Reviewed by Kanavillil Rajagopalan, State University at Campinas, Brazil

This volume contains a selection of papers from the thirteenth International Association of World Englishes conference, held in Regensburg, Germany, in October 2007. The papers are presented in two parts, ‘Focus on’ and ‘The global perspective’. Part 1 is further divided into four sections: ‘Africa’ (two papers), ‘The Caribbean’ (three papers), ‘Australia and New Zealand’ (two papers), and ‘Asia’ (six papers). Part 2 is divided into two sections, ‘Comparative studies’ and ‘New approaches’.

The papers collected in Part 1 concentrate on peculiarities of specific varieties of English such as the so-called ‘GOOSE vowel’ in South African English, rhoticity in educated Jamaican English, and certain discourse particles in Indian English, as in ‘Where’s the party, yaar!’ Some of the papers report on surveys and bird’s eye views of emerging or already consolidated varieties of English such as Ghanaian English, the role of standard English in Trinidadian secondary schools, Australian English as ‘a regional epicenter’, and the intelligibility of Japanese accents.

Alongside these mostly descriptive studies, some papers address theoretically more challenging issues, such as Lisa Lim’s ‘Not just an “Outer Circle”, “Asian” English: Singapore English and the significance of ecology’ (179–206), which foregrounds the need to take the whole of linguistic ecology into account to capture its inherent dynamicity.

The papers in Part 2 are all meatier theoretically. Of the four papers in the first section, one uses empirical, mostly morphosyntactic, evidence from some World Englishes (WE) to challenge the modern linguistic sacred cow of the ‘equi-complexity axiom’. Another looks at the progressive passive against the backdrop of the tension between the global feature and local norms; and the other two address the issues of the common core of different WEs and differences in word-formation among them.

Finally, the section on new approaches addresses a host of issues like the indigenization of English in North America, English as a lingua franca, the theoretical ‘hot potato’ of the English native speaker, WEs in the context of ‘Peace Sociolinguistics’, and the sensitive topic of WEs and the literary canon.

Ever since Braj Kachru promoted the study of WEs, scholars from all over the world have contributed to its development in diverse ways. Over the years it has also become clear that these and kindred linguistic phenomena, relatively neglected in the past, can nevertheless afford us important insights into the workings of the very object of our research, language. The papers that comprise this volume will greatly contribute to that end.

Reviewed by Richard W. Hallett, Northeastern Illinois University

This book is the result of a conversation analysis (CA) course at the University of California at Los Angeles on the topic of talk and social institutions. Its aim is to offer examples of how interactional practices can be analyzed and explained.

Following Ch 1, ‘Introduction’ (1–3), the main chapters are organized in five parts.  Part 1, ‘Conversation analysis and social institutions’, is comprised of  Ch. 2, ‘Conversation analysis: Some theoretical background’ (7–19), which briefly discusses the contributions of some linguists to CA and lists the basic assumptions of CA; Ch. 3, ‘Talking social institutions into being’ (20–33), which discusses two views of talk and social context and characterizes adjacency pairs; and Ch. 4, ‘Dimensions of institutional talk’ (34–50), which offers the characteristics and distinctiveness of institutional talk.

Three chapters constitute Part 2, ‘Calls for emergency service’. Ch 5, ‘Emergency calls as institutional talk’ (53–68), provides the hallmarks and overall structure of emergency calls. In Ch. 6, ‘Gatekeeping and entitlement to emergency service’ (69–86), the authors note, ‘Calling 911 is not like ordering a pizza’ (69), and examine callers’ practices in ambiguous and marginal cases. Ch. 7, ‘Emergency calls under stress’ (87–100), focuses on ‘hot calls’, i.e. emergency calls in which the caller is highly distraught.

‘Doctor-patient interaction’ is the theme of Part 3. Ch. 8, ‘Patients’ presentations of medical issues: The doctor’s problem’ (103–18), focuses on primary medical care. Ch. 9, ‘Patients’ presentations of medical issues: The patient’s problem’ (119–34), discusses patients’ discourse, i.e. the perceived legitimacy of their medical conditions. Ch. 10, ‘History taking in medicine: Questions and answers’ (135–53), presents four fundamental features of question design. Ch. 11, ‘Diagnosis and treatment: Medical authority and its limits’ (154–69), examines the interactional dynamics of the expression of medical authority.

