[1] His study, which collected a list of vocabulary words from communities throughout the islands, determined that there were more than one hundred distinct languages in Vanuatu.
[4] He studied at the University of Canterbury, where he completed a thesis on the indigenous languages of the Loyalty Islands, an archipelago of New Caledonia.
For example, the Sowa language, which was spoken by just 20 people living in one village near Ranwadi on Pentecost Island at the time, became extinct when the last speaker died in 2000.
[1] In 1972, he published Pacific Linguistics volume (C-50), which contained his surveys, research and a 292-word list collected from 179 Ni-Vanuatu communities.
[3] The participants, who eventually included more than fifty men, made audio recordings of their community's cultural traditions and folklore.
[1] Tryon and his research partner, Brian Hackman, travelled throughout the country, conducting a systematic study of the nation's languages.
[3] In 1995, Tryon released the Comparative Austronesian Dictionary, a five-volume set published by Mouton de Gruyter.
[2][3] Tryon served as the deputy director of the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University during portions of the 1990s and 2000s.
[3] The government of France awarded him the Legion of Honour in recognition of his contributions to French culture and language in the Pacific as well as his commitment to Australia–France relations.
[3] Dignitaries in attendance at his funeral in Canberra included Acting Prime Minister of Vanuatu Ralph Regenvanu.