Elena Bashir is an American

linguist 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. Lingui ...

and senior lecturer in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations of the Humanities Division of the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

. She studies

languages of Pakistan Pakistan is a multilingual country with dozens of languages spoken as first languages. The majority of Pakistan's languages belong to the Indo-Iranian group of the Indo-European language family. Urdu is the national language and the lingua f ...

and the broader northwestern part of South Asia, and has published extensive linguistic work on the

Dardic languages The Dardic languages (also Dardu or Pisaca) or Hindu-Kush Indo-Aryan languages, are a group of several Indo-Aryan languages spoken in northern Pakistan, northwestern India and parts of northeastern Afghanistan. The term "Dardic" is stated to b ...

Hindko Hindko (, romanized: , ) is a cover term for a diverse group of Lahnda dialects spoken by several million people of various ethnic backgrounds in several areas in northwestern Pakistan, primarily in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and P ...

, Saraiki,

Balochi Balochi, sometimes spelt in various other ways, may refer to: * Balochi language, a language of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan * an adjective for something related to the Baloch people, an ethnic group of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan * an adjecti ...

, Brahui, Wakhi and

Hindustani Hindustani may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Hindustan (another name of India) * Hindustani language, an Indo-Aryan language, whose two official norms are Hindi and Urdu * Fiji Hindi, a variety of Eastern Hindi spoken in Fiji, and ...

, among other languages of the region. Bashir also teaches

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

. Bashir received her Ph.D. in linguistics from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

in 1988. Her dissertation was titled "Topics in Kalasha Syntax: An areal and typological perspective". Bashir is on the board of trustees of the

American Institute of Afghanistan Studies The American Institute of Afghanistan Studies (AIAS), founded in 2003, is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the advanced study of Afghanistan in the United States. The institute is housed at Boston University in Massachusetts. ...

and has been on the advisory board of the '' Journal of Urdu Studies''.

Research

Much of the focus of Bashir's work has been on the

. She wrote her thesis and a number of related articles on the

Kalasha language Kalasha (locally: ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Kalash people, in the Chitral District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. There are an estimated 4,100 speakers of Kalasha. It is an endangered language and there is an o ...

. Her analyses of Kalasha grammar, based on texts and her own fieldwork, have included discussion of the typological and genetic relationships of Kalasha to Khowar and broader Indo-Aryan and Iranian languages. Bashir and linguist Hans Henrich Hock were editors of the 2016 book ''The Languages and Linguistics of South Asia: A Comprehensive Guide'', part of

De Gruyter Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. History The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in Be ...

's ''The World of Linguistics'' series.

Works

* * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bashir, Elena Living people University of Chicago faculty Linguists of Indo-Aryan languages University of Michigan alumni Women linguists Year of birth missing (living people)