Reviewed by Andreea S. Calude, The University of Auckland

There are few languages that encompass the history, diversity, and political load that can be observed with the Romani language. Spoken by the Roma, the Sinti, the Kale, and others most commonly placed under the label term of ‘gypsy’, Romani developed since the sixteenth century as a language of nomadic people, constantly on the move and often highly isolated from each other. From a linguistic standpoint, this has led to a rich source of interesting avenues for research, such as dialectal issues (relating to how the various dialects of the language evolved), language-contact problems (examining how the various dominant languages spoken in the countries that were settled by Romani speakers have influenced the Romani language), historical development, sociolinguistic concerns, and other general theoretical linguistics issues.

This volume—the proceedings to the 6th International Conference on Romani Linguistics held in Graz in 2002 (following previous conferences in Hamburg 1993, Amsterdam 1994, and Manchester 1998)—is divided into five parts: ‘Romani dialectology’ (Part 1), ‘Descriptive studies on individual Romani dialects’ (Part 2), ‘Language change with and without contact’ (Part 3), ‘Computational linguistics’ (Part 4), and ‘Sociolinguistics’ (Part 5). The computational linguistics section (though only containing one paper) is indicative of the innovative directions undertaken by Romani linguistics researchers, in using corpora and other such electronic databases.

Part 1 includes a discussion by Yaron Matras revisiting general issues of dialectology in Romani linguistics (7–22) and a study by Birgit Igla investigating the Sinti-Manuš dialect group (23–47).

There are four papers in Part 2. Lev Cherenkov gives a brief examination of the Russian variety of Plaščuno (63–47); Irene Sechidou analyzes the Greek Romani variety of Ajios Athanasios (48–59); Ignasi-Xavier Adiego looks at present day Caló (60–78); and Zoran Lapov discusses the different Croatian Roma dialects (79–89).

Part 3 includes three papers on verbal change phenomena: Desislava Draganova on the borrowing of Turkish verb forms into Bulgarian Romani (90–98), Barbara Schrammel on borrowing and calquing of German verbal affixes in Austrian Romani varieties (99–113), and Helena Pirttisaari on borrowed and inherited past participle morphs in Finnish Romani (114–27). The remaining two papers by Norbert Boretzky (128–43) and Gitte G. Simonsen (144–49) consider sounds change and semantic change, respectively.

Part 4 on computational linguistics contains one paper, by Kimmo Granqvist, who uses data from the ROMLEX project (documenting the Romani lexicon from as many different varieties and dialects as possible) to investigate the implementation of a two-level morphology processor for Finnish Romani (150–62).

The final part has three papers on different aspects of Romani sociolinguistics. Victor Friedman examines a trilingual Macedonian newspaper (163–73); Jelena Petrović and Lada Stefanović describe the situation of Roma refugees in Kosovo (174–81); and Elena Marushiakova and Vesselin Popov focus on the Gypsy nomadic groups of Bulgaria (182–87).

The volume constitutes a comprehensive and varied compendium of research conducted on Romani linguistics and is of interest to anyone working not only on Romani linguistics, but also on sociolinguistic and dialectal variation, language contact, as well as theoretical linguistics.

Reviewed by Colette van Kerckvoorde, Bard College at Simon’s Rock

This textbook attempts to provide an understanding of the main themes in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). The volume is divided into three sections, each of which contains seven units: Section A introduces key areas, terms, and concepts; Section B prepares the student to work effectively with scholarly articles; and Section C builds on the knowledge gained in the preceding sections, encouraging readers to undertake small research projects.

The book presents SLA from the perspective of dynamic systems theory (DST), a model that was originally developed for biology but that has been applied more recently in other disciplines. The central idea of DST is that all of the variables within a system interact and, as a result of this interaction, the system is constantly changing. Therefore, it is virtually impossible to reduce the study of a system to the isolated study of its individual parts.

Section A defines the field of SLA and discusses its dynamic aspects. The section begins with an overview of influential theories of SLA, describing their compatibility with DST. The units then turn to the multilingual mind, to the ways in which the brain processes information, and to how learning takes place. The final two units concentrate on individual learners’ characteristics and the role of instruction in SLA.

