Mufazzal Haider Chaudhury (22 July 1926- 14 December 1971) was a linguist, essayist and thinker. He was born in the village of Khalishpur in Noakhali district.

Mufazzal Haider Chaudhury stood 1st in the 1st class in the BA (Honours) examination of Calcutta University in 1946 with record marks in Bangla. This was a quite inconceivable thing for a Muslim boy from the backwaters of East Bengal to accomplish back then. He joined Dhaka University in 1955. In 1958, he was awarded a British Council scholarship to study linguistics at the London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies.

He authored several important books including Some Supra-Segmental Phonological Features of Bengali (1959), Bangla Banan O Lipi Sangskar (1962), Rabi Parikrama (1963), Colloquial Bengali (1963), Rangin Akhar (1963), and Sahityer Naba Rupayan (1969). He also wrote poems, stories and plays. In 1971 he was honoured with the Bangla Academy Prize.

Mufazzal Haider Chaudhury was picked up by anti-liberation forces on 14 December 1971 and killed.

Information and photo courtesy: Tanvir Haider Chaudhury