Exercise [Vocabulary Contextual Meaning of Words]

Exercise

I. Guess the meaning of the underlined word from the context:

1. The social stigma surrounding transgenders has forced many to drop out of school.

a) prestige

b) disgrace

c) custom

d) justice

2. This episode exposes an inherent flaw which blinds truth for a short time.

a) inherited

b) temporary

c) essential

d) existing

3. To lumber along on the huge contraption in maddening traffic requires some guts.

a) walking fast

b) going slow

c) moving slow

d) running

4. To lumber along on the huge contraption in maddening traffic requires some guts.

a) machine /device

b) road

c) track

d) complicated

5. Retire from your job, but never retire from your mind is an adage.

a) practice

b) proverb

c) adaptability

d) accusation

6. R Nagaswamy served as curator for art and archaeology.

a) custodian

b) observer

c) artist

d) sculptor

7. Recipient of many accolades, Sri Nagaswamy was awarded the Kalaimamani award.

a) prizes

b) titles

c) honour

d) criticism

8. Thanks to the robust recovery in rich countries, exports have been strong.

a) slow

b) strong

c) rigorous

d) vigorous

9. Artisanal chocolate brands depend on word of mouth and social media.

a) modern

b) traditional

c) Local

d) global

10. The copious rain has raised hopes.

a) abundant

b) non-stop

c) intermittent

d) torrential

II. Find out unfamiliar words from the following newspaper clipping and write your guess. Refer the dictionary and check whether your guess is correct or not. Write the dictionary meaning in the box pro- vided:

English Vinglish Or The Politics Of Language

England's mother tongue & globalisation

Today English is as close to a common tongue as there has ever been, with 1.5 billion speakers, and non-native speakers hugely outnumbering native speakers. The Rise of English: Global Politics and the Power of Language by Rosemary Salomone is a comprehensive study of how this happened, its consequences and costs. The dominant lingua franca of the world, English creates new cultural and class strains across the world, and mirrors the nature of globalisation itself.

First wielded by the British empire to shape the education and worldview of its colonial subjects, it is familiar across Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, the US, Australia and New Zealand. In many of these places, the English-speaking elite cast its vote for English over a babel of indigenous languages, and it continues to play a gatekeeping function, a way of including and excluding from high status.

But this is only half the story. The spread of English is not smooth and inex orable, but hugely contentious. There is an undertow of resis tance and arguments for linguistic diversity: While many people around the world speak English, most don't speak fluent English, and are usually multilingual or bilingual with English in the mix. High-status English is available only to people who already enjoy social and economic privilege.

Nations around the world are struggling with these conflicting pulls. The EU has a language policy of 'mot- her tongue plus two languages'. France has resisted English most strongly, as it tries to preserve the global status of its own language. Italy's courts have also ruled on the right to teach in the national language. And yet, market demands and parental pressure mean that English is steadily gaining ground.

The book dwells on India's enco unter with English at great length, how it is a vehicle for upward mobility but also an obstacle to those without adequate formal schooling or oppor- tunity. It touches on the offshoring boom, the Dalit activist project to deify English, to movies like English Vinglish and Hindi Medium that dramatise the stakes, to political skirmishes over language. It explains how low-budget private schools have exploited this impulse, treating parents like consumers and notes the lack of instructional quality and the opportunity gap for those from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.

Meanwhile, in Anglophone count- ries, there is greater understanding of the cognitive and emotional benefits of speaking more than one tongue, and the need for greater inclusion. The US, for instance, has tried to overcome the 'monolingual mindset' and focus- sed on dual-language learning over the last two decades. And of course, if the incentive to learn English is to get ahead in life, then its dominance need not be permanent recall Meta's Mark Zuckerberg giving speeches in Mandarin to woo the Chinese, or the fact that Spanish has a place in five continents too.

This book is about both the oppor- tunities and damages of seeking a common language in English. Treating language purely as a commodity, a way to increase economic productivity risks creating a class of English-speaking who multilingual cosmopolitans mingle easily around the world, while marginalising those who lack the social capital to develop those skills. Language is also a source of selfhood, and a link to others. There doesn't need to be a contradiction between these needs, the book reminds us-one can learn English, and also stay rooted in one's own languages.