Language adaptation Edited by Florian Coulmas (review)

BOOK NOTICES 393 Part 2, 'The ontological question', considers in more detail the ontological implications of the view discussed in Part 1 . One chapter contrasts Cs proposal with certain varieties of materialism , reductionism, and dualism, as well as token physicalism. Another chapter treats views that regard linguistic objects as social realities of some kind. The final chapter discusses, among other things, the Platonism of Jerrold Katz. Cs proposals are not convincing. As he notes (125-6), the sentence/utterance distinction is central to his view, reflecting a fundamental ontological divide. Yet, utterances must take their form from the 'intersubjective' entities he takes sentences to be. Thus, when fully elaborated, his framework must provide some realization of the sentence and other linguistic objects in individual psychology; it becomes unclear what is achieved by adopting Cs ontology. Linguistic research might adopt as its proper focus the psychological manifestations of his intersubjective realities. A further problem is that C nowhere explains why. if sentences are intersubjective realities, the prospect of intersubjective comparison or integration never comes up; his view is that rules exist only insofar as they express generalizations that are true of some group of individuals . How is it then that, even adopting Cs ontology, we would never be moved to ask whether some group of individuals actually agrees on the properties of a given sentence? Of course, if C were to agree that systematic (perhaps experimental) comparisons across individuals had some role to play in establishing the nature of the intersubjective realities he posits , then the methodological divide he sees between linguistics and more typical scientific enterprises would collapse, at least in principle. But it is exactly that divide that he sets out to explain. Cs book has a place among the readings in a graduate course in the philosophy of linguistics . The methodological contrast from which he begins has been a continuing source of confusion , and this work can help to focus discussion aimed at uncovering its sources and implications. [Wayne Cowart. University of Southern Maine.) Readings in translation theory. Ed. by Andrew Chesterman. Helsinki: Oy Finn Lectura Ab, 1989. Pp. 200. This book might have made a good textbook for a course in translation theory; unfortunately, it is not one. Only one point comes across clearly in this anthology, namely, that good translation is hard work. The unsatisfactoriness of this collection of papers cannot be attributed to the various authors, among whom are John Dryden on 'Metaphrase , paraphrase, and imitation' (7-12), Roman Jakobson with 'On linguistic aspects of translation' (53-60), J. C. Catford on 'Translation shifts' (70-9), and Eugene A. Nida on 'Science of translation' (81-98). The book's shortcomings are primarily due to the editing. Chesterman's selections are too brief to convey any well-reasoned point: the average length of the sixteen articles here is under twelve pages. (Actually, it is little more than ten, if one discounts the editor's introduction for each paper.) No depth of thought on the involved subject of translation can be developed in so little space. Worse still, a number of the selections were not written to stand independently as they do here; the editor lifted them out of the middle of longer works. Chesterman does provide just enough background to make these articles almost comprehensible on their own, but the reader still aches to understand the authors' full contexts. The psychological effect of reading through this book is that of walking into a university building and standing by the door of each classroom for only five minutes. Mechanical lapses in the editing mar the book as well: one finds throughout the use of the hyphen for the em-dash, noncompound words inexplicably hyphenated in the middle of lines, assorted typos, and a line dittography (9-10). The editor has translated a number of the articles from French and German for this allEnglish anthology. I cannot vouch for the translations , but they generally read smoothly and coherently. The editor intended this book to serve as an overall introduction to the field of translation theory (5); at best the reader will make an acquaintance with the names ofa handful of translation theorists. [Brian M. Sietsema, Meniam-Webster. Inc...