On the Context of the Politics of Language and the Language of Politics: Phonologist Muhammad Abdul Hai (Memorial Speech for Professor Muhammad Abdul Hai’s Birth Centenary at the Bangla Department, Dhaka University)

Muhammad Abdul Hai was one of the stalwarts of linguistics in the context of Bangla language. His work traversed well beyond his vocation as a professor of the Bangla department at the University of Dhaka. He has played a pivotal role in the research of Bangla phonetics and phonology and Bangla linguistics is indebted to his analyses. Beyond core theoretical linguistics he has also worked on dialectology and sociolinguistics, culminating in one of his seminal works – namely ‘Toshamod O Rajnitir Bhasha’ (The Language of Flattery and Politics). This article focuses on the aforementioned seminal work with a view to discussing the language of politics and the politics of language, exploring Hai’s contributions in this regard as well his pioneering research trajectory.