The role of discourse particles in natural human interaction, especially their behaviour in shaping various speech acts have been extensively investigated in relation to different languages of the world within the frameworks of syntactic and pragmatic theories. While pragmatics deals with the study of contextual meaning, at the core of it there are linguistic forms whose appropriateness as well-formed structures are subject to examination through application of syntactic theories. This, to the mind of the researcher, creates scope of an interface between pragmatics and syntax. Discourse particles which universally do not fall under any specific syntactic category (either lexical or non-lexical, semi-lexical or functional) have been so far analyzed as grammaticalized forms of certain functional or lexical categories such as modals, adverbials or conjunctions.
At a global level, the agendum now is to categorize the clausal and phrasal positions which are certified as legitimate syntactic structures by native speakers and which are confirmed to have specific and undisputable pragmatic validity. To do this, first, the exclusive intra-categorical distribution need to be exhaustively observed for one constituent at a time, for example, the verb.
The International School of Dravidian Linguistics (ISDL) concentrates mainly on the study and research of the Dravidian languages and cultures. This institution is an offshoot of the Dravidian Linguistic Association of India, the former president of which was Prof. Suniti Kumar Chatterji, the doyen of Indian linguistics. Hence it is quite natural for the ISDL to hold an all-India perspective and so due importance is given to languages other than Dravidian also. Long years of linguistic and cultural contact among the different ethnic groups and languages helped Indian languages in evolving many common traits. Hence no in-depth study on any Indian language can be pursued in isolation without knowing the major linguistic features, the nature of the influence of other languages, the question of cultural, religious and linguistic interactions with other language families etc. The ISDL and its allied organizations like DLA and IJDL recognize this factor and hence give sufficient attention to the study and research of other language families also.
The Government of West Bengal, in appreciation of our activities came forward to start a Bengali Unit in ISDL in 1982. Since then, ISDL is engaged in the study, research and propagation of the Bangla language and culture in Kerala. Apart from Prof. Suniti Kumar Chatterji, many other eminent scholars of Bangla were part and parcel of this institution. They include scholars like Prof. Sukumar Sen, Shri. S. Bhattacharya, Prof. Subhadra Kumar Sen, Prof. Karunasindhu Das, Prof. Pranabesh Sinha Roy etc. Many important Bangla and Sanskrit works were published by ISDL through the initiative of the Bengali Unit. A Handbook of West Bengal Vol. I and Vol. II, Place Names of West Bengal, The Mother Goddess in Bengal and in Kerala, Swami Vivekananda and South India, Rabindranath Tagore: A Symbol of Asian Resurgence, English Translation of Mugdhabodham Vya:karaņam, Bengali for Non-Bengalees etc. are some of the important publications from the Bengali Unit of ISDL.
The book "An Account of Bangla Discourse Particles" is a report on the project work done at ISDL by Dr. Rajat Ghosh. He is a diligent researcher and this work is a product of his in-depth study of discourse particles of contemporary colloquial Bangla, holding a universal perspective. I am sure that researchers in the field of linguistics all over India will gladly welcome this new publication from the International School of Dravidian Linguistics.
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