In Section B, each unit elaborates on a topic introduced in the previous section. The goal is to develop the skills necessary to approach scholarly articles. The authors provide excerpts from influential articles and repeatedly suspend the readings with questions designed to foster a critical thinking approach. This is a departure from the more traditional end of chapter review questions, and it works well for this book.

Section C first describes the types of research typically undertaken in SLA studies and then suggests concrete, small-scale research projects, building on the information in Sections A and B. These projects are designed to motivate the student and to encourage further exploration.

This is an excellent textbook for a course in SLA. Although an introductory tool, the word advanced in the title is appropriate: the target audience for the series includes upper-level undergraduate students, although it is likely that some may find this text quite challenging and will need accompanying instruction or further explanations, especially in Section A. Those with good critical reading skills, such as graduate students and teachers, should not experience any difficulties with Section A but may want to read the articles presented in Section B in their entirety, as they will most likely not need any assistance with approaching the scholarly literature. Section B, however, is especially attractive for those working with less experienced students, since the reader is continuously encouraged to reflect on specific topics. Each unit also contains an annotated bibliography for those who wish to further explore current trends in SLA.

Reviewed by Mousa A. Btoosh, Al-Hussein Bin Talal University

For a little over three and a half decades, Jaroslav Stetkevych’s cogently argued book has always been among the most cited books and primary sources for students and scholars with an interest in Arabic. This well-written and lucid book offers an integrative analysis of a number of central topics related to various levels of lexical, semantic, structural, and stylistic developments of the modern Arabic literary language.

The present re-issuing of this important book consists of six chapters framed by two forewords, an introduction, a preface, a section entitled ‘Definitions and projections’, a bibliography, and an index. In the introduction, William R. Polk sheds light on the historical, political, and linguistic situation of the Arabs and the Arabic language during the Golden, Dark and the Awakening Ages. In the context of the history of Arabic, Polk states that the relationship between Islam and Arabic is inseparable: ‘religion was as much the conveyor of the language as the language was the conveyor of religion’ (xvi). Ch. 1, ‘The analogical method of derivation (Al-Qiyās)’ (1–47), introduces the reader to the basic concepts, forms, and pioneer figures of analogy and derivation. The chapter focuses on three forms of derivation: the simple derivation, the large derivation, and the largest derivation. Ch. 2, ‘The formation of compound words (Al-Naht)’ (48–55), examines the four classes of Al-Naht as a rich source of lexical creation in Arabic.

Ch. 3, ‘The assimilation of foreign words (Al-Ta‛rib)’ (56–65), tackles one of the most important factors contributing to the modernization and development of Arabic, namely, Arabization. To this end, the author sheds light on a number of views and attitudes of lexicographers and grammarians towards Arabization. Ch. 4, ‘Semantic development’ (66–78), presents three inspirational ideas: (i) new meanings tend to be extension of the basic ideas of words; (ii) analogy is a major source for both lexical creation and semantic development; and (iii) semantic extension is made by general openness of meaning.

Ch. 5, ‘Attempts at a simplification of the grammar’ (79–94), thoroughly revises the different theoretical and practical attempts devoted to the simplification of Arabic grammar. Irrespective of the minor differences, most Arabic scholars assert the importance of the simplification process of Arabic grammar. In addition to fundamental factors that have contributed to the stylistic developments of modern Arabic, Ch. 6, ‘Foreign modes of expression (Ta‛rīb al-’ Asālīb)’ (95–113), reviews the previous studies on Arabic stylistic development and presents four major categories of stylistic borrowings.

The final section, ‘Definitions and projections’ (114–23), is devoted to some controversial issues concerning lexical and stylistic developments of the modern Arabic literary language. Furthermore, the section answers and clarifies four major points related to Arabic, language and thought. and the cultural context of language.

It is pretty rare to find a book on Arabic that is as thought-provoking and innovative as The Modern Arabic literary language: Lexical and stylistic developments. In short, this book is an invaluable aid to the study of Arabic.

Reviewed by Wolfgang Schulze, University of Munich

The last two decades have witnessed the appearance of a large number of books devoted to the typology of clause structures. Here, Javier Rivas develops a comprehensive picture of clause structures from a functional and cognitive perspective. R attempts to revise many basic descriptors and categorical commonalities, such as subject- and objecthood and relational (i.e. syntactic) primitives. Taking a typological approach, R investigates data from nearly 300 languages. All examples are fully glossed, although full morphological analyses of the language data are not always provided.

