Narayan Govind Kalelkar

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Narayan Govind Kalelkar (11 December 1909 - ?) was an Indian linguist from Maharashtra. He was born in the village of Bambuli in Ratnagiri. He got his education in Baroda, Mumbai (French Language) and D.Lit. in Paris. After education he taught French and Literature at Baroda Vidyapeeth, and Indo-Aryan/Indo-European languages at Deccan College.

Kalelkar authored several books on linguistics, first of their kind in Marathi. Of these, Dhwanivichar (1955) and Bhasha Aani Samskruti (1960) received Maharashtra State Prize and Bhasha: Itihaas Aani Bhoogol (1964) received Sahitya Akademi award in 1968.

[edit] Contribution to Konkani

Kalekar's study of Konkani was among the pivotal evidences in the Sahitya Akademi's decision to recognise Konkani as an independent language and not a dialect of Marathi in 1975.