Stress in English

These slides are created to give an introductory level understanding of Stress and Intonation in English. They are created for Pakistani students of Linguistics but contain enough references which can help any student.

Text Summarization Tools and Translation

Today I was (again) requested by one of my clients to translate (the news reports I do for them) in a way that they are summarized. So the readers may not have to go to unnecessary details which they are not interested in. I've tried to go around this request previously, because it was hard for me to provide extra time for "summarization" of the text, then translating it. Being a translator means you do not need to read the passage twice. You keep on reading sentence by sentence and keep on translating. It is very rare when the text is not familiar and translator has to read it first to get an overall idea of it. So I was being selfish in the same way, because I had to be give extra time for same work.

Well, having said that, today when I received the request again, I tried to find a work around. Where I could be happy as well as my client. And I got hit by the idea of automatic text summarization tools. That was amazing, I was so too much excited. I went to google and started searching "creating summary of text". And it gave me a bunch of tips every time "how to write executive summary" and bla bla bla... Well, that didn't go well, I said to myself. And then I changed the keywords to "text summarization tool". And I found some clues, an offline application and then some very exciting online tools which worked for me. So I used automatic summarization tools online today for the first time. I summarized a news report (in English) and then translated it. This way my client got happy (I am hoping so) and I am a happy guy also. So I wanted to share these tools here, in case someone might need to summarize his English text before translating it.

Text Compactor

It is the best tool I've got today. It is based on an open source summarization tool. And I think a very good implementation. It works fine for longer texts as well as short. My experience with a 600 words or so text was that it summarized it almost half when I chose 50%. But for a 400 words text, it didn't shorten it to almost or exact half, but returned the same. Then I selected 30% (even 35 or 40 didn't work either) and it gave a very compact summary of the text. So I think next time I should get a one third of longer texts as well so to incorporate more news reports in my daily professional Urdu translation limit for that client.

Tools4Noobs Summarizer

It was pretty good too, but it is a demo version. Additionally it was not that good as the above one. So I left it.

SweSum

This one was what I got at number one. It is actually written for Swedish but supports a number of languages including English. The tool is pretty much old and looks like not maintained anymore. It gives some good options for summarization as well, but its result is not very good. After getting the summary of longer text (same as used for text compactor) I had a feeling that automatic summary may not work for me. It focused too much on data and statistics, two sentences were subject less, and the ending part (which I think should have been part of the summary) was also omitted. So I had to add it on my own. But later text compactor solved the problem. I am hoping it will go on solving the problem for me. Because I cannot afford providing extra time for summary and then translation, or deciding what should be included and what should not be (in translation).

So folks, if you even get a chance when you need a summary. Do try these online tools, they work good.

An Introduction to Phonology

Following slides were prepared using The Study of Language by George Yule. The aim was to give introduction and basics of Phonology using English as a reference language. There is a single example of Urdu as well but that can be ignored by foreign students. The level for these slides was beginner and they do not contain very detailed information on certain aspects of Phonology e.g. Aspects of Connected Speech or Stress, Intonation etc.

English Vowels

This lecture has been prepared mainly from Internet while Diphthongs section has been prepared from English Phonetics and Phonology by Peter Roach. The slides cover monothongs and diphthongs. The diphthongs are in detail, though I wished to make monothongs section equally detailed as well.

A Short Introduction to Phonetics

This lecture contains basic material on Phonetics, introduction of Phonetics and a detailed summary of English Consonants along with their classification. The Study of Language by George Yule is primarily consulted for the preparation of these slides.

When I was denied from M Phil Applied Linguistics

Denial is not new for me. I’ve been denied lots of times in my life. But this I was not expecting. Ok, let me make it clear. I have a MSc Applied Linguistics degree with a CGPA of 3.72, earned from Government College University Faisalabad in 2010. I have 1st division throughout my academic career. I was actually number one in my class. And now in 2011, I had applied for M Phil Applied Linguistics in same department, same university. But everything was not same. The head Dr. Shehbaz Arif has been appointed newly. So when new administration comes, new ways and methods also come. Another reason for the changes (I’ll explain in next sentence) was the new VC. Well, the changes were made in merit calculation criteria. It was decided as Academic (80) + Interview(15) + Publications (5). I was very much hopeful that I would secure the position in 1st merit list. I got my interview quite fine, it was not very good not very bad in my opinion. I spend 1 month hanging and waiting for the merit lists. When they showed up finally on 31 October, 2011, I was shocked to see that my name wasn’t there. I was panicked, tensed. I ran to university and there I’d been told that my interview was not good enough to earn me a place at merit list. You see the criteria above mentioned? It says interview is a very small part 15 marks only, rest is the academic record (MA and BA). This policy is followed by all 21 debarments of the university. You can go to gcuf.edu.pk, and under Admissions > M Phil 1st Merit List you can see merit lists of each and every department, and how they have calculated merit score. But this is not the case with Applied Linguistics and English departments. Both are under Mr. Shehbaz Arif and he preferred to “devise” his own policy. He decided to include 20 marks of interview (10 qualifying) and marks obtained in GAT (Graduate Assessment Test, a GRE type proficiency test used in Pakistan) and minimal qualifying for GAT were 50. The note under the says that “MERIT LIST IS BASED ON RESEARCH INTERVIEW AND GAT QUALIFING MARKS.”. But the truth is that only interview marks are considered. Because the maximum marks given are 16. I had got 74 marks in GAT and I could secure position in 1st merit list but as GAT is not considered even after writing an explicit note under the merit list notice, I could not secure it. So I am out here. People ask me in the university what’s going on and I feel myself ashamed. I tried to give an application to VC yesterday, today I came to know it “vanished”. I provided them another handwritten copy of it. I went to Registrar he told me to come on Friday. I am not very hopeful, because they’ll create a rule which will disqualify me. But I am not going to make it easy for them. I am going to court if need be. Let me summarize the points I mentioned above.