The volume includes six sections, preceded by a brief foreword and followed by references and a language index. In Section 1 (15–36), R discusses the functional domains of clause constructions, including their motivation by semantic and pragmatic features. Furthermore, he questions whether the categories subject and object are universally valid parameters.

In Section 2 (37–154), R turns to the typology of clause structure with a summary of nominative-accusative, ergative-absolutive, and active-inactive patterns. Additionally, R investigates minor clause structure types such as neutral, tripartite, and focus-based constructions.

In Section 3 (155–328), R investigates the well-known problem of transitivity and the nominal hierarchy. Here, R reports on the cognitive and semantic features that are thought to represent the central motivation for transitivity. Following an interesting discussion of the debate over arbitrariness and iconicity, R presents the major aspects of the split-typology of relational primitives.

Section 4 (329–70) deals with a nondiscrete approach to clause structure, which proposes a fuzzy theory of relational typology. R focuses on features of ergativity in accusative-based paradigms as well as on activity grading, which approximates the usual discussion on the common theories of relational splits.

In Section 5 (371–436), R investigates whether assuming the existence of universal core relations is justified. After discussing in detail the question of subjecthood (and coming to the conclusion that this category is valid only in accusative systems) and the status of relational primitives, R adopts the notion of protagonist and antagonist to describe the universal properties of clausal structuring.

The final section (437–45) is a summary of the observations and proposals argued throughout the book. In sum, R’s study is an interesting cross-linguistic contribution to the discussion of clausal organization. Although it does not provide full coverage of clause constructions, this book could be used as a textbook: the author’s specific perspective will help to promote the discussion of grammatical relations.

Reviewed by Mousa A. Btoosh, Al-Hussein Bin Talal University

An introduction to syntactic theory is a thoughtful continuation of the recent research on syntactic theories and how they deal with conflicting data. The book consists of seven chapters, a preface, a glossary, a bibliography, and an appendix. Each of the first six chapters is introduced by a ‘preliminaries’ section that, in turn, provides an overview of the chapter in question. Each of these chapters also includes conclusions, notes, and exercises.

Ch. 1, ‘Parameters of syntactic theories’ (1–35), focuses on the areas of differences and similarities among the syntactic theories. According to Moravcsik, all syntactic theories, irrespective of the differences in their methods and conflict-resolving techniques, must share certain goals. Ch. 2, ‘Alternative analyses of syntactic structures’ (36–74), seeks to explain conflicts within syntactic forms. Discontinuous linear order (paradigmatic and syntagmatic conflicts) and long-distance agreement are tackled as problematic areas in the analysis of the syntactic form.

Conflicts between syntactic form and meaning are thoroughly discussed in Chs. 3 and 4. Ch. 3, ‘Alternative analyses of symbolic correspondence relations: Co-ordination’ (75–106), examines the notion of compositionality and noncompositionality in coordinate constructions. Numerous pieces of evidence presented in the bulk of the chapter come together to favor a lack of compositionality between meaning and syntactic form in coordinate conjunctions. Ch. 4, ‘Alternative analyses of symbolic correspondence relations: Grammatical functions’ (107–46), reveals another conflict between form and meaning. Much evidence on the mismatches between semantic participant roles (agent, patient, etc.) and grammatical functions (subject, object, etc.) is clearly stated in the course of the discussion of the double-object constructions.

Ch. 5, ‘Alternative analyses of syntactic variation and change’ (147–78), discusses variation in constituent order across languages and surveys alternative analyses and resolutions of the conflicts in this domain. The second part of this chapter is devoted to syntactic change in children’s acquisition of relative-clause structures, conflicts in data, and alternative resolutions. Ch. 6, ‘Four contemporary approaches to syntax’ (179–218), examines the major features and tenants of four contemporary approaches to syntactic description: transformational grammars, dependency grammars, construction grammars, and optimality theory. The last chapter, ‘Where do conflicts come from?’ (219–24), sheds light on the sources of conflicts in syntax and syntactic theory. The chapter reports mainly on conflicts in ordinary linguistic expression and conflicts in linguistic analysis.

