Dr. Awadesh K. Mishra , is from the Department of Linguistics, North Eastern Hill University , Shillong. His paper in Prof. M.B.Emeneau Centenary International Conference on south Asian Linguistics, is titled, "Language Contact Induced Changes in Kurukh" with reference to Kurukh dialect spoken in Ranchi , Jharkhand. The paper focuses on how Kurukh, a language belonging to North-Dravidian Family, has changed with the influence of Hindi and Sadri, belonging to Indo-Aryan Family.

          In this paper he discusses the degree of interference of co-existing dominant languages on Kurukh and Aryanization of this language due to language contact at the level of lexicon, phonology, morphology and syntax. The factors that has been analyzed in this paper includes Loanwords in current usage, Indo-Aryan loanwords in the basic vocabulary of Kurukh including numerals, kinship terms, body part nomenclature, natural objects, temporal organization, adjectives, artifacts, verbs and adverbs, form words. Describing the Phonological changes of the language he presents examples from aspirations, nasalized vowels, and initial alveolar and retroflex consonants. Similarly stating the changes in Morphology he presents the Aryanization in word morphology classifiers, echo-formation, morphologically marked passive and numerical system. Changes in grammatical system or syntax are explained through the grammatical gender and relative-correlative construction.

          In conclusion, it is evident from this paper that although Kurukh has retained many Dravidian features, it has gained many features from I-A languages of the region. Such changes have led to the homogeneity of the language with the surrounding languages.

          In the discussion that followed the session, chaired by Prof. Bh. Krishnamurti, Prof. Hans Henrich Hock initiated the discussion by saying that the situation is complex, with regard to lexicon borrowing. Prof. Rajendra Singh asked about the historical hierarchy which throws light on the borrowings in Kurukh, commenting that the examples cited by Prof. Mishra were pretty recent. Prof. Mishra, replying to the question of historical hierarchy, said that he got the data from the Royal Asiatic Society and emphasized that the data had 70-80 years of history. Commenting on Prof. Agnihotri's query of analysis of word morphology especially of the word 'beluria', Prof. Mishra said that that word belonged typically to Sadri and only the suffix was changed in Kurukh. Prof. Krishnamurti commented on what Prof. Mishra meant by Basic Vocabulary, and said that replacing native elements with borrowed elements is not basic.