Subject Indexing For Bengali Publications: Some Issues and Perspectives
Subject Indexing For Bengali Publications: Some Issues and Perspectives
Subject Indexing For Bengali Publications: Some Issues and Perspectives
Abstract : Since the days of Cutter, there is an unnumbered good indexing systems formulated for English
language documents such as Kaisers Systematic Indexing, Ranganathans Chain Indexing system, Ganesh
Bhattacharyas POPSI, Dereck Austins PRECIS and so on. But in Indian languages, there is no standard
subject indexing system formulated. To meet up the demand of the users and their different approaches in
Bengali documents searching, a sample Subject Indexing module in Bengali has been prepared. This paper
shows some rules and their application to Bengali documents. It would be applicable for other Indian languages
also.
Keywords: Bengali Language, Bengali Publication, Subject Indexing
I. Introduction
The need to store and retrieve written information became increasingly important over centuries,
especially with inventions like paper and printing press. Conventional approaches to managing large collections
of information originate from the discipline of librarianship. Commonly, items such as books and other non-
book materials were indexed using cataloguing schemes. Actually, the purpose of an information retrieval
system is to bring the information closer to the needs of the users. In this process, it is necessary to create a
surrogate file of the documents that may be searched or accessed according to various criteria of user
requirements. The most important criteria are the subject matter or content of the documents. Indexing
procedure tries to identify a document by its subject content.
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Subject Indexing for Bengali Publications : some issues and perspectives..
Burman families, all of which contributed to Bengali vocabulary and provided the language with some structural
forms. Dictionaries from the early 20th century attributed slightly more than half of the Bengali vocabulary to
native words (i.e., naturally modified Sanskrit words, corrupted forms of Sanskrit words, and loanwords from
non-Indo-European languages), about 30 percent to unmodified Sanskrit words, and the remainder to foreign
words. Dominant in the last group was Persian, which was also the source of some grammatical forms. More
recent studies suggest that the use of native and foreign words has been increasing, mainly because of the
preference of Bengali speakers for the colloquial style. Today, Bengali is the primary language spoken in
Bangladesh and the second most spoken language in India. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_language)
The structure of Indian languages in general is different from that of English. Hence, they need an IL, each
derived on the basis of their structure. Since India is a multilingual country and is considered as a linguistic area,
the comprehensive rules derived in developing an IL in Bengali may be applied to other Indian languages. This
study of preparation of a module has utilitarian value to prepare the pre-coordinate IL in Bengali in particular
and other Indian languages in general.
2.3 Phonology
The phonemic inventory of standard Bengali consists of 29 consonants and 7 vowels, including 6 nasalized
vowels. Bengali is known for its wide variety of diphthongs, combinations of vowels occurring within the same
syllable.
2.3.1 Stress
In standard Bengali, stress is predominantly initial. Bengali words are virtually all trochaic; the primary stress
falls on the initial syllable of the word, while secondary stress often falls on all odd-numbered syllables
thereafter, giving strings such as in sh-h-jo-gi-ta "cooperation", where the boldface represents
primary and secondary stress.
2.3.2Consonant clusters
Native Bengali words do not allow initial consonant clusters; the maximum syllabic structure is CVC (i.e. one
vowel flanked by a consonant on each side). Many speakers of Bengali restrict their phonology to this pattern,
even when using Sanskrit or English borrowings, such as geram (CV.CVC) for gram (CCVC)
"village" or iskul (VC.CVC) for skul (CCVC) "school".
2.3.3 Orthographic depth
The Bengali script in general has a comparatively shallow orthography, i.e., in most cases there is a one-to-one
correspondence between the sounds (phonemes) and the letters (graphemes) of Bengali. But grapheme-phoneme
inconsistencies do occur in certain cases.
2.3.4 Uses
The script used for Bengali, Assamese and other languages is known as Bengali-Assamese or Eastern Nagari
script. The script is known as the Bengali alphabet for Bengali and its dialects and t he Assamese alphabet for
Assamese language with some minor variations.
