Biography · Education · Academic practice
About
R. Karthick Narayanan — linguist, digital archivist, and Executive Director of the Council for Diversity and Innovation.
R. Karthick Narayanan is a linguist and digital archivist whose research explores multilingualism, language vitality, and the documentation and stewardship of linguistic and cultural knowledge. His work is grounded in the view that languages must be understood through their speakers' social worlds and the historical, institutional, and political conditions that shape language use.
He earned his PhD in Linguistics from Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2021. His doctoral research examined language maintenance among the Toda and Kota communities of the Nilgiris, with particular attention to multilingual practices and language shift. This research informed his 2025 monograph, Multilinguality, Vitality, and Endangerment: Insights from the Lived Experiences of Multilingual India (Cambridge Scholars Publishing).
His academic and professional experience spans language documentation, sociolinguistic fieldwork, linguistic description, digital language archives, teaching, and community-centred research initiatives. His work has engaged with Toda oral literature, documentation in Himalayan regions, archival infrastructures, and collaborative approaches to language technologies and resources.
He serves as Executive Director of the Council for Diversity and Innovation (CoDIN). Previously, he held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Moturi Satyanarayana Centre for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences at Krea University and worked on linguistic and archival projects with research institutions including Sikkim University and the Central Institute of Indian Languages. In 2024 he received the SPARROW-R Thyagarajan Literary Award in recognition of his work on Toda verbal art.
Education
Awarded 2021
PhD, Linguistics
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Doctoral research on language maintenance among Toda and Kota in the Nilgiris. Supervisors: Anvita Abbi and Ayesha Kidwai.
2012–2014
MPhil, Linguistics
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Research on the vitality of languages spoken by fewer than 10,000 speakers in India.
2010–2012
MA, Linguistics
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Dissertation research on Shekhawati phonetics and phonology.
2009–2010
BEd, English Language Teaching
Tamil Nadu Teacher Education University, Chennai
2006–2009
BA, English
Loyola College, Chennai / University of Madras
Professional appointments
June 2026–present
Executive Director
Council for Diversity and Innovation (CoDIN)
2024–2026
Chief Community and Data Officer
UnReaL-TecE LLP, Agra, Uttar Pradesh
2022–2024
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Moturi Satyanarayana Centre for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Krea University, Sricity, Andhra Pradesh
2021–2022
Senior Resource Person
Central Institute of Indian Languages, Ministry of Education, Mysuru, Karnataka
Orthography Development for Languages of North-East India.
2021
Teaching Faculty
Department of Linguistics, Central University of Karnataka, Kalaburagi, Karnataka
2019–2020
Research Associate and Digital Archivist
Centre for Endangered Languages, Sikkim University, Gangtok, Sikkim
Early research
2016
Junior Resource Person
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Scheme of Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages; Rongpo and Spiti-related documentation (Rongpa in the original appointment list).
2015–2016
Research Assistant
Centre for Oral and Tribal Literature, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi
Toda Oral Literature Project.
2014
Junior Resource Person
Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysuru, Karnataka
Scheme of Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages.
Teaching
2016
Field Methods and Data Digitisation Tutor
MA Field Methods, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
2015
Course Teacher
BA Introduction to Phonetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
2015
Field Methods and Data Digitisation Tutor
MA Field Methods, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Awards & scholarly service
2024 · SPARROW-R Thyagarajan Literary Award
In recognition of work on Toda verbal art in Tamil and English.
Academic memberships include the Linguistic Society of India and the Society of Endangered Languages.