Three chapters comprise Part 4, ‘Trials, juries, and dispute resolution’. Ch. 12, ‘Trial examinations’ (173–85), focuses on witness examinations and jury deliberations during trial. Ch. 13, ‘Jury deliberations’ (186–99), presents a case study, and Ch. 14, ‘Informal modes of dispute resolution’ (200–12), discusses phases of activity, participant roles, agency, and facilitation.

Part 5, ‘News and political communication’, consists of four chapters and a conclusion. Ch. 15, ‘News interview turn taking’ (215–26), delves into the complexity of the turn-taking system in interviews. In Ch. 16, ‘Question design in the news interview and beyond’ (22744), the authors claim that of all the institutions they present in this volume, ‘the news interview is the most nakedly exposed to the raw processes of social change’ (244). In Ch. 17, ‘Answers and evasions’ (24562), they offer a vice presidential debate as a case study in resistance and pursuit. They discuss the preference for ‘lists of three’ in public speeches in Ch. 18, ‘Interaction en masse: Audiences and speeches’ (263–79). In Ch. 19, ‘Conclusion’ (280–82), the authors claim that ‘Just as the workings of institutions are influenced by the interaction order, so too the interaction order is influenced by the institutional contexts of its implementation’ (280). A set of ‘Transcript symbols’ (283–87) follows the conclusion.

This volume is a good supplement to courses on CA and language and identity.

Reviewed by Kanavillil Rajagopalan, State University at Campinas, Brazil

This volume is the fourth in a series titled Semiotics, communication and cognition, edited by Paul Cobley. It treads a fine line between the Enlightenment-inspired intellectuals who, in John Deely’s view, ‘have not the foggiest idea of what objectivity properly consists in’ (12) and the postmoderns who he thinks hold the key but do not always know where to insert it or when and how to turn it.

The book consists of two parts. Part 1, ‘What objective reality is and how it is possible’, consists of seven chapters of varying lengths. Part 2, ‘Background to the text’, consists of three chapters of roughly twenty pages each. Each of these, as the ‘Foreword’ to the book informs us, ‘derives from lectures’ given by D at the New Bulgarian University of Sofia in 2002. With chapter headings such as ‘What difference does it make what a sign is?’ and ‘The amazing history of sign’, Part 2 might strike the reader as something of an excrescence or at best an afterthought.

In a section called ‘Terminological prenote’, the author asks for the reader’s forbearance in the face of ‘old words used in new ways’ as well as new words being introduced. He acknowledges that the task at hand does call for some word-wringing. With all their enthusiasm and diligence, Enlightenment thinkers failed to properly grasp the character of objectivity, D says, despite Bishop Berkeley’s timely warnings to the moderns that ‘the primary qualities could have no other status than the secondary ones’ (4).

D’s own solution to the mental gridlock is the distinction between coenoscopic and ideoscopic knowledge, originally proposed by Jeremy Bentham and reworked by Charles Peirce, with slight orthographic reformulation at his own initiative. D conducts the reader through a most rigorous discussion, implacably splitting hairs along the way.

Arguably, his style does not always match the seriousness of the content. The opening sentence of the very first chapter is an example: ‘The word itself summarizes the problem today: ”objectivity”. Pray, tell me, what is it you are talking about?’ (14). Such casual interjections jar with such other convoluted locutions as ‘a core of experiential awareness that cannot be gainsaid without denying to the whole edifice of human understanding the status of something more than a solipsistic bubble, wherein the starry heavens that we believe in can yet never be attained through experience and knowledge’ (5). Such stylistic lapses aside, the book does provide stimulating food for thought.

Reviewed by Stacey O’Brien, Texas Tech University

In Toward a rhetoric of insult, David Conley does not provide a theory of insult, but rather a reflective discussion of a topic that has heretofore received little scholarly attention. Arguing for an understanding of insult as a type of rhetoric, he seeks to reveal the pervasiveness of this human behavior and identify the significant impact, both unifying and divisive, that it has on human interaction.

In Ch. 1, ‘The range of insult’ (1–29), C provides a framework analyzing insults in terms of intensity, or level of hurtfulness; scenario, or surrounding context; and vehicle, or style and delivery. Insult terms and gestures are surveyed from several languages to exemplify this categorization and reveal their crosslinguistic prevalence. He discusses the style and creativity insults exhibit through tropes and figures. Insults are also shown to resist labeling as inherently abusive given their varied uses. C then highlights how the intent and context of an insult are often overlooked.

