Prof M.J. Warsi delivers plenary talk at CIIL, Mysuru

ALIGARH  : Prof. M. J. Warsi, Chairman, Department of Linguistics, Aligarh Muslim University and President, Linguistic Society of India (LSI) delivered a plenary talk in a conference on “Bhartiya Languages and India as one Linguistic Area” organized by the Central Institute of India Languages (CIIL), Mysuru, Ministry of Education, Government of India on May 28-29, 2024.

While speaking on “Linguistic Diversity and Shared Linguistic Features across Language Families in India”, Prof. Warsi said that the exceptional diversity of Indian linguistic landscape positions it as one of the most linguistically diverse countries worldwide.

He said, “India’s diverse linguistic composition predominantly comprises languages belonging to the Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic, and Tibeto-Burman language families. These languages have a long and interconnected history, and they share common linguistic features. Despite belonging to different language families, languages of India have converged to share many features which make India a linguistic area.”

Speaking on the unique linguistic scenario of the country, Prof Warsi said that the Indian constitution recognizes 22 major languages as mentioned in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution, whereas the highest literary awards in the country are given in 24 literary languages in India by Sahitya Akademi. At the same time 3592 newspapers and periodicals are published in 35 Indian languages every year. There are 69 to 72 languages being taught in Indian schools and the radio network airs programmes in 146 languages and dialects.