Prof. GT Thong addressing the members of North East Indian
Linguistics Society during the inaugural programme of a two-day conference in
Kohima on Friday.
- DIMAPUR — The
inaugural programme of a two-day 13th conference of the North East Indian
Linguistics Society (NEILS) was held on Friday at Nagaland University (NU),
Kohima campus.
- An update from the university stated that the pro vice
chancellor of NU, Kohima campus, Prof. GT Thong, has exhorted the 65 registered
participants from the northeast, mainland India and from across the globe to
actively conduct research on the languages of Nagaland and the northeast.
- It stated that two founding members of NEILS namely Prof.
Jyotiprakash Tamuli at Gauhati University and Dr. Stephen Morey at LaTrobe
University, are also attending the conference.
- The welcome address was given by Dr. Petekhrienuo Sorhie,
head of Tenyidie department, followed by an introduction to NEILS by Dr.
Stephen Morey.
- The plenary talk was delivered by Prof. Jyotiprakash Tamuli
on the topic “Raising the stakes: linguistics in education.”
- It mentioned that NEILS was founded by Jyotiprakash Tamuli
at Gauhati University; Stephen Morey at La Trobe University and Mark W Post at
University of Sydney. From 2007 to 2012, NEILS conferences were held annually
and subsequently into biannually starting from 2014.
- It added that the conferences are usually held in Assam
either in the month of January or February. The first NEILS meeting was held at
Phanidar Dutta Seminar Hallat, Gauhati University, on February 6 and 7, 2006.
Subsequently, most of the conferences were held at Don Bosco Institute (Don
Bosco College of Engineering & Technology), Guwahati.
- The primary focus of NEILS is the description of the rich
cultural-linguistic diversity that exists in northeast India. It stated that
the papers at the conferences have a primary descriptive component with a
functional-typological or anthropological-linguistic perspective.
