Academic Departments University of Calcutta
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History

Year of Establishment : 1904

History of the department : The Department of Linguistics is a heritage department in the University of Calcutta, with its magnificent legacy dating back to a century and more. This Department, formerly known as the Department of Comparative Philology, was established by Sir Asutosh Mookerjee in 1904. Initially, the thrust area was Comparative and Historical Linguistics. Thereafter, various domains like Descriptive Linguistics, Generative Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Psycholinguistics, and several areas of Applied Linguistics have been included in the syllabus in addition to the traditional orientation of Comparative and Historical Linguistics. Mr. Harinath De, the multifaceted genius and polyglot, was appointed the first lecturer of the department in 1907. The first M.A. in Comparative Philology was Prof. Muhammad Shahidullaha in 1912. Over the years, the Department has been enriched by the glorious presence of outstanding academicians like Harinath De, Otto Strauss, Prof. I.J.S. Taraporewala, Suniti Kumar Chatterji, Sukumar Sen, and so on. In the year 2015, The Department organised an International Seminar to commemorate the 125th Birth centenary of Prof. Suniti Kumar Chatterji, the doyen of Indian Linguistics.

At present, the department has set up a formidable and academically thriving interdisciplinary network with a number of fields such as literature, social sciences, and technology. Our faculty members regularly contribute their valuable research articles to national and international journals and edited anthologies. They also take part in national and international seminars and conferences. They have been engaged in writing consolidated reports on various mother tongues under the language survey initiatives of the Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. The members of the faculty have taken up major projects funded by UGC, in collaboration with faculty members from the University of Malaya, Malaysia and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Academic

Faculty Members :
Name Designation Area of specialization Email/Phone number
Dr. Abhijit Majumdar
[Profile]		 Professor Structural Linguistics & Stylistics amajumdar123@gmail.com
9830534938
Dr. Aditi Ghosh
[Profile]		 Professor & Head Sociolinguistics aditi.gh@caluniv.ac.in
9831858302
Dr. Sunandan Kumar Sen
[Profile]		 Professor Phonetics, Historical Linguistics sks234@gmail.com
9830661502
Email id (HoD, Linguistics, University of Calcutta) cu.linguistics@caluniv.ac.in
Link for Alumni Database Registration Click Here

Courses :

Programme Level of study Eligibility Intake capacity
M.A in Linguistics
[Old Syllabus click here]
[CBCS Syllabus click here] 		PG B.A.(Hons) in Linguistics, English, Bengali, Sanskrit, Pali, Sociology, Ancient Indian History, Political Science, Philosophy. 84
Ph.D. Preferably M.A. in Linguistics, NET or RET qualified As per UGC norms