This book, which contains a rich coverage of the various syntactic theories and how they accommodate conflicts, presents a substantial contribution to an understanding of the differences as well as the shared goals among these theories. In sum, An introduction to syntactic theory is highly recommended as a valuable resource for anyone learning or teaching syntax.

Reviewed by Wolfgang Schulze, University of Munich

Tujia is spoken by roughly one percent of the eight million ethnic Tujia people who live in the center of the Hunan, Hubei, and Guizhou Provinces as well as in the Chongqing Municipality of Central China. The Tujia people are often associated with the ancient kingdom of the Ba people (600–316 BC). Tujia is the most northeasterly language in the Tibeto-Burman language family; however, the exact place of Tujia within this language family is a matter of dispute. Tujia language is the first comprehensive description of this highly endangered language, which will help to define more accurately the language’s place in the genetics of Tibeto-Burman.

Because Tujia is an isolating language, this volume concentrates on lexical and syntactic issues. The data stem from fieldwork carried out in 2002 and 2003. The book begins with a brief description of the Tujia speech community, before turning to phonology. In Ch. 2, the authors argue that the phonology of Tujia is very similar to that of the local Chinese dialects. Because of the prevalence of consonant-vowel (CV) syllables, the section on phonology focuses on onsets and rhymes. Additionally, the authors cautiously describe Tujia’s tonal system along with tone sandhi phenomena, which frequently occurs with classifiers and particles.

Ch. 3 turns to aspects of the Tujia lexicon, illustrating word structure, types of compounding, and the derivational affixes that separate the Tujia lexicon into semantic fields. Additionally, the authors illustrate examples of reduplication and borrowing (mainly from Chinese).

Ch. 4 presents Tujia’s lexical categories: mainly nouns, verbs, numerals, classifiers, adverbs, (rare) conjunctions, and interjections as well as an impressive collection of particles.

The rest of the book is devoted to syntax, and the authors adopt a functional, usage-based approach. Ch. 5 addresses global aspects of sentence structure such as topic prominence, the basic word order (subject-object-verb), and the basic sentence types (e.g. copular, existential, interrogative, imperative). The authors characterize noun phrases and verb phrases, devoting separate chapters (Ch. 6 and Ch. 7, respectively) to each of these domains. The authors pay special attention to the use of the associative particle nie³, which relates two referents in very general terms (e.g. possessive and relative). The bulk of the chapter on verbs deals with verbal particles, which encompass a wide range of modal and aspectual features (as well as directionality, negation, and relevance).

Ch. 8, which focuses on nominalization and relativization, returns to patterns of word formation, already introduced in Ch. 3. Ch. 9 includes a presentation of clause linking and special construction types (e.g. concurrence, instrumental, causative, sequential). The grammatical description ends with a brief discussion of pronouns in discourse (e.g. zero anaphor and the question of the third person singular). The appendix includes a list of approximately 1,500 thematically arranged lexical entries as well as three texts (one story and two songs, fully glossed and translated). The necessarily brief bibliography represents a complete list of references on the Tujia language (including Chinese publications).

Reviewed by Mousa A. Btoosh, Al-Hussein Bin Talal University

In addition to the admirable success of the previous two widely cited editions as comprehensive and insightful handbooks and textbooks, this revised edition makes a significant contribution by providing students and professionals with up-to-date insights on these domains. In spite of the involvement of the new coauthor, Janet Fletcher, the format of this edition is almost identical to the earlier ones. The book is organized into a total of eleven chapters in addition to the preface, two appendices, the references, and the index.

The introductory chapter (1–9) explains the basic concepts of phonetics and phonology, the importance of the theoretical-based exploration of spoken languages, and the applications of phonetics and phonology. Ch. 2, ‘Segmental articulation’ (10–54), presents detailed information on articulatory phonetics, covering speech organs, speech sounds, and phases of speech sound production. Ch. 3, ‘Units of speech’ (55–80), seeks to explain the notion of speech units: ‘On one phonological level we may speak of speech sounds as units, while on another level we may recognize syllables as units, and on yet another, phonological words or phrases’ (56). The chapter also reports on complex articulations and illustrates how certain combinations of sounds are better interpreted within the linguistic systems of which they are part. Ch. 4, ‘The phonemic organization of speech’ (81–125), presents sufficient discussion of the major traditional principles of phonological organization. Furthermore, the chapter tackles several major notions including phonetic variability and morphophonemic alternation.

