Monthly Archives: March 2013

Gramática de la Lengua Guajira

Gramática de la Lengua Guajira: Morfosintaxis. 3rd edn. By Jesús Olza Zubriri and Miguel Ángel Jusayú. Caracas, Venezuela: Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, 2012. Pp. 580. ISBN 9789802446377.

Reviewed by Michael W. Morgan, National Federation of the Deaf Nepal

Guajira, also called Guajiro, and less frequently Wayuu (Waiú in Spanish orthography) from the autonym meaning ‘(indigenous) person’, and least frequently Wayuunaiki ‘indigenous language’, is a major Arawak language spoken by about 300,000 people in Venezuela and Columbia. Wayuunaiki is verb- (or more specifically) predicate-initial, and is a morphologically complex agglutinative language. Although fusion is relatively limited, assimilation and elision do occur at morpheme boundaries (e.g. teʹraajüin ‘I know’ < ta-ʹraaja-in = first singular prefix + ‘know’ + subordination suffix; pié ‘your tongue’ < pü- + ayé). There is also a fair degree of (mostly) phonologically-conditioned allomorphy; for example, the suffix –aiata, indicating that the action takes place at various times or places but sporadically without regularity, has conditioned allomorphs -áiata, -áwáita, -eiata, -éiata, -éwéita, -iiata, and -úiata, depending on the final vowel of the stem. Prefixes are mainly limited to person markers (both on verbs and as possessive markers on nouns); suffixes are extremely numerous and include both grammatical and derivational morphology (with grammatical morphology being much more extensive for verbs than for nouns).

This book is a collaboration between two linguists, one of them a native speaker of Guajira. It is an encyclopedic grammar in Spanish containing seventy-seven chapters, plus an introduction, a bibliography, and an ‘In memoriam’ to its second author, who died in 2009 after a long career as author, lexicographer, and grammarian dedicated to his native tongue.

The work is indeed compendious, and includes details on dialect variation in the morphology (which is basically an eastern dialect and a west and central dialect). However, despite—or perhaps because of—its thoroughness and extensive detail, to linguists more accustomed to reference grammars that have come to take on a more or less standard format, this book may appear somewhat quirky. To begin, although replete with examples of the language, accompanied by a Spanish translation, there is no morphemic analysis and glossing for illustrative sentences, which may cause difficulty for the non-native reader (especially given the morphological complexity of the language, the degree of allomorphy, and instances of morphophonological assimilation and elision). Although the table of contents is detailed, the book has no index and very little cross-referencing, which may cause difficulty for a general linguist (say, a linguistic typologist) using it as a reference grammar. Although the organization is quite logical, at times chapter divisions seem arbitrary, as if this book were written for serialization. For example, Chs. 69–71 comprise a treatment of suffixes, which are arranged alphabetically (with nominal and verbal suffixes both included), so the division into three separate chapters (A–K, L–S, T–Y) seems to be motivated solely so as not to have one overly long chapter.

Nevertheless, this book comprises a thorough treatment of the language and as such is an important contribution to Guajira and Arawak linguistics, especially as an exhaustive pedagogical grammar in the hands of a native (or near-native) speaking teacher.

Identity in interaction

Identity in interaction: Introducing multimodal (inter)action analysis. By Sigrid Norris. (Trends in applied linguistics 4.) Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, 2011. Pp. xviii, 298. ISBN 9781934078273. $89.95 (Hb).

Reviewed by Francesca Bargiela-Chiappini, University of Warwick

Identity is arguably a topic that continues to attract great interest among social scientists, yet its exact contours remain elusive. Depending on the disciplinary perspective from which one chooses to approach it, identity displays diverse facets. In this book, identity is viewed as ‘a process rather than being [….] as always developing rather than static; […] as co-production […] rather than simple co-construction’ (30). In addition to considering it processual, Sigrid Norris’s understanding of identity is multidimensional and mediated by cultural tools, including social time-space configurations. In other words, out of ‘constellations of practices’ and ‘meditational means’ social identities emerge as co-production involving actors and cultural artifacts in time-space.