Ch. 2, ‘Traditional principles of insult’ (31–95), considers both the commonality of insult subject matter, regardless of time or genre, and the rhetoric in insults that appeals to the values and commonplaces of one’s community. C cites insults from historical figures like Cicero, Martial, and Shakespeare, each of whom carefully molded audience expectations and employed dramatic argument structures to gain public support for their insults. He also discusses the rhetorical impact of more varied insults (like Monty Python’s), the visual imagery of political cartoons and caricatures, and the verbal sparring matches common in some African American communities. Through these examples, C highlights the way insults create authority, rely heavily on an intimate familiarity with one’s audience, and belittle opponents while uniting those with common beliefs.

Ch. 3, ‘Beyond ‘traditional’ rhetoric’ (97–126), discusses the need for a new understanding of rhetoric in order to accurately interpret insult. C portrays insults as persuasive tools that convince audiences of their superiority over others, thereby generating support and shared identities. Identities of superiority allow groups to create new hierarchies of power and interrogate and reinforce existing ones. C claims that such tactical uses of insults justify their rhetorical interpretation and highlight the integral role they play in culture and society.

Overall, C provides a significant amount of data and a thoroughly-researched discussion that should appeal to a broad audience and serve as a helpful resource for further study. His work challenges the common notion of insults as purely divisive, redefining them as creative hallmarks of social interaction. C also demonstrates the highly persuasive and functional application of insults, creating a unique and convincing argument for a rhetorical approach to them. More importantly, this work is among the first scholarly discussions of insults, a field that has been largely overlooked in previous linguistic research.

Reviewed by Dieter Aichele, Fachhochschule Worms

A better pencil illustrates the significance of today’s digital reading and writing tools as part of five thousand years of literacy. Dennis Baron, professor of English and linguistics at the University of Illinois, starts with oral history and early writing in ancient Europe. He shows how the written record provoked fears and changed oral tradition forever. At the time philosophers and scholars feared that writing would corrupt the value of the spoken word, despite its being initially used mainly for administrative purposes. Ironically we only know of these fears today because they were written down.

Writing and literacy were refined and improved successively by such developments as the pencil, printing press, telegraph, telephone, typewriter, electronic calculator, word processor, and the internet. B considers all of these just a kind of technology that he views in light of the mixed reception of all technological inventions and new ideas throughout history, which have been greeted with high expectations and uncertainty, prejudice, and even fear.

At the same time, human beings have learned to adopt and either adapt or adapt to new technology as needed. Not all inventions last (e.g. typewriters), while others are used in parallel with new tools (e.g. pencils and even handwriting). Thus, for B today’s digital text culture of word processing, search engines, internet bookshops, diaries, blogs, social networking, and the like is just another evolutionary step in the history of literacy.

For B, the digital revolution is noteworthy in  its faster development than earlier technologies and in making writing easily accessible to more readers and writers. The internet offers a platform for writers and easy access for readers regardless of space and time. It has also greatly affected views of what is public and private and of freedom of information. Ever more public information is transported into the lives of private individuals. At the same time internet companies try to gather information about people’s private lives to use in marketing and product development. As in the past, this new development is accompanied by enthusiasm and scepticism. Only the future will show what will last and what will not.

The book includes a number of illustrations showing technological milestones in writing. An index of keywords is given at the end of the book.

Reviewed by Marc Pierce, University of Texas at Austin

The Dutch language has a long history in North America. The first Dutch-speaking settlers arrived in 1609, and Dutch was soon widely spoken in the eastern part of what is now the United States. After the British annexation of the Dutch colony of New Netherland (now New York) in 1664, Dutch began to lose ground to English. A second wave of Dutch-speaking immigrants in the nineteenth century boosted the status of the language, especially in the American Midwest. Much like other immigrant languages in the United States, Dutch was ultimately almost completely abandoned in favor of English, although surviving for a surprising length of time in some areas: in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for instance, the Christian Reformed Church offered a weekly service in Dutch as late as 1958 (74). Given this long history, it is unsurprising that Dutch has left a number of traces in American English; common words like cookie and Santa Claus are all loanwords from Dutch, and there are also a number of Dutch place names in North America, e.g. Yonkers (New York) and Holland (Michigan). This book offers a thorough discussion of the effects of Dutch on American English; the influence of Dutch on Native American languages is treated in somewhat less detail.

