Theories of Language Comprehension:

India and Beyond

Dr Jayashree Aanand Gajjam

Centre of Excellence for Indian Knowledge System,

IIT Kharagpur

Elective Course
Autumn, 2022-2023

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Table of Contents

1 Word Sense Disambiguation

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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Table of Contents

1 Word Sense Disambiguation

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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Ambiguity among the Words

Contextual Factors for Disambiguation (1/2)

“saṃyogo viprayogaśca sāhacaryaṃ virodhitā

arthaḥ prakaraṇaṃ liṅgaṃ śabdasyānyasya sannidhiḥ
sāmarthyamauciti deśaḥ kālo vyaktisvarādayaḥ
śabdārthasyānavachhede viśeṣasmṛtihetavaḥ ”
(Vakyapadiya II.316-7)

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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Ambiguity among the Words

Contextual Factors for Disambiguation

Features:
They are Non-exhaustive (there can be more techniques),
They are not mutually exclusives (they can overlap in application),
Their meanings overlap with each other.
K. Raja, 1968, p. 48-59

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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Ambiguity among the Words and Contextual Factors

1 saṃyogaḥ (Association) (1/2)
Constant Association with a famous word/ known word
Can be understood in terms of ‘with’
Ex:
● Sanskrit: ‘dhanurdharaḥ rāmaḥ’ (Ram holding a bow= Dāsarathi
Ram), ‘paraśudharaḥ rāmaḥ’ (Ram holding a battle-axe=
Parashuram), haladharaḥ rāmaḥ (Ram holding a plough= Balaram)
● Sanskrit: ‘sa-śaṅkha-cakraḥ hariḥ’ (Lord Vishnu with Shankha and
Cakra)
(Other meanings of hari include: Indra, Brahma, Yama, Surya, Kubera,
Lord Shiva, a man, a lion, a horse, a monkey, a frog, a snake,
Bhartrihari, Durva plant, powder of the blossom of a Nagakesara tree,
yellow color, green color, a white lotus,...)
● English: Bank of a river..., Bank transfer..., She works in a bank, I am
banking on you...
● English: The old man walked into the well, because he did not see that
well. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Ambiguity among the Words and Contextual Factors

1 saṃyogaḥ (Association) (2/2)

Constant Association with a famous word/ known word.
Can be understood in terms of ‘with’
Ex:
● Hindi: ‘madhu-makkhi’ (Honey bee) (madhu = honey, nectar, milk,
sweet)
● Hindi: ‘varṇa-mālā’ (Alphabets) (varṇa= caste, colour, letter)
● Telugu: ‘āṭā-pāṭā’ (Dance and music- as a stage performance) (Other
meanings of ata= a game, a joke, gambling)
● Telugu: ‘dabbulu kaṭṭu’ (Pay the money) (Other meanings of kaṭṭu=
to tie, to wear, to connect, to build, to charm, to water a garden, to
dress a wound...)
● German: ‘ein furchtbares Tier’ (a terrifying animal) (Other meanings of
fruchtbar = very, giant, great, impressive, bad...)

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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Ambiguity among the Words and Contextual Factors (2b/2)

2 viprayogaḥ (Dissociation)
Constant Dissociation with a famous word/ known word or meaning.
Can be understood in terms of ‘without’
Ex:
● Sanskrit: ‘sītā-viyuktaḥ rāmaḥ’ (Ram devoid of Sita)
● Sanskrit: ‘a-vatsā gauḥ’ (A cow without a calf) (Other meanings
of gauḥ= rays of sun, the earth...)
● Sanskrit: ‘a-śaṅkha-cakraḥ hariḥ’ (Lord Vishnu without Sankha
and Cakra)
● The artist lost his fans...

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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Ambiguity among the Words and Contextual Factors (2c/2)

3 sāhacaryam (Mutual Companionship or Company)

Association with a famous/ known word or word-meaning.
Mutual Association
Can be understood in ‘dvandva’ compound (=Dual)
Ex:
● Sanskrit: ‘Rāma-lakṣmaṇa’ (Ram and Laksman)
● Sanskrit: ‘bhīma-arjuna’ (Bhim and Arjun) (Other meanings of
Bhīma= great, enormous...)
kṛṣṇa-arjuna (Krishna and Arjuna) (Other meanings of Arjuna=
Kartavirya Arjuna)
● English: head-band (head= chief, title...)
pen-cap (cap= soft hat, cover on),
Batman and Robin (Robin= a European bird)
● Famous Duo in Bollywood/ Music: ‘Laxmikant-Pyarelal’ (Vs.
‘Laxmikant-Basu’), Hari-Shiv...
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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Ambiguity among the Words and Contextual Factors (2d/2)

4 virodhitā (Hostility/ Opposition)

When two words are famously opposite to each other.
Can be understood in terms of ‘on contrary’/ ‘opposite to’.
Ex:
● Sanskrit: ‘rāma-rāvaṇa’ (Ram and Ravan)
‘karṇa-arjuna’ (Karna and Arjuna) (Other meanings of karṇa=
an ear, an angle of a triangle...)
● Sanskrit: ‘chāyā-prakāśa’ (Shadow and Light) (Other meanings
of Chāyā= reflection, resemblance, complexion, blending of
colors, beauty, bribe, nightmare, a line, a row...)
● English: Tom and Jerry, Batman and Joker, Rich and Poor,
Black and White, Right and Left

