John Z'graggen

Last updated
John Z'graggen
Born
Hans Anton Z'graggen

(1932-06-24)24 June 1932
Schattdorf, Canton of Uri, Switzerland
Died20 May 2013(2013-05-20) (aged 80)
Menzingen, Switzerland
Academic background
EducationSt. Gabriel College at Mödling (Diploma in Ethnology, 1961)
Alma mater Australian National University
Thesis Classificatory and typological studies in the languages of Madang District (1969)
Sub-discipline Papuan and Oceanic linguistics
Institutions Divine Word Institute

John Z'graggen (born Hans Anton Z'graggen on 24 June 1932 in Schattdorf, Canton of Uri, Switzerland; died 20 May 2013 in Menzingen, Switzerland) was a Swiss Roman Catholic priest, missionary, linguist, and anthropologist known for his extensive work on Papuan and Oceanic languages, especially the Madang languages. [1] He has also documented languages in Sepik, Manus, and Gulf Provinces. [2] [3]

Contents

Biography

Z'graggen attended St. Gabriel College at Mödling, where he graduated with a Diploma in Ethnology in 1961. He moved to Madang in 1963, where he then began documenting the local Madang languages. In 1965 or 1966, he enrolled at the Australian National University, where he completed the doctoral thesis Classificatory and typological studies in the languages of Madang District in 1969. The dissertation was published in 1971 with additional field data. [4]

In 1981, he joined the newly founded Divine Word Institute (DWI; later renamed as the Divine Word University). He founded and directed the DWI Research Centre in 1984. Z'graggen continued to do research on Madang anthropology and linguistics until he was assigned to return to Switzerland in 1991. [4]

Many of Z'graggen's tape recordings and field notes are kept at the Basel Museum of Cultures, as well as at the Divine Word University in Madang. [4]

Books

Linguistics

Z'graggen collected numerous word lists of Madang languages, many of which have been published as monographs by Pacific Linguistics:

Selected book chapters:

Ethnography

Z'graggen has written prolifically on the mythology and cosmology of the Madang peoples. Some of his books on Madang mythology are:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Papuan languages</span> Indigenous language families of New Guinea and neighboring islands

The Papuan languages are the non-Austronesian and non-Australian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and East Timor by around 4 million people. It is a strictly geographical grouping, and does not imply a genetic relationship.

Tayap is an endangered Papuan language spoken by fewer than 50 people in Gapun village of Marienberg Rural LLG in East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. It is being replaced by the national language and lingua franca Tok Pisin.

The Sepik–Ramu languages are an obsolete language family of New Guinea linking the Sepik, Ramu, Nor–Pondo, Leonhard Schultze (Walio–Papi) and Yuat families, together with the Taiap language isolate, and proposed by Donald Laycock and John Z'graggen in 1975.

Donald Laycock (1936–1988) was an Australian linguist and anthropologist. He is best remembered for his work on the languages of Papua New Guinea.

The Border or Upper Tami languages are an independent family of Papuan languages in Malcolm Ross's version of the Trans–New Guinea proposal.

The Piawi languages are a small family of Papuan languages spoken in the Schraeder Range of the Madang Highlands of Papua New Guinea that had been part of Stephen Wurm's Trans–New Guinea proposal. They are now connected to the Arafundi and Madang languages.

The Pauwasi languages are a likely family of Papuan languages, mostly in Indonesia. The subfamilies are at best only distantly related. The best described Pauwasi language is Karkar, across the border in Papua New Guinea. They are spoken around the headwaters of the Pauwasi River in the Indonesian-PNG border region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mombum languages</span>

The Mombum languages, also known as the Komolom or Muli Strait languages, are a pair of Trans–New Guinea languages, Mombum (Komolom) and Koneraw, spoken on Komolom Island just off Yos Sudarso Island, and on the southern coast of Yos Sudarso Island, respectively, on the southern coast of New Guinea. Komolom Island is at the southern end of the Muli Strait.

The Mabuso languages are a small family of closely related languages in New Guinea. They were linked with the Rai Coast languages in 1951 by Arthur Capell in his Madang family, which Wurm (1975) included in his Trans–New Guinea (TNG) phylum. Malcolm Ross reconstructed the pronouns of proto-Mabuso and noted that "the integrity of the Mabuso group is fairly obvious".

The Northern Adelbert or Pihom–Isumrud languages are a family of twenty languages in the Madang stock of New Guinea. The occupy the coastal northern Adelbert Range of mountains directly opposite Karkar Island, as opposed to the Southern Adelbert languages, another branch of Madang.

The Rai Coast languages are a family of languages in the Madang stock of New Guinea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madang languages</span> Papua New Guinean language family

The Madang or Madang–Adelbert Range languages are a language family of Papua New Guinea. They were classified as a branch of Trans–New Guinea by Stephen Wurm, followed by Malcolm Ross. William A. Foley concurs that it is "highly likely" that the Madang languages are part of TNG, although the pronouns, the usual basis for classification in TNG, have been "replaced" in Madang. Timothy Usher finds that Madang is closest to the Upper Yuat River languages and other families to its west, but does not for now address whether this larger group forms part of the TNG family.

West Bird's Head languages are a small family of poorly documented Papuan languages spoken on the Bird's Head Peninsula of New Guinea.

Apalɨ (Apal), or Emerum, is a Papuan language of Madang Province, Papua New Guinea. Akɨ and Acɨ are two dialects that are quite different from each other.

Yetfa and Biksi are dialects of a language spoken in Jetfa District, Pegunungan Bintang Regency, Highland Papua, Indonesia, and across the border in Papua New Guinea. It is a trade language spoken in Western New Guinea up to the PNG border.

The South Adelbert or Southern Adelbert Range languages are a family of languages in the Madang stock of New Guinea, spoken along the tributaries of the Ramu River in the watershed of the Adelbert Range.

The Leonhard Schultze or Walio–Papi languages are a proposed family of about 6 Papuan languages spoken in the Sepik river basin of northern Papua New Guinea. They are spoken along the border region of East Sepik Province and Sandaun Province, just to the south of the Iwam languages.

The Sogeram languages are a family of languages in the Madang stock of New Guinea. They are named after the Sogeram River.

The East Pauwasi languages are a family of Papuan languages spoken in north-central New Guinea, on both sides of the Indonesia-Papua New Guinea border. They may either form part of a larger Pauwasi language family along with the Western Pauwasi languages, or they could form an independent language family.

Clemens Lambertus Voorhoeve is a Dutch linguist who specializes in Papuan languages.

References

  1. ↑ Z'graggen, John. 1975. The Madang-Adelbert Range sub-phylum. In New Guinea area languages and language study, vol. 1: Papuan languages and the New Guinea linguistic scene, ed. by S. A. Wurm, 569-612. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
  2. ↑ Z'graggen, John. 1975. Comparative wordlists of the Admiralty Islands languages, collected by W. E. Smyth. Workpapers in Papua New Guinea Languages 14:117-216.
  3. ↑ Z'graggen, John, Karl Franklin. 1975. Comparative wordlists of the Gulf District and adjacent areas. Workpapers in Papua New Guinea Languages 14:5-116.
  4. 1 2 3 Pawley, Andrew. "In Memoriam, John (Hans) Z’graggen, 1932–2013." Oceanic Linguistics 53, no. 1 (2014): 170-175. doi : 10.1353/ol.2014.0009.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.