Darrell T. Tryon (20 July 1942 – 15 May 2013) was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

-born

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

, academic, and specialist in Austronesian languages. Specifically, Tryon specialised in the study of the languages of the Pacific Islands, particularly

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

, the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...

, and the French-speaking Pacific. From 1970 to 1971, Tryon completed the first systematic study of the languages of Vanuatu, known at the time as the

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium (french: link=no, Condominium des Nouvelles-Hébrides, "Condominium of the New Hebrides") and named after the Hebrides Scottish archipelago, was the colonial name for the island group ...

. His study, which collected a list of vocabulary words from communities throughout the islands, determined that there were more than one hundred distinct languages in Vanuatu. Tryon determined that the modern, indigenous languages of Vanuatu are part of Austronesian language family. Tryon began to study the

languages of the Solomon Islands Between 60 and 70 languages are spoken in the Solomon Islands Archipelago which covers a broader area than the nation state of Solomon Islands, and includes the island of Bougainville, which is an autonomous province of Papua New Guinea (PNG). ...

in 1978. He was also authored works on the pidgin and

creole language A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable natural language that develops from the simplifying and mixing of different languages into a new one within a fairly brief period of time: often, a pidgin evolved into a full-fledged language. ...

s of the Pacific Islands, including

Pijin Pijin (Solomons Pidgin or Neo-Solomonic) is a language spoken in Solomon Islands. It is closely related to Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea and Bislama of Vanuatu; these might be considered dialects of a single language. It is also related to T ...

of the Solomon Islands and

Bislama Bislama (; ; also known by its earlier French name, ) is an English-based creole language and one of the official languages of Vanuatu. It is the first language of many of the "Urban ni-Vanuatu" (citizens who live in Port Vila and Luganville) ...

of Vanuatu.

Early life

Tryon was born on 20 July 1942, in

. He studied at the University of Canterbury, where he completed a thesis on the indigenous languages of the

Loyalty Islands The Loyalty Islands Province (French ''Province des îles Loyauté'') is one of three administrative subdivisions of New Caledonia encompassing the Loyalty Island (french: Îles Loyauté) archipelago in the Pacific, which are located northeast of ...

, an

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arc ...

of New Caledonia. He achieved fluency in French as a student and developed a fascination with the culture and history of the French regions of the South Pacific. He moved to Australia during the mid-1960s, where he taught at

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

Vanuatu

Much of Tryon's research focused on the

, the colonial name for Vanuatu. He was a specialist on Vanuatu and its linguistic diversity. Tryon began his fieldwork in there in 1969. From 1970 to 1971, Tryon conducted the first systematic study of the more than 100

languages of Vanuatu The Republic of Vanuatu has the world's highest linguistic density per capita. For a population of 0.3 million, Vanuatu is home to 138 indigenous Oceanic languages. In addition, modern history has brought new languages, including the country's ...

. Rather than focusing on grammar, Tryon collected lists of vocabulary words from languages throughout the islands to determine the relationships between the languages. His 1970–1971 study established the existence of 117 indigenous languages spoken in Vanuatu in the early 1970s. The languages of the islands were found to be members of the Austronesian language family. He used the cutoff of 81% shared cognates to differentiate a distinct language from a

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...

. Some of the languages studied by Tryon have since become extinct. For example, the Sowa language, which was spoken by just 20 people living in one village near Ranwadi on

Pentecost Island Pentecost Island is one of the 83 islands that make up the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu. It lies due north of capital Port Vila. Pentecost Island is known as in French and in Bislama. The island was known in its native languages by ...

at the time, became extinct when the last speaker died in 2000. In 1972, he published ''

Pacific Linguistics Pacific Linguistics was established in 1963 as a non-profit publisher at the Australian National University, Canberra, publishing linguistic books (such as grammars and dictionaries) on the languages of Oceania, the Pacific, Australia, Indone ...

volume (C-50)'', which contained his surveys, research and a 292-word list collected from 179 Ni-Vanuatu communities. The book also contained maps, showing where he language was spoken on each island. Tryon presented his findings at the First International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics, which was held in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

, in 1974. Tryon's final survey on Vanuatu's 117 languages was published in 1976. Tryon's surveys have considered to be essential to any researcher studying Vanuatu's languages. They still form the basis for much of the current knowledge on Vanuatu's linguistic heritage, according to John Lynch, a professor emeritus in linguistics at the

University of the South Pacific The University of the South Pacific (USP) is a public research university with locations spread throughout a dozen countries in Oceania. Established in 1968, the university is organised as an intergovernmental organisation and is owned by the go ...

