29th Edition · Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
A scholarly forum on the languages of the greater Himalayan region, convening at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi from 30 October – 1 November 2026.
Co-organised with IIT Delhi and CIIL Mysuru
The Himalayan Languages Symposium is an annual, open scholarly forum dedicated to the languages of the greater Himalayan region. We welcome contributions on any language of this area — including Burushaski, Kusunda, Tibeto-Burman, Indo-Iranian, Austroasiatic, Kradai, Andamanese, Nihali, and Dravidian languages, among others.
Alongside linguistic research, the symposium invites contributions from related disciplines such as history, anthropology, archaeology, and prehistory. The forum is strictly secular and scholarly in character, and is not open to political or religious contributions.
HLS-29 is co-organised by the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, and the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru.
We are pleased to announce that the 29th Himalayan Languages Symposium will be held at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi from 30 October to 1 November 2026, hosted by the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences and co-organised with the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru.
The Himalayan Languages Symposium is a multidisciplinary conference covering a broad range of topics relating to the languages of the Himalayan region. As described on the symposium's official website (himalayansymposium.org), contributions are welcomed on any language of the greater Himalayan region — including Burushaski, Kusunda, Tibeto-Burman, Indo-Iranian, Austroasiatic, Kradai, Andamanese, Nihali, and Dravidian languages — as well as from related disciplines such as history, anthropology, archaeology, and prehistory.
At this year's edition, hosted at IIT Delhi and co-organised with CIIL Mysuru, we will give particular attention to the following areas of research:
We invite long abstracts for submission. Each abstract should not exceed two A4 pages, inclusive of all data, figures, and references. Every submission undergoes blind peer review by at least two reviewers, with acceptance decided on the basis of their recommendations. Accepted abstracts will be archived on this website.
Submissions are managed through the Microsoft CMT service, provided free of charge by Microsoft, which bears all associated costs, including Azure cloud services and software development and support.
Please create an account using your official or institutional email address (preferred) and submit the title and a two-page PDF abstract through the system.
Abstract submission deadline:
17 March 2026
Leading scholars in Trans-Himalayan linguistics will deliver plenary lectures over the course of the symposium.
Professor of Linguistics, Centre for Linguistics, Jawaharlal Nehru University. With 27 years of academic experience spanning generative syntax and morphology, child language acquisition, field and descriptive linguistics, language politics, and Partition studies, Professor Kidwai is a recipient of the Infosys Prize in the Humanities and was elected an International Fellow of the British Academy in 2023.
Professor of Linguistics, The University of Sydney. Her research in historical, comparative, and typological linguistics focuses on the documentation and analysis of under-studied languages of the Eastern Himalayas, including a major monograph on Kurtöp published by Brill.
Professor of Linguistics, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Guwahati. His research centres on phonetics and speech science — acoustic and articulatory analysis, speech perception, and language technology for under-resourced South Asian and Tibeto-Burman languages.
Vice Provost for Graduate and Postdoctoral Programs, New York University Abu Dhabi. A specialist in Tibeto-Burman languages, she is the founding director of InField/CoLang and author of A Grammar of Dolakha Newar and the textbook How Languages Work.
Registration secures your place at HLS-29 and includes access to all plenary lectures, parallel sessions, and the conference's social programme, along with three lunches and daily tea and snacks. Please use the form that matches your nationality below. The registration window closes on 15 July 2026.
| Category | Students | Non-Students |
|---|---|---|
| Indian & SAARC | ₹3,000 + 18% GST (₹3,540 incl. GST) | ₹5,000 + 18% GST (₹5,900 incl. GST) |
| Foreign | USD 80 + 18% GST (USD 94.40 incl. GST) | USD 150 + 18% GST (USD 177 incl. GST) |
Registration deadline: 15 July 2026 · Fees cover access to all plenary lectures, parallel sessions, and the conference's social programme.
Oral sessions run in parallel in Rooms A, B and C · * marks the presenting author
Each poster presenter gives a short lightning talk before lunch on the day of their poster session. Order follows the poster boards, 3 minutes per talk as set in the schedule; the start times are the proposed running order.
