Hi! My name is Maaz Ahmad Shaikh [maːz ɛhməd ʃeːχ] {UR: معاذ احمد شیخ ; HI: माज़ अहमद शेख़}. You can also call me by my Ladakhi name, Jigmet [dʒɪgmɛt̪] འཇིགས་མེད, given by Dr. Bettina Zeisler (Rigdzin Angmo),. Currently, I am a Graduate (Ph.D.) Research Scholar and Teaching Assistant at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. Prior to this, I was a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Linguistics, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India. My research interests lie in the fields of Language Documentation and Description, Language Planning and Revitalization, Language Contact, Historical Linguistics, Phonology, and Morphology. My research focuses on the Western Tibetic (Ladakhi-Balti) languages of Ladakh, where I am currently engaged in the documentation of Zangskari, besides being interested in Purik/Purgi, Balti, Sham and Leh Ladakhi. In addition, I have documented Azamgarhi, a unique Indo-Aryan language, which is also my heritage language. Besides Azamgarhi, I am keenly interested in the Indo-Aryan languages of the Awadh and Purvanchal regions of the Uttar Pradesh state of India. Outside of linguistics, I enjoy gardening, cooking, coffee, cycling, hiking, socializing, traveling, swimming, reading, and exploring nature.

Recent Updates

• November 25, 2023 - Presented “The V-a-V-i compounds in Hindi” at The Alberta Conference On Linguistics (ACOL), University of Lethbridge.
• September 1, 2023 - Awarded the Ivy A Thomson and William A Thomson Graduate Scholarship. Amount: $15000 CAD.
• April 16, 2023 - Received the Mitacs Globalink Research Award for “Empowering Communities to Preserve their Heritage: A Citizen Science Approach to Language Documentation”. Amount: $6000 CAD.
• September 1, 2022 - Joined PTW as a Freelance Urdu Linguist.
• September 1, 2022 - Joined the Department of Linguistics, University of Alberta, as a Graduate Research Scholar (Ph.D.) and Teaching Assistant.
• August 4-8, 2022 - Conducted a 5-day training workshop on “Documentation of Zangskari Language” at the Government Model Degree College Zanskar. More info.
• August 3, 2022 - Conducted a seminar on “Documentation of Zangskari Language” at the Government Model Degree College Zanskar. More info.
• May 20, 2022 - Received a Language Legacies grant from the Endangered Language Fund (ELF) for the documentation of Zangskari. Amount: $2910 USD.
• July 14, 2022 - Promoted to Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Linguistics, JNU, w.e.f. August 2021.
• February 1, 2022 - My Fieldnotes Podcast interview with Martha Tsutsui Billins. Listen here.
• November 15, 2021 - I submitted my M.Phil. thesis titled "Verb Morphology in Awadhi of Azamgarh". Read more.

Project Snapshots