Editorial

       Another New Year has taken off, launching into orbit the Open Access vehicle for your research ideas - LLM Vol. 40, 2022.

Time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future, and time future contained in time past - in these words, T.S. Eliot encapsulated the continuity of Life and all existence. LLM lives today, thanks to the work of its pioneers. Last year, we lost two of them:

       In May 2021, the Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea mourned the untimely passing of John Lynch (1946-2021), one of the brightest stars in Oceanic linguistics, and a man of rare humanity and strength. A brilliant scholar and academic who dedicated over 20 years of his life to the University of Papua New Guinea (which he led as Vice-Chancellor from 1986 to 1991), John left an indelible mark on people’s lives in PNG and far beyond. He was a dynamo of linguistic thought in Melanesia for more than half a century – not only through his own teaching and research (he was Professor of Language from 1978 to 1986), but also through his editorial work in Kivung (1971-1979) and LLM (1981- 1997). Since LLM's rebirth as an OA online journal in 2011, John has been with us - until his death. RIP, John...

       Just before Christmas, we also mourned the passing of Tom Dutton (1935-2021), another outstanding scholar whose important writings covered the languages of S.E. Papua (Central, Northern (Oro) and Milne Bay Provinces). He is especially remembered for his extensive work on Koiarian languages and the first catalogue of the languages of S.E. Papua.He found that the belief that the Motu used a pidginized form of Motu on their trade voyages to the Gulf of Papua was unfounded, but that they used pidginized Motu to talk to their neighbours and visitors to the Port Moresby area. The colonial administration adopted this as Police Motu (See Dutton's 1985 book Police Motu: iena sivarai). Tom was the foundation Professor of Linguistics at UPNG from 1975 to 1977.

       To honour the pioneers of linguistic thought in the South Pacific, we have set up new "Founders' pages" which contain scholarly references and links to their publications. We hope these pages will help many in specialized research. They are located under the "Special Issues" tab on the main tool bar @ www.langlxmelanesia.com

       We also remember Robert Blust (1940–2022), Professor of Linguistics at the University of Hawai’I, who passed away on 5th January 2022 after a long and determined battle against cancer. LLM published Bob’s monograph on the languages of the Admiralties in 2021 @ https://www.langlxmelanesia.com/llm-special-issue-2021. Bob was the unquestioned leader in Austronesian linguistics, and a member of LLM’s Editorial Board. He will be sorely missed.

       Yet, Time Present and Time Past will, indeed, be present in time Future - the torch of inquiry, lit by these pioneers, will not be extinguished - on we go, into 2022!

Editors LLM

7-01-20​22