Introduction to 'Language Description, History and Development: Linguistic indulgence in memory of Terry Crowley'

Abstract

Our close friend and colleague Terry Crowley died suddenly at the age of 51 in January 2005 in his home in Hamilton, New Zealand, cutting short a brilliant and prolific career in linguistics. One common theme among the many tributes to Terry and the bittersweet reminiscing of his many friends around the world was that Terry never did things half way-whether it was enjoying good food, going bush-walking, or doing linguistics. Just as he would eat a box of chocolates in one go, when he got the urge, he would sit down and write a journal article in a day or two. Just as he loved to visit friends in different countries, he revelled in doing linguistic fieldwork (and each year went off for a few months to Malakula in Vanuatu). To Terry, doing linguistics was another indulgence even more important than eating "mega-disgusting desserts", as he called them. Therefore, we have tried to make this memorial volume for Terry a "linguistic indulgence"-including 35 studies by Terry's friends, colleagues and admirers, covering all of the types of languages he worked on: Australian, Oceanic, pidgins and creoles, and varieties of English.