Linguistics Professor Wins Top Prize for Most Illustrative Publication

Dr. Paul Arsenault co-authored Kalasha (Bumbaret Variety) last year

By Tyndale Communications  /  Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Dr. Paul Arsenault

Tyndale University celebrates Dr. Paul Arsenault, Assistant Professor of Linguistics, on his recent award from the Journal of the International Phonetic Association. Dr. Arsenault co-authored Kalasha (Bumburet Variety) with Alexei Kochetov, Jan Heegård Petersen, Sikandar Kalas and Taj Khan Kalash.

“We are truly honoured to receive the award, which increases awareness of the Kalasha people and their language by drawing attention to the study,” says Dr. Arsenault.

“We hope it encourages others to undertake further documentation of the language and other endangered minority languages like it. Most of all, we hope it helps the Kalasha community preserve their unique language for posterity!”

— Dr. Paul Arsenault

Kalasha, also known as Kalashamon, is a Northwestern Indo-Aryan language spoken in Chitral District of Khyber Pakhtunkwa Province in northern Pakistan, primarily in the valleys of Bumburet, Rumbur, Urtsun and Birir. The number of speakers is estimated to be between 3000 and 5000.

The article on Kalasha was published as part of a long-running series in the journal featuring brief, documentary-style articles illustrating principles of phonetic analysis applied to various languages of the world. This year is the 50th anniversary of the journal, and to mark the occasion, its editors launched an annual "most illustrative illustration" award.

Congratulations Dr. Arsenault on this inaugural award!