The Department of Applied Linguistics didn’t follow the Admission policy and thus being unjust according to following points.

• The admission criterion states that merit be calculated this way Academic (80) + Interview(15) + Publications (5). But Applied Linguistics only considered interviews. This is total favouritism, it is done to deny deserving students like me.
• There are at least three students on merit list which have 2nd division Ghulam Dastgir, Zia-ur-Rehman and Bahadur Ali, and who knows how many more. While deserving like me sitting outside these inferior candidates have secured their seats.
• The “criterion” followed by Applied Linguistics states that “Research Interview Plus GAT” marks are included. If this was the way, I could get admission easily. Because GAT is not considered at all.
• The interview marks are unjustly allotted totally basing on favouritism. One who could speak well was given good marks, and others were denied. The candidate who has maximum marks on this merit list even she does not cross me in CGPA. (All list can be seen at gcuf.edu.pk, and under Admissions > M Phil 1st Merit List).
• The “qualifying” marks for interview 10 are put unjustly. There is no rule in university policy for “minimum” marks in interview. But it is done here. The limit was placed, so I could be allotted minimum marks in interview and thus to disqualify me.

It is frustrating for me being denied after all this time. But I’ll fight. If they do not yield I’ll go to high court. If I am to be defeated so be it, but I am not going to make it easy for them. I am not going to give up just yet.

Edit: I've added screen shots of merit lists of various departments including English and Applied Linguistics. The difference is obvious.

M Phil Applied Linguistics

M Phil Bio Technology

M Phil Business Administration

M Phil Chemistry

M Phil English

M Phil PakStudies

Hollywood Dance Movies

I am kind of stuck with movies these days. I keep on watching movies. First they were action. Then I turned to romance. And now I am obsessed with dance movies. They are dance movies but romance is a plus, kind of buy one get one free.

I turned to dance movies from romance movies watching Footloose (1985). That was a fantastic movie. Then I got idea of Step Up 3D during my search of movies on google. Downloaded it and watched a dozen times. I love it man. What a fantastic movie this is. The first two part are not as good as third one is. But kind of cool ones. I liked this movie.

And then comes step three when I turn to other dance movies. I go to google and ask it to gimme a list of God damn dance movies like Step Up. And it provided me a list of dance movies (and of course romance was free with each one). So for last 2 days I am kind of screwed up by these movies. I watch, and watch and keep on watching. One turns off, another has completed download and I get stuck with another one. This is second night I am on for late night. And tonight I am writing this post as well.

I never knew about dance so well before these 2 days. It is a whole world and kind of cruel world. But these movies, the ones I've watched so far show two kinds of worlds or worlds of dance. As I am a linguistics learner as well, and Discourse Analysis is one of my favourite areas in my field. So I always seek to find patterns, commonalities and structures. So here again, I could not stop myself analysing all the stories and find out common areas. And I got quite a success. I've found some very interesting points.

As I told in last paragraph there are two kinds of worlds presented here. One is prefect, rigid and requires perfection beyond the abilities of the dancer, and is the elite world of dancing as well, and that is Ballet Dance (pronounced as /ˈbæl.eɪ/). It is special for girls, specially white girls ( I found only 1 black ballet dancer so far in movies). There are large companies who run Ballet Dance theaters and like that stuff. On the other hand there is imperfection, lower class, street dance which is said to be unique and different from person to person, and that is Hip Hop (at least what I could figured out from characters' discussions). The dancers are poor and lower class teens who dance in clubs or streets, they bet on dancing with dollars or take part in competitions to win money. And most street dancers are black, sometimes white as well.

The stories are 99% related to winning a championship or a final performance which will give you a job thus save your career as a dancer. The dancers get scholarships or work hard for the final event. There might be a group of dancers or a solo male or female dancer in leading role. They'll train during the whole film. There would be minor skirmishes during this, a few villain kind of guys hanging around, a few gun fires and perhaps a killing. In the meantime the leading character would find a lover, or s/he will get the other one because s/he has broken up. If they are a group, they'll work together to win dance competition otherwise the other one would help the leading character to win the final event. And at the end (in middle as well actually) there is always a big long kiss (not always that long though). So the story ends, and if there is a sequel the next movie would start with a familiar character from last movie or story would continue with same characters (played by new actors) or it would start or take place on same place.

Probably you've noticed the kind of language I've been using in this post. This is another aspect of these movies. They are related to American teens, specially black teens. So the informal slang is being used throughout the story by the characters. And eventually the watcher also gets his tongue polluted. So I am screwed up here man. These dance movies really suck but I've to keep on watching until my list of movies completes. And in the mean time if you get some time, try Step Up 1, 2 and 3 man. This trilogy really cool dude. Trust me. ;-)