The English Language has been a backbone of Present Era, the more you pay a deaf ear towards it, the more you embroil yourself. Because running away from an impediment is futile instead learn to face it boldly. More specifically, if we speak of hot topics like career, education and a propitious life, the English Language is ineluctable. In Exams like SSC CPO and and SSC CGL where dealing with English and General Awareness Section is mandatory, reading this way is beneficial. If you find it arduous to learn new words in a plain mode, ADDA247 is here to buttress your learning skills in a more fun and productive way.
Taking felicitous snippet from well reputed newspaper editorials, our motive is not just to make you learn the English language but keep you updated with the current affairs and events across the world which are important from the govt exams point of view. Either you are a job aspirant or a working person or just want to outsmart others, this is a befitting platform to expedite your performance thoroughly.
MULTILINGUALISM IS AN IDEAL, BUT IT IS ALSO A CONTESTED SPACE.
The significance of International Mother Language Day, which falls on February 21, each year lies in its attempt to strike a final balance. On the other hand, the event, which has the seal of approval of the United Nations, is supposed to honor the mother tongue. It also encourages the linguistic diversity-the practice of speaking more than one language. It is not uncommon to discuss the threat to, and the death of, languages by the media after a report shows that in our country with 22 scheduled languages and 100 Non-scheduled ones, more than 40 languages and local dialects, with less than 10,000 speakers, are headed towards extinction.
It has been estimated that globally, over 3,000 languages are expected to die in the course of the next decade or so. Oral languages feature (1) prominently in this list of endangered tongues. Interestingly, the death of a language occurs not just with a (2) precipitous decline in the number of speakers. Stipulated legislation can play a role too. For Instance, in a country like India rich in its oral traditions, the govt came up with the idea of defining languages on the basis of the existence of a script. This led to the (3) waning and even (4) effacement of specific dialects-such as the ones used by (5) indigenous people- whose survival depends on oral transmission. The subcontinent has a long history of political movements concerning language. The series of agitations in Tamil Nadu against the official status of Hindi is a classic example. The anger and (6) dissent, were a testimony to the unbreakable link among language, culture and identity. In India, where states- new and old-have been created on the basis of the dominant linguistic identity, (7) subterranean tensions concerning local dialects continue.
It would be tempting to morally denounce this (8) stratification that uses language as the medium of communicating prejudice. But what makes language- the (9) vernacular or the lingua franca( a language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different)- beautiful and complicated is the layered nature of its resonance. Multilingual societies are often feted for their commitment to the idea of pluralism. Today, the direction of global politics is (10) grim. In truth multilingualism is a space that simmers with the tension brought about by competing languages. It should be answered that if a multilingual society is indeed a nursery that is benevolent equally to languages, why is it that of India’s 22 scheduled languages, no more than two are spoken by the adivasis who make up over 8% of the country’s population?
1. PROMINENTLY (adverb)=विशिष्टता
Meaning: with an important role; to a large extent.
Synonyms: boldly, brilliantly, catchy, conspicuously, eye-catching, flamboyantly, noticeably, remarkably, splashy, strikingly.
Antonyms: inconspicuously, unemphatic, unflamboyantly, unnoticeably, unobtrusively, unremarkably.
2. PRECIPITOUS (adjective)=तेज़
Meaning: dangerously high or steep.
Synonyms: abrupt, bold, sheer, steep, plumb, craggy, slanted, sloped, tilted.
Antonyms: gentle, gradual, moderate, soft, flat, flush, horizontal, level.
3. WANING (verb)=कम होना
Meaning: (of a state or feeling) decrease in vigor or extent; become weaker.
Synonyms: abate, de-escalate, decline, decrease, diminish, dwindle, ease, ebb, lessen, lower, moderate, pall, ratchet (down), recede, relent.
Antonyms: appear, emerge, show up, blow up, distend, elongate, lengthen, enlarge, escalate, expand, intensify, soar.
4. Efface (noun)=उन्मूलन
Meaning: the act or process of effacing or eliminating something.
Synonyms: wipe out, scratch out, rub out, blot out, fade, expunge, eliminate, delete, cancel, obliterate.
Antonyms: create, improve, construct, build.
5. INDIGENEOUS (adjective)=स्वदेशी
Meaning: originating or occurring naturally in a particular place; native.
Synonyms: aboriginal, born, domestic, endemic, native, local, regional, original.
Antonyms: alien, exotic, foreign, strange, expatriate, immigrant.
6. DISSENT (noun)=असहमति
Meaning: the holding or expression of opinions at variance with those commonly or officially held.
Synonyms: conflict, discord, discordance, disharmony, dissidence, dissonance, disunion, division, schism, strife, variance.
Antonyms: concurrence, cooperation, accord, agreement, concord, concordance, harmony.
7. SUBTERRANEAN (adjective) =भूमिगत
Meaning: secret; concealed.
Synonyms: belowground, subsurface, covert, subversive, sunken, private.
Antonyms: aboveground, surface, open, palpable.
8. STRATIFICATION (noun)=स्तर-विन्यास
Meaning: the arrangement or classification of something into different groups.
Synonyms: distinguish, differentiate, separate, severalize.
Antonyms: move, displace, tussle, tousle, muss, move.
9. VERNACULAR (adjective)=मातृभाषा
Meaning: used in or suitable for speech and not formal writing.
Synonyms: colloquial, conversational, informal, nonliterary, unliterary, jargon, cant, slang, argot, patois, local lingo.
Antonyms: standard, undialectical, genteel, grammatical, proper, formal, learned, literary.
10. GRIM (adjective)=भयंकर
Meanings: very serious or gloomy.
Synonyms: cheerless, dark, glum, joyless, melancholic, morose, sulky, sullen, surly, humorless, melancholy.
Antonyms: benign, benignant, gentle, mild, tender, merry, mirthful, flighty, frivolous, giddy, harebrained, light-headed.
IMPORTANT GA FACTS FOR GOVT EXAMS BASED ON ABOVE ARTICLE:
- The International Mother Language Day (IMLD) is observed across the world on 21 February since 2000 to promote awareness of linguistic, multilingualism and cultural diversity. This year it was the 18th anniversary of IMLD.
- The theme of 2018 International Mother Language Day is ‘Linguistic diversity and multilingualism count for sustainable development’.
- The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India lists the official languages of the Republic of India. Per Articles 344(1) and 351 of the Indian Constitution, the eighth schedule includes the recognition of the 22 languages. viz. Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Sindhi (added by 21st Amendment Act, 1967), Konkani, Manipuri, Nepali (added by 71st Amendment Act, 1992), Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Santal (added by 92nd Amendment 2003). The list had originally 14 languages only but subsequently through amendments 8 new languages were added .
- At present, as per Ministry of Home Affairs, there are demands for inclusion of 38 more languages in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution.
- At least 43% of the estimated 6000 languages spoken in the world are endangered. Only a few hundred languages have genuinely been given a place in education systems and the public domain, and less than a hundred are used in the digital world.
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