Ajay Kumar at 22:31, 23 July 2023

2023-07-23T22:31:32Z

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{{Short description|Indian linguist (1932–2016)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox writer
|name = Braj Kachru
|image =
|caption =
|birth_name = Braj Bihari Kachru
|birth_date = {{birth date|1932|05|15|df=yes}}
|birth_place = [[Srinagar]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Kashmir and Jammu]], [[British Raj|British India]]
|death_date = {{death date and age|2016|7|29|1932|5|15|df=y}}
|death_place = [[Urbana, Illinois]], U.S.
|nationality = [[Indian Americans|Indian-American]]<ref name="dna"/>
|occupation = Linguist, author, journalist
|language = [[Koshur|Kashmiri]], [[Hindi]], [[English language|English]]
|notableworks = ''The Alchemy of English'' (1986)
|spouse = [[Yamuna Kachru]]
|children = Amita Kachru<br>[[Shamit Kachru]]
|awards = Joint First Prize, Duke of Edinburgh Book Competition (1987)
}}

'''Braj Bihari Kachru''' (15 May 1932 – 29 July 2016) was an [[Indian Americans|Indian-American]] [[Linguistics|linguist]]. He was Jubilee Professor of Linguistics at the [[University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign]].<ref name="dna">{{cite web |last1=Paranjape |first1=Makarand R. |authorlink=Makarand Paranjape |title=Soft Power: Indianisation of the English language |url=https://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-indianisation-of-the-english-language-2287891 |website=[[DNA India]] |language=en |date=31 December 2016}}</ref> He published studies on the [[Kashmiri language]].

==Personal life==
Braj Bihari Kachru was a friend of Kashmiri poet and writer [[Zinda Kaul]] ''Masterji''. Lala Sahab and his friends and colleagues had discussions on politics, literature and philosophy at his house. During their visits, Braj had the opportunity to interact with ''Masterji'' and his father's other teacher colleagues.<ref name=wiley>{{cite journal|title=Braj B Kachru: A Biographical Sketch|journal=World Englishes|volume=11|issue=2–3|pages=91–94|doi=10.1111/j.1467-971X.1992.tb00053.x|year=1992}}</ref>

In 1962 Kachru gained a [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] in Linguistics from the [[University of Edinburgh]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kachru|first=Braj B.|date=1962|title=An analysis of some features of Indian English : a study in linguistic method|url=https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/6707}}</ref> His wife was fellow linguist [[Yamuna Kachru]]. Their son, [[Shamit Kachru]], is a [[string theorist]] and professor at [[Stanford University]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kachru.com/index.html|title=Kachru.com: Braj Kachru and Yamuna Kachru|work=Kachru.com|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150528215957/http://kachru.com/index.html|archivedate=28 May 2015|url-status=dead|accessdate=9 October 2010}}</ref> He died on 29 July 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://linguistlist.org/issues/27/27-3201.html|title=Obituary: Braj B. Kachru|editor=Czerniakowski, Michael|publisher=[[Linguist List]]|date=7 August 2016}}</ref>

==Career==
He researched in the fields of World Englishes and Kashmiri language and published several books and research papers related to the field.<ref name=CAS>{{cite web|title=CAS Professor Emeritus of Linguistics|url=https://cas.illinois.edu/index.php/node/1750|publisher=CAS (Centre of Advanced Studies, Illinois)|accessdate=7 October 2019}}</ref>

===Scholar and educationist===
At the [[University of Illinois]], Braj headed the Department of Linguistics (1968–79), directed the Division of English as an International Language (1985–91), and was director of the Center for Advanced Study (June 1996 – January 2000).{{Citation needed|date= June 2022}} At the Linguistic Institute of the [[Linguistic Society of America]], he was appointed director in 1978.{{Citation needed|date= June 2022}} He was president of American Association of Applied Linguistics (1984).{{Citation needed|date= June 2022}} He was named Jubilee Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Illinois in 1992.{{Citation needed|date= June 2022}} In 1998, he became the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fund Visiting Professor at Hong Kong University.{{Citation needed|date= June 2022}} He went on to become the president of the [[World Englishes|International Association for World Englishes]] (1997–99), and eventually the ''Honorary Fellow'' of the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, now [[English and Foreign Languages University]] in [[Hyderabad]], India, in 2001.<ref name=CAS/>