The book consists of three chapters. Ch. 1, ‘The Dutch language in North America’ (17–111), concentrates largely on the historical and social aspects of Dutch in North America, e.g. settlement history and the current status of Dutch. Some linguistic issues are also examined, like structural characteristics of American Dutch. Ch. 2, ‘Dutch words that have left their mark on American English: A thematic glossary’ (113–281), discusses individual Dutch loanwords in American English. A typical entry describes the Dutch source word, looks at early attestations of the loanword in American English, and then reviews later developments. The entry on cookie, for instance, traces it to Dutch koekje, koekie ‘small cake’, cites a number of early examples of its use, and discusses the emergence of expressions like smart cookie and to toss one’s cookies ‘to vomit’, as well as the character of the Cookie Monster from the children’s television program Sesame Street (125–27). The final chapter, ‘Dutch influence on North American Indian languages’ (283–97), surveys Dutch loanwords in Native American languages, e.g. knoop ‘button’, which was borrowed into Delaware as kenóp. (The Native American name Seneca is also a borrowing from Dutch.) There is a brief preface by Ronald H.A. Plasterk (both English and Dutch versions of the preface are given; in fact, a Dutch version of the book is also available), an extensive bibliography, and an index of the American English words discussed in Ch. 2.

One wonders if all of the words treated in the book are really loanwords from Dutch, as some of them could well have been borrowed from German; there are some stylistic slips that should have been fixed; and a number of the maps are rather poorly produced. These objections aside, this very informative, readable, and entertaining book is a welcome addition to the literature on the subject.

Reviewed by Peter Freeouf, Chiang Mai University

French has long been spoken in the southern parts of the American state of Louisiana. Just as French Louisiana is known for its distinctive culture, music, and cuisine (a mixture of European, African, and Native American styles incorporating local ingredients), so these communities developed and maintained until recent years flourishing divergent dialects of the French language, commonly referred to as Cajun and Creole French, whose speakers now are dwindling in number. This massive dictionary seeks to encompass the rich lexical resources of Louisiana French (LF).

‘A user’s guide to the dictionary’, (xv–xvii) explains with the help of a series of diagrams (xv–xvii) how to read and make optimal use of the entries. A subsection, ‘Detailed discussion of the content and structure of entries’ (xix–xxv) provides further explanation and examples of entries in the Louisiana French-English portion of the dictionary. A detailed ‘References list’ (xxvii–xxix) gives a list of published sources, including radio stations and two periodicals published in Louisiana French. A ‘List of parish codes’ (xxxiii) is a list of the parishes in southern Louisiana where French has traditionally been spoken.

In the ‘Pronunciation guide’ (xxxvii–xl) the distinctive sounds of LF are listed in International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols, with one sample word for each phoneme given in IPA transcription, followed by the traditional French spelling and an English gloss. The list of phonemes and sample words is followed by a discussion of LF developments of specific French vowels and consonants in LF that distinguish it from standard French.

The bulk of the dictionary is the ‘Dictionary of Louisiana French’ proper (3–665). The entries in the LF-English section consist of a headword in traditional French spelling and its pronunciation (often including variants) in IPA transcription in brackets, followed by an indication of its word class and English equivalents. The majority of entries provide one or more example sentences for the headword in traditional French spelling (without transcription), followed by an English translation. Each full entry ends with the geographical source (parish) and other source information. Written variants are listed in the LF-English section and are cross-referenced to a form corresponding more closely to standard French spelling, which is of course helpful for those who will use French as a reference or starting point. An extensive and detailed ‘English-Louisiana French index’ (669–891) is helpful for finding the LF equivalents of English words and phrases.

This dictionary is a magnificent publication, destined to be the definitive lexicographical record of LF, an endangered language with a long and complex ethno-linguistic history of interest to linguists, ethnographers, and historians alike. Those responsible for producing this splendid work are to be commended for their hard work, obvious dedication, and a purchase price affordable to a very wide range of interested readers and users.