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2.3.5 Romanization
There are various ways of Romanization systems of Bengali created in recent years which have failed to
represent the true Bengali phonetic sound. The Bengali alphabet has often been included with the group of
Brahmic scripts for romanization where the true phonetic value of Bengali is never represented. Some of them
are the International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration or IAST system (based on diacritics), "Indian
languages Transliteration" or ITRANS (uses upper case alphabets suited for ASCII keyboards), and the National
Library at Kolkata romanization.
In the context of Bengali romanization, it is important to distinguish transliteration from transcription.
Transliteration is orthographically accurate (i.e. the original spelling can be recovered), whereas
2.3.6 Grammar
Bengali nouns are not assigned gender, which leads to minimal changing of adjectives (inflection). However,
nouns and pronouns are moderately declined (altered depending on their function in a sentence) into
four cases while verbs are heavily conjugated, and the verbs do not change form depending on the gender of the
nouns.
Word order
As a head-final language, Bengali follows subjectobjectverb word order, although variations to this
theme are common. Bengali makes use of postpositions, as opposed to the prepositions used in English and
other European languages. Determiners follow the noun, while numerals, adjectives, and possessors precede
the noun.
Nouns
Nouns and pronouns are inflected for case, including nominative, objective, genitive (possessive),
and locative. In this sense, all nouns in Bengali, unlike most other Indo-European languages, are similar
to mass nouns.
Verbs
There are two classes of verbs: finite and non-finite. Non-finite verbs have no inflection for tense or person,
while finite verbs are fully inflected for person (first, second, third), tense (present, past,
future), aspect (simple, perfect, progressive), and honor (intimate, familiar, and formal), but not for
number. Conditional, imperative, and other special inflections for mood can replace the tense and aspect
suffixes. The number of inflections on many verb roots can total more than 200.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_language)
IV. Hypothesis
Some hypothesis on which the research is based is as follows:
The need for pre-coordinate indexing language is much felt in Indian languages.
The concepts of IL can be analyzed properly with the knowledge of linguistics.
Any language, natural or artificial has its structure and vocabulary.
The pre-coordinate indexing language model derived for Bengali is applicable to all the Indian languages.
V. Methodology
While forming the rules of subject indexing for Bengali publication, the principles adopted in major
indexing systems like POPSI, PRESIS are taken into consideration.
In case of subject indexing in English language, there are so many subject heading list like Sears List of
Subject Headings , Library of Congress Subject Headings etc. But in Indian languages, there is no
standard subject heading list. Here I have followed the books Science: Subject Heading (:
) / by Pinakinath Mukhopadhyay for using the terminology in science,[4] Subject Heading
Structure System : Philosophy, Literature and Arts ( : , , ) / by Ratna
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Bandyopadhyay for using the terminology in philosophy, arts and humanities [5] and an unpublished Ph.D
thesis of Department of Library and Information Science, Rabindra Bharati University List of Subject
Headings on Social Sciences: Problems and its Solutions ( :
)/ by Madhab Chandra Chattopadhyay; guided by Pinakinath Mukhopadhyay for
terminology in Social Science.[6]
Some punctuation is used to separate each elementary category ( ), their facets ( ) and
qualifiers () from one another and also to establish their relations.
Vertical slash | is used to separate the each elementary category (Discipline, Entity, Action and Property)
from one another. Comma , is used for separating the three common qualifier (Time, Environment and
Space). When the qualifier Time is used as Dependent element, then it should be preceded by Hyphen -.
Hyphen - is used also in Whole-Part relations, between any Elementary Category and Qualifier of the
Elementary Category, between Qualifier and Qualifier of Qualifiers, concept of Agent and Form
Qualifier. Viewpoint is to be used as Form Qualifier. In case of Sample Survey or Study Region, it
should be preceded by Hyphen -. Parenthesis () is used for understanding the different types of Phase
Relations such as General, Bias, Comparison, Similarity, Difference, Application and Influence.
