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Title: Pacific Languages: An Introduction by John Lynch ISBN: 0-8248-1898-9 Publisher: University of Hawaii Press Pub. Date: February, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $35.00

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (2 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Plethora of information
Comment: I finished reading this book a few days ago, and I quickly realized that next summer I will have to read it again. The book is an overflowing fountain of information about Polynesian, Austronesian, and Papauan languages. It is written in a similar style to the Cambridge Language Survey books, though it is shorter and written in a colloquial style designed for those with only a basic knowledge of linguistics. (This is not to say the information is simplistic. Lynch starts with rather basic explanations, and then jumps into a massive amount of comparative linguistic data.)

The book also goes beyond the scope of grammar sketches. It starts with a history of the Pacific region. It then discusses commonalities of the Pacific languages. Next come chapters dealing specifically with each of the three languages families (above). He then discusses the development and current use of pidgins, including Tok Pisin, Bislama, and Hiri Motu (including where the name "Hiri Motu" comes from). Following this is material on cultural use of language: politeness registers, gender registers, kinship terms, areas of social importance, etc. Lastly, he discusses language shift, death, and revival.

Overall, this is an excellent work for anyone who has any interest in Polynesian languages. As I said, I will probably read it again next year so more information can sink in.

Rating: 5
Summary: Fascinating survey of more than a thousand languages
Comment: Lynch goes where no one has gone before in attempting to cover, however briefly, the salient characteristics and historical development of something like fourteen hundred Oceanic and Polynesian languages. Most readers will never have heard of any of them, but they occupy a far-flung territory from Easter Island to Australia. Many are dying out; Lynch gives figures for the number of speakers of some languages, and these are a real revelation to those of us who speak English. Fifty speakers? Astonishing. Six speakers? How can this be? Lynch lives in Vanuatu (formerly the New Hebrides), and his dicussion of Bislama-the creole that the native French and English speakers of those islands use with each other in preference to either English or French-is particularly interesting. In general the linguistic diversity of the region is mind-boggling. As the only book ever to attempt such a survey, this must rate five stars, and I doubt that anyone would ever be able to do a better job.