Reviewed by Tommi Leung, United Arab Emirates University

Cognitive scientists have witnessed a paradigmatic shift in the theory of cognition from a classical symbol-based to an interactive ecological approach that focuses on the dynamics between mind, body, and external world. Robert D. Rupert’s Cognitive systems and the extended mind examines this theory of situated cognition. A number of variations on situated cognition are discussed: the extended view (cognition extends beyond the boundary of the organism), embedded mind (cognition depends on the organism’s use of external resources, while not extending into the environment), and embodied mind (no active role of the environment in cognition). R rejects the extended view of cognition and argues that the embedded and embodied views provide important understanding of cognition.

The book is divided into an introductory chapter and three major parts. Part 1, ‘The thinking organism’, presents arguments against the extended view based on problems of demarcation. A non-extended systems-based approach is proposed, claiming that a single cognitive process involves the interaction between various bodily concepts, whereas the external environment is not an integral part of cognition.

Part 2, ‘Arguments for the extended view’, examines previous arguments in support of the extended view. Ch. 5, ‘Functionalism and natural kinds’, argues that what is considered an extended cognitive process by proponents of extended mind can be accounted for by internal bodily concepts and mechanism. Ch. 6, ‘Developmental systems theory and the scaffolding of language’, describes the mismatch between extended mind and development systems theory in genetic biology. Ch. 7, ‘Dynamical systems theory’, points out that a version of extended mind that takes into account the interaction between organism and environment does not provide support for the extended mind.

Part 3, ‘The embedded and embodied mind’, discusses the embedded view of mind. In Ch. 9, ‘Embedded cognition and computation’, R claims that embedded models are not necessarily defined by explicit encoded rules. A non-computationalist approach is theoretically possible if it is ‘the structure of the environment that causes the developmentally flexible brain to implement some algorithms in the absence of explicitly encoded rules’ (186).

Ch. 10, ‘Embedded cognition and mental representation’, contends that the embedded approach supplements orthodox rule-based computationalism, and moreover that embedded representations are partial, context-dependent and action-oriented, relational and egocentric, and ‘fluidly guide our messy, real-time interaction with the world’ (193). Ch. 11, ‘The embodied view’, evaluates possible interpretations of the embodied mind, making sense of its conceptual relation with orthodox cognition. He points out that the potential disagreement between embodied and orthodox cognition is nonexistent and that embodied models exhibit properties compatible with the orthodox view. Ch. 12, ‘Summary and conclusions’, reiterates R’s rejection of the extended view of cognition and suggests that it is through the active design of experiments and models that the embedded and embodied models can best proceed.

Reviewed by Marc Pierce, University of Texas at Austin

This book contains ten papers addressing various aspects of language contact, as well as a brief introduction by the editors. The individual papers fall into three categories: language contact and migration, language contact in border areas, and language contact ‘without physical contact with speakers of another language’ (4). For reasons of space, I only discuss one paper from each category.

There are six papers in the first category. Pieter Muysken reviews two approaches to ethnolects in ‘Ethnolects as a multidimensional phenomenon’ (7–25). They are (i) the ‘shift perspective’, which focuses on ‘the approximation in the speech of ethnic groups to the dominant national target language’ (7); and (ii) the ‘multidimensional perspective’, which also looks at ‘the original languages of the ethnic group and processes of mutual convergence and simplification’ (7). Muysken argues that these two perspectives are ‘complementary rather than exclusive’ (23), illustrating his discussion with data drawn largely from the ‘language use of Moroccan and Turkish young people who actually speak Dutch fluently’ (17).

Two papers address language contact in border areas. ‘Detecting contact effects in pronunciation’ (131–53), by Wilbert Heeringa, John Nerbonne, and Petya Osenova, explores ‘language contact effects between Bulgarian dialects…and the languages of the countries bordering Bulgaria’ (131), specifically Macedonian, Serbian, Romanian, Greek, and Turkish. They hypothesize that ‘pronunciation influences should be strongest as one approaches the border of a country which speaks the putatively influential language’ (131). Interestingly, especially in light of ‘the large consensus among Balkanists that pronunciation plays a subordinate role in the Sprachbund’ (149), they found ‘clines of increasing similarity’ (148) with regard to Macedonian, Serbian, and Romanian. The results for Greek and Turkish, on the other hand, were negative, which may result from historical and/or sociolinguistic factors

