The linguistic scene in PNG
p. 65 · Read in the full issue
More than 17 years research has gone into the preparation of a major language work now being published by the Australian National Uni versity.
The three-volume publication is called New Guinea Area Languages and Language Study. Its first volume, Papuan Languages and the New Guinea Linguistic Scene, runs to 1,000 pages and is the work of 10 authors recognised as the top authori ties in this field. It will be published in the series Pacific Linguistics by the Department of Linguistics in the uni versity’s Research School of Pacific Studies, and is expected to be avail able from December.
Papuan languages, the researchers explain, are not just those of the area known as Papua. Instead, the term Papuan was a description coined last century for languages in the area be
tween Indonesia and Polynesia which are neither Australian nor Austro nesian. The boundaries of this area stretch from Timor across the New Guinea mainland to the Solomon Islands.
Papuan languages make up one sixth of the total number of different languages in the world. Until re cently, linguists were unaware of the existence of extensive relationships between the non-Australian and non- Austronesian languages in this area.
For this reason, the first volume is seen as an invaluable reference work.
It actually rewrites previous incorrect material about the Papuan languages.
The two other volumes—The Austronesian Languages (700 pages and 12 authors) and Language, Cul ture, Society, and the Modern World (1,200 pages and 30-40 authors) — will be published by the end of 1976.