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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Ambiguity among the Words and Contextual Factors (2e/2)

5 artaḥ (Purpose)1
Also known as prayojana (Purpose, reason, motive, intention).
Can be understood in terms of ‘for’, ‘because of’, ‘due to’, ‘owning
to’, ‘by virtue of’, ‘on account of’...
Ex:
● Sanskrit: ‘dugdhāya gāṁ śraya’ (Resort to a cow for milk)
(gauḥ= a cow), ‘kṛṣaye gāṁ śraya’ (Resort to the earth for
farming) (gauḥ= earth)
● English: An ant-powder, a rat-cake, a hair-band, living-room,
rail-track, mail-box, sofa cover
● Telugu: aggi-pullā (match stick)
● Hindi: bhojana-ālaya (dining room) (ālaya- greateness)
● German: die Mausefalle (a mouse trap) (falle= bed, latch)
1
Patanjali in his Mahabhasya emphasizes on artha and prakarana while deciding the
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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Ambiguity among the Words and Contextual Factors (2f/2)

6 prakaraṇam (Context/ situation)2 (1/2)

Also known as prasaṅga (Situation, topic, discourse, incident,
occasion, context)
Studied in the Pragmatics branch of Linguistics
Ex:
● Sanskrit: ‘madhumattah kokilah’ (A cuckoo intoxicated in the
Spring season) (Other meanings of madhu= nectar, sweet, milk)
● Sanskrit: ‘saindhavam ānaya’ (Context 1: on dining table=
Bring salt!, Context 2: In the battlefield, Bring a horse!)
● Hindi: ‘rahiman paani rakhiye, bin paani sab suun’ (paani=
water, Sammaan/ Respect, Humility, Brightness..)

2
Patanjali in his Mahabhasya emphasizes on artha and prakarana while deciding the
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sentence meaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Ambiguity among the Words and Contextual Factors (2f/2)

6 prakaraṇam (Context/ situation) (2/2)

Also known as prasaṅga (Situation, topic, discourse, incident,
occasion)
Ex:
● English: ‘Cover me!’ (cover= protect, conceal...)
I am sorry! (Sorry= express regret, ask forgiveness...)
Finish it! (Finish= complete, furnish...)
The girl wore a white gown in a wedding. (girl= the bride)
I’ve spent two months in a woods. I must be bananas.

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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Ambiguity among the Words and Contextual Factors (2g/2)

7 liṅgam (Indicatory sign- from another place) (1/2)

Association with a famous sign- that helps in disambiguation.
The sign must lie in a different sentence.
Sometimes, just a normal association will also restrict the senses, it
need not be famous.
Ex:
● Sanskrit: ‘akhtāḥ śarkarā upadadhāti- tejo vai ghṛtam’ (Wet
pebbles are placed nearby [a sacrifice]. Ghee itself is a Teja.)
(Due to association with the famous meaning ‘gṛta’, the meaning
of akta is clear, i.e. ‘soaked in ghee’.)
● Hindi: ‘maanas shaanta hai...’ ‘maanas me snaan karnaa
bhaaratiya pavitra maante hai.’ (Meanings of maanas= the
Mana lake, mind)

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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Ambiguity among the Words and Contextual Factors (2g/2)

7 liṅgam (Indicatory sign- from another place) (2/2)

Ex:
● English:
‘I’d like to order a dish as well.’ ‘Do you have anything in
stir-fried?’ (dish= food, an artefact, a concave container...)
‘I had a dream.’ ‘I dreamt that I was poor...’
Versus
‘I had a dream.’ ‘I will achieve it in the next two years.’
(dream= nightmare, aspiration, ambition)
‘Let’s go on a drive.’ ‘The forest mostly had pines all over.’
(drive= desire, need, pilot, steer, an organized effort...) (forest=
a dense mass of vertical objects)

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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Ambiguity among the Words and Contextual Factors (2h/2)

8 śabdasya anyasya sannidhiḥ (Proximity with another word)

Also known as Sampīpatā (Closeness, nearness, juxtaposition)
Can be understood in terms of ‘and’,
Ex:
● ‘rāmo jāmadagnyaḥ’ (Jamadagni Ram) (Ram here means
Parashuram)
● ‘Rāṇā-śivā’ (Maharana Pratap and Shivaji Majarah),
Gandhi-Patel, Lal-Bal-Pal
● ‘Holmes and Watson’

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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Ambiguity among the Words and Contextual Factors (2i/2)

9 sāmarthaym (Capacity)
A word sense is decided based on its ability to perform some actions
mentioned in the same sentence.
Ex:
● Sanskrit: ‘anudarā kanyā’ (‘a girl with no stomach’= with
thin-waist) (Kanyā= an unmarried girl, heroine, daughter,
Goddess Durga...)
● Sanskrit: ‘kālāya tasmai namaḥ’ (I bow down to the Time!)
(Kāla= black, weather, the black part of the eye, the Indian
cuckoo, the planet Saturn, Lord Siva, Goddess Parvati, black
ink...)
● Pre-school children used markers in drawing competition.

