Joynal Ali
Linguist · IIT Delhi
PhD Scholar · Linguistics · IIT Delhi

Joynal Ali

Language is so embedded into the ordinary life that its feat of computation is often unnoticed- a silent architecture the mind/brain builds and processes before even the utterance ends.

Joynal Ali

My research focuses on the interaction of syntax with discourse. I am particularly interested in discourse particles, allocutive and phi-feature agreement, the functional projection HonP, negation, and the tree-top structure- and what these phenomena tell us about how human language encodes contextual information in the architecture of the left periphery.

My broader theoretical interests lie in the computational mechanisms and formal devices of Grammar, and what they reveal about the language faculty of the human "mind/brain".

I joined IIT Delhi in 2024 as a doctoral researcher with Deepak Alok as my supervisor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. My dissertation investigates the syntax of discourse in Karbi Hills (a Trans-Himalayan language) and Assamese (an Indo-Aryan language), spoken primarily in North-East India.

Research & Publications
2026 · Proceedings · FASAL-15
Honorificity and Number Features are Distinct Processes: A Case of Honorificity and Plurality in Assamese Pronouns
Proceedings of FASAL-15 (Formal Approaches to South Asian Languages). Eds. Sampada Deshpande, Ahmad Jabbar, Jonathan Paramore & Shaunak Phadnis. University of Texas at Austin, April 2025.
View in FASAL-15 Proceedings ↗
Conferences & Schools
Oct–Nov 2026
HLS-29 — Himalayan Language Symposium Upcoming Paper
“Allocutivity Below NegP: The Karbi Addressee Honorific Marker -ik and the Architecture of the Speech-Act Domain”
IIT Delhi · hls29.iitd.ac.in
Jun 2026
LISSIM-12 — Linguistics Summer School in the Indian Mountains Participant
IIT Delhi, Sonipat Campus · lissim12.iitd.ac.in
Apr 2025
FASAL-15 — Formal Approaches to South Asian Languages Poster
“Honorificity and Number Features are Distinct Processes: A Case of Honorificity and Plurality in Assamese Pronouns”
University of Texas at Austin · Online
Dec 2024
SALA-38 — South Asian Languages Analysis Roundtable Paper
“Classifiers, Numerals, and their Interaction in the Karbi Language”
Nagaland University · sala-38.nagalanduniversity.ac.in
Mar 2024
NCLL-2024 — National Conference on Language and Linguistics Poster
“Causativization in Assamese, Punjabi, and Tutsa: A Typological Study”
Tezpur University, Assam
Curriculum Vitae
Education
2024 – present
PhD, Linguistics
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
2022 – 2024
M.A. in Linguistics and Language Technology
Tezpur University, Tezpur, Assam
2019 – 2022
B.A. in English Literature
The Assam Royal Global University, Guwahati, Assam
Academic Service
Oct–Nov 2026
Organising Committee — HLS-29
Himalayan Language Symposium 29 · IIT Delhi · hls29.iitd.ac.in
Dec 2025
Organising Committee — DIPSAL 2025
Discourse Particles in South Asian Languages · IIT Delhi · dipsal/home
Mar 2024
Organising Committee — NCLL-2024
National Conference on Language and Linguistics · Tezpur University · Conference Note ↗
Mar 2023
Organising Committee — NCLL-2023
National Conference on Language and Linguistics · Tezpur University · Conference Note ↗
Languages
AssameseNative
BanglaNative
EnglishFluent
HindiFluent
ArabicReading
Contact
Address
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, 5th Floor, Main Building,
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Hauz Khas, New Delhi – 110016
India