In addition to presenting the origins and the basic notions and rules of generative phonology, Ch. 5, ‘The generative approach to phonology’ (126–58), sheds light on the three critical issues that have been pushed to the fore by the research on the this approach. Ch. 6, ‘The anatomy and physiology of speech production’ (159–203), provides a comprehensive account of the speech organs, including the underlying structures and functions of the nervous and respiratory systems. Ch. 7, ‘The acoustics of speech production’ (204–96), examines the nature of sounds, the basic acoustic features, the sound waves, and the importance of spectrographic analysis in modern phonetic research.

Ch. 8, ‘Speech perception’ (297–325), deals with auditory phonetics. Several key ideas to speech sound perception, including the complexity of perceptual task and the structure and perceptual functioning of the human ear, are thoroughly discussed. Ch. 9, ‘Prosody’ (326–71), is devoted to suprasegmental features including pitch, duration, loudness, tone languages, pitch-accent languages, stress, and intonation. Ch. 10, ‘Feature systems’ (372–92), mainly deals with the concept of features and their various types: acoustic features, articulatory features, and abstract features, among others. The closing chapter ‘The progress of phonology’ (393–434), surveys the theoretical and historical development of the fields in question up to the present time.

Taken together, the chapters of An introduction to phonetics and phonology provide a proper consideration for nearly all subfields of these domains. In sum, for all students and researchers on phonetics and phonology, this book is certainly needed.

Reviewed by Nina Rojina, University of Geneva

The volume contains selected articles from the international conference on Word Order and Scrambling (Tucson, Arizona, April 7–9, 2002). The fourteen articles in the volume address three major issues: (i) the semantic, syntactic, and discourse informational factors responsible for word order variations; (ii) the availability of scrambled constructions in second language (L2) and early first language (L1) acquisition; and (iii) the processing of word order variations. The first ten chapters deal with semantic, syntactic, and discourse informational properties of scrambling, whereas the final four chapters study the acquisition of scrambling.

Kenneth Hale, Eloise Jelinek, and MaryAnn Willie, ‘Topic and focus scope positions in Navajo’ (1–21), present an analysis of Navajo sentence structure and argue that Navajo is a pronominal argument and discourse configurational language. Katalin É. Kiss, ‘Argument scrambling, operator movement, and topic movement in Hungarian’ (22–43), analyzes Hungarian word order freedom and distinguishes three fields: (i) a postverbal argument field in which the order is determined by the specificity feature of arguments, (ii) an operator field that is determined semantically, and (iii) a topic field.

Mizuki Miyashita, Richard Demers, and Delbert Ortiz, ‘Grammatical relations in Tohono O’odham: An instrumental perspective’ (44–66), study the ambiguity of Tohono O’odham constructions that contain all third person arguments and suggest analyzing Tohono O’odham as a pronominal argument language. Veneeta Dayal, ‘Bare nominals: Non-specific and contrastive readings under scrambling’ (67–90), explores the validity of the generalization that the scrambling of indefinites results in the loss of nonspecific readings. She also investigates the status of contrastive readings and the relation of syntactic displacement to interpretation. Simin Karimi, ‘On object positions, specificity, and scrambling in Persian’ (91–124), analyzes the properties of Persian objects and distinguishes two object positions for specific and nonspecific objects, which accounts for the syntactic asymmetries between the two types of objects, and a third object position created by scrambling.

Jaklin Kornfilt, ‘Scrambling, subscrambling, and case in Turkish’ (125–55), discusses the relationship between scrambling out of larger determiner phrases (DPs; i.e. subscrambling) and the typology of case in Turkish. Furthermore, Kornfilt addresses the issues of specificity effect, condition on extraction domains, and incorporation. John Frederick Bailyn, ‘Does Russian scrambling exist?’ (156–76), argues against the existence of a uniform process of scrambling in Russian and suggests relating this phenomenon to the syntactic process of generalized inversion (i.e. A-scrambling) and dislocation (i.e. A´-scrambling).