The book is organized into nine chapters, including an introduction to multimodal (inter)action analysis (Ch. 1), a discussion of the theoretical underpinnings (Ch. 2), the description of an ethnographic case-study from which the author draws her illustrative sample data (Ch. 3), and a presentation of the concept of ‘modal density’ as analyzed in the case-study data (Ch. 4). The following four chapters (5–8) examine aspects of the production of identity, namely ‘horizontal identity’ (Ch. 5), ‘vertical identity’ (Ch. 6), ‘shifting identity’ (Ch. 7), and ‘stabilizing identity’ (Ch. 8).

The study in hand illustrates how the workings of identity-in-action can be effectively charted by a multimodal interaction analytical approach theoretically inspired by the principles of mediated discourse analysis and visual research methods. Moreover, given the situated nature of identification processes, N maintains that only ethnographic data collection allows the analyst to capture the fine details of identity dynamics as they unfold. This synchronous analytical perspective is complemented by a diachronic one, gained through N’s two-year longitudinal case study of individuals engaged in ordinary daily activities.

The sample data analyzed in this book persuasively illustrates the complexity involved in trying to capture the ‘modal density’ of human interaction. For example, one of the figures (Fig. 5.1, 144–45) consists of a sequence of sixteen frames, each representing a multimodal scene, movement in time-space and accompanying discourse, which effectively represents contexualized dialogue as one of the actions and its ‘positionality’ vis-à-vis the participants’ other behaviors in time-space.

The kind of multimodal interaction analysis extensively documented in this book is quite costly in terms of the time investment and relational involvement of the analyst with her participants in the field. Alongside other labor-intensive methodologies, successful multimodal interaction analysis demands sustained and meticulous dedication and the deployment of highly honed observational and perceptual skills over long periods. The degree of ‘invasiveness’ in people’s private lives also inhibits a more widespread adoption of this approach in the social sciences, even though the rewards to be reaped are rich.

A grammar of Domari

A grammar of Domari. By Yaron Matras. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, 2012. (Mouton grammar library 59.) Pp. xvi, 464. ISBN 9783110289145. $210.

Reviewed by Elly van Gelderen, Arizona State University

Domari is an Indo-European language spoken by the (traditionally nomadic) Dom people of the Middle East. Dom is cognate with Rom (i.e. Roma). This book describes the grammar of Domari as spoken in Jerusalem. At the time of Yaron Matras’s fieldwork in the mid- to late 1990s, there were fifty to seventy fluent speakers, but currently there are only ten to twenty speakers (2).

The introductory chapter reviews previous work on varieties of Domari and distinguishes between a northern and southern dialect. One dialect difference involves the third person: (u)hu is typical in northern varieties, whereas pandži occurs in the south. The north shows Kurdish and Persian influence, whereas the south is more influenced by Arabic. The Domari of Jerusalem falls in between these varieties (18). The introduction also outlines the major similarities and differences between Domari and Romani, and describes the Dom community in Jerusalem and the methodology for data collection.

Ch. 2 provides an inventory of sounds and phonemes, assimilatory processes, syllable structure, prosody and stress, and a set of sound changes. Ch. 3 discusses parts of speech and inflection and gives us a sense of M’s theoretical approach, which is to ground parts of speech in a continuum between topical entities and events (70). However, a ‘more practical procedure [to describing parts of speech]…is to follow natural indicators of parts of speech in the way that the language assigns inflectional potential to different types of words’ (71). Thus, there is gender and number marking reminiscent of other Indo-Aryan languages, case, person inflection, and definite and indefinite suffixes. Parts of speech ‘differ in their potential to be assigned one or more inflectional paradigms’ (72) and in how they combine with other elements.

Chs. 4 through 6 cover nouns, nominal inflection, noun modifiers, and pronouns, and Ch. 7 covers verb inflection, modals, and auxiliaries. Ch. 8 discusses grammatical and thematic roles and also spatial relations. Ch. 9 concerns clause structure and various types of clauses, and Ch. 10 focuses on adverbs and particles.

In Domari, subjects are marked through agreement on the verb and can additionally be marked through independent pronouns in contrastive function or when switched. There is a set of object suffixes, also serving as possessives and as subjects with past tense verbs (evidence of an earlier ergative alignment), and there is a set of ‘marginal’ (225) enclitic third-person pronouns that attach to interrogative pronouns and the presentative particle. The third-person pandži is used in Domari as third-person singular (pandžan is the plural), but it overlaps with the demonstrative -h– pronoun in interesting ways. M attributes the difference to the perceptual-sensory focus of the demonstrative as opposed to the conceptual focus of the personal pronoun pandži (222). The form pandži is derived from a reflexive; a renewed Domari reflexive has been borrowed from Arabic (237).

