Thomas Edward Dutton (10 May 1935 – 21 December 2021) was an Australian linguist specialising in

Papuan languages The Papuan languages are the non- Austronesian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands in Indonesia, Solomon Islands, and East Timor. It is a strictly geographical grouping, and does not imply ...

(particularly the

Southeast Papuan languages The Southeast Papuan or Papuan Peninsula ("Bird's Tail") languages are a group of half a dozen small families of Papuan languages in the " Bird's Tail" (southeastern peninsula) of New Guinea that are part of the Trans–New Guinea (TNG) phylum. ...

) and other

languages of Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, a sovereign state in Oceania, is the most linguistically diverse country in the world. According to ''Ethnologue'', there are 839 living languages spoken in the country. In 2006, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Sir Michael So ...

. Pawley, Andrew. 2022. Thomas Edward Dutton (1935–2021). ''Oceanic Linguistics'', vol. 61 no. 1 (Jun 2022), 602-613, .

Early life

Thomas Edward Dutton was born on 10 May 1935 in Dayboro (near

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

) in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. Dutton's paternal grandparents were English, his maternal grandparents were German. He the eldest of five children and had two brothers and two sisters. His father, Lewis (Ted) Dutton, was the Head Teacher of Mayfield State School. In 1936, Lewis Dutton was transferred to a rural

two-teacher school A two-room schoolhouse is a larger version of the one-room schoolhouse, with many of the same characteristics, providing the facility for primary and secondary education in a small community or rural area. While providing the same function as a c ...

in Gooburrum, located near

Bundaberg Bundaberg () is the major regional city in the Wide Bay-Burnett region of the state of Queensland, Australia. It is the List of cities in Australia by population, ninth largest city in the state. The Bundaberg central business district is situa ...

, where he worked for 37 years. As a result, Dutton spent most of his childhood in Bundaberg. Pawley, Andrew. 2001. Tom Dutton: linguist. In Pawley, A., Ross, M. and Tryon, D. (eds), ''The boy from Bundaberg: Studies in Melanesian linguistics in honour of Tom Dutton''. PL-514:1-12. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University.

Education and career

In June 1957, he was Officer-in-Charge (Head Teacher) at Rigo Intermediate School, in Central District (now Central Province),

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

, located east of

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

. In 1959, he was promoted to Area Education Officer in Port Moresby Subdistrict (now the

National Capital District A capital district, capital region, or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any politic ...

) and was in charge of Administration and Mission Schools from Manumanu to Gaire. In 1962, he obtained his BA in English from the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

. From 1963 to 1965, Dutton was a Research Fellow at the Queensland Speech Survey in the Department of English at the University of Queensland. While working as a researcher, he studied for a master's degree in English linguistics. He finished his PhD dissertation at the University of Queensland in 1969 and obtained a research fellowship at the Research School for Pacific Studies (RSPacS) that same year. Dutton worked as a researcher at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

(ANU) from 1969 to 1974, where he was a specialist on

. His research colleagues at the ANU included

Donald Laycock Donald Laycock (1936–1988) was an Australian linguist and anthropologist. He is best remembered for his work on the languages of Papua New Guinea. Biography He was a graduate of University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia and later ...

, a specialist in languages of the

Sepik The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the third largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River, Fly and Mamberamo River, Mamberamo. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provi ...

region;

Clemens Voorhoeve Clemens Lambertus Voorhoeve (born 1930; also known as "Bert" Voorhoeve) is a Dutch linguist who specializes in Papuan languages. Education He completed his higher education in the Netherlands. He obtained his PhD in linguistics at Leiden Universi ...

, a specialist in

West Papuan languages The West Papuan languages are a proposed language family of about two dozen non-Austronesian languages of the Bird's Head Peninsula (Vogelkop or Doberai Peninsula) of far western New Guinea, the island of Halmahera and its vicinity, spoken by ...

; and

Darrell Tryon Darrell T. Tryon (20 July 1942 – 15 May 2013) was a New Zealand-born linguist, academic, and specialist in Austronesian languages. Specifically, Tryon specialised in the study of the languages of the Pacific Islands, particularly Vanuatu, the ...

, a specialist in the languages of eastern Island Melanesia. He was Professor at the

University of Papua New Guinea The University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) is a university located in Port Moresby, capital of Papua New Guinea. It was established by ordinance of the Australian administration in 1965. This followed the Currie Commission which had enquired ...

from 1975 to 1977 and returned to Australia afterwards. Dutton was the managing editor of

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, Indonesia ...

from 1987 to 1996. He retired in 1997, but continued to publish works in linguistics. In 2010, Dutton published a book on the reconstruction of Proto- Koiarian. He passed away in December, 2021, at the age of eighty-six.

