Decoding the codes underlying English Literature

Human language is a system of coding and decoding. Literature too, according to P Das, in many cases is a pack of codes which, if not decoded, makes the readers lose their way in its labyrinth. The epics, mythologies, and folklores are neither foolish nor meaningless; by decoding those ciphers, Das has proved that they are closely associated with historical facts and social incidents.

Classical Literature (Ancient Greek and Latin)

English literature is greatly indebted to the classical literature, i,e. Greek (e.g., Homer, Aeschylus etc.) and Latin (e.g., Virgil). PD’s profound knowledge in this field gets clear from the fact of his involvement in the Society for Classical Studies (SCS), a North American scholarly organization devoted to all aspects of Greek and Roman civilization. SCS is a dominant association in the field, and publishes a journal, Transactions of the American Philological Association based at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. The Society’s annual newsletter is Amphora that aims to convey the excitement of classical studies by offering accessible articles written by professional scholars and experts on topics of classical interest including literature, language, mythology, history, culture, classical tradition and the arts etc.

The Biblical Studies

The literature, art, and music of Western culture in particular are deeply indebted to Biblical themes, motifs, and images. Naturally, it has had an enormous impact on the English literature. Indeed, some of the greatest literary works of Western Civilization, such as Paradise Lost, are based squarely on the Bible. Other classics, such as the plays of Shakespeare, do not incorporate Biblical themes per se, but, many of the plays are infused with Biblical symbolism and imagery. The Bible’s influence on American writers has been equally profound. Moby Dick, to cite just one example, is laced with allusions to the Books of Genesis, Job, Jonah and Kings. To be well versed in the the Biblical Studies...

English Philology

From the very beginning of his career, Das was very keen to discover the root of the English language. Out to trace the root, he noticed that a substantial number of words used in everyday English have been derived from Ancient Greek, Latin and French. Immediately after the knowledge, he started learning those languages. On the way of this search, he discovered English has its origin in the Germanic language family and this fact created an impetus in him to learn the German Language (Deutsch). As a professor of a proto language, he specifically has a faculty to demonstrate the existing analogy between European languages (viz. English, German, French, Ancient Greek, Latin etc), and the Indian languages (viz. Sanskrit and its descendants, e.g. Bangla, Hindi etc.). He believes that the strong affinity, both in the roots of words and the forms of grammar, between the European languages and Sanskrit along with its descendants, Bangla and Hindi for example, cannot be an accident. All these languages have sprung from the same proto-language which no longer exists. Here is the Tree Diagram that shows the origin and the relationships among the Indo-European languages that have descended from a proto-language popularly known as Proto-Indo-European languages:

Click to view the Tree Diagram

The fact of his profound knowledge is in philology is strongly authenticated by his affiliation with Cambridge Philological Society and American Philological Society, recently known as Society for Classical Studies. These societies reflect the wide range and high quality of research currently undertaken by philologists and classicists.

Linguistics

In order to demonstrate the affinity among the words, word-formations, their meanings and changes of meanings in different languages, it is mandatory to study morpheme and morphology and have a greater understanding of linguistics. With this view, Das has gone through a lot of course works and independent research.

Phonetics , Phonology and Phonotactics

In order to trace the affinity among the speech of different languages, and how the pronunciation of the basic speech sounds of a given language change in its sister language, it is obligatory to study phonemes (= the minimal meaningful unit of the sound system of a language) and phonology. With this view, Das has gone through a lot of course works and independent research.

The authenticity of his knowledge in these scientific areas is reinforced by his affiliation to the International Phonetic Association that promotes the scientific study of phonetics and the various practical applications of that science. The IPA’s major contribution to phonetics is the International Phonetic Alphabet—a notational standard for the phonetic representation of all languages. As a member of the IPA, Das enjoys attending the International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS) and the ability to stand for and vote for the IPA Council.