Semicolon ; is used in between the two same Elementary Category and between the two same Qualifier.
In subject indexing, all concepts are arranged in syntactical manner.
Different articles have been collected from different science, social science and humanities journals in
Bengali, from Bengali books and from Bengali newspapers as sample.
In the Illustrative part for demonstrating rules, each article is divided into four parts: i) citation; ii) abstract
proper; iii) analysis of the article and iv) an Arrangement of index entry.
VI. Some Rules For Preparing Subject Indexing For Bengali Publication
6.1 In a subject proposition, there are four elementary categories : i) Discipline (), ii)
Entity(), iii)Action() and iv) Property().
i) Discipline () : An elementary category that includes conventional field of study, or any aggregate of
such fields, or artificially created fields analogous to those mentioned above. It may be a. the traditional pure
discipline (example - Mathematics); b. the application of traditional pure discipline (example- Medicine); c. the
comparatively new pure disciplines distilled from practice in action (example- Management Science); d. the
discipline due to fusion of two or more recognized disciplines (example- Biochemistry); e. the subdivision of
recognized discipline (example- Logic, Ethics etc. in the subdivision of Philosophy); f. the discipline as an
aggregate (example- Social Science). [2]
ii) Entity () : An elementary category that includes manifestations having perceptual correlates or only
conceptual existence, as contrasted with their properties, and action performed by them or on them. Example :
Energy, Light, Plants, Animals, Place, Time etc. [2]
iii) Action () : An elementary category that includes manifestations denoting the concept of doing. An
action manifests itself as self action or external action. For examples: Function, Migration etc. are self
action and Treatment, Selection etc. are external action.[2]
Action may be Transitive action and Intransitive action, One-way action and Two-way action.
a. One-way action : It may have an object and a performer. Example: Management of Libraries . Here, the
term Management is action and the term Libraries is Entity or object.
b. Two-way action : Two-way actions are those which imply cooperation or interaction between the
protagonists. If one entity is having relations or cooperating with other entity, then by definition the latter is
also indulging in relations or cooperating with the former. The Two-way action is used to indicate the
relation like contract, cooperation, cultural relation, economic relation, foreign relation,
negotiations etc. [1, 3]
1) Example : Cultural relations between India and Bangladesh. Here the term Cultural relation is two-way
action.
iv) Property () : An elementary category that includes manifestations denoting the concept of attribute-
qualitative or quantitative. Example : Effect, Capability, Efficiency, Utility etc. [2]
6.2 In a subject proposition, a Qualifier is used to qualify the manifestation of any one of the elementary
categories Discipline, Entity, Action and Property, without disturbing its conceptual wholeness. As a result,
it decreases the extension and increases the intension of the qualified manifestation without disturbing its
conceptual wholeness. A qualifier can qualify a manifestation of any one of the elementary categories, as
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well as two or more elementary categories. Qualifiers are of two types: a. Common Qualifiers and b.
Special Qualifiers. [2]
a. Common Qualifiers : Time, Environment, Space and Form are the Common Qualifiers have the property of
qualifying a combination of two or more elementary categories.
b. Special Qualifiers : A Special Qualifier is used to qualify only one of the elementary categories. That is it
may be of Discipline-based, or Entity-based, or Property-based or Action-based. Special Qualifiers can be
divided into two types: [2]
Those that require a phrase or auxiliary words to be inserted between the term and thus forming a complex
phrase. It may be treated also Application Phase relation. Example : Indexing using computer
( ). Here the term using () is called Application Phase or Complex
Phrase. It is used to relate the two terms Indexing () and Computer ().
Those that do not require auxiliary words or phrase to be inserted between the terms, but automatically form
an acceptable compound term denoting Species. Example : Migrated birds ( ). Here the term
Migrated () is called compound term and may be treated as a special qualifier.