| Start | Presenter | Board | Topic |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12:30 | Najima Begum | 1 | Number Marking in Tai Phake Language : A Descriptive Study With Rita Saha |
| 12:32 | Loli Mosohrii | 1 | Pronominal Forms and Functions in Mao: A Preliminary study With Alemmenla Walling |
| 12:35 | Bidisha Bhattacharje | 2 | Obdhi in Bengali: A Unified Analysis as a Delimiter |
| 12:37 | Sudipta Saha | 2 | Gapping in Bangla: A Large Or Small Conjunct Analysis |
| 12:40 | Moomal Majee | 3 | Negative Verbal Clitics and Negative Copula in Kumaoni |
| 12:42 | Ngaineiting Baite | 3 | Negation Patterns in Gutob: A Descriptive Account With Sujoy Sarkar; Naorem Brojen Singh; Arun Ghosh; Shailendra Mohan |
| 12:45 | Nilimoy Amchi | 4 | Negation in Tiwa With Krishna Boro |
| 12:47 | Rita Saha | 4 | Negation in Mymensinghia: A Descriptive Study of Clausal and Non-Clausal Negation With Najima Begum |
| 12:50 | Shibani Das | 5 | Structure of Negation in Nyishi |
| 12:52 | Sayantani Banerjee | 5 | Noun classifiers in Kashmiri With Chandni Dutta; Aadil Amin Kak |
| 12:55 | Mrunmayee Amshekar | 6 | Evidential marking in Monket and its anticipation in question structures |
| 12:57 | Md Abul Afzal Mubashshir | 6 | Bare predicate nominals in Hindi and the role of “ek”: Evidence from identity statements |
| Start | Presenter | Board | Topic |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12:00 | Aman Singha | 1 | Prosodic Realization of Stress in Bugun (Khowa): An Acoustic Analysis of Disyllabic Structures With Krishna Boro |
| 12:04 | Hiba Parvin | 1 | Vowel-Shortening in Proper Names in Purgi: An OT Account |
| 12:08 | Kasturi Borgohain | 2 | An Acoustic Analysis of Diphthongs in Tiwa |
| 12:12 | Aleendra Brahma | 2 | North-East Indian Scripts |
| 12:17 | Sanjib Narzary | 3 | Fine-Tuning Tesseract LSTM for Bodo OCR using Synthetic Datasets With Sourjyadyuti Narzary; Sunjiu Borgayary; Mwikhwm Basumatary; Dhrub Kumar Basumatary |
| 12:21 | Moyoor Sharma | 3 | Polysemy of the /-loi/ Marker in Assamese: A Cognitive Grammar Analysis With Sanjukta Ghosh |
| 12:25 | Pragya Ranjan | 4 | Exploration of the particle /ətʰi/ in Magahi |
| 12:30 | Hilal Dar | 4 | Verb Stem Complexities in Gorum With Shruti Prajapati; Sujoy Sarkar; Arun Ghosh; Shailendra Mohan |
| 12:34 | Porixita Kakoty | 5 | Contact-Induced Lexical Repertoires in Assam Sadri: Evidence from Select Tea Gardens of Assam |
| 12:38 | Puspa Thounaojam | 5 | Challenges in Documenting a Critically Endangered Language: The Case of Chakpa Phayeng With Babyna Thounaojam; Aadil Amin Kak |
| 12:42 | Tapashi Barman | 6 | BREWING IDENTITY: EXPLORING THE CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF ‘PHALAP’ IN THE TANGSA COMMUNITY OF ASSAM |
| 12:47 | Sanjib Narzary | 6 | The Vanishing Lexicon in the Processional and Agrarian Vocabulary in Bodo Cultural Discourse |
| 12:51 | Hritwick Chakraborty | 7 | Numeral Classifiers in Endangered Toto Language |
Titles and names are shown as submitted; universities follow the registration records where available. Rooms A, B and C are as in the organisers' schedule.
Prof. Rangan Banerjee
Director, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Prof. Basavaraja Kodagunti
Director, Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru
Delhi, India's capital, is a city where more than a thousand years of history sit alongside a fast-moving contemporary capital. Late October through early November — the dates of HLS-29 — falls during the city's most pleasant season, with clear skies and comfortable daytime temperatures, making it an excellent time to extend your visit and explore beyond the conference venue.
Three UNESCO World Heritage Sites lie within the city: the Qutub Minar, a 12th-century minaret and the tallest brick minaret in the world; Humayun's Tomb, a Mughal garden-tomb that prefigured the Taj Mahal; and the Red Fort, the historic seat of Mughal power in Old Delhi. Within easy reach are India Gate and the ceremonial avenue of Rajpath, the lotus-shaped Bahá'í House of Worship, and the vast Akshardham Temple complex, and Rajghat, the memorial marking the cremation site of Mahatma Gandhi.
For a more immersive experience, the lanes of Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi offer some of the country's oldest markets and street food, while Hauz Khas Village — a short distance from the IIT Delhi campus — pairs a 14th-century reservoir and madrasa with contemporary cafés, galleries, and bookshops.
The city is served by an extensive metro network, and IIT Delhi itself is connected to most major landmarks within a 30–45 minute journey. We will share a short visitor's guide with practical travel tips closer to the conference dates.
A limited number of rooms are available on the IIT Delhi campus, and the organising committee can help you get accommodation on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to availability. Off-campus options are widely available within a short distance of the venue and may be booked directly by participants.
To request on-campus or nearby accommodation for the conference dates.
Request AccommodationIIT Delhi maintains three on-campus guest houses — Research & Innovation Park, Gulmohar, and Amaltas — offering subsidised rooms for visiting delegates, hosted by a faculty member. Rates vary by room category and are confirmed at the time of booking.
To request a stay at Gulmohar or Amaltas, please use the "Request Accommodation" form above; the organising committee will confirm availability and current rates directly.
A wide range of hotels and serviced apartments are available within a short distance of the IIT Delhi campus, particularly in Hauz Khas, Green Park, Safdarjung Enclave, and Panchsheel Park — most within a 10–20 minute drive or a short metro ride of the venue. Participants are welcome to book off-campus accommodation independently using the links below.
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Delhi
Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru
Interested in sponsoring HLS-29? We welcome institutional and corporate sponsors — write to us at hls29.iitd@gmail.com to discuss sponsorship opportunities.
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
5th Floor, Main Building
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Hauz Khas, New Delhi – 110016, India