V. R. Prabodhachandran Nayar

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V.R. Prabodhachandran Nayar
VRPShreshtaBasha.jpg
V R Prabodhachandran Nayar receiving Shreshta Malayala Basha Puraskaaram of Govt. of India, from Honorable Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkiaha Naidu (4 April 2019) New Delhi [1]
Born (1938-08-04) 4 August 1938 (age 86)
NationalityIndian
Alma materGovernment English High School, N Parvoor

BSc, studying Botany, Chemistry, English and Malayalam undergoing the program in the Union Christian College, Aluva
, MA degree in the Malayalam Language and Literature in 1959, studying in the University College, Thiruvananthapuram
PhD degree in Malayalam Studies from the University of Kerala (1967)

PhD degree is in Phonetics and Linguistics (1970), completing the course work in the

Contents

School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Known forErudition and Expertise in Linguistics [2] and Phonetics [3]
AwardsDr. K Godavarma Memorial Gold medal (1959)
Commonwealth Scholarship for post doctoral research at the School of Oriental and African Studies, university of London (1967)
IC Chacko Award of the Kerala Sahitya Akademy, for the best book in scientific literature (Swanavijnaanam)1981 (Citation)
CL Antony Award of the Trissur Sahridaya veedi 1998(Citation)
MKKNayar Award of the MKKNayar Memorial Cultural Institute, Pakalkuri 2002 (Citation) [4]
NV Krishna Variar Award for scientific literature 2011
Sakthi Thaayaatt Award for scientific literature 2011
Professor CP Menon Award for scientific literature 2013
Mukundaraja Smriti Purasakaaram of Keralakalamandalam(2014)
Scientific career
FieldsReputed Teacher

Linguistics [5] with specialization in Phonetics
theory and practice of translation and Malayalam studies

educationist [6]
scholar [7]
speaker
writer
composer-cum-poet [8]
patron of arts [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
organizer
Institutions Kerala Kalamandalam
Central University of Kerala
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Calicut Universitycommission
Center for Developing Advanced Computing and for Imaging Technology, Trivandrum
kutiyattam Center of the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi
Samskrithi, a multinational organization, promoting Kerala's heritage in classical music.
Vivekananda Cultural Institute, TVPM
Thunchan Smaaraka Samithi, TVPM
Ezhuthachan National Academy, TVPM
Kilippaattu monthly, TVPM
Indian Council for Cultural Relations, TVPM Center
Projects Review & Steering Group of the Dept of Information and Technology, Ministry of Communication & Information Technology, Govt of India.

V. R. Prabodhachandran Nayar (also spelled Prabodhachandran Nair), popularly known as VRP Nayar, is a Phonetics [15] expert of Kerala. He is the pioneer in the study of the phonology of the Malayalam language. [16] [17] [18] Apart from phonology, he is also interested in syntax and stylistics. [19]

Professional career

VRP Nayar commenced his professional career in 1959 when he was 20, as a lecturer in Malayalam in the South Travancore Hindu College Nagercoil (Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu), the then southernmost college in India. He retired as Head of the department of Linguistics, University of Kerala, Trivandrum, in August 1998. However, he is active as a teacher and was working as a Visiting Professor-cum-Coordinator, at Department of Linguistics, Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod during the years 2012 and 2013.

Association with South Travancore Hindu College, [20] helped him have exposure first to colloquial Tamil and in due course, to the classical language and literature in Tamil. Concurrently he progressed with his PhD program as a part-time Research Scholar under the guidance of Dean Professor / Dr PK Narayana Pillai, in the Department of Oriental Studies, [21] University of Kerala. He was the first recipient of University Grants Commission (India)'s [22] ’s Junior Research Fellowship [23] in the Faculty of Oriental Studies in the University. In May 1963 he joined as the only Lecturer in the University's newly established Department of Linguistics and in 1965 submitted his PhD thesis entitled Descriptive Grammar of Krishnagatha [24] , one of the oldest and classic poetic works by the legendary Malayalam poet Cherusseri Namboothiri. In 1967 Dr Nayar was granted a Commonwealth Scholarship for research in Phonetics and Linguistics at the School of Oriental and African Studies in the University of London. His studies in London overshot their stipulated aims, in the sense that he successfully completed another thesis called Malayalam Verbal Forms [25] [26] – A Phonetic and Phonological Study Supported by Experimental Findings which fetched him his second PhD. During this period of research he could make a study tour of a number of libraries and speech-laboratories in the UK as well as in France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Rejoining his parent Department in Thiruvananthapuram, Dr Nayar was promoted as Reader and subsequently as Professor and in 1981 as Chair-Professor, which position he held till his retirement in 1998. Simultaneously he served on several occasions in the following positions also: Member / Chair, Board of Studies in Linguistics; Member / Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies; Director of the International Center for Kerala Studies; [27] Member of the Advisory Committee for the Oriental Research Institute and Manuscripts Library and the Department of Malayalam Lexicon; the first Vice-Chairman of the Council Monitoring the Choice – based Credit and Semester System, [28] introduced for the first time in any University in Kerala.

During his tenure as Professor of Linguistics in the University of Kerala, Dr Nayar organized a number of Seminars, Symposiums, Conferences and Workshops at the regional, state and national levels and successfully completed several Research Projects. After his retirement from the University of Kerala, Dr Nayar served the following institutions as a Visiting Professor and in various capacities as presented here:

1998–2003School of Letters, Mahathma Gandhi University, Kottayam (MGU) [29]
2003–2008Department of Comparative Literature and Linguistics, Sri Sankara Sanskrit University [30] (in the name of Adi Shankara), Kalady
2012–2013Department of Linguistics, Central University of Kerala, [31] Kasaragod
2001–2006Chairman, Kerala kalamandalam
2001–2006Chair, Jury for several prestigious awards, including Ezhuthachan Award and State Awards for Kathakali and for Dance
1993–2009Co-ordinator, Summer in Kerala Program [32] of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA
2003–2009Consultant in Linguistics, C-DAC & CDiT (Center for Developing AdvancedComputing and for Imaging Technology [33] ), Thiruvananthapuram.
2007–2011Member: Advisory Committee of the Kutiyattam Kendra of the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi
Since 2007Chairman: Samskrithi, a multinational organization, promoting Kerala's heritage in classical music.
Since 1998Chairman: Vivekananda Cultural Institute, [34] Thiruvananthapuram
since 2000Chairman: Thunchan Smaaraka Samithi, [35] Thiruvananthapuram.
Since 2005Chairman: Ezhuthachan National Academy, [36] Thiruvananthapuram
Since 2006Chairman: Editorial Board, Kilippaattu monthly, [37] Thiruvananthapuram.
2011–2014Expert Member: Indian Council for Cultural Relations, [38] Thiruvananthapuram.
2005–2009Expert Member: Projects Review & Steering Group of the Dept of Information Technology, [39] Ministry of Human Resources Development, [40] Govt of India.

Publications

Malayalam

Awards

See also

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References

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  6. A number of books have been prescribed as text books and / reference works for graduate and postgraduate courses of study in Linguistics and languages in universities including the following: University of Kerala;Sri Sankarachaarya University of Sanskrit, Kalady; Mahathma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Calicut University, Kannur University, Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod; Madurai Kamaraj
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