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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. Rigdzin Angmo, or Stanzin Spaldan [stɐndzɪn spaldɐn (Purik/Sham pronunciation)] བསྟན་འཛིན དཔལ་ལྡན received from HH Dalai Lama's office. 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.

I'm committed to creating comprehensive and representative records of languages, especially endangered and un(der)documented languages, and ensuring that these records are accessible to the appropriate audiences—especially the communities that speak these languages or somehow are related to them. Furthermore, since documentary linguistics and language revitalization are complementary activities, I also aim to help the community develop creative methods and techniques of revitalization.

Outside of linguistics, I enjoy gardening, cooking, coffee, cycling, hiking, traveling,  swimming, reading, and exploring nature.

Recent updates


  • 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. https://ladakhtimes.com/5-day-training-workshop-on-documentation-of-zanskari-language-held-at-gmdc-zanskar/ Documentary can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIX81jtU1c0 
  • August 3, 2022
Conducted a seminar on “Documentation of Zangskari Language” at the Government Model Degree College Zanskar. https://indusdispatch.in/seminar-on-documentation-of-zanskari-language-held-at-gmdc-zanskar/  https://ladakhtimes.com/seminar-on-documentation-of-zanskari-language-held-at-gmdc-zanskar/ 
  • 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: https://fieldnotespod.com/2022/02/01/episode-35-azamgarhi-language-documentation-with-maaz-shaikh/  (Pardon me for my voice, I'd just [partially] recovered from Covid.)
  • November 15, 2021
I submitted my M.Phil. thesis titled Verb Morphology in Awadhi of Azamgarh. 

Snapshots

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