Braj Kachru

Braj Kachru (born 1932 in Srinagar, Kashmir, India) is Jubilee Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He coined the term World English and has also published studies on Kashmiri.

Personal

Braj Bihari was born on 15 May 1931 in Srinagar, Kashmir into a Kashmiri Pandit (Brahmin) family. His father, Pandit Damodar Das Kachru was an educator. His mother, Sati, died when he was five years old. Braj's father was also known as Lala Sahab and was a friend of Kashmiri poet and writer Zinda Kaul masterji. Lala saheb and his educator and teacher colleagues had discussions on politics, literature and philosophy at his house. During their visits, Braj had the opportunity to interact with masterji and his father's other teacher colleagues.

His wife is fellow linguist Yamuna Kachru. Their son, Shamit Kachru, is a string theorist and professor at Stanford University.

Career

Kachru has initiated, shaped and defined the field of World Englishes. He has researched in the fields of World Englishes and Kashmiri language and has published several books and research papers related to the field.