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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Ambiguity among the Words and Contextual Factors (2j/2)

10 auciti (Propriety or Congruity) (1/2)

The compatibility of a word-sense narrows down its meaning.
Other words in the sentence help in determining the propriety of a
particular word.
Ex:
● Sanskrit: ‘dvijāḥ paṭhanti’ (The Brahmins read/ are reading.)
‘dvijaiḥ khādyate’ (One eats with teeth), ‘dvijāḥ uḍḍīyante’
(Birds fly/ are flying). (Dvija has three meanings- Brahmin
person, tooth, and a bird)
● English: ‘He held a chair in physics’ (chair= professorship, a
four-legged seating thing, headship, lift someone to celebrate a
victory)

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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Ambiguity among the Words and Contextual Factors (2j/2)

10 auciti (Propriety or Congruity) (2/2)

Ex:
● English: ‘A narcotics team cooked the evidence’ (Cook= falsify
or alter dishonestly, prepare food, plan, proceed...)
● Hindi: ‘chidiyon ne ek ḍāl pan ghar bana diya...’ (ḍāl = a branch
of a tree, a hanger, a blade of sword...)
● Hindi: ‘Dusshera ko sonā baantnaa Bharatiya parampara hai...’
(sonā = the leaves of a Sona tree are, gold, sleeping, an artefact
of great importance...)

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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Ambiguity among the Words and Contextual Factors (2k/2)

11 deśaḥ (Place)
The geographical place decides the word senses.
Ex:
● Sanskrit: badaryāṁ vasudhārā-prapātaḥ (A waterfall in the
Badarinath) (Badari = Badarinath, Indian Jujube...)
● ‘I can’t believe I’m taking this trip.’ (Trip= light steps,
Vacationing)
● I am going to lie for a while. (lie= sleep, to hide the truth)
● ‘Consult a doctor’ Versus ‘I consult the interns’ (Consult = to
seek advice, to give professional advice)
● ‘Order! Order!’

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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Ambiguity among the Words and Contextual Factors (2l/2)

12 kālaḥ (Time)
The time/ moment/ occasion decides the word meaning.
Ex:
● Sanskrit: ‘prātaḥ hariḥ udeti’ (The sun rises in the morning.)
(hari= Yama, Lord Vishnu, a monkey, a snake, a lion...)
● English:
‘It was a fine piece of art!’ (Fine =great, admirable, good, well,
bright, impressive, thin, subtle...)

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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Ambiguity among the Words and Contextual Factors (2m/2)

13 vyakti (Gender)
In Sanskrit and other Indo-European languages, gender of a word
decides its meaning.
Ex:
● Sanskrit:
‘durgaḥ’ (masculine, a fort), durgā (feminine, Goddress Durga),
rāmaḥ (masculine, Lord Ram), ramā (feminine, Goddess
Lakshmi),
mitram (neuter, a friend), mitraḥ (masculine, the sun),
kṛṣṇaḥ (masculine, Lord Krishna), kṛṣṇā (feminine, Draupadi),
kapilaḥ (masculine, Kapila Muni), kapilā (feminine, a yellow
colored cow),
mugdhaḥ (masculine, a stupid person), mugdhā (feminine, a
beautiful lady)
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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Ambiguity among the Words and Contextual Factors (2n/2)

14 svara etc. (Accent) (1/2)

The accent of a word (especially a compound word) decides its
meaning, in Vedic Sanskrit.
There are three types of accents: Udātta, Anudātta, and Svarita
Ex:
● ‘indraśatruḥ vardhasva’ (The enemy of Indra, Grow in your
power!)
Two meanings of this compound word based on two different
accents:
1. Indra’s Enemy [= Vṛtra] if the accent it put on the word
śatru, so that Vṛtra is being emphasized. It gives the meaning
“Oh! The enemy of Indra! Grow in your power!”
2. Indra, who is the enemy, if the accent is put on the indra, so
that Indra is being emphasized. It gave the meaning “Oh Indra,
the enemy! Grow in your power!”
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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Ambiguity among the Words and Contextual Factors (2n/2)

14 svara etc. (Accent) (2/2)

Intonation or prosody can also decide the sense of a word.
Ex:
● Standard Chinese, Vietnamese are accented languages.
Accents on the words change the word meanings.
● English is a pitch-accept language.
Rather than syllable length, syllable pitch changes the sense of a
word.
Ex: (FRIENDS)
‘Based on this play?’ (increasing tone) Vs. ‘Based on this play!’
(decreasing tone)
‘Got the keys?’ Vs. ‘Got the keys!’

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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Reading Material and Activity:

Reading Material:
1 K Raja’s ‘Indian Theories of Meaning’ (p. 50-57)

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 Word Sense Disambiguation

Key Takeaways:

Key Takeaways:
1 What are polysemous words?
2 How a human disambiguates multiple word senses?
3 Give examples.

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