The last two papers address language contact without contact between speakers. Jason Shaw and Rahul Balusu discuss ‘Language contact and phonological contrast: The case of coronal affricates in Japanese loans’ (155–80). The focus here is on the pronunciation of [tʃi] and [ti] by two generations of speakers with very low conversational proficiency in English. Shaw and Balusu note that there are some generational differences in this regard, and argue that ‘the first generation of borrowers mapped the foreign phonological contrast to an allophonic distinction in … Japanese and that the second generation of speakers promoted this weak phonetic distinction to phonemic status’ (155). Their results show that ‘phonological contrasts can be borrowed…by mature adult speakers even without substantial direct contact with the source language’ (177).

Other papers in the volume include ‘Personal pronoun variation in language contact: Estonian in the United States’ (63–86) by Piibi-Kai Kivik; ‘The reflection of historical language contact in present-day Dutch and Swedish’ (103–17) by Charlotte Gooskens, Renée van Bezooijen, and Sebastian Kürschner; and ‘The impact of German on Schleife Sorbian: The use of gor in the Eastern Sorbian border dialect’ (119–30) by Hélène B. Brijnen.

Most of the papers in the volume are quite good, some are first-rate, and the breadth and depth of coverage are both very welcome. A few of the papers do not quite rise to this level, but such papers are definitely in the minority.

Reviewed by Ingrid Pufahl, Center for Applied Linguistics

While foreign language instruction in U.S. elementary and middle schools has sharply declined over the past decade, countries abroad are introducing foreign languages to increasingly younger students. The seventeen articles in this volume provide important insights into how educational context contributes to early language learning (ELL) and much-needed information about how best to teach and learn foreign languages.

The first two chapters introduce the range of topics. The editor’s opening chapter, ‘The age factor in context’, discusses the critical period hypothesis, different ELL program models, their goals, and time frames, as well as recent themes, issues, and challenges in empirical ELL research. Peter Edelenbos and Angelika Kubanek, focusing on recent European research, identify pedagogical principles and good practices underlying ELL.

The subsequent four chapters discuss assessment. Helena Curtain provides a detailed account of proficiency-based assessment instruments and underlying performance guidelines used in U.S. programs. Ofra Inbar-Lourie and Elana Shohamy propose an assessment construct for meaningful language use embedded in relevant content, providing examples from young Israeli English learners. Joanne Jalkanen, revisiting the critical age hypothesis, reports how teaching and assessment are integrated in a total English immersion program for Finnish preschoolers/kindergarteners, while Andrea Haenni Hoti, Sybille Heinzmann, and Marianne M­üller describe how previous language knowledge, affective and attitudinal factors, and learning strategies affect young learners’ English oral proficiency in Switzerland.

The next two chapters address how age affects language proficiency. Carmen Muñoz compares the quantity, quality, and intensity of language input with long-term outcomes in formal and naturalistic language learning settings. She concludes that the extended and non-intensive language input, typical of formal language learning settings, favors older learners, who outperform younger learners in traditional foreign language classrooms. In contrast, Chise Kasai, comparing the sound acquisition of Japanese children and adults, confirms that a young age is advantageous when aiming for native-like pronunciation.

The subsequent three chapters address individual differences in ELL. Jelena Mihaljević Djigunović discusses how young learners’ attitudes and motivation, anxiety, and strategies affect learning outcomes. Marina Mattheoudakis and Thomaï Alexiou report how socio-economic factors affect English learners in Greece, while Csilla Kiss reports on the development of a foreign langauge aptitude test for young Hungarian students.

This is followed by three chapters focusing on Asian contexts. Qiang Wang reports on English in China, from policy to a large-scale teacher survey on implementation. Jayne Moon examines the teacher factor in ELL programs in Vietnam, and Jing Peng and Lili Zhang study interaction in English classrooms in China.

The last three chapters focus on the status of languages. John Harris discusses how insights from long-standing heritage language programs in Ireland can be applied to ELL programs. Janet Enever examines attitudes and language choice in primary foreign language education in the UK. Rivi Carmel’s critical discourse analysis examines the social, educational, and individual implications of the English for Young Learners program in Israel.

Overall, the book provides an interesting and useful overview of issues, research methods, and educational contexts of early language learning and teaching for both practitioners and researchers.