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LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS IN MELANESIA
LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS IN MELANESIA
Journal of the Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea ISSN: 0023-1959
LLM Vol. 39 2021
LLM Vol. 39 2021
LLM enters the 54th year of its life with the first article in our Book Reviews section. Craig Volker's review of Teaching Writing to Children in Indigenous Languages: Instructional Practices from Global Contexts edited by Ari Sherris and Joy Kreeft Peyton is particularly significant in this Decade of Indigenous Languages, declared by UNESCO. It is hoped that this review will assist teachers in the field and policy makers, alike.
LLM invites you now to fill this year's volume with your thoughts and contributions!
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
LLM MOURNS
The Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea and the Editorial Board of our journal, Language and Linguistics in Melanesia (LLM) mourn the untimely passing of Professor John Lynch, one of the brightest stars in Austronesian and Papuan linguistics, and a man of rare humanity and strength. As a brilliant scholar, academic, and the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Papua New Guinea, he left an indelible mark on people’s lives in PNG and beyond. He was the dynamo that energized linguistic thought in Melanesia for more than half a century – not only through his own teaching and research, but also through his editorial work in Kivung (1971-1979) and LLM (1981- 1997). After almost 15 years of hibernation, LLM was re-born online in 2011, with John Lynch on the Editorial Board ever since. To read John’s reminiscences about the early days of Kivung in UPNG, please click on this link: https://www.langlxmelanesia.com/llm-history
On behalf of the Editorial Board of LLM and the entire Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea, our Senior Editors, Malcolm Ross (ANU) and Robert Blust (University of Hawai'i) have written this tribute:
LLM MOURNS
The Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea and the Editorial Board of our journal, Language and Linguistics in Melanesia (LLM) mourn the untimely passing of Professor John Lynch, one of the brightest stars in Austronesian and Papuan linguistics, and a man of rare humanity and strength. As a brilliant scholar, academic, and the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Papua New Guinea, he left an indelible mark on people’s lives in PNG and beyond. He was the dynamo that energized linguistic thought in Melanesia for more than half a century – not only through his own teaching and research, but also through his editorial work in Kivung (1971-1979) and LLM (1981- 1997). After almost 15 years of hibernation, LLM was re-born online in 2011, with John Lynch on the Editorial Board ever since. To read John’s reminiscences about the early days of Kivung in UPNG, please click on this link: https://www.langlxmelanesia.com/llm-history
On behalf of the Editorial Board of LLM and the entire Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea, our Senior Editors, Malcolm Ross (ANU) and Robert Blust (University of Hawai'i) have written this tribute:
Tom was an early PNG friend of ours—Joice and I taught him linguistics at the government linguistics course in Goroka in 1960 and he spent the following Christmas with us. Tom rightly claimed that we got him started in linguistics.
From that time on, Tom and I stayed in touch and were good friends. We both studied at ANU in Canberra doing our PhDs in linguistics, and we lived side by side and even shared an office for a time. We loved to talk, argue, and discuss, mainly linguistics, but any topic was fair game. We even played a logic game during noon recesses, much to the awe and wonderment of some of our colleagues.
Tom and I were both writing grammars of the languages we were studying—Koiari and Kewa—but Tom was using the transformational grammar model and I was using tagmemics, a now forgotten and forlorn brand of linguistics. We were both also interested in comparative linguistics and Tom wrote several articles in that genre. For instance, he wrote a massive chapter of 122 pages for the volume on the Gulf Province that I edited. Although most comparative linguists disregarded “cultural” items due to concerns about borrowing, Tom carefully compared food and foodstuffs in languages throughout the country.
Prior to that time, Tom had been awarded a post-doctoral fellowship to study at MIT, then housing probably the most prestigious linguistics department in the world.
For several years Tom was the foundation professor of linguistics at the University of Papua New Guinea, so we saw each other often, particularly at linguistics conferences. Later Tom was a valued member of the linguistics department at ANU, where he edited volumes for Pacific Linguistics and wrote many books and articles. He was a specialist in Tok Pisin and Hiri Motu and promoted their use through practical handbooks and courses.
In 2001 Pacific Linguistics published a Festschrift in honor of Tom. It was called The Boy from Bundaberg: Studies in Melanesian Linguistics in Honour of Tom Dutton and was edited by Andrew Pawley, Malcolm Ross and Darrell Tryon. As the editors noted, in 1997, while “still at the height of his powers, Tom took us all by surprise and decided to take early retirement.”
His bibliography is long, with around 125 entries as author, reviewer, and editor. Tom went on in retirement to sheep-farming - learning shearing, wool classing, fencing and sheepdog training. He was a successful farmer and with his personality, stamina and high energy level, continued working until his mid-80s and only slowed down because of a stroke.
He died on December 22nd at the age of 87. He will be missed by all of his friends and colleagues. His lovely wife Corinne continues to live in Yass, near Canberra.
Craig Volker:
Karl is quite right in his description of both Tom's pleasant character and his contribution to PNG linguistics. Tom was extremely encouraging to me as a young scholar and a welcome addition at the early LSPNG meetings I attended.
Just two days ago I recommended his "Police Motu Iena Sivarai" book to a woman from Papua now living overseas who was curious about the history of this important lingua franca in her home. This book is becoming difficult to get. I wonder if LSPNG could obtain the rights to the book and make it available for downloading from our website? More PNG people should have easy access to it.
Don Niles:
I am also greatly saddened by Tom’s loss. I had many encounters with him over the years in PNG and Canberra. His books on learning Tok Pisin and Hiri Motu were my bibles in my learning those languages before and after I arrived here. He also had a knack for writing with great insight and clarity, I believe, even for non-linguists. My wife was also his linguistics student at UPNG.
In addition to the some of his important writings noted by Karl and Craig, mention should also be made of his important writings on languages in Central, and his research on varieties of Hiri Trading Language (the languages used on hiri voyages for interactions between the Motu and their Gulf trading partners) and Hiri Motu (formerly known as Police Motu). In spite of Tom’s work, the latter is often erroneously assumed to be the former.
Malcolm Ross:
Police Motu: Iena sivarai is self-evidently already in the public domain, so here is the link:
https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/133561
Links to some of Tom’s book publications on PNG languages follow - they all work, as do the download links on the pages they refer to.
Beginning Hiri Motu:
https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/146613
A checklist of languages and present-day villages of central and south-east mainland Papua:
https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/146477
The Hiri in history : further aspects of long distance Motu trade in Central Papua:
https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/133722
The peopling of Central Papua: Some preliminary observations:
https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/146442
Reconstructing Proto Koiarian: The history of a Papuan language family:
https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/146757
The two links below to book chapters of Tom’s:
________________________________________________________________________________
Tom Dutton's Writings
Police Motu: Iena sivarai is self-evidently already in the public domain, so here is the link:
https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/133561
Beginning Hiri Motu:
https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/146613
A checklist of languages and present-day villages of central and south-east mainland Papua:
https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/146477
The Hiri in history : further aspects of long distance Motu trade in Central Papua:
https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/133722
The peopling of Central Papua: Some preliminary observations:
https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/146442
Reconstructing Proto Koiarian: The history of a Papuan language family:
https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/146757
The two links below to book chapters of Tom’s:
BOOK REVIEWS
BOOK REVIEWS
-- Reviewed by Leah Pappas (University of Hawai’i at Mānoa)