Kachru.com: Braj Kachru and Yamuna Kachru

Yamuna Kachru is Professor Emerita of Linguistics at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the USA. After teaching in the Department of Linguistics at University of Illinois between 1965-99, she took early retirement and is now engaged in research and publishing.

She completed her M.A. in Hindi Language and Literature from Patna University (1955) with a first rank in the first division and was awarded two gold medals. She taught at Ranchi Women?s College, Ranchi, India briefly (1956-58). Between 1966-58 she attended various linguistic institutes held at Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, Pune and other locations in India under the auspices of the Linguistic Society of India, Rockefeller Foundation and Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, and was selected to join the Deccan College as a Rockefeller Fellow in 1958. She completed a Diploma in Linguistics with Distinction and was invited to teach at the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies in 1959. She taught and conducted research on Hindi there and was awarded a Ph.D. degree in Linguistics in 1965. The topic of her Ph.D. thesis was A Transformational Treatment of Hindi Verbal Syntax, the first analysis of Hindi based on the Chomskyan model.

Professor Kachru has written a number of books and over fifty research papers on various aspects of Hindi grammatical structure. Among them are An Introduction to Hindi Syntax (University of Illinois, Department of Linguistics, 1966), hindii ruppantaraNaatmak vyaakaraN ke kuch prakaraN (Topics in a Transformational Grammar of Hindi, Central Institute of Hindi, Agra, 1974), Aspects of Hindi Syntax (Manohar, 1980), hindii kaa samsaamayik vyaakaraN (A Contemporary Grammar of Hindi, Macmillan Co. of India, 1980). She has done pioneering research on discourse on Hindi. Her grammar of Hindi is scheduled to be published later this year in the Oriental and African Language Library series (John Benjamins, Amsterdam).

Professor Kachru was a Senior Fellow of the American Institute of Indian Studies in India in 1967-68 when she organized the first international conference on Hindi linguistics together with Dr. Braj Kachru. The conference was jointly sponsored by the American Institute of Indian Studies and Department of Linguistics of Delhi University. The then Director of the Institute, Dr. Pradeep Mehendiratta, and the then head of Linguistics, Delhi, the late Professor Prabodh B. Pandit made enormous contributions to the success of this international event attended by one of the intiators of modern linguistic studies in India, the late Professor Sumitra Mangesh Katre, Director, Deccan College, and the late J. A. B. van Buitenen, Distinguished Professor of Sanskrit, Chicago University, and translator of Mahabharata, along with scholars from many Indian universities and all Indian language institutes (e.g., Central Institute of Hindi, Agra; K. M. Munshi Institute of Hindi, Agra; Central Institute if English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad; Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore). Select papers from the conference presentations were edited by Drs. Braj and Yamuna Kachru and published by the American Institute of Indian Studies, Delhi (Studies in Hindi Linguistics, 1968).

In addition to research, Professor Kachru has been active in teaching Hindi to speakers of other languages, especially, English. Her work in this area is reflected in Intermediate Hindi (maadhyamik hindii, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1983; co-author, Rajeshwari Pandharipande). This volume has gone through many reprints.

Professor Yamuna Kachru?s research in Hindi, especially An Introduction to Hindi Syntax, led to many linguistic descriptions of Hindi and related languages and thesis submissions in Indian and overseas universities. Professor Kachru herself has conducted typological research on Bengali, Marathi, Urdu, Kashmiri and other Indian languages. Her co-edited book, Language in South Asia is scheduled to appear later this year (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; co-editors, Braj B. Kachru and S. N. Sridhar).

More than forty scholars have completed their Ph.D. under the direction of Professor Kachru. Notable among the Indian scholars are Tej K. Bhatia (Syracuse University, New York), Rajeshwari Pandharipande (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), and K. V. Subbarao (Delhi University). Among American scholars, Susan K. Donaldson, Geoffrey J. Hackman, Kenneth R. Rose, and Phil Morrow are holding positions at educational institutions in the USA or abroad or in the US administration.