The remaining chapters discuss the Arabic component, samples of talk, notes on the lexicon, and a Domari vocabulary of fourteen pages. In sum, this grammar presents a wealth of information on a moribund language in an accessible manner and with ample historical and comparative insights.

The Yawuru language of West Kimberley

The Yawuru language of West Kimberley: A meaning-based description. By Komei Hosokawa. Munich: LINCOM Europa, 2011. Pp. 531. ISBN 9783862880935. $104.

Reviewed by Michael W. Morgan, National Federation of the Deaf Nepal

Yawuru, spoken in West Kimberley (northwest Australia) is a highly agglutinative language. Noun derivation occurs by suffixation and case marking is enclitic; verbs have from 1–4 prefixes and 0–5 suffixes. Complex verbal morphology allows for simple clause structure, with a single verb expressing a complex argument and event structure, and also allows for relatively loose word order. Yawuru also manifests split cross-referencing (i.e. ergative noun inflection but accusative verb agreement).

This book is a revision of the author’s 1991 dissertation. Ch. 1 (1–17) provides an introduction to the language, its dialects, and its speakers. This is followed by a brief preview (Ch. 2, 18–41) of many of the remarkable features of the language. Ch. 2 includes a detailed treatment of phonology (42–112). Yawuru, unusual among Australian languages, has word-final tense/lax and three-way dorsal voicing contrasts. It also has a number of extra-systemic sounds and special phonation types.

A chapter on verbal morphology and semantics (113–98) follows. In Yawuru, all predicates must be verbal. As noted above, conjugation involves a number of prefix and suffix/enclitic slots. Prefixes include subject, mood/tense, number, conjugation class, and reflexive; suffixes/enclitics include reciprocal, aspect, comitative, dative-imperative or subordinative (but not both), (accusative/dative) object, and vocative. Affixes generally follow this order, although future and irrealis differ slightly. Although inflecting (finite) verb roots are obligatory, indicating argument structure, they are few in number (82). Their limited number is compensated by a large number of preverbs added to finite verbs to make complex verbs. Preverbs are the subject of Ch. 5 (199–236).

Ch. 6 (237–89), concerns the semantics of case-marking and related issues. Case is marked on phrase-initial constituents rather than heads. This results in serialized (so-called double) case marking, when the marked constituent is initial in both the main and imbedded noun phrase, and each has a separate case function. Yawuru, with its loose word order, also allows for phrasal discontinuity.Pronouns are discussed in Ch. 7 (290–350). They include absolutive and genitive free forms, and accusative and dative enclitics. Demonstratives, interrogatives, and indefinites are also treated in this chapter.

Adverbs are the topic of Ch. 8 (351–400). Yawuru possesses a range of both uninflecting and inflecting adverbs. In addition, sentence adverbs include epistemic, deontic, and epistemological adverbs. Reduplication, discussed in the following chapter (401–17), is used extensively in nominals, finite verbs, and onomatopoeic words; it expresses a range of concepts but is not a fully productive part of the morphology. The final chapter, ‘Syntax’ (418–84), describes various simple and coordinative sentence types, including passive, quasi-passive, and a number of special identity-sensitive types (e.g. double subject and double object).

Finally, the book contains a bibliography (485–507), three appendices (two short analyzed and glossed texts, 508–11), a list of bound morphemes with their glosses and function (512–14), and a list of minimal and near-minimal pairs (515–24). No topical (or other) index is provided. All grammatical forms are illustrated with copious examples. The extensive footnotes are useful, especially those that point to dialect features and to cases of similarity (or differences) with related and area languages.

 

The Basque language

The Basque language. By W.J. Van Eys. Munich: LINCOM Europa, 2010. (LINCOM gramatica 13.) Pp. 66. ISBN 9783895861970. $68.

