About me

I was born in Dahanu, India, and moved to the United Kingdom in 2007, when I was six years old. I grew up in Sherborne, in Dorset, England. My heritage language is Gujarati.

I am happy to be addressed as 'Mal' ([mal]) or 'Malhaar', which can be pronounced either [malhɑːɹ] or [mʌlhɑːɾ]. I share this name with a raga, which has a legend associated with it.

If you are citing me for personal communication, I am fine with "Mal Shah".

My pronouns are he/him.

ORCID: 0009-0009-2732-0032

Outside linguistics

As of 2026, I have been vegan. I became vegetarian in 2018, when I was 17. If you are curious, I recommend the careful, non-provocative discussion from the Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy.

Besides linguistics, I also enjoy reading, running, playing the flute, and table-top games. I'm a big fan of live music too, especially when I get to stand as close to the stage as possible. I listen to mostly alternative music, including rock, shoegaze and trip-hop. My favorite band is Sleater-Kinney.