CIIL Plans 75 Linguistics Books With Indian Language Focus

The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) has announced an ambitious initiative to prepare around 75 introductory books in linguistics, aiming for greater representation of Indian languages and perspectives in the field. The announcement was made by CIIL Director Basavaraj Kodagunti at the inauguration of a two-week orientation programme on *Indian Grammatical Traditions*.

Of the planned volumes, around 15 will specifically focus on Indian grammatical traditions, while the remaining books will incorporate Indian viewpoints across core linguistic domains such as phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. The project seeks to broaden the scope of linguistic scholarship, which has often leaned heavily on Western frameworks.

Kodagunti stressed that India's grammatical heritage cannot be reduced to Sanskrit alone. He noted that languages such as Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Pali, and Prakrit each possess their own rich traditions and histories of grammatical analysis. He also pointed to the historical interaction among these diverse linguistic traditions as a defining feature of India's intellectual legacy, urging young researchers and teachers to carry this scholarly work forward.