supplementary material for the adult second language learners of Bengali in the Eastern Regional Language Centre of the CIIL, we prcc;cnt this before all learners and teachers of Bengali to use it as a meaningful tool. 8. SYA M ALA KUMARI iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I feel it a proud privilege on my part to offer my hcartful gratitude to Smt. B. Syamala Kumari, Reader cum Research Officer of C.I.I.L. for providing the format of this Recall Vocabulary, for editing it and seeing it through the press. I am profoundly grateful to Dr. Krishna Bhattacharya, Reader in Linguistics, Calcutta University, for the trouble she has taken to go through the entire manuscript and extend her valuable suggestions in improving the quality of this book. I am indebted to Dr. P.N. Dutta Baruah, R.R.O. of C.I.I.L. who realizing the need for preparing this book encouraged me and gave useful suggestions. I am also thankful to Dr. S.N. Barman, Principai, E.R.L.C. and to Dr. Mrityunjoy Das, Lecturer, E.R.L.C. for their help and co-operation during the preparation of this book. I am also thankful to Sml Swamali Chowdhury and Ms. Geetha for their excellent work in data inputting and D.T.P. artpulls. Last but not least I am thankful to Sri S.K. Biswas, Manager of the CIIL Press and all my other colleagues of the CIIL press, Publication Unit and the Staff of E.R.L.C. without whose active co-operation ~is work could not have seen the light of the day. Bakul C. Chowdhury iv FOREWORD The Central Institute of Indian Languages was established on 17th July 1969 to help evolve and implement the language policy of the Government of India and to co-ordinate the development of Indian languages through research, training and material production for their use in education, administration and other public domains. The Institute has seven Regional Language Centres to impart intensive training in modern Indian languages to the teachers deputed by their respective State Governments and Union Territories. Teaching of vocabulary is an integral part of teaching a language in any situation. Usually, language courses present the use of vocabulary in context. There is a need to provide certain supplementary materials including lists of lexical items, glossaries, vocabularies and dictionaries in the target language. The Institute has prepared different types of supplementary materials including common vocabularies and recall vocabularies. The Recall Vocabulary in Bengali is prepared keeping in view the needs of second language learner in Bengali. It is hoped that the learners of Bengali will find this book useful. OMKAR N. KOUL Director v INTRODUCTION The acquisition of vocabulary by the native as well as non-native speakers continues all through their life. It is not only acquired but also retained with equal importance. The vocabulary of any living language keeps on changing either by addition or by assigning new meanings to the existing vocabulary or by deletion of certain words or meanings of the words. The availability of vocabulary items of an individual speaker depends upon one's experience and exposure to the language, education background, socio-economic group to which he/she belongs, the dialect he/she speaks, I.Q., sex etc. The quantum and range of the vocabulary acquired in a language and the quality of their use are certainly a mark of the level of attainment of the speakers/the learners of that language. Language teachers are, therefore, required to teach the language learners sufficiently enough vocabulary and contents for their usage. Here, a vocabulary list consisting of 5856 vocables have been presented as a ready reference which the learners can use for their day to day learning in the introductory stage and also in later stages for reference. This book has been divided into two parts. Part I consists of 4186 words and they belong to the grammatical category of Noun and are represented under 44 semantic sub-groups. Part II consists of 1670 words and they belong to the other grammatical categories such as adjectives and adjective like words, adverbs and adverb like words, Verb and verb like words, pronouns, interrogative words and other function words such as post positions, interjections, onomatopoeic words etc. The words have been recalled under different broad semantic groups, such as man, plants, animals, physical world etc. Within each broad group several sub-groups were identified thus arriving at 44 semantic sub-groups for the category of nouns and 7 grammatical types for the rest The semantic subgroups in this vocabulary list is so chosen as to include vocabulary items relating to familiar objects and day to day experiences. The vocabulary recalled in this book consist of both the active and some of the passive vocabulary. Some of the words were recalled under more than one category on the basis of their naLure and function, under various semantic categories. Many words reflecting the cultural items have also been taken care of as they come naturally in the recall process. Some of the vocables may be noticed under different semantic subgroups. It may also be observed that some of the words of English and Sanskrit origin also and included in the list as these vocabularies have also been naturally recalled as they are part and parcel of Bengali language now. All these characteristics reflect the reality of the present day Bengali language and hence will be usefu~ for teaching and learning Bengali vocabulary and also for the preparation of instructional materials. vii