V. R. Prabodhachandran Nayar (also spelled Prabodhachandran Nair), popularly known as VRP Nayar, is a

Phonetics Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...

expert of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. He is the pioneer in the study of the phonology of the

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

language. Apart from phonology, he is also interested in

syntax In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...

and

stylistics Stylistics, a branch of applied linguistics, is the study and interpretation of texts of all types and/or spoken language in regard to their linguistic and tonal style, where style is the particular variety of language used by different individu ...

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 South Travancore Hindu College, is a general degree college located in Nagercoil, Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu. It was established in the year 1952. The college is affiliated with Manonmaniam Sundaranar University Manonmaniam Sundaranar ...

Nagercoil Nagercoil, also spelt as Nagarkovil ("Temple of the Nāgas", or Nagaraja-Temple), is a city and the administrative headquarters of Kanyakumari District in Tamil Nadu state, India. Situated close to the tip of the Indian peninsula, it lies on an ...

(

Kanyakumari District Kanniyakumari district is one of the 38 districts in Tamil Nadu state and the southernmost district in mainland India. It stands second in terms of population density among the districts of Tamil Nadu. It is also the richest district in Tamil Nad ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

), the then southernmost college in India. He retired as Head of the department of

Linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

University of Kerala University of Kerala, formerly the University of Travancore, is a state-run public university located in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital of Kerala, India. It was established in 1937 by a promulgation of the Maharajah of Travancore, Chit ...

Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

, 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 Central University of Kerala (CUK) is one of the 15 central universities established under ''The Central Universities Act, 2009'' (Act No.25 of 2009) by the Parliament of India. The university is seated in Kasaragod, the northernmost distr ...

Kasaragod Kasaragod () is a municipal town and administrative headquarters of Kasaragod district in the state of Kerala, India. Established in 1966, Kasaragod was the first municipal town in the district. It is the northernmost district of Kerala and ...

during the years 2012 and 2013. Association with South Travancore Hindu College, helped him have exposure first to colloquial

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

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, University of Kerala. He was the first recipient of

University Grants Commission (India) University Grants Commission (UGC) is a statutory body set up by the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India in accordance to the UGC Act 1956 and is charged with coordination, determination and maintenance ...

's’s Junior Research Fellowship 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'', one of the oldest and classic poetic works by the legendary Malayalam poet

Cherusseri Namboothiri Cherusseri Namboothiri (Malayalam:ചെറുശ്ശേരി നമ്പൂതിരി) is a 15th-century Malayalam poet who belonged to Kolathunadu, in present-day North Malabar region of Kerala. He was a court poet of Udaya Varma (1446� ...

. In 1967 Dr Nayar was granted a

Commonwealth Scholarship The Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan (CSFP) is an international programme under which Commonwealth governments offer scholarships and fellowships to citizens of other Commonwealth countries. History The plan was originally proposed b ...

for research in

and

at the

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...

in the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. His studies in London overshot their stipulated aims, in the sense that he successfully completed another thesis called Malayalam Verbal Formsbooks.google.com › Foreign Language Study › Indic Languages– 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; Member of the Advisory Committee for the Oriental Research Institute and Manuscripts Library and the Department of Malayalam

Lexicon A lexicon is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Koine Greek language, Greek word (), neuter of () ...

; the first Vice-Chairman of the Council Monitoring the Choice – based Credit and Semester System, 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:

Publications

Malayalam * ''Vivarthhanaththinte Bhaashaasaasthrabhuumika'' (Translation - Its Background Linguistics), State Institute of Languages, TVPM (SIL) 1974 * ''Svanavijnjaanam'' (Phonetics), SIL, 1980 * ''Lookabhaashakal'' (The World Languages)

DC Books DC Books is a publisher in Kerala publisher of books in Malayalam, and one of the publishers in India . It also operates one of the largest book store chains in India, with a network of over 45 bookshops under the DC Books and Current Books b ...

