This thesis describes the features of the phonology, morphology and syntax of Oksapmin, a Papuan (Non-Austronesian) language of Papua New Guinea. Oksapmin is spoken by around 8000 people, most of whom reside in the Tekin valley in Sandaun Province. The analysis in this thesis is based on the study of data from both elicitation and text collection undertaken on two field trips between 2004 and 2006: from May to October 2004, and from October 2005 to January 2006. / A general introduction is provided in Chapter 1, phonology, phonotactics and morphophonology are discussed in Chapter 2, word classes in Chapter 3, demonstratives in Chapter 4, nouns in Chapter 5, postpositions in Chapter 6, noun phrase syntax in Chapter 7, verbs in Chapter 8, coverbs in Chapter 9, clausal syntax in Chapter 10, phrasal clitics in Chapter 11, and clause combining in Chapter 12. Four sample texts are provided as appendices. Sound files are provided on the accompanying CD for many of the examples scattered throughout the thesis, as well as for all the texts in the appendices. / The most interesting and important grammatical subsystem in Oksapmin is the evidential one, which permeates various areas of the grammar. Without proper knowledge of this system, one cannot make a single grammatical sentence in the language. Recall that evidentiality is, roughly speaking, when a speaker marks how he or she came about the knowledge on which a given utterance is based. Evidentiality in Oksapmin is indicated with past tense verbal inflection, with enclitics, and with a number of other constructions. The evidential system is typologically unusual in that the primary contrast it marks is participatory/factual versus visual/sensory evidence; this distinction is made in the verbal inflection. Participatory/factual evidentials are not widely attested cross-linguistically, and those systems that do exist have been largely ignored in the typological literature. / Some of the other areas of grammar discussed in this thesis include prenasalised consonants with nasal allophones, noun phrases with a complex syntactic structure, a range of demonstratives which distinguish for elevation, a large vocabulary of kin terms including a set of dyadic kin terms, extensive use of complex predicates consisting of a light verb plus a coverb, and a variety of clause combining strategies including clause chaining.

Accessible and affordable eye care is only a dream for much of the population of developing countries. Strategies for improving the visual welfare of these people need to be appropriate to the local situation. In 1992 a proposal was devised to address the lack of eye care in Papua New Guinea. This thesis examines the outcome of this proposal and reports on the ophthalmic data collected by these trained eye nurses.Method: In 1994, 11 National nurses were trained in a 3 month intensive course to become ‘eye nurses’. A basic set of equipment was provided to each eye nurse. Appropriate follow-up and annual conferences supported this initial training. A second group of 14 eye nurses were trained in 1997. Monthly eye clinic reports from the eye nurses provide significant data on eye conditions and visual welfare in PNGResults: After 6 years 80% of the eye nurses were still actively working in eye care. An analysis was made of the eye conditions of the 30,000 patients examined by the eye nurses over this 6 year period. The data is generally consistent with previous ophthalmic data from Papua New Guinea. The eye nurses were able to provide appropriate eye care for 80% of the presenting patients without Optometric or Ophthalmic assistance.Conclusions: Training nurses to become ‘eye nurses’ functioning as basic optometrists is an effective strategy in improving eye care in developing countries. The eye nurses were able to deliver sustainable, accessible, affordable and appropriate eye care, independently treating and managing the most common eye conditions in Papua New Guinea.

Australia accepted a great responsibility in 1946, when it agreed to abide by the terms outlined in the United Nations Trusteeship Agreement and direct colonial policy in the Territory of New Guinea (after 1949 the Territory of Papua and New Guinea) toward the social, economic, and political development of the Territory’s indigenous population. Emulating British colonial development in East Africa and the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, it introduced cooperative societies to facilitate the growth of the indigenous cash economy and gradually established local government councils to regulate municipal affairs. The public servants primarily responsible for implementing colonial development policy in the field were the “outside men”—patrol officers (often referred to as ‘native affairs’ officers or kiaps) working for the Department of District Services and Native Affairs (1946-55) and its successors, the Department of Native Affairs (1956-63) and the Department of District Administration (1964-69). Representing the hard power of the state, patrol officers explored the country and used the threat of force to introduce and maintain British law. They also employed the soft power of enticement, promising development as an incentive for cooperation. Their soft power functions increased after the Pacific War, when they supervised (arguably dominated) cooperative societies and local government councils. In theory, colonial development promised amelioration and progress. In practice, it often exacted a heavy physical and psychological toll on Papua New Guineans, bringing disease, arbitrary violence, and humiliation. Local people adopted a number of strategies in response to white intrusion. Some acquiesced with the government and used compliance as a means of increasing their own position within the colonial culture. Others adopted an uncooperative attitude, neither resisting nor complying with the patrol officers. Colonial intrusion fractured pre-existing forms of self-management, leaving village people struggling to understand the radical changes of culture contact. Many supported alternative development associations—such as welfare societies, kampanis, and kivungs (often dismissed as ‘cargo cults’)—in opposition to state structures. Field officers attempted to direct economic and political development in the villages toward state controlled structures and often discouraged independent indigenous development. Although Australia promised to create opportunities for local people, enhanced indigenous participation implied greater indigenous independence. This threatened Australian control in strategically important Papua New Guinea. Careful to contain ‘cargo cult’ and communist activity, the Australian Administration attempted to maintain absolute control over indigenous political and economic development and regulate potentially subversive influences in the Territory. The conflicting role of patrol officers as both agents of control and agents of development reflected the contradiction in the Australian Trusteeship. Their policing functions created distrust in the villages and impeded positive relations with local people, who resented white authoritarianism and the demands of the Administration. Lack of trust made it difficult for the patrol officers to implement development policies. This thesis explores these contradictions in Australia’s trusteeship and the practice of colonial development in Papua New Guinea. It illustrates how Australia’s obsession with absolute control impeded the creation of appropriate and sustainable economic and political development in Papua New Guinea. Most studies of the kiap system concentrate on the early contact period, or the ‘first phase’ of colonial administration. This thesis adds to the literature by exploring how patrol officers and Papua New Guineans negotiated economic and political development during the ‘second phase’ of colonial development. It uses patrol reports written by field officers, documents generated by the Department of Territories and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), official correspondence, personal correspondence contained in archival collections, and contemporary newspaper reports to construct a social history of economic and political development in late-colonial Papua New Guinea. Uniquely, it reveals how Cold War political pressures constrained development related discourses in Papua New Guinea and how the security services used patrol officers and compliant Papua New Guineans to keep the Territory under surveillance. While development may have been a common goal for most people in post-war Territory of Papua and New Guinea (henceforth Papua New Guinea), its form was a matter of much negotiation and conflict, involving a number of competing indigenous and non-indigenous interests.

Thesis (M.T.S.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 1993. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [74]-75).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Columbia International University, Columbia, SC, 1998. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 244-266).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Science and Mathematics Education Centre, Curtin University of Technology, 2001. / Title from PDF title screen (viewed Oct. 7, 2004).

Thesis (B.A.)--New College of the University of South Florida, Division of Social Sciences and the Division of Natural Sciences, January, 2002. / Title from pdf file (viewed Dec. 6, 2004).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Columbia International University, 1998. / "A dissertation-project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Ministry." "April, 1998." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 244-266).

The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on October 2, 2009). Thesis advisor: Dr. Reed Wadley. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, 1988. / Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. 287-300) and index.