Yamuna Kachru (यमुना काचरु,
(Devanagari
Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the ...
)) (5 March 1933 in
Purulia
Purulia is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Purulia district. It is located on the north of the Kangsabati River.
Geography
Location
Purulia is located at . It has an average ele ...
, West Bengal, India - 19 April 2013 in
Urbana, Illinois
Urbana ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. As of the 2010 United States Census, Urbana is the 38th-most populous municipality in Illinois. It ...
) was Professor Emerita of Linguistics at
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univers ...
.
Career
Kachru studied linguistics at
Deccan College in
Poona, India, and then at the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
. She later taught
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
at the
School of Oriental and African Studies
SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury a ...
, London until she moved to the University of Illinois in 1966. She held the post of Professor of Linguistics at the University for almost 40 years.
She wrote a grammar of Hindi based on developments in modern linguistics, and was considered a leading international authority on the language's grammar.
She published a series of research articles in
applied linguistics
Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field which identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, psychology, communication rese ...
, mostly on the problem of
linguistic creativity. Kachru also worked on the area of
second language acquisition.
Kachru was a co-founder of the
International Association of World Englishes.
Awards
Kachru was the 2004 recipient of the
Padmabhushan Dr. Moturi Satyanarayan Award
In September 2006 she received the
Presidential Award
The Presidential Award is a decoration established by President Siaka Stevens to honour Sierra Leoneans in recognition of "diligent and dedicated services" to Sierra Leone. (Access date 28 June 2021)
History
The medal was established in 1972 ...
from the President of India from the president Dr.
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam for her contributions to the study of Hindi language.
Personal life
She was the wife of fellow linguist
Braj Kachru
Braj Bihari Kachru (15 May 1932 – 29 July 2016) was an Indian-American linguist. He was Jubilee Professor of Linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He published studies on the Kashmiri language.
Personal life
Braj ...
, with whom she frequently collaborated. They had two children: Stanford professor
Shamit Kachru and physician Amita Kachru.
Books
* "An Introduction to Hindi Syntax" (1967)
* "Aspects of Hindi Grammar" (1980)
* "Intermediate Hindi" (with
Rajeshwari Pandharipande, 1983)
* "Hindi" (a grammar, 2006)
* "World Englishes in Asian Contexts" (with
Cecil Nelson, 2006)
* "Handbook of World Englishes" (edited with Braj Kachru and Cecil Nelson, 2007)
* "Cultures, Contexts, and World Englishes" (co-authored with Larry Smith, 2008)
* "Language in South Asia" (edited with Braj Kachru and S.N. Sridhar, 2008).
Sources
External links
In Memoriam: Dr Yamuna Kachru (1933–2013)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kachru, Yamuna
Linguists from the United States
Women linguists
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty
1933 births
2013 deaths
20th-century Indian linguists
21st-century Indian linguists
Alumni of the University of London
Academics of the University of London
Linguists of Hindi