Research

Research scholars :
Recently Awarded
Research scholar Research topic Supervisor(s) Status
Basudha Das A Study of Bangla-English Intrasentential code-switching Dr. Aditi Ghosh Awarded
Devarati Jana The Syntactic Derivation of Bangla Infinitivals Prof. Mina Dan & Prof. Probal Dasgupta Awarded
Nivedita Mitra Sound Pattern Asymmetries in Bangla Morphology Prof. Mina Dan & Prof. Probal Dasgupta Awarded
Priyanka Dey Stylistic Analysis of Bharatchandra’s Annadamangal Dr. Aditi Ghosh Awarded
Syeda Nadia Ali Analyzing the Marginalised: A Linguistic Analysis of Amitav Ghosh’s Works Dr. Aditi Ghosh Awarded
Aliya Halim The Task of the Bangla Translator: towards a substantivist characterization of the production and reception of English to Bangla translations (1880-1939) Prof. Mina Dan Awarded
Arpita Ray Phonetics and Phonology of Spontaneous Speech in Bengali Prof. Mina Dan & Prof. P. Bhaskararao Awarded
Madhura Sen Linguistic and Social Transgression as features of Cohesion in a text: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy Dr. Selvyn Jussy Awarded
On-going research
Arka Das Bangla Verbs in Discourse Dr. Sunandan Kumar Sen On-going
Anindita Halder A Study of the Language of English Retellings of Indian Folktales in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries Prof. Aditi Ghosh On-going
Atreyi Gupta Antinomies of Language: A Study of the Anti Language Used by Pick-pockets and Burglars in West Bengal Dr. Selvyn Jussy On-going
Baishakhi Chakraborty A Stylistic Study of Narayan Gangopadhyay And Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay’s Humorous World of Juvenile Fiction: A Linguistic And Cognitive Inquest on Creating Humour Prof. Abhijit Majumdar On-going
Debalina Pal A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Conversation in Bengali City Films Prof. Aditi Ghosh On-going
Debdut Chakraborty A Stylistic And Narratological Analysis of Tagore’s Short Stories Prof.  Abhijit Majumdar On-going
Kuntala Ghosh Dastidar A Linguistic Study On Echo Reduplication : In Indo-Aryan and Non Indo-Aryan Languages Prof. Abhijit Majumdar On-going
Mouparna Sen The Structure and Sociolinguistic Implications
Of Bilingual Advertisements
in Bengali Print Media 		Dr. Selvyn Jussy On-going
Rajeshwari Datta A Linguistic and Sociolinguistic study of Limbu as spoken in West Bengal Prof. Mina Dan & Prof Aditi Ghosh On-going
Ria Guha A Cross Linguistic Analysis of Irony in Bangla and English Dr. Selvyn Jussy On-going
Rima Roy A Sociolinguistic Study of Bengali Stand-up Comedy Prof. Aditi Ghosh On-going
Sanchari Dutta      A Study on Autism and Developmental Language
Disorder among Bengali
Children of Kolkata 		Prof. Mina Dan On-going
Saumyadeep Ghosh A Descriptive Linguistic Study of the Bengali Prose (1750AD-1800AD) Dr. Sunandan Kumar Sen On-going
Sayantani Pathak A Socio-Linguistic Study Of The Dhimal Language Spoken in India Dr. Sunandan Kumar Sen & Prof. Mina Dan On-going
Suparna Sen Gupta An Error Based Linguistic Analysis of The Text Sekasubhodaya Dr. Sunandan Kumar Sen On-going
Projects :

Projects: recently completed

Project Title Under Investigator(s) Duration Budget
Intercultural Communication in Multilingual Urban Spaces UGC, UPE-II Dr. Aditi Ghosh [Co-PI Prof Mina Dan] [In collaboration with Prof. Maya David, University of Malaya] 2017-19 18,00,000
Defining Key Concepts in Linguistics: A Bilingual Approach with Text-Machine Interface UGC, UPE Dr. Krishna Bhattacharya Project findings submitted on 2014 Status: Published 10,00,000
‘Language Use and Attitude: a Sociolinguistic Survey of ‘ non-Bengalis ’ in Kolkata’ UGC-UPE Dr. Aditi Ghosh Project findings submitted on 2014. Status: papers based on findings published in international and national journals 12,00,000
Collaborations :
Title of the Project Principal collaborator of the department Principal collaborator of the Collaborating Institution Collaborating Institution Duration
Intercultural Communication in Multilingual Urban Spaces Aditi Ghosh
Department of Linguistics, University of Calcutta 		Prof. Maya David, University of Malaya University of Malaya 2017-19
SPPEL: Tharua language Mina Dan
Department of Linguistics, University of Calcutta 		CIIL, Mysore CIIL, Mysore December 2013-January 2017
Thrust areas in teaching and research of the academic department :
  • Sociolinguistics
  • Structural Linguistics
  • Historical Linguistics
  • Discourse Analysis & Stylistics
  • Psycholinguistics
  • Project assignment and Evaluation
Major activities :

Recent Seminars and Workshops : The department has been and is constantly active in various academic activities even during this pandemic time by organising several webinars, virtual lectures and series of student-oriented web-based interactive sessions.

