John Z'graggen (born Hans Anton Z'graggen on 24 June 1932 in

Schattdorf Schattdorf is a village and a municipality in the canton of Uri in Switzerland. History Schattdorf is first mentioned in 1248 as ''Sachdorf''. Geography Schattdorf has an area, , of . Of this area, 33.6% is used for agricultural purposes, whil ...

Canton of Uri The canton of Uri ( ; ; ; ) is one of the cantons of switzerland, 26 cantons of Switzerland and a founding member of the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is located in Central Switzerland. The canton's territory covers the valley of the Reuss ...

, Switzerland; died 20 May 2013 in

Menzingen Menzingen is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zug (canton), Zug in Switzerland. History Menzingen is first mentioned around 1217-22 as ''Meincingin''. The traditionalist Society of Saint Piu ...

, Switzerland) was a Swiss Roman Catholic priest, missionary,

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

, and

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

known for his extensive work on Papuan and

Oceanic Oceanic may refer to: *Of or relating to the ocean *Of or relating to Oceania **Oceanic climate **Oceanic languages **Oceanic person or people, also called "Pacific Islander(s)" Places * Oceanic, British Columbia, a settlement on Smith Island, ...

languages, especially the

Madang languages 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 ...

. He has also documented languages in Sepik,

Manus Manus may refer to: Relating to locations around New Guinea *Manus Island, a Papua New Guinean island in the Admiralty Archipelago ** Manus languages, languages spoken on Manus and islands close by ** Manus Regional Processing Centre, an offshore ...

, and

Gulf Province Gulf Province is a province of Papua New Guinea located on the southern coast. The provincial capital is Kerema. The 34,472 km2 province is dominated by mountains, lowland river deltas, and grassland flood plains. In Gulf Province, the Kiko ...

s.Z'graggen, John, Karl Franklin. 1975. Comparative wordlists of the Gulf District and adjacent areas. ''Workpapers in Papua New Guinea Languages'' 14:5-116.

Biography

Z'graggen attended St. Gabriel College at

Mödling Mödling () is the capital of the Austrian Mödling (district), district of the same name located approximately 15 km south of Vienna. Mödling lies in Lower Austria's industrial zone (Industrieviertel). The Mödlingbach, a brook which rises ...

, where he graduated with a Diploma in Ethnology in 1961. He moved to

Madang Madang (old German name: ''Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen'') is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 (in 2005) on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. History Nicholai Miklukho-Maklai was probably the first Eur ...

in 1963, where he then began documenting the local

. In 1965 or 1966, he enrolled at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

, 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.Pawley, Andrew. "In Memoriam, John (Hans) Z’graggen, 1932–2013." ''Oceanic Linguistics'' 53, no. 1 (2014): 170-175. . In 1981, he joined the newly founded

Divine Word Institute Divine Word University is a national Catholic university in Papua New Guinea. It is one of the newest tertiary institutions in the country. It was established as a university by an Act of Parliament in 1996. The university is ecumenical and coedu ...

(DWI; later renamed as the

Divine Word University Divine Word University is a national Catholic university in Papua New Guinea. It is one of the newest tertiary institutions in the country. It was established as a university by an Act of Parliament in 1996. The university is ecumenical and coedu ...

). 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. Many of Z'graggen's tape recordings and field notes are kept at the

Basel Museum of Cultures The Museum of Cultures in Basel ( German: Museum der Kulturen Basel) is a Swiss museum of ethnography with large and important collections of artifacts, especially from Europe, the South Pacific, Mesoamerica, Tibet, and Bali. It is a Swiss herit ...

, as well as at the Divine Word University in Madang.

Books

Linguistics

Z'graggen collected numerous word lists of

, many of which have been published as monographs by

Pacific Linguistics Pacific Linguistics was established in 1963 as a non-profit publisher at the Australian National University, Canberra, publishing linguistic books (such as grammars and dictionaries) on the languages of Oceania, the Pacific, Australia, Indonesia ...

: *1975. ''The languages of the Madang District, Papua New Guinea''. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. *1980. ''A comparative word list of the

Rai Coast languages The Rai Coast languages are a family of languages in the Madang stock of New Guinea. Sidney Herbert Ray identified what was then known of the Rai Coast languages as a unit in 1919. They were linked with the Mabuso languages in 1951 by Arthur ...

, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea''. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. *1980. ''A comparative word list of the Northern Adelbert Range languages, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea''. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. *1980. ''A comparative word list of the

Mabuso languages 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. ...

, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea''. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. *1980. ''A comparative word list of the Southern Adelbert Range languages, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea''. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. Selected book chapters: *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. *1975. (with Donald C. Laycock) The Sepik-Ramu Phylum. In ''New Guinea area languages and language study'', vol. 1: Papuan languages and the New Guinea linguistic scene, ed. by S. A. Wurm, 731–763. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.

Ethnography

Z'graggen has written prolifically on the mythology and cosmology of the Madang peoples. Some of his books on Madang mythology are: *1992. ''And thus became man and world''. Pentland Press. *1995. ''Creation through death and deception''. Pentland Press. *1996. ''And thus became God''. Pentland Press. *2011. ''The Lady Daria and Mister Kamadonga: A legend of Papua New Guinea''. Crawford House Australia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Z'graggen, John 1932 births 2013 deaths Linguists from Switzerland People from the canton of Uri Linguists of Papuan languages Linguists of Oceanic languages Missionary linguists Australian National University alumni Linguists of Madang languages 20th-century Swiss linguists 20th-century Swiss Roman Catholic priests 21st-century Swiss Roman Catholic priests