Probal Dasgupta

Dasgupta was born in 1953 in Kolkata, West Bengal, to Arun Kumar Dasgupta (1925–2007), a historian, and Manashi Dasgupta (née Roy, 1928–2010), a social psychologist. His father taught at institutions including Presidency College (Kolkata), Burdwan University and the University of Calcutta, retiring as Professor of History in 1985. His work on trade and politics contributed to scholarship in maritime historiography.^[5][6][7][8]

His mother served as Principal of Sri Shikshayatan College, Kolkata, and later directed Rabindra Bhavan at Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan. She was associated with Rabindrasangeet and published works in social psychology and creative writing.^{[9][10][11][12]}

In 1957 he travelled to Ithaca, New York, where his father was pursuing doctoral studies at Cornell University. He attended East Hill High School during this period.^[13] The family returned to India in 1961.

After returning to India, Dasgupta attended St. Lawrence High School in Kolkata, where he was placed in the Bangla-medium stream. He later studied at St. Xavier's Collegiate School, completing his schooling in 1970.

He studied linguistics with Pali as a subsidiary at Sanskrit College, Kolkata. He subsequently pursued higher studies in linguistics at Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, Pune. In 1975 he joined New York University's Graduate School of Arts and Science, where he completed his PhD in 1980. His doctoral dissertation, Questions and Relative and Complement Clauses in a Bangla Grammar, was supervised by Lewis Levine and Ray C. Dougherty.

Dasgupta began his academic career in linguistics with research in syntax, although his first published paper (1972) was in phonology. During the 1970s and 1980s he published studies on Bangla syntax and phonology. His 1989 book Projective Syntax: Theory and Applications was centred on syntactic theory while also engaging broader theoretical questions within linguistics.

In collaboration with Rajendra Singh, Dasgupta contributed to the development of the substantivist approach to linguistics, an orientation that incorporates elements of Whole Word Morphology into a broader theoretical framework. His later works, including Loĝi en homaj lingvoj: la substancisma perspektivo (2011) and Inhabiting Human Languages: the Substantivist Visualization (2012), further articulated this perspective.

In 1993 he published The Otherness of English: India's Auntie Tongue Syndrome, a sociolinguistic study examining the status of English in India.^[14] The book was reviewed in Applied Linguistics, where it was described as a "brilliant intellectual tour de force".^[15]

Beyond linguistics, Dasgupta has written on Esperanto studies and language policy. He has served in leadership roles within the Esperanto movement, including as president of the Universal Esperanto Association (2007–2013) and president of the Akademio de Esperanto (2016–2022).

In 2025 he published General Brasstacks: The Sundarji Story, a biography of General K. Sundarji.^[16]

• Degree words in Esperanto and categories in universal grammar. In: Klaus Schubert: Interlinguistics: aspects of the science of planned languages, 1989 pp. 231–247
• Towards a dialogue between the sociolinguistic sciences and Esperanto culture. Language Problems and Language Planning.11.3.304-34. 1987.
• Explorations in Indian Sociolinguistics, Rajendra Singh, Probal Dasgupta, Jayant K. Lele. New Delhi: Sage 1995.
• After Etymology:Towards a Substantivist Linguistics. (With Alan Ford and Rajendra Singh). München: Lincom Europa. 2000
• Dasgupta, Probal (2011). Loĝi en homaj lingvoj: la substancisma perspektivo. New York: Mondial. ISBN 978-1-59569-214-6.
• Dasgupta, Probal (2012). Inhabiting Human Languages: the Substantivist Visualization. New Delhi: Samskriti and Indian Council of Philosophical Research. pp. xviii + 148. ISBN 978-81-87374-70-1.
• Bayer, Josef and Dasgupta Probal (2016). Emphatic Topicalization and the Structure of the Left Periphery: Evidence from German and Bangla in. Syntax:19. pp 309–353
• Dasgupta Probal (2016).Luki Pre-demonstracyjne w Jezyku Bengalskim: Syntaktyczna i Semiotyczna Zdolnosz Odzyskiwania. Language Communication Information:11 pp 195–212

• Manashi DasGupta: Dormanta hejmaro, Antwerp: Flandra Esperanto-Ligo 2006
• Manashi DasGupta: Mi juna, Rotterdam: Esperantaj Kajeroj 1989
• Rabindranath Tagore: Primico, København: TK 1977
• Upendronath Gangopaddhae: Klera edzino, Pisa: Edistudio 1994

• (a) LSA 2004- : Dasgupta was made an honorary member of the Linguistic Society of America in 2004.
• (b) Bangiya Sahitya Parishat's Archana Choudhuri Prize 2012 : He was awarded the prestigious Archana Choudhari Prize in the year 2012 by the Bangiya Sahitya Parishat^{[17][failed verification]} for his contributions.
• (c) West Bengal government's Vidyasagar-Dinamoyee Prize 2021 : In 2021, he was one of the four recipients of the Vidyasagar-Dinamoyee Prize^[18] awarded by the Government of West Bengal's Department of Higher Education. This prize (earlier called the Vidyasagar Prize) is given for the recipient's lifetime achievements. It commemorates Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar.