author
W. G. (Walter George) Ivens
b. 1871
A New Zealand missionary-scholar, he became one of the best-known early recorders of languages and life in the Solomon Islands. His books bring together close linguistic work with vivid observations of Melanesian communities.
1 Audiobook
Grammar and Vocabulary of the Lau Language, Solomon Islands
by W. G. (Walter George) Ivens
About the author
Born in New Zealand in 1871, Walter George Ivens was educated at Christ's College and at the University of New Zealand, where he earned a B.A. and later an M.A. He was ordained in the Anglican Church and became closely connected with the Melanesian Mission.
Ivens spent many years in the Solomon Islands, where he studied local languages and wrote carefully about the people he lived among. Reference works describe him as an important linguist and anthropologist of the Melanesian Mission, and his publications include studies of the Lau, Sa'a, Ulawa, and Bugotu languages as well as broader works on Melanesian life and culture.
He died in 1939. Today he is remembered for preserving valuable linguistic and ethnographic material from the Solomon Islands, making his work useful both to historians and to readers interested in Pacific languages and cultures.