The inaugural session of the 13th Conference of the North East Indian Linguistics Society (NEILS) was held on February 7, 2025, at Nagaland University’s Kohima Campus. The event was attended by 65 registered participants from Northeast India, mainland India, and other parts of the world.
Prof GT Thong, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Kohima Campus, graced the occasion and urged participants to actively conduct research on the languages of Nagaland and the Northeast. Two founding members of NEILS, Prof Jyotiprakash Tamuli (Gauhati University) and Dr Stephen Morey (La Trobe University), also participated in the conference.
The welcome address was delivered by Dr Petekhrienuo Sorhie, Head of the Department of Tenyidie, followed by an introduction to NEILS by Dr Stephen Morey. The plenary talk was presented by Prof Jyotiprakash Tamuli on the topic “Raising the Stakes: Linguistics in Education.”
The conference, hosted by the Department of Tenyidie, will conclude on February 8, 2025.
About NEILS
The North East Indian Linguistics Society (NEILS) was founded by Jyotiprakash Tamuli (Gauhati University), Stephen Morey (La Trobe University), and Mark W. Post (University of Sydney). From 2007 to 2012, NEILS conferences were held annually, and from 2014 onwards, they have been held biennially. The conferences are typically hosted in Assam during January or February.
The first NEILS conference took place at the Phanidar Dutta Seminar Hall, Gauhati University, on February 6–7, 2006. Since then, most conferences have been held at the Don Bosco Institute (Don Bosco College of Engineering & Technology), Guwahati. Regular attendees have included Robbins Burling, Scott DeLancey, George van Driem, Gwendolyn Hyslop, and other prominent linguists.
NEILS primarily focuses on documenting and describing the rich cultural and linguistic diversity of Northeast India. The conference papers mainly adopt a descriptive approach with a functional-typological or anthropological-linguistic perspective. Research on languages spoken in Myanmar, China, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and West Bengal—regions bordering Northeast India—is also considered.