Professor Kachru has lectured on linguistic topics related to Hindi at national and international conferences in the USA and India and many other countries, e.g., Australia, Belgium, England, Finland, Greece, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore. She has also worked on Indian English, and English as used in Asian, African, and other countries around the world. In this area her latest publication is a co-authored book, World Englishes in Asian Contexts (Hong Kong University Press; co-author, Cecil L. Nelson). A co-edited volume, Handbook of World Englishes (Blackwell, Oxford; co-editors, Braj B. Kachru and Cecil L. Nelson) is to appear this month. Professor Kachru is a member of the Editorial Board of World Englishes (journal, published by Blackwell, Oxford) and ?Asian Englishes Today? book series (Hong Kong University Press), and the Executive Committee of the International Association for World Englishes.

Diploma in Linguistics, Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, Poona, 1958-59.

Thesis: A Transformational Treatment of Hindi Verbal Syntax (Advisor: Late Professor C.E. Bazell; External Examiner: Professor John Lyons)

Two Gold Medals for standing first in the first class in M.A. Examination, Patna University, Patna, 1955.

Faculty Research Fellow, American Institute of Indian Studies, 1967-68, 1971-72, and 1985-86. Short-term Awards, 1978-79, 1981-82. 1985-86.

Research grant, Research Board of the University of Illinois, 1970-71, 1973-75, 1975-77, 1980-81, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1988-89, 1989-90, 1991, 1992, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97, 97-98, 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05.

Travel grants to attend professional meetings in the U.S.A. and abroad from the Research Board of the Graduate College, UI-UC. American Council of Learned Societies, and the Smithsonian Foundation.

Principle Investigator of project on Hindi Syntax, Office of Health, Education, and Welfare. Research Contract to the Department of Linguistics, University of Illinois, July 1965-November 1966. Project grant, $33,000. Result: a book entitled, An Introduction to Hindi Syntax.

Evaluator for National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, Research Board UIUC, Foundations of Language, Language, Linguistic Inquiry, Lingua, Studies in the Linguistic Sciences, IDEAL, World Englishes, Studies in Second Language Acquisition.

Associate Professor of Linguistics, English, and Asian Studies, University of Illinois, 1968-71.

Research Assistant Professor of Linguistics, Department of Linguistics, University of Illinois, 1065-67.

Lecturer in Hindi, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, London. 1959-65.

Fellow in Linguistics, Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, Poona, 1958-59.

Acting Director, Division of English as a Second Language, University of Illinois, 1984-85; Division of English as an International Language, University of Illinois, 1988-89.

Co-Chair, Organizing Committee, the Annual International Conference on Pragmatics and Language Learning, UIUC, 1987-1995.

Observer, Language and Literature Committee, South Asia Regional Council of the Association for Asian Studies (1978-79).

Member, Committee of Bibliographers, MLA Bibliography for Languages and Linguistics (Indo-Aryan Section) (1978).

Chair, Committee on the Status of Women in Linguistics, Linguistic Society of America (1985-86).

Studies in the Linguistics Sciences, Special Issue on Hindi Linguistics, 1971;

Studies in the Linguistic Sciences, Special Issue on Dimensions of South Asian Linguistics, Fall, 1981;

Guest Editor, World Englishes 6;3, Special Issue on Pedagogical Grammars of English: Approaches and Resources, Winter, 1987; Oxford, Pergamon Press

Guest Editor, (with Lawrence Bouton) Special issue on Pragmatics and Language Learning, IDEAL 4.

Guest Editor, World Englishes 10:3. Winter 1991. Symposium on Speech Acts in World Englishes. Oxford: Pergamon Press. 295-340.

Editor, Studies in the Linguistic Sciences, Special Issue on Language, Gender and Power, Fall, 1995.

Member, Editorial Board, World Englishes (Blackwell, Oxford, 1995-1999), and English in Asia (electronic journal published by National Institute of Education, Singapore)

Linguistic Society of America (1965-); Linguistic Society of India (1958-); Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (1976-1997); American Association for Applied Linguistics (1978-), International Association of World Englishes (1992-).