Personal life

In 1962, Dutton married Corinne Scott from

Nanango Nanango is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the South Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Nanango had a population of 3,679 people. Geography Nanango is situated north-west of the ...

, near

Kingaroy Kingaroy () is a rural town and suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the South Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. The town is situated on the Road Junction, junction of the D'Aguilar Highway, D'Aguilar and the Bunya Highway, Buny ...

Publications

The following are Dutton's works published by

.Carrington, L. "T.E. Dutton: a personal bibliography". In Pawley, A., Ross, M. and Tryon, D. editors, ''The boy from Bundaberg: Studies in Melanesian linguistics in honour of Tom Dutton''. PL-514:13-22. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 2001.

Books

*Dutton, T.E. ''The peopling of Central Papua: Some preliminary observations''. B-9, viii + 190 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1969. *Dutton, T.E. ''A checklist of languages and present-day villages of central and south-east mainland Papua''. B-24, iv + 84 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1973. *Dutton, T. ''A first dictionary of Koiari''. C-122, vii + 178 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1992. *Dutton, T.E. ''Conversational New Guinea Pidgin''. D-12, xvi + 310 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1973. *Dutton, T.E. and Voorhoeve, C.L. ''Beginning

Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of its capital city, Port Moresby. It is a simplified version of Motu, from the Austronesian language famil ...

''. D-24, xviii + 276 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1974. *Dutton, T. ''Queensland Canefields English of the last nineteenth century (a record of interview with two of the last surviving Kanakas in North Queensland, 1964)''. D-29, xiv + 160 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1980. *Dutton, T. and Thomas, D. ''A New Course in

Tok Pisin Tok Pisin ( ,Laurie Bauer, 2007, ''The Linguistics Student's Handbook'', Edinburgh ; ), often referred to by English speakers as New Guinea Pidgin or simply Pidgin, is an English-based creole languages, English creole language spoken throughou ...

(New Guinea Pidgin)''. D-67, xxviii + 407 (3 maps 110 photos) pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1985. *Dutton, T. ''A dictionary of Koiari, Papua New Guinea, with grammar notes''. PL-534, xxvi + 424 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 2003. *Dutton, T. ''Reconstructing Proto Koiarian: The history of a Papuan language family''. PL-610, xii + 126 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 2010.

Edited volumes

*Dutton, T.E. editor. ''Studies in languages of Central and South-East Papua''. C-29, xviii + 852 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. *Dutton, T. editor. ''Culture change, language change: Case studies from Melanesia''. C-120, viii + 164 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1992. *Dutton, T., Ross, M. and Tryon, D. editors. ''The Language Game: Papers in memory of Donald C. Laycock''. C-110, xviii + 684 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1992.

Articles

*Dutton, T. "Languages of South-East Papua". In Dutton, T., Voorhoeve, C. and Wurm, S.A. editors, ''Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 14''. A-28:1-46. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1971. *Dutton, T. " Police Motu of the Second World War: a record of interview with Nanai Gigovi, 1942". In Smith, G., Dutton, T., Voorhoeve, C.L., Schooling, S., Schooling, J., Conrad, R., Lewis, R., Wurm, S.A. and Barnum, T.) editors, ''Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 26''. A-76:133-179. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1988. *Dutton, T.E. "Notes on the Languages of the Rigo Area of the Central District of Papua". In Wurm, S.A. and Laycock, D.C. editors, ''Pacific linguistic studies in honour of

Arthur Capell Arthur Capell (28 March 1902 – 10 August 1986) was an Australian linguist, who made major contributions to the study of Australian languages, Austronesian languages and Papuan languages. Early life Capell was born in Newtown, New South W ...

''. C-13:879-984. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1970. *Dutton, T.E. "A

Koita Koita (, before 1940: Κίττα - ''Kitta'') is a village in the Mani peninsula, Laconia, Greece. It is part of the municipal unit of Oitylo. It is built on top of a hill, overlooking the sea. Koita is known for its many Maniot pyrgoi (war tower ...

