Darrell T Tryon was a New Zealand-born linguist, academic, and specialist in Austronesian languages.
24 Facts About Darrell Tryon
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Specifically, Tryon specialised in the study of the languages of the Pacific Islands, particularly Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, and the French-speaking Pacific.
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From 1970 to 1971, Darrell Tryon completed the first systematic study of the languages of Vanuatu, known at the time as the New Hebrides.
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Darrell Tryon determined that the modern, indigenous languages of Vanuatu are part of Austronesian language family.
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Darrell Tryon began to study the languages of the Solomon Islands in 1978.
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Darrell Tryon was authored works on the pidgin and creole languages of the Pacific Islands, including Pijin of the Solomon Islands and Bislama of Vanuatu.
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Darrell Tryon studied at the University of Canterbury, where he completed a thesis on the indigenous languages of the Loyalty Islands, an archipelago of New Caledonia.
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Darrell Tryon achieved fluency in French as a student and developed a fascination with the culture and history of the French regions of the South Pacific.
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Darrell Tryon moved to Australia during the mid-1960s, where he taught at Australian National University.
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Much of Darrell Tryon's research focused on the New Hebrides, the colonial name for Vanuatu.
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Darrell Tryon was a specialist on Vanuatu and its linguistic diversity.
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From 1970 to 1971, Darrell Tryon conducted the first systematic study of the more than 100 languages of Vanuatu.
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Rather than focusing on grammar, Darrell Tryon collected lists of vocabulary words from languages throughout the islands to determine the relationships between the languages.
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Some languages studied by Darrell Tryon have since become extinct.
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Darrell Tryon presented his findings at the First International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics, which was held in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1974.
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Darrell Tryon's surveys have considered to be essential to any researcher studying Vanuatu's languages.
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Darrell Tryon headed the Vanuatu Fieldworker Programme from the early 1980s until 2009.
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Darrell Tryon published an extensive collection of papers and other academic research on the country and its languages.
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Darrell Tryon conducted extensive research on the languages of the Solomon Islands, beginning in 1978.
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In 1995, Darrell Tryon released the Comparative Austronesian Dictionary, a five-volume set published by Mouton de Gruyter.
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Darrell Tryon served as the deputy director of the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University during portions of the 1990s and 2000s.
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Darrell Tryon 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.
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Darrell Tryon became a Constitutional Advisor to the government of Vanuatu.
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Darrell Tryon died from melanoma in Canberra, Australia, on 15 May 2013, at the age of 70.