6.2.1 Time as a common qualifier : The term Time Qualifier refers to a common qualifier derived from
the manifestation of Entity denoting a Period.
Time is not only any definite period, it may be treated as a decade, century etc.
It may be treated as a definite historical period such as Vedic period, Sultani period, Mughal period etc.
It may be treated as a specific time in a day such as Morning, Night etc.
Time is treated as seasons such as Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring etc.
It may be treated as a meteorological period such as Dry, Wet etc.
Sometimes time may be treated as a dependent element.
6.2.3. Space as a common qualifier : The term Space Qualifier refers to a common qualifier derived from the
manifestation of Entity denoting the surface of earth as a whole or in portion, sometimes representing the
people, flora, fauna etc. within it. Example : World, Continents, Countries, Islamic countries, States, Districts
etc. [2]
Sometimes Space may be treated as Entity when the concept indicating space constitutes the principal
or only entity in a subject. Example : A Work on India [1]
India (Entity) | ()
Here the term India is treated is an Entity.
Sometimes the terms such as Districts, Panchayet is added with the space name to qualify the
particular space. In such a case, the term Districts, Panchayet etc. is denoted within parenthesis ().
Example: Schools of Burdwan District
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Here,
Education (Subject) ()
School (Entity) ()
Burdwan (District) (Space) ()( )
Sometimes Space may be treated as Study regions when a work contains a particular
instance/sample (a locality), as a model or source of evidence from which the author draws general conclusions.
[1] Example : Teaching in universities in India by foreigners : a sample survey of West Bengal
Analysis of the subject proposition is :
Education (Subject)
Universities (Entity)
Teaching (Action)
Foreigners (Agent of transitive action)
West Bengal (Study region as well as Space qualifier)
6.2.4 Form as a common qualifier : A treatment on a subject in a document may be presented in a distinct
pattern or style. In this context, the term Form Qualifier refers to a common qualifier derived from a
manifestation of Property denoting a pattern or style. Example : Bibliography, Encyclopaedia, Dictionary,
Periodical, History etc. [2]
o Sometimes Viewpoint may be treated as a Form : when the terms ending in viewpoints preceded by
words such as Christian Viewpoint, Feminist Viewpoint etc. [1]
o Terms ending in Perspectives preceded by words identify disciplines such as Historical Perspectives,
Political Perspectives etc. [1]
o Terms ending in Aspects preceded by words subjected to special study or emphasis such as Social
Aspects, Philosophical Aspects etc. [1]
o Target may be treated as Form. Target which expresses the name of any specific class of users for whom a
given document is intended. It may be called as Bias Phase relation. Example: Literature for Scientists
6.3. In a subject proposition, a qualifier may be manifested with another qualifier for deriving a new qualifier.
Example : The Ghost stories of Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay ( )
Here the analysis is :
Literature (Discipline) ()
Bengali literature (Entity) ()
Short stories (Qualifier of Entity) ( )
Ghost stories (Qualifier of Qualifier of Entity) ( )
6.4. Phase Relation : The term Phase refers to a subject component of a complex subject. In Phase
relation, two subjects-simple or compound, combine with each other on the basis of some relationships such as,
General, Bias, Comparison, Similarity, Difference, Application and Influence. Examples of different types of
Phase relations are :
Science and Religion (General Phase relation)
Literature for Scientists (Bias Phase relation)
Comparative study of French Literature and Bengali Literature (Comparison Phase relation)
Similarity between Punjabi Culture and Bengali Culture (Similarity Phase relation)
Difference between Chemistry and Physics (Difference Phase relation)
Application of Science and Technology in Agriculture (Application Phase relation)
Influence of Politics on Religion (Influence Phase relation)
