Department of Linguistics

The Department of Linguistics, introduces its pioneering 4- Year Undergraduate Programme aligned with the transformative vision of the National Education Policy (NEP 2020). This comprehensive programme represents a significant advancement in linguistic education in India, responding to both contemporary global demands and the policy’s emphasis on promoting multilingualism and indigenous knowledge systems.

Linguistics, as the scientific study of language, holds particular relevance in today’s interconnected world. In India’s diverse linguistic landscape – home to hundreds of languages and thousands of dialects- this discipline provides essential frameworks for understanding, preserving, and revitalizing linguistic heritage. The NEP 2020 specifically emphasizes the importance of Indian languages, advocating for mother-tongue education and multilingual learning approaches. Our linguistic programme directly supports these objectives by equipping students with the theoretical knowledge and practical skills to document endangered languages, develop pedagogical materials, and contribute to language technology development.

Following NEP’s flexible structure, students can exit with a Certificate after one year, an Advanced Diploma after two years, a Bachelor’s Degree after three years, or a Bachelor’s with Research after four years. All academic credits are stored in the Academic Bank of Credits, facilitating educational mobility and interdisciplinary exploration-core principles of the new education policy.

The curriculum balances theoretical foundations with applied approaches, covering phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguists, psycholinguistics, and computational linguistics. Special emphasis is placed on Indian language families, language documentation, corpus linguistics, and language technology. This programme incorporates field research, laboratory training in acoustic analysis, and internships with language and technology companies and documentation projects.

This programme’s relevance extends across multiple sectors. In the technology domain, natural language processing, speech recognition, and machine translation represent rapidly growing fields requiring linguistic expertise. In education, the NEP’s focus on multilingual teaching creates demand for specialists in language acquisition and pedagogical materials development. The preservation of India’s linguistic diversity, recognized by NEP as integral to cultural heritage, requires trained documentarians and revitalization specialists. Through this programme we aim to nurture a new generation of linguists who will contribute to language preservation, educational innovation, technological advancement, and cross- cultural understanding- aligning perfectly with NEP 2020’s vision of an education system that celebrates India’s linguistic diversity while preparing students for global challenges.