John Lynch (linguist)

John Dominic Lynch (8 July 1946 – 25 May 2021) was an Australian-Vanuatuan linguist who specialised in the historical development of the Oceanic languages. He was a professor at the University of Papua New Guinea for over twenty years and elected its vice chancellor in 1986 before finishing his career at the University of the South Pacific in Port Vila, Vanuatu. He retired as professor emeritus of the Pacific languages at the end of 2007.

While at the University of the South Pacific, Lynch served as the director of the Pacific Languages Unit, an association dedicated to the research and promotion of languages in the Pacific. Throughout his career, he was known as a gifted writer and administrator. He also served as chief editor of Oceanic Linguistics for twelve years following the resignation of Byron Bender.