Amrita Collected Papers by A M Ghatage

SR No.: 006968
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: Kasturbhai Lalbhai Smarak Nidhi Ahmedabad
Total Pages: 530
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 10 MB

Page 375

Indian Linguistics
Let me, at the outset, express my sincere thanks to the members of the Executive Committee of the All-India Oriental Conference for electing me to preside over the Section of Indian Linguistics. I feel myself hardly worthy of this honour. But the confidence you have placed in me and the assurance I have of your constant help and goodwill prompts me to undertake this responsibility. I shall do my best to discharge my duties in this regard and nothing more than this can be expected of anyone.
2. I imagine that I am expected to point out the main events in the linguistic studies in the country during the last two years, to indicate the present position of the subject, and, if possible, to outline the ways along which the future development of linguistics may proceed. It so happens that I have followed with some amount of interest the growth of linguistic studies during the last two years, and naturally I have formed some ideas and views of my own on this matter. I may be allowed to express them here for what they are worth. As all of us are keenly interested in the promotion of linguistic studies, you will kindly pardon me, if I may sound a bit personal and intimate in some places.
3. All of you will readily agree with me when I say that linguistics in our country is slowly coming into its own, and is getting a respectable and honoured place in the academic life, both in the Universities and outside, and there are brighter prospects for it in the near future. The reasons for this revival of interest, long after its period of commanding position in ancient days in our country, are well-known and need not be recounted here in detail. Suffice it here to refer to the main events of the last two years to refresh our memories in this matter. As a result of a Conference held at the Deccan College in 1953, an extensive programme of linguistic studies was set on foot at the Deccan College, with the liberal help of the Rockefeller Foundation of New York. This programme carried on, over a period of five