Grammar Sketch and Vocabulary". In Dutton, T.E. editor, ''Studies in languages of Central and South-East Papua''. C-29:281-412. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. *Dutton, T.E. "South-Eastern Trans-New Guinea Phylum Languages". In Wurm, S.A. editor, ''New Guinea area languages and language study, Vol. 1, Papuan languages and the New Guinea linguistic scene''. C-38:613-666. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. *Dutton, T.E. "History of Research in Austronesian Languages: Eastern Part of South-Eastern Mainland Papua". In Wurm, S.A. editor, ''New Guinea area languages and language study, Vol. 2, Austronesian languages''. C-39:129-140. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1976. *Dutton, T.E. "Austronesian Languages: Eastern Part of South-Eastern Mainland Papua". In Wurm, S.A. editor, ''New Guinea area languages and language study, Vol. 2, Austronesian languages''. C-39:321-334. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1976. *Dutton, T.E. " Magori and Similar Languages of South-East Papua". In Wurm, S.A. editor, ''New Guinea area languages and language study, Vol. 2, Austronesian languages''. C-39:581-636. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1976. *Dutton, T.E. "The Distribution of Cultural Vocabulary in Papua". In Wurm, S.A. editor, ''New Guinea area languages and language study, Vol. 3, Language, culture, society, and the modern world''. C-40:51-100. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1977. *Dutton, T.E. "The Teaching of New Guinea Pidgin to Europeans". In Wurm, S.A. editor, ''New Guinea area languages and language study, Vol. 3, Language, culture, society, and the modern world''. C-40:733-748. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1977. *Dutton, T.E. and Brown, H.A. " iri MotuThe Language Itself". In Wurm, S.A. editor, ''New Guinea area languages and language study, Vol. 3, Language, culture, society, and the modern world''. C-40:759-794. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1977. *Dutton, T.E. "The Teaching of Hiri Motu to Europeans". In Wurm, S.A. editor, ''New Guinea area languages and language study, Vol. 3, Language, culture, society, and the modern world''. C-40:795-806. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1977. *Dutton, T.E. "U.P.N.G.: The Hiri Motu and Tok Pisin Research Unit". In Wurm, S.A. editor, ''New Guinea area languages and language study, Vol. 3, Language, culture, society, and the modern world''. C-40:1257-1272. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1977. *Dutton, T.E. "U.P.N.G.: The Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea". In Wurm, S.A. editor, ''New Guinea area languages and language study, Vol. 3, Language, culture, society, and the modern world''. C-40:1273-1278. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1977. *Dutton, T. "Tracing the Pidgin Origin of Hiri (or Police) Motu: Issues and Problems". In Wurm, S.A. and Carrington, L. editors, ''Second International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics: Proceedings''. C-61:1351-1375. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1978. *Dutton, T. "Current use and expansion of Tok Pisin: teaching and Tok Pisin". In Wurm, S.A. and Mühlhäusler, P. editors, ''Handbook of Tok Pisin (New Guinea Pidgin)''. C-70:535-537. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1985. *Dutton, T. "Borrowing in Austronesian and non-Austronesian languages of coastal south-east mainland Papua New Guinea". 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-74:109-177. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1982. *Dutton, T. "Police Motu and the Second World War". In Geraghty, P., Carrington, L. and Wurm, S.A. editors, ''FOCAL II: Papers from the Fourth International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics''. C-94:351-406. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1986. *Dutton, T. "Successful intercourse was had with the natives": aspects of European contact methods in the Pacific". In Laycock, D.C. and Winter, W. editors, ''A World of language: Papers presented to Professor S.A. Wurm on his 65th birthday''. C-100:153-171. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1987. *Dutton, T. "Dictionary-making in minor languages of the Pacific: some further problems". In Dutton, T., Ross, M. and Tryon, D. editors, ''The Language Game: Papers in memory of Donald C. Laycock''. C-110:125-134. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1992. *Dutton, T. "Sago and related items in early Austronesian vocabulary". In Pawley, A.K. and Ross, M.D. editors, ''Austronesian Terminologies: Continuity and change''. C-127:101-126. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1994. *Dutton, T. " Lau'una: another Austronesian remnant on the south-east coast of Papua". In Lynch, J. and Pat, F.'A. editors, ''Oceanic Studies: Proceedings of the First International Conference on Oceanic Linguistics''. C-133:61-82. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1996.

References

External links

Tom Dutton's Pacific linguistics research papers
at the Australian National University Archives
Tom Dutton collection
(TD1) held by Paradisec {{DEFAULTSORT:Dutton, Tom 1935 births 2021 deaths Academic staff of the Australian National University Academic staff of the University of Papua New Guinea University of Queensland alumni Linguists of Papuan languages Linguists of Oceanic languages Linguists of Southeast Papuan languages People from Bundaberg Historical linguists 20th-century Australian linguists 21st-century linguists