Shigeru Miyagawa, ‘A-movement scrambling and options without optionality’ (177–200), argues that the A-scrambling of objects is driven by extended projection principle (EPP) and thus cannot be considered to be an instance of an optional operation. Helen de Hoop, ‘Scrambling in Dutch: Optionality and optimality’ (201–16), analyzes the scrambling behavior of definite objects in Dutch, which is not a feature driven phenomenon, and proposes an optimality theory analysis for studying the tendency of anaphoric definites to scramble. De Hoop also explains why scrambling does not affect the interpretation of sentences that contain anaphoric definites. Anoop Mahajan, ‘Word order and (remnant) VP movement’ (217–37), provides an analysis of subject-object-verb (SOV) and SVO languages by adopting Kayne’s (1994) antisymmetry approach and employing remnant verb phrase (VP) movement.

Vaijayanthi Sarma, ‘Non-canonical word order: Topic and focus in adult and child Tamil’ (238–72), argues that free word order in Tamil is a well-defined syntactic process with semantic consequences. Sarma also examines the availability of scrambled constructions in early L1 acquisition. Noriko Iwasaki, ‘L2 acquisition of Japanese: Knowledge and use of case particles in SVO and OSV sentences’ (273–300), focuses on the L2 acquisition of Japanese case particles in scrambled and nonscrambled constructions among English speakers. Irina A. Sekerina, ‘Scrambling and processing: Dependencies, complexity and constraints’ (301–24), studies the difference between scrambling and wh-movement and compares the processing complexity of scrambled sentences with those in canonical order. Angela D. Friederici, Matthias Schlesewsky, and Christian J. Fiebach, ‘Wh-movement versus scrambling: The brain makes a difference’ (325–44), compare wh-movement with scrambling in German by conducting a number of studies using event-related brain responses.

References

Kayne, Richard, S. 1994. The antisymmetry of syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Reviewed by Mousa A. Btoosh, Al-Hussein Bin Talal University

This revised and updated edition continues the goals of the previous one for readers with an interest in Iraqi Arabic. The textbook is a readable introduction that requires little background knowledge of (Iraqi) Arabic on the part of the reader. Rather than emphasizing a traditional skills-based approach, this book focuses on everyday language that meets the basic needs of travelers, diplomats, businessmen, and the like. The book consists of twenty lessons framed by a preface, an introduction, a list of abbreviations, a glossary, and a CD. The lessons present everyday situations and are organized in a story-like format that tracks the activities of Basma (an American-born Iraqi woman) as she travels from the United States to Iraq. Lessons 2 through 20 are divided into six subsections: ‘Basic dialogue’, ‘Vocabulary or additional expressions’, ‘Grammar and remarks’, ‘Idioms and common phrases’, ‘Drills’, and ‘Creative dialogues’.

Lesson 1, ‘Arabic alphabet and vowels’ (1–9), sheds light on the phonetic features of Iraqi Arabic. Lesson 2, ‘Greetings and courtesy expressions’ (11–18), focuses on the oral greeting expressions and responses. Lesson 3, ‘Asking for directions’ (21–30), is devoted to the expressions and lexicon commonly used when looking for a place.

Lessons 4 through 10 are devoted to the everyday expressions and suitable responses used from the very early arrival at the airport to introductions in the hotel lobby. Lesson 4, ‘Arrival at Baghdad Airport, Part 1’ (33–41), and Lesson 5, ‘Arrival at Baghdad Airport, Part 2’ (43–55), are devoted to the expressions and vocabulary needed to talk to the passport official and the airport customs inspector, respectively. Lesson 6, ‘Taking a taxi’ (57–68), explores the expressions used when talking to taxi drivers, including those associated with paying the fare. Lesson 7, ‘At the Rashid Hotel’ (71–83), focuses on the common expressions often used between a customer and the hotel receptionist concerning room booking and other relevant issues. Lesson 8, ‘Introductions’ (85–95), presents numerous interactive expressions used to introduce ourselves, greet, and welcome others. Lesson 9, ‘Speaking Arabic’ (97–107), presents a dialogue between Basma and a native customer concerning her Arabic language and some relevant topics. Lesson 10, ‘Telling Time’ (109–20), focuses on the parts of the day and other time expressions used in Iraqi Arabic.

