Established in the year 1991, the Department of Linguistics, University of Kashmir has come a long way in establishing itself as one of the leading teaching and research departments not only in the University of Kashmir but also at the National and International levels. The Department started offering master’s programme in Linguistics from the year 1996 and the research programmes (M.Phil., PhD) from 2001. A comprehensive range of courses in theoretical, applied and interdisciplinary areas are provided by the Department. The Department reviews and updates its courses from time to time, keeping in view the evolving scenario of linguistics and needs of the students. Being the only Department of its kind in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir the Department has accepted the mandate and the moral responsibility to carry out teaching and research activities on local languages, thereby serving the Union Territory and its people in the best possible way. With regard to the rich Linguistic profile of the Jammu and Kashmir , the Department has initiated language documentation of endangered and lesser known languages spoken by small groups of people in far-flung areas of the UT on an individual level as well as in association with the reputed institutions like Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysuru and Language Division, Census of India, Kolkata. The Documentation involves audio and video recording of data, writing grammars, making dictionaries and collection of folk lore of the languages of these lesser known and endangered groups. The Department served as a nodal centre for documentation of eight languages namely Khash, Siram, Bhadralium, Khana, Hassadi, Meshabi, Paddari and Gojapuri for the project funded by CIIL, Mysuru under the Scheme for Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages (SPPEL).Many major research projects have been completed and some are still going on in the department at present. Central Institute of Indian languages (CIIL, Mysore) Indian council for Social Science Research , New Delhi, University Grant Commission, New Delhi, National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language , New Delhi, Sahitya Academy , New Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, Srinagar, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Govt. of India, South Asia language resource Centre, University of Chicago, Illinois,  National Foreign Language Centre, University of Maryland, USA, have been the major collaborating agencies for these projects. The human resource produced by the department is well equipped to undertake teaching and research activities pertaining to the field of linguistics in any part of the world. Most of the pass outs of the Department are serving in the institutions of higher education in different parts of India and abroad, giving the Department a global outreach.

Anticipating and responding to local, regional and global needs and trends, the Department is also determined to promote teaching and research in an open, dynamic, sustainable and expandable manner.