A Dictionary of Buin, a language of Bougainville

Don Laycock was a man of many interests but in the last two decades of his life his largest project was the compilation of a dictionary of Buin, a Papuan language spoken in southeastern Bougainville. When Don realised in 1988 that he was terminally ill he thought carefully about the things he wanted to achieve during the months that remained to him. Academically, the most important was to ensure that his Buin dictionary was close to completion, so that it could be published after he had gone. He made as great an effort as his strength allowed and came very close to achieving this goal. During his last days Don asked his colleagues to make sure that the Buin dictionary was published, and they agreed. Publication has taken longer than expected, mainly because the detailed work of editing the dictionary draft required someone who had the necessary expertise and who also was able to give extended chunks of his time to the project. That person was Masayuki Onishi, who had worked on Motuna, a neighbour of Buin. Masa has worked voluntarily on the manuscript for seven years, assisted by Don's wife Tania and daughter Melany. Masa adopted an overriding principle that this should be Don's work, not his. And so we publish the last book from a wonderful colleague.