Abhishek Avtans

Abhishek Avtans teaches Indic languages and linguistics at Leiden University (the Netherlands). He tweets at @avtansa.

Language of the islanders in Southasia: Part 2

Languages spoken in the islands of the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh demonstrate language contact and convergence, and offer insights into the histories, cultures and linguistic diversity of the region.

Jul 03, 2023

Languages of the islanders in Southasia: Part 1

Linguistic diversity and study of endangered languages in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in Southasia can help our understanding of human history, cognition and the natural world

Apr 14, 2023

Beyond the binary 

Gender in Southasian languages.

Nov 22, 2022

The holy grail of language preservation

Bible translations in Southasia.

Jul 06, 2022

Seeing with fingertips

Braille in Southasia.

Mar 04, 2022

Sign languages matter

National and endangered sign languages of Southasia.

Nov 08, 2021

Shaking the melting pot

The role of contact languages in multilingual milieux.

Aug 24, 2021

It takes a village to save a language

Pidgins, creoles and mixed languages of Southasia.

Jul 13, 2021

Under the sun

Summer words and phrases in Southasian languages.

May 18, 2021

Translating a pandemic

The impact of COVID-19 terminology on Southasian languages.

Apr 07, 2021

Latest Articles

Podcast: Uttar Pradesh’s halal ban, Myanmar’s armed groups expose military junta’s weakness, and more

Your Southasia news roundup from 20 Nov - 1 Dec 2023, plus an interview with Aung Kaung Myat on Operation 1027 in Myanmar

India’s slow-burn affair with Israel heats up

Azad Essa’s 'Hostile Homelands' explores the ideological convergence of Hindutva and Zionism, and the consequences for Kashmir and Palestine – but there is much more driving India and Israel’s deepening ties

Disillusioned with the Taliban, Pakistan reverses its four-decade Afghan policy

As Kabul refuses to act against the TTP and Baloch militant groups, Pakistan is ending the support it has extended to the Taliban since 1994 and its welcome to refugees from Afghanistan since the 1980s

The limited genius of Geoffrey Bawa

‘Geoffrey Bawa: Drawing from the Archives’ allows an exploration of the rift between the celebrated architect’s vision for nation-building in Sri Lanka and the country’s present reality