Maaz Shaikh
PhD Candidate and Teaching Assistant at the University of Alberta.
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 PhD Candidate 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.
Selected Highlights
- May 2022 - Received a Language Legacies grant from the Endangered Language Fund (ELF) for the documentation of Zangskari. Amount: $2,910 USD.
- April 2023 - Received the Mitacs Globalink Research Award for "Empowering Communities to Preserve their Heritage: A Citizen Science Approach to Language Documentation". Amount: $6,000 CAD.
- September 2023 - Awarded the Ivy A Thomson and William A Thomson Graduate Scholarship. Amount: $15,000 CAD.
- September 2022 - Joined the Department of Linguistics, University of Alberta, as a Graduate Research Scholar (PhD) and Teaching Assistant.
- February 2022 - My Fieldnotes Podcast interview with Martha Tsutsui Billins. Listen here.
Project Snapshots
Field Methods on Ladakhi at DU (2019)
A glimpse into my field methods session on the Ladakhi language during my time at Delhi University.
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Documentation of Azamgarhi
Exploring the unique characteristics of the Azamgarhi language.
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