Reviewed by John Ryan, University of Northern Colorado

The Basque language by W.J. Van Eys was originally published in 1883 with the title Outlines of Basque grammar, by Trübner & Co., as part of a series of simplified grammars. Following a brief preface and introduction, the book is divided into eleven numbered chapters, another section on syntax, and a final section called ‘Literal translation’. The book’s introduction reveals E’s opinion of the limitations of the scant and former work of Manuel Larramendi (1725), and other unnamed authors of the period whose primary focus was on the verb and the serious misassumption for a time that there was only one verb in Basque, or the lack of understanding of the functions of an agglutinative language. On a more positive note, the introduction closes with the hopes for discovery of the definitive origins of both Basque and Ancient Iberian languages, which at the time were being suggested as one and the same by Wilhelm von Humboldt and others.

Ch. 1 provides the geographical context for Basque and lists its six different dialects. Ch. 2 discusses the manner in which the Latin alphabet has been adopted in place of the original Basque alphabet, which is to this day unknown. Ch. 3 provides a discussion of phonetic/phonological processes that are typical in Basque. Ch. 4 concerns the definite article. Ch. 5 covers agglutination. Chs. 6 through 8 treat the nature of nouns and adjectives (Ch. 6), the various suffixes that may attach to these depending on the case attributed to them (Ch. 7), and pronouns (Ch. 8). Before proceeding to a discussion of verbs, Ch. 9 addresses numbers.

The most comprehensive chapter is Ch. 10, on the Basque verb, which includes both regular and irregular verbs, moods, and auxiliaries. Ch. 11 completes the chaptered sections, making some brief remarks about adverbs and conjunctions. Following Ch. 11, an unnumbered, antepenultimate section briefly discusses Basque syntax and how the various parts of speech individually explained in the preceding chapters agglutinate to form a Basque sentence. Finally, the last section of the book provides a brief text in Basque with corresponding word-for-word translation in English, as well as a commentary with partial parsing.

Despite the book’s age of almost 150 years, it still serves, although on a very basic level, as an adequate introduction to the most important aspects of the Basque language. Both the short length and readability of the text make it ideal as supplemental reading for either an introductory course on language typology or a survey course on languages (both Romance and non-Romance) of the Iberian Peninsula. The book also has great historical importance, as it documents the earlier belief as suggested by Humboldt and others that Basque and Ancient Iberian shared a common linguistic ancestor.

A grammar of Nakkara

A grammar of Nakkara (Central Arnhem Land coast). By Bronwyn Eather. Munich: LINCOM Europa, 2011. Pp. xvi, 498. ISBN 9783862881536. $103.80.

Reviewed by Michael W. Morgan, National Federation of the Deaf Nepal

Nakkara (Na-Kara in the newer orthography) is an endangered non-Pama Nyungan language spoken on the Central Arnhem Land coast of Australia’s Northern Territory. The structure of Nakkara differs in many ways from more familiar Australian languages, lacking ergative structure (and indeed any nominal case marking) and possessing masculine and feminine gender instead of a system of noun classes. In fact, Nakkara differs remarkably even from other languages in the area, with the sole exception of the closely related language Ndjébbana. Aside from stress patterns (Nakkara’s stress is regular and predictable) and lexical items, Nakkara and Ndjébbana generally agree in their structures.

This book is indeed an excellent reference grammar. A chapter introducing the language and its speakers (1–9) also summarizes the most exceptional features of the language. The body of the grammar starts with a chapter on phonology (10–79), including discussions of the status of geminates and long stops (in Nakkara, true geminates occur only in morpheme-medial position); stress, phonological, and morphophonological rules (and their relative ordering); and the orthography used in this book.

The next five chapters concern morphology. ‘Morphological preliminaries’ (80-–95) gives a brief overview of morphology and word classes. ‘Noun morphology’ (96–160) discusses the pronoun and noun-prefix systems, both involving an extensive system of four persons, three numbers, and two gender categories, with three separate forms (attributive, characteristic, and locational) for third-person minimal noun prefixes. Noun suffixes (possessive, ablative, proximal) and the locative/instrumental postposition are also discussed.

‘Verb morphology’ (161–211) and ‘Verb-stem morphology’ (212–65) present verb morphology. The verb complex consists basically of a personal prefix plus root plus tense suffix. The personal prefix system is as discussed above but with separate realis and irrealis systems. On transitive verbs, both agent and patient are marked, resulting in complex combined paradigms. Nakkara (and neighboring Ndjébbana) are unique in having an oblique agentive suffix when the agent is third-person minimal and the patient is non-third-person. The tense system includes future, non-future contemporary, and non-future pre-contemporary (reasons for not calling the latter two tenses present and past are given in the text). Verb stems belong to ten conjugation classes (seventeen if we include sub-classes), and there are separate root increments for transitive and intransitive monosyllabic roots added under certain conditions. Additionally, there are a number of affixes (orientational, reflexive/reciprocal, and inchoative) and a nominalizing prefix.

