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List of courses being offered during Monsoon Semester 2023

 

The Centre for Linguistics is one of the leading centres for linguistics and language studies in India. The Centre focuses on core areas such as phonetics, phonology, morphology and syntax, as well as on areas in interdisciplinary language studies such as neuro-cognitive linguistics and sociolinguistics. The Centre is known for having had expertise in Field Methods, Semiotics and Indian linguistic tradition for the past several years. Some of the other areas of research by the faculty include language typology and sign language, with bio-linguistics being an emerging area of some common interest. The research conducted in the centre has resulted in descriptive grammars of some of the lesser known languages of Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic including Munda, Tibeto-Burman and Andamanese. See the page on Languages that the teachers and students have researched on. The centre has large field-based corpora on tribal and marginalized languages practically from every language family of India..

The Centre in its present form was constituted in 2005, but had existed since 1974 as a group of Linguistics which merged with the Group of English and constituted the Centre of Linguistics and English in 1978. The Centre has an intake of 20 M.A., 14 M. Phil. and 3 direct Ph.D. students every year. The M.A. programme gives students a grounding in the foundational courses in theoretical and applied linguistics as well as it trains students in writing grammars, dictionaries and sociolinguistic profiles of a speech community. The Centre for Linguistics is the only centre in the country that facilitates field research in the remote areas at M.A. level.

The M. Phil / Ph.D. programme is a rich and rewarding research programme open to post-graduate students from any discipline. Apart from the post-graduate courses, the Centre also offers 2-3 optional and tool courses in linguistics to undergraduate students of the School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies every semester.

The selection process followed for Indian students and foreign students in India is that of JNU as a whole, which holds entrance tests at around 65 centres in India and the neighboring countries including Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Applications from foreign students from abroad are considered through the office of the Coordinator directly by the Centre on the basis of merit.

The Centre shares facilities of digital language labs with other Centres of the School. It also has software for experimental phonetic studies and neuro-cognitive studies, and will have from the Monsoon Semester 2007 a well-equipped computer class-room.

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.