The contributors to More than Mere Words reflect on Sutton’s important contribution to linguistics and the study of Australian languages. The first two chapters give a historical perspective on the study of Australia’s Indigenous languages. There follows a section on language as a reflection of connection to place, and then a set of essays on language in its socio-cultural contexts, spanning prehistory to the present. The final part of the book charts the consequences of the colonial encounter through a consideration of language endangerment. The volume’s title captures both the complexity of languages as systems embedded in their social contexts through space and time, and a sense that this celebration of Peter’s life and career cannot simply be read as ‘mere words’.
