The nationalists have spared no efforts to raise generalised doubts about scholarly papers and research about the Aryan migration theory without offering any cogent argument based on facts.
ISSUE DATE: June 14, 2021
UPDATED: June 4, 2021 18:38 IST Wanderers, Kings, Merchants by Peggy Mohan; Penguin Viking, Rs. 599, 352 pages
I have always been struck by the contrast between the seductive mystery of language and the kind of sterile stuff that emerges from traditional linguistics departments. Language is endlessly exciting. Indeed, we have long believed that the ability to use language is the crucial distinction of our species. The plainest act of linguistic communication is a complex dance of understanding and misunderstanding jaane kya toone kahi, jaane kya maine suni.. Philosophers wrestle with the elusive and irreducible ambiguity of language, poets make love with it and linguists, they itemise the body parts! Happily, Peggy Mohan’s Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through its Languages, is a complete outlier in this dreary academic universe. She is a formidably-trained linguist but she recognises that the stories that language can tell go well b
Indian English is a Prakrit, not a creole, says linguist Peggy Mohan
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Her new book speaks of how Indian languages evolved via generations of migratory patterns
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Peggy Mohan has a Ph.D in linguistics from the University of Michigan. She has taught at JNU, Jamia Millia Islamia, and Howard University in Washington D.C.
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Her new book speaks of how Indian languages evolved via generations of migratory patterns
Migration has shaped the arc of Indian history in myriad ways, from the day the Vedic Aryans first alighted from their chariots to the arrival of Namboothiri Brahmins in Kerala to the Persianised Turkic conquerors of the Middle Ages. For linguist Peggy Mohan, all this finds a strong echo in the evolution of the subcontinent’s languages. In her new book, Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India Through Its Languages
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"He was under treatment at St Stephen s Hospital after he tested positive for COVID-19. He passed away this morning due to a cardiac arrest. He was a stalwart in areas of road safety and transportation, and made immense contributions to research in the area," Rao told PTI.