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From Ghazals to Sonnets: Decoding the Polysemous Expressions of Love Across Languages

Syed Mohammad Sualeh Ali

TL;DR

This work investigates the polysemous expressions of love in Urdu poetry by defining three core senses—Pyaar, Ishq, and Muhabbat—and comparing their usage to English equivalents. It combines Urdu Rekhta poetry with English Shakespeare data to build cross-language word embeddings, employs Latent Dirichlet Allocation for unsupervised word sense induction, and uses PCA visualization and cosine similarity to map semantic spaces. The study finds distinct Urdu sense clusters (notably Ishq) and broader cross-language overlap among English senses, with six topics achieving best coherence (0.59). This approach provides a framework for analyzing semantic nuance in low-resource languages and highlights cultural-linguistic differences in expressing love through poetry, with potential applications in NLP for multilingual poetry analysis and lexicon development.

Abstract

This paper delves into the intricate world of Urdu poetry, exploring its thematic depths through a lens of polysemy. By focusing on the nuanced differences between three seemingly synonymous words (pyaar, muhabbat, and ishq) we expose a spectrum of emotions and experiences unique to the Urdu language. This study employs a polysemic case study approach, meticulously examining how these words are interwoven within the rich tapestry of Urdu poetry. By analyzing their usage and context, we uncover a hidden layer of meaning, revealing subtle distinctions which lack direct equivalents in English literature. Furthermore, we embark on a comparative analysis, generating word embeddings for both Urdu and English terms related to love. This enables us to quantify and visualize the semantic space occupied by these words, providing valuable insights into the cultural and linguistic nuances of expressing love. Through this multifaceted approach, our study sheds light on the captivating complexities of Urdu poetry, offering a deeper understanding and appreciation for its unique portrayal of love and its myriad expressions

From Ghazals to Sonnets: Decoding the Polysemous Expressions of Love Across Languages

TL;DR

This work investigates the polysemous expressions of love in Urdu poetry by defining three core senses—Pyaar, Ishq, and Muhabbat—and comparing their usage to English equivalents. It combines Urdu Rekhta poetry with English Shakespeare data to build cross-language word embeddings, employs Latent Dirichlet Allocation for unsupervised word sense induction, and uses PCA visualization and cosine similarity to map semantic spaces. The study finds distinct Urdu sense clusters (notably Ishq) and broader cross-language overlap among English senses, with six topics achieving best coherence (0.59). This approach provides a framework for analyzing semantic nuance in low-resource languages and highlights cultural-linguistic differences in expressing love through poetry, with potential applications in NLP for multilingual poetry analysis and lexicon development.

Abstract

This paper delves into the intricate world of Urdu poetry, exploring its thematic depths through a lens of polysemy. By focusing on the nuanced differences between three seemingly synonymous words (pyaar, muhabbat, and ishq) we expose a spectrum of emotions and experiences unique to the Urdu language. This study employs a polysemic case study approach, meticulously examining how these words are interwoven within the rich tapestry of Urdu poetry. By analyzing their usage and context, we uncover a hidden layer of meaning, revealing subtle distinctions which lack direct equivalents in English literature. Furthermore, we embark on a comparative analysis, generating word embeddings for both Urdu and English terms related to love. This enables us to quantify and visualize the semantic space occupied by these words, providing valuable insights into the cultural and linguistic nuances of expressing love. Through this multifaceted approach, our study sheds light on the captivating complexities of Urdu poetry, offering a deeper understanding and appreciation for its unique portrayal of love and its myriad expressions
Paper Structure (23 sections, 6 figures, 1 table)

This paper contains 23 sections, 6 figures, 1 table.

Table of Contents

  1. Literature Review
  2. Introduction
  3. Method
  4. Word Embeddings
  5. Dataset Curation
  6. Word Sense of LOVE
  7. Visualization of Word Vectors
  8. Synsets of LOVE Words
  9. Mapping Word Embeddings
  10. Observations
  11. Word Sense Induction
  12. Results
  13. Love
  14. Affection
  15. Passion
  16. ...and 8 more sections

Figures (6)

  • Figure 1: Mapping of Urdu and English word vectors in the semantic space.
  • Figure 2: Comparison of cosine similarity scores between Urdu and English word senses.
  • Figure 3: Word clouds depicting the synsets of LOVE words in Urdu and English.
  • Figure 4: Mapping of Urdu similar word embeddings.
  • Figure 5: Mapping of English similar word embeddings.
  • ...and 1 more figures