6.5 Whole-Part Relation : In relation to a Universe of subjects, all the different subjects comprised by it,
taken together, is a whole. Example: Human bodies viewed as comprising of Male human bodies and
Female human bodies is a whole. [2]
In relation to a universe of subjects deemed to be a whole, a part is one of its sub-universes not maintaining the
conceptual wholeness of its source-universe, but maintaining a distinction on the basis of a characteristic of its
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own. The relationship between a whole and its parts is described as a Whole-Part relationship. The extension
of a part is smaller than that of its source-universe. The intension of a part is greater than that of its source-
universe. [2]
The following situations, Part relations may be indicated:
Parts or subassemblies of entities or locations. [3]
Example : Wheels of cars - --- Car (entity)
Wheel (part of entity)
Subsystem of a system
Example: Students of schools ----- School (entity)
Students (part of entity)
Part of an action
Example : Bowling in cricket -------- Cricket (action)
Bowling (part of action)
Abstract part of intellectual or abstract concepts
Example : Myth in Hinduism -------- Hinduism (entity)
Myth (part)
Input of a system
Example : Coal in steam engines ------ Steam engine (entity)
Coal (part)
Output of a system
Example : Exhaust of steam engines ------- Steam engine (entity)
Exhaust (part)
6.6 Agent : Agent means by whom the performance is done. The concept of Agent may be indicated in
the following situations:
If the subject contains an agent of a transitive action with a specified object.[1] Example : Cataloguing
of books by students ------- Books (entity)
Cataloguing (action)
Students (agent)
If the subject contains an agent of a transitive action with object not specified but implied. [1]Example
: Reading by musicians ------- Reading (action)
Musicians (agent)
Sometimes the subject contains an intake upon which an action/psysiological process is performed.[3]
Example: Digestion of grasses by cows --------- Cow (entity)
Digestion (action)
Grasses (agent)
: = || Arts = Subject
= || Cinema = Entity
= || Bengali cinema = Qualifier of entity
= || Study = Action
- = '' || 1923-1933 = Time qualifier
(See Rule no.6.1, 6.2)
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| , -
Specific subject entry
Cinema Bengali cinema | Study, 1923-1933
, - /
| , -
| , - /
7.2. / ( (), )
Swadeshi movement and the study of science in Bengal / Nilima Dutta (Jnan Bijnan .-61(5),
May 2008)
: ,
|
|
|
Abstract : Swadeshi movement in Bengal influences so much on the economic and industrial
infrastructure of Bengal. Then it is extended to all over India and encourages forming a national movement
against Englishmen. The writer shows the valuable part of history through her writing.
: =
() =
=
= ( )
Analysis : Indian history = Subject
Bengal(undivided) history = Entity
Swadeshi movement = Part of the entity
Science study = (General Phase relation)
(See Rule no.6.4, 6.5)
() ( )
Specific Subject entry
Bengal(undivided) history - Swadeshi movement (General Phase relation) Science study
() ( )
()
/ () ( )
()
( ) / ()
Alphabetical Arrangement of Subject Index entries :
Bengal(undivided) history - Swadeshi movement (General Phase relation) Science study
History see Bengal(undivided) history
Indian history see also Bengal(undivided) history
Science study / Bengal(undivided) history - Swadeshi movement (General Phase relation)
Swadeshi movement (General Phase relation) Science study / Bengal(undivided) history
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Subject Indexing for Bengali Publications : some issues and perspectives..
7.3. : | ( . (-),
- )
Architecture in Ancient India : a research study / Jagatpati Sarkar (Jnan Bijnan .-60(10-11),
October-November 2007)
: |
Abstract : A research study on Architecture of Ancient India
: =
=
= ''
= ''
= ''
Analysis : Art = Subject
Architecture = Entity
Ancient Period = Time Qualifier
India = Space Qualifier
Research = Form Qualifier
(See Rule no.6.2)
, ,
Specific Subject Entry
Architecture, Ancient period, India - Research
/ , ,
, /
/ ,
, ,
7.4 / ( .
