GIAN Course on ‘Global Relevance of Forensic Linguistics
ALIGARH: A week long course, sponsored by Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN), Ministry of Education, on the subject “global relevance of foreign linguistics” began at Aligarh Muslim University. The course is being organized by Department of Linguistics, Aligarh Muslim University.
Delivering the inaugural address, chief guest, Professor M M Sufiyan Beg (Principal, Zakir Hussain College of Engineering and Technology, AMU) shed light on the progressive journey of 100 years of the Aligarh Muslim University, which has been accredited with A+ grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council and which holds a position among the institutions of national importance as mentioned in the seventh schedule of Indian constitution. He pointed out that during his centenary celebration address, the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi called this university as ‘Mini India’, acknowledging its pluralistic character.
Speaking as a foreign expert of the GIAN course, Professor Tej K Bhatia (Syracuse University, USA) highlighted the importance and relevance of this course and discussed the importance of Forensic Linguistics in society.
“Forensic linguists champion the skill of developing speaker or group profiles based on linguistic traits of an individual or group, creating linguistic ‘fingerprints’. It is important that these fingerprints be developed based on sound scientific methods that can withstand the scrutiny of courts”, he said.
He hoped this course will open doors for personal and professional successes for the coming generations of students.
Prof S Imtiaz Hasnain (Dean, Faculty of Arts) in his welcome address stated, “Forensic Linguistics as an academic discipline significantly contributes to the criminal justice system by bringing intersections between Applied Linguistics, mainly pragmatic, discourse analysis and sociolinguistics”.
Earlier, welcoming the guests and participants, Prof M J Warsi (Chairman, Department of Linguistics and the local Coordinator of GIAN) said that ‘Forensic Linguistics’ is an emerging area in the field of Linguistics and GIAN aims at tapping the talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs internationally to encourage their engagement with the institutes of higher education in India. Its objective is to augment the country’s existing academic resources, accelerate the pace of quality reform and elevate India’s scientific and technological capacity to global excellence.
Dr Mehvish Mohsin conducted the programme while Dr Abdul Aziz Khan proposed a vote of thanks.