Lost in the rainforest, Des promised he would dedicate the rest of his life to God's service.
from an obituary by Professor Geoff Pullum
Desmond Cyril Derbyshire, pioneering scholar of Amazonian linguistics,
died peacefully in his sleep at 5:30 a.m. on December 19th, 2007, aged
83. In his distinguished academic career he had never held a regular
faculty position in a university; his work in linguistics was divided
between linguistic fieldwork in Amazonia, translation of the bible
into the Hixkaryana language, writing and editing books and papers
about the languages of lowland Amazonia and the Guiana highlands, and
serving in educational and administrative roles for Wycliffe.
Des was born in the county of Durham, in the north of England, on
September 10th, 1924. He did not go to university after leaving
secondary school, but trained as an accountant. It was while he was
working as a chartered accountant in the early 1950s that a friend
working as a missionary in South America invited Des and his wife
Grace to come and visit for a holiday, and they accepted. During
their holiday in the jungle of what is now Guyana, something happened
to Des that was literally life-changing.
One afternoon Des decided to walk back on his own from one village to
another, but instead got completely lost. Attempting to retrace his
steps was no use; he couldn't find the point at which he had strayed
from the usual path. He wandered about until long after nightfall,
and began to be very concerned indeed. There was no sign of any
paths, or of human habitation anywhere in the area, and he had been
wandering for miles and miles. He had no food or drink or survival
aids of any kind, and he was hopelessly lost in trackless forest. He
spent the night amid the alien sounds of South American tropical
jungle, well aware that he might die there and never be found. And in
the privacy of his prayers, he made a firm promise: if he could be
delivered from this situation, to get back to Grace and his friends,
he would dedicate the rest of his life to God's service.
Morning finally came, and something became apparent to Des that he had
not been able to notice the previous night: within a quarter of a mile
of where he was, a river was now visible through the trees. Rivers
are thoroughfares in the South American jungle. He made his way down
there and sat on the bank. Later that morning he was found by people
who were out in a boat looking for him.
Des didn't have to admit to anyone the promise he had silently made to
his God during the night. But he any commitment he ever made was one
that he kept. In his own view, he had placed himself under an
irrevocable obligation regarding the remainder of his life. He went
back to England, gave up his job as an accountant, took Wycliffe's
training course in basic field linguistics and bible translation, and
went with Grace to Brazil, to live with the Hixkaryana tribe in the
village of Kasawa by the Nhamunda river (a northern tributary flowing
into the Amazon from the Guiana highlands).
Living conditions were primitive, and no outsiders knew anything much
about the language, which at the time was spoken by about a hundred
speakers whose society was in a state of collapse from rampant
disease. Between 1959 and 1975, Des and Grace lived with the
Hixkaryana for extended periods totalling over seven years, and worked
on learning the Southern Guiana Carib language that they spoke. The
rest of the time was spent in doing descriptive work and bible
translation at Wycliffe centers, or back in England raising funds.
The most surprising story Des told of the long period of work in the
Hixkaryana village concerned a day in November 1965. He had woken up
early and begun work on linguistic analysis as usual, but today he
heard the unexpected distant whine of the engine of the Norseman
floatplane that the mission used for travel
around the Amazon region of Brazil. He thought it was very strange
that the plane would be coming to the village without having notified
him previously. He watched it circle and land in front of his house.
Once the motor was silent and the pilot's door was open, Des asked the
pilot why he had come. The pilot grinned and said "I've got
Robert Kennedy on board." Des looked in the passenger seat in the
back, and sure enough, there was New York's US Senator Robert F.
Kennedy.
Bobby Kennedy spent three days with Des among the Hixkaryana, sharing
the daily lives of the people in the village and getting to know Des
and Grace and their work. Kennedy was an excellent guest,
participating fully in village life with its various hardships and
never complaining. One afternoon, as Des and Bobbie were bathing in
the Nhamunda river, Kennedy asked Des: "What's the name of this
river?"
"The Nhamunda", Des told him.
"I want to remember the name," said Kennedy, "because just now, right
here in this river, I have decided to run for President of the United
States."
(And so he did, announcing his candidacy late, in March 1968, when the
weakness of incumbent president Johnson's support was fully clear. He
was assassinated less than three months later, immediately after
winning the California primary.)
As Kennedy prepared to board the plane on the third day to leave, he
turned to Des and said "You know, a lot of people would say that these
people are not worth the bother of spending your life, with all of
your education, in this isolated jungle spot." And he went on to say
how much he admired Des for his work, and for believing that the
Hixkaryana were worth the bother.
Des did indeed think the Hixkaryana were worth the bother. He worked
on for another ten years in Brazil, and completed a translation of the
entire New Testament. Then in 1975 he decided it was time to become better
acquainted with current linguistics, and he applied to do a Ph.D. at
University College London. Special dispensation was needed from the
University of London for him to be admitted to read for the Ph.D.
His supervisor says "I have never known a more dedicated, conscientious, meticulous
graduate student. The knowledge he had brought with him was a rich
resource, and turned out to interest me greatly. Des had found the first known Object-Verb-Subject language."
A short report appeared in the Sunday Times on the fact that an OVS
language had been discovered.
Des went on to research material in many other Amazonian languages and publish many papers and books.
In the last part of his life, Des moved to Hampshire in England. There his wife Grace
died, on September 7, 1997. It was a major blow, depriving him of the
person who had been his closest companion for over fifty years. From
then on, while still being involved in academic linguistics,
he spent most of his time working on a Hixkaryana translation of the
Old Testament, making occasional visits to Brazil to consult with native speakers.
His work with the Hixkaryana was successful in several ways.
Linguistically it was extraordinarily productive and valuable. With
regard to translating the Bible, it achieved a published result. And
as regards the missionary work, some of the tribe
identified themselves as Christians. Des loved the Hixkaryana people; he respected their
intelligence, kindness, generosity, and practical skills; he delighted
in their language; and he cared about their welfare. They have done
well in the fifty years that Des knew them, and their society is far
more robust than it was when Des and Grace arrived. From a
demoralized population in danger of extinction in 1959, with only
about a hundred members, few children, and high infant mortality, they
have grown to a population of about 600, with access to modern medicine, frequent
intermarriage with the Waiwai tribe, and high literacy rates, and a
school with Hixkaryana teachers, and a government-assisted Brazil nut
business.
The Hixkaryana have lost their closest external friend and
advocate, but because of his efforts their language and linguistic
culture will never disappear unrecorded as so many Brazilian
indigenous languages did. Wycliffe Bible Translators have
lost a dedicated administrator and translator. Linguists have lost
a top fieldworker, an eminent scholar of Cariban languages, a very
fine descriptive and comparative linguist, and a wonderful human being.