(), )
Medicinal plant in Indian Postage stamp / Kalyan Chakraborti and Monanjali Bandyopadhyay (Jnan
Bijnan .- 6(2), February 2007)
: , |
| , , ,
, |
Abstract : This essay describes about the plant centered Philately in India. Culture, folk life, bio-diversity
of plants and animals, national life, identity of scholars of the country-all is revealed through postage
stamp.
: =
=
=
=
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Subject Indexing for Bengali Publications : some issues and perspectives..
/
/
7.5 (. )
Influence of Rabindrasangeet in Bengali cinema of West Bengal (Paschimbanga.-May 2006)
: |
Abstract : The main theme of the essay is the influence and uses of Rabindrasangeet in Bengali cinema.
: =
=
=
= ( )
= ''
Analysis: Arts = Subject
Cinema = Entity
Bengali cinema = Qualifier of Entity
Rabindrasangeet = (Influence Phase relation)
West Bengal = Space Qualifier
(See Rule no.6.2 and 6.4)
( ) ,
( ) ,
/ ( )
( ) , /
, / ( )
7.6. | : ,
The problems and solutions of publications : Publishers viewpoint / Tajul Islam .- Bangladesh :
Dainik Desh, December 1990
:
|
Abstract : This essay depicts the role of publishers regarding the problems and solutions of Bengali
publications in Bangladesh.
: =
=
=
=
= ''
= ''
Analysis: Publication = Subject
Bengali publication = Entity
Problem = Part of Entity
Solution = Action
Bangladesh = Space Qualifier
Publisher viewpoint = Form Qualifier
(See Rule no. 6.2.3, 6.2.4 and 6.5)
:
| ,
Specific Subject Entry:
Bengali publication Problem | Solution, Bangladesh Publisher viewpoint
:
/ | ,
| , /
/ |
| ,
, /
7.7. : ( ) /
: ,
Alokmayeeder katha : Bengali periodicals (Pre-Independence Period) edited by women in Bengal
/Sonali Mukhopadhyay.-Kolkata : Gangchil, 2014
:
|
Abstract: This essay describes about the Bengali periodicals edited by women in Bengal in Pre-
Independence Period
: =
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Subject Indexing for Bengali Publications : some issues and perspectives..
=
=
() =
= ''
) ( = ''
Analysis: Periodical = Subject
Bengali periodical = Entity
Editing = Action
Women (by) = Agent
Pre-Independence Period= Time Qualifier
Bangadesh(undivided) = Space Qualifier
(See Rule no. 6.1, 6.2.1, 6.2.3 and 6.6)
| (), , ) (
Specific Subject Entry
Bengali periodical | Editing (by) Women, Pre-Independence Period, Bangadesh(undivided)
:
(), , () / |
, () / | ()
() / | (),
| (), , ()
(), , () /
VII. Conclusion
It is concluded that formulation of rules are required for vocabulary control in Bengali publication.
It is needed for maintaining the uniformity and consistency for constructing the subject indexing of
Bengali publications in different libraries in India. It is to be useful for effective information retrieval of
Bengali documents by subject.
References
[1] J. K. Sarkhel, Subject indexing by PRECIS, in S. B. Ghosh and J. N. Satpathi (Ed.), Subject indexing systems : concepts,
methods and techniques (Calcutta : IASLIC, 1998) 140-187
[2] J. K. Sarkhel, Information analysys : in theory and practice (Kolkata : Classique books, 2001).
[3] G.G. Chowdhury, PRECIS : a workbook (Calcutta : IASLIC, 1995).
[4] Pinakinath Mukhopadhyay, Bijnan : bishay shironam (Kolkata : Bona, 2001).
[5] Ratna Bandyopadhyay, Bishay shironam gathan paddhati : Darshan, Sahitya, Silpakala (Kolkata : Bengal Library
Association, 2004)
[6] Madhab Chandra Chattopadhyay, List of Subject Headings on Social Sciences: Problems and its Solutions, doctoral diss., Rabindra
Bharati University, Kolkata, 2011.
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