Lessons 11 through 15 present the common expressions and vocabulary used when visiting historical sites, a bank, a post office, and a restaurant, respectively. Lesson 16, ‘Family and relatives’ (204–15), presents the ordinary expressions used when inquiring about family and relatives. Lessons 17 through 19 focus on the respective expressions and terms used in medical care, in mass media, and in telephone conversations. In addition to the two folk tales, Lesson 20, ‘Cultural folkloric tales’ (265–82), provides a brief introduction on the importance of Iraq as the cradle of human civilization. The final section, ‘Glossary’ (283–344), presents alphabetical organization of the vocabulary used throughout the book.

In sum, this book makes an excellent introductory text material for classroom and self-study purposes. The book introduces the reader to the basic expressions, lexicon, and grammar of Iraqi Arabic.

Reviewed by Anna Pucilowski, University of Oregon

For many years, Paul Friedrich’s commitment to immersion in multiple dimensions of a culture has attracted students and admirers. The contributors to this volume come from a wide variety of disciplines, which fittingly reflects Friedrich’s interdisciplinary approach to language, culture, and the individual. The essays are divided into three sections, each of which concentrates on one aspect of Friedrich’s research: relative nonarbitrariness, ethnographic parallax, and lyrical voices. Following an introduction to both Friedrich’s work and the current volume, in an interview conducted by Thomas Bartscherer, Friedrich describes his pluralist approach to anthropology, linguistics, classics, and Slavic studies.

Section 1 centers on the theme of ‘Relative non-arbitrariness’, which is perhaps Friedrich’s best-known contribution to anthropology and linguistics. Unlike most linguists, Friedrich (1975) claims that the relation between a symbol and the world is, in fact, nonarbitrary. The essays in this section explore the relationship between language and culture. John Attinasi outlines Friedrich’s major intellectual achievements and discusses his ideas on linguaculture and the nonarbitrary links between language and the world. Murray J. Leaf specifically considers Friedrich’s contributions to linguistics and discusses Friedrich’s theory of meaning in language. He puts Friedrich in the same philosophical tradition of romanticism as Benjamin Lee Whorf and Otto Jespersen. William O. Beeman’s essay extends Friedrich’s argument of nonarbitrariness to performative symbols and looks in particular at the representation of women in traditional Iranian theater. Two essays consider the relationship between sound and meaning: Janis B. Nuckoll discusses sound-symbolic properties in ideophones; and Ellen Zimmerman looks at iconicity in language, suggesting that there may be cognitive connections between sound and meaning that are universal. Bonnie Urciuoli discusses the cultural semiotics of accents, looking at a group of New York Puerto Rican bilinguals. In the final essay in this section, John Leavitt compares translation strategies and suggests that anthropologists and translators have a lot to learn from each other.

Section 2, ‘Ethnographic parallax’, contains essays that draw on Friedrich’s parallactic tradition of examining ethnographic data from seven angles. Jeffrey Anderson investigates the life of a Northern Arapaho man and reveals the relationship between vision and language in Arapaho culture. Three papers contain historical studies of poetics in myths: David Koestler looks at the manipulation of reputation in Icelandic sagas; Hajime Nakatani discusses the conception of representation in Aztec and Inca cultures; and Kevin Tuite examines Dael, a popular figure in the oral literature of the Georgian Svans.

Also in Section 2, Louanna Furbee closely examines multiple narratives of a single event to better understand various world views and political orientations. Mary Scoggin studies the debates over the function of words and human agency in China. The final two papers investigate different aspects of Russian society: Dale Pesmen investigates the Russian cultural notion of ‘soul’, dusha; and Clementine Fujimura explores the false myths that draw Russian children to the cities.

Section 3, ‘Lyrical voices’, contains seven essays that examine the relationship between literature and music.

All of the essays in this volume make frequent reference to Friedrich and his ideas on language, the individual, and culture. Just as Friedrich has been highly interdisciplinary in his work, this book will appeal to readers from a wide variety of disciplines.

References

Friedrich, Paul. 1975. The lexical symbol and its relative non-arbitrariness. Linguistics and anthropology: In honor of C. F. Voegelin, ed. by M. Dale Kinkade, Kenneth L. Hale, and Oswald Werner, 199–248. Lisse: de Ridder.