  • One day seminar on Understanding Text and Discourse from Stylistic Perspective organised on 25th September 2024.
  • A two-day students’ webinar was organised by the department on the theme of LANGUAGE OF SATYAJIT RAY on 27th and 28th September, 2021. Veteran actor Mr. Dhritiman Chatterjee was the chief guest of honour of the programme -- link to the complete playlist of the programme.
  • The Department organised a series of web-based discussions Dealing with the Unprecedented, on dealing with the COVID pandemic for the benefit of the students, faculty and general public in 2021 -- YouTube link to the programme.
  • The department organised a series of web-based interactive sessions called Let’s Talk Linguistics, in 2021 focusing on the applicability of Linguistics --   YouTube link   to the playlist of the interactive sessions.
  • The Department organised a special lectures series by the eminent scholar – Professor Maya Khemlani David – Honorary Professor, Asia- Europe Institute, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Dec 2020 and January 2021 --  link   to the Lectures.
  • The Department commemorated the 120th Birth Centenary of Prof. Sukumar Sen, with a one-day seminar organised by the department on the 3rd of March, 2020. On this occasion, the Govt. of India released a special cover to commemorate Prof. Sen.
  • The Department, in collaboration with the Asiatic Society, Kolkata, organised an International Seminar on ‘Language, Communication and Conflict in South and Southeast Asia” on 14th and 15th November 2019 --   link   to the seminar website.
  • The Department organised a one-day seminar on NEW PERSPECTIVE ON LANGUAGE CLASSIFICATION on 26th February, 2019.
  • The Department organised a joint seminar with the Department of English, University of Calcutta which was held on 26th August, 2019 at 2 p.m. Dr. Robyn Andrews of Massey University, New Zealand delivered a Lecture on “ WRITING OTHER’S STORIES : A DISCUSSION OF ETHICAL PRACTICE”.
  • The Department organised Two-day seminar cum workshop on ENDANGERED LANGUAGES AND LANGUAGES DOCUMENTATION IN INDIA from February 27 & 28, 2018.
  • The Department celebrated the 150th birth anniversary of Haricharan Bandyopadhaya with a one-day seminar on PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF LEXICOGRAPHIC STUDIES IN BANGLA on February 22, 2017

Departmental Journal: : The bulletin of the department of Linguistics [ISSN 2310-6165]

Links to the online issues of the Bulletin since 1996

Old Periodicals Published by the Department:

Other activities :

  • The Department always encourages the students for joining National seminars organised by other Universities/Institutes. The students frequently participate in the seminars organised by the Linguistic Research Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata and the Schools of Languages; Jadavpur University, Kolkata, etc. The past activity of the Department also reflects its major role in promoting placement activities Seminar organizing
  • The Departmental Research Fellows participated in the UGC-HRDC programme on Development of Soft Skills held at Rajabazar campus, University of Calcutta from29th November 2018 to 1st December 2018.
  • The Departmental students participated in a debate competition on the topic “Education as the tool for the development of India” organised by the Piramal Foundation for Education Society, Gandhi Fellowship held at the Department of South East Asian Studies, University of Calcutta, Alipur Campus.

Additional information :

  • Faculty Members regularly join the Faculty Development Programme (as Resource Person / Participant) organised by different Departments of the University of Calcutta and other Universities and Institutes.
  • Faculty Members regularly function as resource persons for different Refresher courses & Orientation Programmes organised by different Universities and Institutes.[ See respective CV in Proforma 2].

Contact

Campus : Asutosh Siksha Prangan (College Street Campus)

Address for communication : Department of Linguistics, University of Calcutta, 87/1, College Street, Kolkata-700 073

Email HoD: : cu.linguistics@caluniv.ac.in

Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/culinguisticsdept/

Youtube Link : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5rTJIz_C94MeXpFYPqoEZw