Crowley was born inBillericay,Essex in 1953. His English parentsemigrated to Australia when he was roughly 7 years old,[4] and the family settled on a dairy farm[4] in the rural north ofVictoria, just outsideShepparton, where Crowley received his early education.[5] His parents raised him in theoutback. He decided to become aphilologist early,[6] during hishigh school years atShepparton High School, from which he graduated asdux in 1970.[4]
Crowley's precocity was already in evidence in his third year, when he produced a paper on theNganyaywana language once spoken by theAnēwan ofNew England, in which, in the words ofNicholas Evans, Crowley made a brilliant demonstration of the fact that the Anewan language, far from being alanguage isolate as long thought, could be correlated withPama-Nyungan onceinitial consonant loss was taken into account.[6] He went on to graduate with first class honours, winning a University medal in linguistics, with an honours thesis on the dialects ofBundjalang.[9]
He died from a sudden, severe heart attack. Crowley took care to maintain a healthy lifestyle, which makes his death at the age of 51 all the more unexpected.[4]
At the time of his death Crowley was working on writing grammars and dictionaries of 18 languages.[7] In a book published posthumously, Crowley wrote of the urgency of doingdirty-boots linguistic fieldwork, with the ethical imperative of enabling thousands of cultures at risk of extinction to have their linguistic patrimony recorded, so that their descendants might thereby avoid the tragic consequences of the loss ofTasmanian languages. Almost nothing of structural value was transmitted in written archives by the time ofTruganini's death, a fact which deprives allPalawa of Aboriginal descent of both their cultural identity and theland claims which can only be pursued if continuity can be proven. Crowley perceived his salvage campaign among far-flung languages in this light, as securing for future generations a heritage that would otherwise be lost, to their detriment.[17]
1984.Tunuen telamun tenout Voum. Port Vila: USP Centre. (with Joshua Mael)
1985.Language development in Melanesia. Suva: Pacific Languages Unit, University of the South Pacific; and Department of Language and Literature, University of Papua New Guinea. (with John Lynch)
1985.An introductory linguistics workbook. Port Moresby: Department of Language and Literature, University of Papua New Guinea. (with John Lynch)
1987.An introduction to historical linguistics. Port Moresby and Suva: University of Papua New Guinea Press, and Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific.
1987.Grama blong Bislama. Suva: Extension Services, University of the South Pacific.
1990.Kindabuk. Port Vila: University of the South Pacific. (with Claudia Brown)
1990.Beach-la-Mar to Bislama: The emergence of a national language in Vanuatu. Oxford Studies in Language Contact. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
1992.A dictionary of Paamese. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
1992.An introduction to historical linguistics, 2d ed. Auckland: Oxford University Press.
1995.A new Bislama dictionary. Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies and Pacific Languages Unit (University of the South Pacific).
1995.The design of language: An introduction to descriptive linguistics. Auckland: Longman Paul. (with John Lynch, Jeff Siegel, and Julie Piau)
1997.An introduction to historical linguistics, 3d ed. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
1997.Navyan ovoteme Nelocompne ire (The voice of Erromangans today). Hamilton, New Zealand:Vanuatu Cultural Centre and Department of General and Applied Linguistics, University of Waikato.
1998.An Erromangan (Sye) grammar. Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication No. 27. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press.
1998.Ura. Languages of the World/Materials 240. München: LINCOM EUROPA.
1999.Ura: A disappearing language of Southern Vanuatu. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
François, Alexandre (2007). "Review: Four grammars of Malakula languages by Terry Crowley".Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde.163 (2–3).Brill:430–439.JSTOR27868407.
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