. Tryon headed the Vanuatu Fieldworker Programme from the early 1980s until 2009. The Vanuatu Fieldworker Programme invited men from villages throughout the country to a meeting in

Port Vila Port Vila (french: Port-Vila), or simply Vila (; french: Vila; bi, Vila ), is the capital and largest city of Vanuatu. It is located on the island of Efate. Its population in the last census (2009) was 44,040, an increase of 35% on the pr ...

once a year. Each annual meeting explored a specific cultural topic. The participants, who eventually included more than fifty men, made audio recordings of their community's cultural traditions and

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

. The researchers and the men recorded the material in

. All recordings and other records from the Vanuatu Fieldworker Programme were archived at the

Vanuatu Cultural Centre The Vanuatu Cultural Centre (in Bislama ''Vanuatu Kaljoral Senta'' or "VKS"; in French ''Centre Culturel du Vanuatu''), founded in 1955, is the national cultural institution of Vanuatu. It is located in the capital Port Vila. From 1995 to 2006, ...

in Port Vila. Much of Tryon's research from the 1970s to the 2010s continued to focus on Vanuatu. He published an extensive collection of papers and other academic research on the country and its languages.

Solomon Islands

He also conducted extensive research on the

, beginning in 1978. Tryon and his research partner, Brian Hackman, travelled throughout the country, conducting a systematic study of the nation's languages. Their work resulted in the publication of a volume on the languages of the Solomon Islands, published in 1983.

Later work

In 1995, Tryon released the ''Comparative Austronesian Dictionary'', a five-volume set published by

Mouton de Gruyter Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. History The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in Be ...

. The work was the result of years of research. Tryon wrote the introductory articles for the set. The Dictionary contains

annotated An annotation is extra information associated with a particular point in a document or other piece of information. It can be a note that includes a comment or explanation. Annotations are sometimes presented in the margin of book pages. For ann ...

wordlists for 1310 meanings, which organised semantic domain from 80 Austronesian languages, stretching from

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

to the Pacific, including 40 languages from the Oceania region. Each list, which was assembled by a specialist in that particular language, also included a written introduction to the language by the specialist. He and Jean-Michel Charpentier co-authored the 2004 book, ''Pacific Pidgins and Creoles'', which explored the history of the pidgin and

s in the Pacific islands. Tryon served as the deputy director of the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the

during portions of the 1990s and 2000s. He became increasingly interested both the sociology and governments of the various South Pacific nations and territories during the time, which was reflected in his research. Tryon also became a Constitutional Advisor to the

government of Vanuatu The politics of Vanuatu take place within the framework of a constitutional democracy. The constitution provides for a representative parliamentary system. The head of the Republic is an elected President. The Prime Minister of Vanuatu is the he ...

. The government of France awarded him the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

in recognition of his contributions to

French culture The culture of France has been shaped by geography, by historical events, and by foreign and internal forces and groups. France, and in particular Paris, has played an important role as a center of high culture since the 17th century and from t ...

and language in the Pacific as well as his commitment to

Australia–France relations Diplomatic relations exist between Australia and France, as well as the historical contacts, shared values of democracy and human rights, substantial commercial links, and a keen interest in each other's culture. The two countries maintain di ...

Death

Tryon died from melanoma in Canberra, Australia, on 15 May 2013, at the age of 70. Dignitaries in attendance at his funeral in Canberra included Acting

Prime Minister of Vanuatu The prime minister of Vanuatu is the head of government of the Republic of Vanuatu. The office of Prime Minister was created under the Constitution of Vanuatu upon the country's independence in 1980, with independence campaigner Walter Lin ...

Ralph Regenvanu Ralph John Regenvanu (born 20 September 1970 in Suva, Fiji''Laef Blong Mi'', Sethy Regenvanu, op.cit., p. 76) is a Ni-Vanuatu anthropologist, artist and politician. He has been a Member of Parliament since September 2008, was a member of Cabinet ...

Bibliography

*''Conversational Tahitian: An introduction to the Tahitian language of French Polynesia'' (1970) *''The Language of Easter Island: Its Development and Eastern Polynesian Relationships'' (1984), co-authored with Robert Langdon *''Comparative Austronesian Dictionary'' (1995), five volume set published by

*''Bonnemaison: Arts of Vanuatu'' (1997), co-editor with Joel Bonnemaison and Kirk Huffman *''Pacific Pidgins and Creoles'' (2004), co-authored with Jean-Michel Charpentier *''The Austronesians: Historical and Comparative Perspectives'' (2006), co-authored with Peter Bellwood and James J. Fox *''Oceanic Encounters: Exchange, Desire, Violence'' (2011), co-authored with Margaret Jolly and Serge Tcherkézoff *''Politics, Development and Security in Oceania'' (2013), co-authored with David Hegarty ;

publications *Tryon, D.T. '' Nengone grammar''. B-6, x + 101 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1967. *Tryon, D.T. ''

