John Dominic Lynch (1946-2021)

John Dominic Lynch died on May 25, 2021 in Port Vila, Vanuatu, aged seventy-four. During a career spanning fifty years he was a central figure in Pacific linguistics, a highly productive researcher, editor of two journals, and much respected colleague and teacher. A large part of Lynch's research effort focused on the Oceanic languages of Vanuatu. He wrote substantial grammars and dictionaries of two Southern Vanuatu languages and produced sketches of five others. He unraveled the complex phonological and morphological histories of the Southern Vanuatu group and the languages of Malakula. He made influential contributions to the wider field of Oceanic comparative historical linguistics. He also wrote extensively on Pacific pidgins, the role of English in the Pacific, and language and education in South Pacific nations. He wrote the standard textbook on Oceanic linguistics and coauthored a widely used textbook in general linguistics.