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Bruce Biggs, 1921-2000: A Tribute

Bruce Biggs, 1921-2000: A Tribute Bruce Biggs died in Auckland on October 18, 2000, a month after his seventyninth birthday.1 He was a distinguished scholar. He was also that rarer thing, an exceptional builder of academic institutions. He made major contributions in several different ²elds. In academic Mâori studies, he was the most important ²gure of the twentieth century. He developed, at Auckland, the ²rst university program in the study of Mâori language, culture, and literature, and trained the people who later went on to head similar programs at other New Zealand universities. He initiated the ²rst program in modern linguistics at a New Zealand university. He instigated studies of ethnomusicology and the setting up of the magni²cent Archive of Mâori and Paci²c Island Music at the University of Auckland. And he was a seminal contributer to Oceanic linguistics, the principal force behind the great ef³orescence of Polynesian descriptive and historical linguistics in the 1960s and 1970s. Heroes are generally made by history. Men and women who achieve distinction and in³uence usually have the times moving with them; they are actors who excel on a stage ready-made by the turn of events. But every now and then, there comes along someone who harnesses http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Oceanic Linguistics University of Hawai'I Press

Bruce Biggs, 1921-2000: A Tribute

Pawley, Andrew
Oceanic Linguistics , Volume 40 (1) – Jan 6, 2001
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Publisher
University of Hawai'I Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 University of Hawai'i Press.
ISSN
1527-9421
Publisher site
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Abstract

Bruce Biggs died in Auckland on October 18, 2000, a month after his seventyninth birthday.1 He was a distinguished scholar. He was also that rarer thing, an exceptional builder of academic institutions. He made major contributions in several different ²elds. In academic Mâori studies, he was the most important ²gure of the twentieth century. He developed, at Auckland, the ²rst university program in the study of Mâori language, culture, and literature, and trained the people who later went on to head similar programs at other New Zealand universities. He initiated the ²rst program in modern linguistics at a New Zealand university. He instigated studies of ethnomusicology and the setting up of the magni²cent Archive of Mâori and Paci²c Island Music at the University of Auckland. And he was a seminal contributer to Oceanic linguistics, the principal force behind the great ef³orescence of Polynesian descriptive and historical linguistics in the 1960s and 1970s. Heroes are generally made by history. Men and women who achieve distinction and in³uence usually have the times moving with them; they are actors who excel on a stage ready-made by the turn of events. But every now and then, there comes along someone who harnesses

Journal

Oceanic Linguistics – University of Hawai'I Press

Published: Jan 6, 2001

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