, 1987 * ''Ezhuththinte katha'' (The Story of Writing or the Letter), The Institute of Children's Literature, TVPM 1996 * ''Malayalam Malayaaliyolam'' (Malayalam as Much as the Malayaali) SIL, 1999 * '' Cherusseri'' (A literary biography of the author of Krishnagatha), Department of Publications, University of Kerala,1999 * ''Uchchaaranam nannaavaan'' (For Improvement in Pronunciation) SIL 2000 * ''Sailiibhamgikal'' (The Beauties of Style) SIL 2003 * '' Hari Nama Keerthanam'' (Annotated edition of the famous 16th century hymn) Thunchan Smaraka Samithi, TVPM-9, 2009 * ''Bhaashaasaasthradrshtiyiluute'' (From the View point of Linguistics), SIL 2009 * ''Draavidabhaashakal'' (Dravidian Languages Translation from English of MS Andranov's original book in Russian)SIL 1975 * ''Chittappetuththiya kathhakalippadangal'' (Notated Kathakali songs: An anthology of 20 select pieces with introduction and notes) Keralakalamandalam 2004 * ''SriLalitasasahasranaamasthothram''literal explanation for

Lalita Sahasranamam ''Lalita Sahasranama'' (IAST: lalitāsahasranāma; Sanskrit: ललिता सहस्रनाम) is a sacred Hindu text from the Brahmanda Purana which lists the thousand names of the Hindu mother goddess Lalita Devi, a manifestation of t ...

– (Annotated Edition with an introduction)Thunchan Smaaraka Samithi, TVPM-9, 2011 * ''Malayalam Verbal Forms'' –

and

Phonology Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...

of Colloquial

, with Experimental Findings,

Dravidian Linguistics Association The Dravidian Linguistics Association is a learned society of scholars of Dravidian languages, based in Thiruvananthapuram. It holds the annual "Conference of Dravidian Linguists". The president is P.T. Murugaretnam (Madurai Kamaraj University). ...

, TVPM 1972 * ''Malayalam: A Linguistic Description'',search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/ocm05354133 National Research Publications, Kazhakuttam TVPM 1973 * ''Malayalam for Beginners'', Swantham Books, TVPM-10; 1999 * ''Kathakali Texts in Translation'' (in Phillip B Zarrilli: Kathakali-Dance Drama Where Gods and Demons Come to Play 2003) * ''Vidyarambham CD for Malayalam Self - Study'' (2001) * ''Vision, insights and Innovation'' (Report of the Calicut University Commission, 2000) * ''Malayalam for All India Service Offcier Trainees'', Dr. V.R. Prabodhachandran Nayar, Publisher: Institute of Management in Government(IMG), Thiruvananthapuram, 2020 * ''Dr. K. Raghavan Pilla-a literary biography by Dr. VRP, State Institute of Languages, 2020 * ''Lalitha Ganangal Prabodha sangeetham Valyam-2, National Bookstall, Kottayam 2021 March. *

Awards

* Dr. K Godavarma Memorial Gold medal (1959) * Commonwealth Scholarship for post doctoral research at the School of Oriental and African Studies, Univ. of London (1967) * IC Chacko Award of the Kerala Sahitya Akademy, for the best book in scientific literature (Swanavijnaanam) (Citation) (1981) * CL Antony Award of the Trissur Sahridaya veedi (Citation) (1998) * MKKNayar Award of the MKKNayar Memorial Cultural Institute, Pakalkuri (Citation) (2002) * NV Krishna Variar Award for scientific literature (2011) * Sakthi Thaayaatt Award for scientific literature (2011) * Professor CP Menon Award for scientific literature (Citation) (2013) * (Mukunda Raajaa) Smriti Puraskaaram of Keralakalamandalam 9 November 2014) * Shreshta Malayala Basha Puraskaram, Govt. of India, 4 April 2019.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nayar, V.R. Prabodhachandran Living people 20th-century Indian linguists 1938 births People from Ernakulam district Malayalam-language writers Writers from Kerala Phoneticians Scholars from Kerala Malayali people

Professional career

Publications

Awards

See also

References