Dehu Dehu is a neighbourhood in the city of Pune, India. It is known for being the abode of Sant Tukaram. The Tukaram Palakhi heading towards the town of Pandharpur originates from Dehu in the month of ''Ashadh.'' Demographics India census, Dehu h ...

grammar''. B-7, xii + 122 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1968. *Tryon, D.T. '' Iai grammar''. B-8, xii + 137 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1968. *Tryon, D.T. ''An introduction of Maranungku (Northern Australia)''. B-15, x + 121 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1970. *Tryon, D.T. ''

-English dictionary''. C-6, vi + 142 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1967. *Tryon, D.T. ''English-

dictionary''. C-7, iv + 165 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1967. *Tryon, D.T. and Dubois, M.J. '' Nengone dictionary. Part I: Nengone-English''. C-9, viii + 452 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1969. *Tryon, D.T. and Dubois, M.J. '' Nengone dictionary. Part II: English-Nengone''. C-23, iv + 205 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1971. *Tryon, D.T. '' Daly Family languages, Australia''. C-32, xviii + 322 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1974. *Tryon, D.T. '' New Hebrides languages: An internal classification''. C-50, vi + 550 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1976. *Tryon, D.T. ''" The Languages of the New Hebrides: Internal and External Relationships". In Wurm, S.A. and Carrington, L. editors, Second International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics: Proceedings''. C-61:877-902. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1978. *Tryon, D.T. and Hackman, B.D. '' Solomon Islands languages: An internal classification''. C-72, viii + 493 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1983. *Tryon, D.T. "Towards a classification of Solomon Islands languages". In Halim, A., Carrington, L. and Wurm, S.A. editors, ''Papers from the Third International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics, Vol. 1: Currents in Oceanic''. C-74:97-108. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1982. *Tryon, D.T. "The

Marquesan The Marquesas Islands (; french: Îles Marquises or ' or '; Marquesan: ' ( North Marquesan) and ' ( South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in ...

dialects: a first approach". In Laycock, D.C. and Winter, W. editors, ''A World of language: Papers presented to Professor S.A. Wurm on his 65th birthday''. C-100:669-681. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1987. *Tryon, D. "

Oceanic Oceanic may refer to: *Of or relating to the ocean *Of or relating to Oceania **Oceanic climate **Oceanic languages **Oceanic person or people, also called "Pacific Islander(s)" Places * Oceanic, British Columbia, a settlement on Smith Island, ...

plant names". In Pawley, A.K. and Ross, M.D. editors, ''Austronesian Terminologies: Continuity and change''. C-127:481-510. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1994. *Tryon, D. " Mae-Morae and the languages of Epi (Vanuatu)". In Lynch, J. and Pat, F.'A. editors, ''Oceanic Studies: Proceedings of the First International Conference on Oceanic Linguistics''. C-133:305-318. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1996. *Tryon, D.T. and Gly, R. ''Gazetteer of

place names/Nomenclature des noms geographiques des Nouvelles-Hebrides. D-15, xxxvi + 188 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1979. *Tryon, D. ''

: An Introduction to the National Language of Vanuatu''. D-72, xiv + 261 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1987. *Tryon, D. "

Ngatikese Ngatikese, or Sapwuahfik, is a Micronesian language originating on Sapwuahfik atoll, Federated States of Micronesia. Of the 700 Ngatikese speakers, only about 450 live on Sapwuahfik. It was previously considered a distinct dialect of Pohnpeian, ...

Men's Language". In Pawley, A., Ross, M. and Tryon, D. editors, ''The boy from Bundaberg: Studies in Melanesian linguistics in honour of Tom Dutton''. PL-514:345-360. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 2001. *Tryon, D. "The languages of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu". In Bowden, J., Himmelmann, N.P. and Ross, M. editors, ''A journey through Austronesian and Papuan linguistic and cultural space: papers in honour of Andrew K. Pawley''. PL-615:283-290. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 2010. *Tryon, D. "The endangered

". In Senft, G. editor, ''Endangered Austronesian, Papuan and Australian Aboriginal languages: essays on language documentation, archiving and revitalization.'' PL-617:17-34. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tryon, Darrell 1942 births 2013 deaths Linguists from New Zealand New Zealand academics Linguists of Austronesian languages Linguists of Australian Aboriginal languages Linguists of Daly languages Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Australian National University faculty University of Canterbury alumni New Zealand emigrants to Australia Paleolinguists Linguists of Bislama Linguists of Polynesian languages Linguists of Rapa Nui Deaths from melanoma Linguists of East Papuan languages