===Writer and author===
Kachru has been on the editorial board of ''Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural development'', ''International Journal of the Sociology of Languages'', ''Asian Englishes'', and ''Linguistics and the Human Sciences''.<ref name=CAS /> Along with authoring ''The Alchemy of English: The Spread, Functions and Models of Non-Native Englishes'', Kachru is also the associate editor for ''Contributor to the Cambridge History of the English Language'' and the acclaimed ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Writers and Columnists: Braj B Kachru|url=http://ikashmir.net/bbkachru/index.html|publisher=ikashmir.net|accessdate=7 October 2019}}</ref>

==The circles of English==
{{See also|World Englishes}}
To better understand the use of English in different countries, Kachru conceived the idea of three [[concentric circles]] of the language.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1146/annurev.anthro.30.1.527|journal=Annual Review of Anthropology|year=2001|volume=30|title=World Englishes|issue=1|author=Bhatt|jstor=3069227|pages=527–550}}</ref>

The '''inner circle''' represents the traditional bases of English: the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, [[New Zealand]], Ireland, anglophone Canada, and some of the [[Caribbean]] territories.{{Citation needed|date= June 2022}} The total number of English speakers in the inner circle is as high as 380 million, of whom some 120 million are outside the United States.{{Citation needed|date= June 2022}}

Next comes the '''outer circle''', which includes countries where English is not the native tongue, but is important for historical reasons and plays a part in the nation's institutions, either as an official language or otherwise.{{Citation needed|date= June 2022}} This circle includes [[India]], [[Nigeria]], the [[Philippines]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Pakistan]], [[Malaysia]], [[Tanzania]], [[Kenya]], non-Anglophone South Africa and Canada, etc. The total number of English speakers in the outer circle is estimated to range from 150 million to 300 million.{{Citation needed|date= June 2022}}

Finally, the '''expanding circle''' encompasses those countries where English plays no historical or governmental role, but where it is nevertheless widely used as a [[foreign language]] or [[lingua franca]].{{Citation needed|date= June 2022}} This includes much of the rest of the world's population, including [[China]], [[Russia]], [[Japan]], most of [[Europe]], [[Korea]], [[Egypt]], [[Indonesia]], and other nations. The total in this expanding circle is the most difficult to estimated because English may be employed for specific, limited purposes, usually [[business English]]. The estimates of these users range from 100 million to one billion.{{Citation needed|date= June 2022}}

The inner circle (UK, US, etc.) is 'norm-providing'. That means that English language [[Norm (philosophy)|norms]] are developed in these countries – English is the [[first language]] there.{{Citation needed|date= June 2022}} The outer circle (mainly [[New Commonwealth]] countries) is 'norm-developing'. The expanding circle, which includes much of the rest of the world, is 'norm-dependent' because it relies on the standards set by native speakers in the inner circle.{{Citation needed|date= June 2022}}

==Bibliography==
*''The alchemy of English: the spread, functions, and models of non-native Englishes'', University of Illinois Press, 1990 {{ISBN|0-252-06172-1}}
*''World Englishes: critical concepts in linguistics, Volume 4'', Publisher: Taylor & Francis, 2006, {{ISBN|0-415-31509-3}}

==References==
{{Reflist|40em}}

==External links==
*[https://cas.illinois.edu/node/1750 Faculty Page] at the [[University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign]]
*[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-971X.1992.tb00053.x/abstract Braj Kachru: A Biographical Sketch]

{{Authority control}}
{{Raja Rao Award}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kachru, Braj}}
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:2016 deaths]]
[[Category:Applied linguists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian linguists]]
[[Category:Scholars from Jammu and Kashmir]]
[[Category:Kashmiri people]]
[[Category:Kashmiri Hindus]]
[[Category:Kashmiri Pandits]]
[[Category:Kashmiri writers]]
[[Category:American people of Kashmiri descent]]
[[Category:University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty]]
[[Category:People from Srinagar]]
[[Category:Linguists of Kashmiri]]
[[Category:Linguists of Hindi]]
[[Category:Linguists of English]]
[[Category:Presidents of the American Association for Applied Linguistics]]

Braj Kachru - Revision history

Ajay Kumar at 22:31, 23 July 2023