The chapter, ‘Minor word classes’ (266–365), discusses spatiotemporal qualifiers; interrogatives and indefinites; connective, mood, and other particles; and adjuncts. The length of this chapter is motivated by the large number of particles and adjuncts discussed.

The final chapter, ‘Clause structure’ (366–438), discusses the various types of simple and complex clause types. Notable is the apparent lack of subordinate (as opposed to co-subordinate) clauses. The book ends with several texts (439–90) and a bibliography (491–98). No topical (or other) index is provided.

New directions in colour studies

New directions in colour studies. Ed. by Carole P. Biggam, Carole A. Hough, Christian J. Kay, and David R. Simmons. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2011. Pp. xii, 462. ISBN 9789027211880. $158 (Hb).

Reviewed by Francesca Bargiela-Chiappini, University of Warwick

This book is a collection of thirty-five chapters, organized into seven sections and preceded by a short preface. The collection represents the work of delegates to the second conference on progress in colour studies (PICS) held in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2008. As an attentive (and critical) reader of most essays, I agree with the editors’ view that the book has achieved the original objective set for the conference, which is to create a ‘multidisciplinary forum’ on color studies ‘accessible to scholars in other disciplines’ (ix). A few chapters are highly technical in language and content, but most are within reach of the educated reader.

The essays on color perception are particularly interesting, including ‘Touchy-feely colour’ (Section 1), ‘Languages of the world’ (Section 2), and ‘Colour in society’ (Section 3). Other  essays include ‘Individual differences in colour vision’ (Section 5) and ‘Colour preference and colour meaning’ (Section 6). Collectively, these essays afford the reader a fairly detailed yet accessible understanding of many facets of a truly exciting field of study, one that ‘impacts on so many areas of human experience’ (159) as diverse as architecture, art, literature, onomastics, and semantics.

We learn, for example, how the current color-coding scheme (Munsell Colour Chips) excludes 95% of world’s color terms (43), how colors feature prominently in Scottish surnames, and how the color blue in Francis Bacon’s painting reflects the artist’s pain. Rather than treating vision as ‘the most passive of senses’ (28), a phenomenological understanding of color proposes ‘vision as active’ (31) and draws a strong analogy between vision and touch, whereby ‘the gaze is something like a grasp’ (33).

For approximately 4.4% of the population who have a condition called synaesthesia, the experience of color perception can be triggered by stimuli from other domains like sound, touch, and smell. The associations are both very specific and consistent over time, so, for example, ‘a synaesthete might describe the sound of a middle C on the piano as a silver-grey ball seen in left-hand space’ (311). This phenomenon is no less intriguing than the relationship between colors and the emotions that they evoke, or the colors and the adjectives used to describe them. This is why color studies encompass a wide spectrum of scholarly endeavours, and this book is engaging also for the non-specialist reader looking for an analytic and systematic approach to the understanding of one of the most common of human experiences.

The amazing world of Englishes

The amazing world of Englishes: A practical introduction. By Peter Siemund, Julia Davydova, and Georg Maier. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, 2012. Pp. 283. ISBN 9783110266450 $42.

Reviewed by Louisa Buckingham, University of Nizwa

This textbook is a welcome addition to a relatively new and dynamic area of study. The book seeks to introduce students of English as a second language to the diversity of language varieties and the different cultures in which they are used. The text is written in simple, unambiguous language and is well suited to undergraduate students of English in second language contexts, particularly those studying in English language and literature programs (where specialized linguistic knowledge is not required). The book eschews the socio-political dilemmas and controversies regarding the use of English as a global language, which has advantages in particular educational environments where critical discussions are not culturally appropriate, such as countries of the Arabian Gulf (where the reviewer is currently located). The book provides exercises testing the skills presented and some active vocabulary-building exercises at the upper-intermediate level, and audio recordings are accessible on the accompanying website. Each chapter comprises a selection of short reading texts, including both excerpts from other texts about world English dialects and literary excerpts. Discussion questions follow, providing stimulus for either oral or writing activities.

