Badaplin War

Badaplin War is a professor in the Department of Khasi at North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) in Shillong and an expert on Khasi linguistics, literature, culture and translation. She was named for the Padma Shri in 2022 in the field of literature and education, from Meghalaya ^[1].

Training in linguistics

War was born in Shillong on 20 December 1957 ^[2]. She took an MA in English at NEHU, an MA and MPhil in linguistics at the University of Delhi, and a PhD in linguistics from the University of London ^[2]. In 1983 she joined NEHU’s Khasi department, just two years after it was set up ^[2].

Teaching and research

She started teaching linguistic anthropology in NEHU’s anthropology department and also taught when its linguistics department began ^[2]. She has headed the Khasi department for three terms and served as dean of the School of Humanities ^[2]. She has published many books and papers and guided 40 MPhil and PhD scholars ^[2]. At conferences in India and abroad she has spoken on Khasi language and its dialects, its literature and the matrilineal social system of the Khasi people ^[2].

For the Khasi language

She was founding president of three bodies: the Shillong Academic Society, the Tribal Literary Forum of India and the Society for Khasi Studies ^[2]. She contributed to the People’s Linguistic Survey of India, served on the committee seeking the inclusion of Khasi in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, and coordinated NEHU’s committee on endangered languages ^[2]. She has also led the managing committees of two local schools ^[2].