Portuguese involvement in the description of South Asian languages dates back to the late 15th century, when a short Malayalam vocabulary was appended to the logbook of Vasco da Gama’s first voyage to India, and the ensuing production of grammars, dictionaries and translations turned Lisbon into one of the first European centres for the diffusion of linguistic knowledge about South Asia.

In view of this tradition, the Centre for Linguistics of the University of Lisbon is happy to host the 32nd edition of the South Asian Languages Analysis Roundtable, one of the principal fora for the scholarly discussion of South Asian linguistics.