The book comprises nine chapters. An introductory chapter on English as a global language, with an excerpt from Jennifer Jenkins’ work, is followed by three sections based on Braj Kachru’s concepts: inner circle varieties (Irish, Scottish, British, Australian), outer circle varieties (Indian, Nigerian, South African), and expanding circle varieties (English in Europe). Each chapter ends with references directing students towards further reading appropriate for their level. The book ends with a glossary of linguistic terms and a simplified International Phonetic Alphabet table.

Inevitably, the included selection of English varieties will give rise to discussion; however, one misses the inclusion of at least one East Asian variety. Not including a discussion of Singapore, Hong Kong, or the Philippines in the outer circle group, for example, seems questionable when space is found in the final chapter for brief discussion on English in France, Germany, and Russia. The inclusion of these expanding circle countries and the narrow range of countries in the inner and outer circles (e.g. the exclusion of North America and East Asia) probably reflects the authors’ expectations regarding where the text will likely be used.

While someone native to one of the countries portrayed may squirm at the sometimes overly stereotypical or simplistic portrayal of the language and culture of the respective country, this book is highly recommended for use in contexts where a general, simplified introduction to world Englishes, combined with language building activities, is sought. Teachers will find a considerable amount of stimulating and topical material for student projects and assignments. Finally, the book is very visually appealing to users; the layout of each chapter follows a set format and plenty of color is used in illustrations and to highlight texts.

An introduction to Ryukyuan languages

An introduction to Ryukyuan languages. Ed. by Michinori Shimoji and Thomas Pellard. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, 2010. Pp. xix, 238. ISBN: 9784863370722.

Reviewed by J. Kevin Varden, Meiji Gakuin University

This book presents research on the endangered Ryukyuan archipelago languages in Japan. It is the culmination of the Linguistic Dynamics Science Project toward achieving easy access to research outcomes in Ryukyuan studies, 2008–2009, through the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. The authors have provided a valuable service documenting the covered languages; UNESCO has classified Yaeyama Ryukyuan as severely endangered, and Amami, Okinawa, and Miyako Ryukyuan as definitely endangered.

The first article is an introduction to Ryukyuan language family, by Michinori Shimoji, including a typological overview and a succinct summary of its linguistic status. Many comparisons of the Irabu dialect of Miyako Island Ryukyuan to the larger family are included, and video and audio files are available on the author’s website. Hiromi Shigeno presents the Ura dialect of Amami Island Ryukyuan, followed by sketches of Yuwan (also Amami) by Yuto Niinaga, Tsuken (Okinawa) by Satomi Matayoshi, Oogami by Thomas Pellard, Ikema by Yuka Hayashi (both Miyako Ryukyuan), and Hateruma (Yaeyama Ryukyuan) by Reiko Aso. References and a sparse index round out the text.

The collection ‘…is open to both [Ryukyuan] specialists and non-specialists…’. Each article is in standardized descriptive format; grammatical features can be consistently found within the detailed table of contents. All articles provide basic information—an introduction to the language, its speakers, and degree of endangerment; and phonemic inventories, word classes, morphology, among others. The unique features preserved by the linguistic isolation of the islands are particularly interesting. Examples include the syllabic fricatives in vowel-less words found in Oogami (/fks/ ‘month’, ‘build’) and the relic kakari musubi syntactic construction found in Yuwan, Irabu, and Ikema. The grammatical discussions may prove challenging for the non-initiate; the detailed (and evidently first comprehensive) discussion of the verbal morphology and syntax of Yuwan springs to mind. However, the text is clearly written and well proofread. Each sketch wraps up with a glossed narrative of ‘The Pear Story’, a silent movie developed specifically for field elicitation purposes, and a list of abbreviations. I look forward to a comparison of the regional and ideolectal differences in the telling of this story.

Coverage of each language, while standardized, is a bit uneven: Yuwan and Ogami each cover about fifty pages, Hateruma forty, and Ura, Tsuken, and Ikema approximately twenty each. Nonetheless, each is valuable in its own right, and the collection as a whole is a strong step forward in the preservation and understanding of this unusual language group. I hope it will be the first of many. The book can be accessed free of charge for academic use from http://www.aa.tufs.ac.jp/en/publications/inquiry; request ILCAA book number B072. In addition, it is available as a downloadable PDF file at http://lingdy.aacore.jp/en/publications/.