Current issues in ASL phonology: Phonetics and phonology, vol. 3 Edited by Geoffrey R. Coulter (review)

REVIEWS567 'verbal noun'), one finds some inconsistencies and departures from standard usage. For example, the use of the term 'topicalization' in parallel sections for structures that are syntactically similar obscures very real differences in distribution and discourse function from language to language. The structures described include both simple constituent fronting and cleft sentences (with relativization of nondislocated material). Moreover, to judge from the translations given, the function of the cleft structures varies across languages from that of a focus/presupposition dichotomy, as in English, to true topicalization. In Welsh the same structure appears to be used for both functions, differing only in stress pattern. Yet all are lumped together as 'topicalization', even in languages which have both structures. Similarly, the terms 'perfect' (in Welsh) and 'perfective' (in all the other languages) are used for the nonfinite construction formed in all the languages with the preposition meaning 'after' and a verbal noun. Only Ó Dochartaigh (Irish) mentions the construction usually called 'perfect ', here also labelled 'perfective', with no indication of the semantic and pragmatic differences between the two. Other inconsistencies include extension of the term 'compounding' in Irish and Scottish Gaelic to all derivational affixation , and the same Irish case form labelled 'prepositional' in §2.3.8 and 'dative' in §2.5.1. In other cases terms of uncertain theoretical status are used ambiguously or without adequate definition. Terms such as 'lexically marked' (said of the Welsh passive construction), 'affective' (alternative word orders and constructions with a 'do' auxiliary in Gaelic), and 'emphasis' (Irish pronouns) are used without explanation or illustration, and their intended meaning remains somewhat mysterious . In general, though, the parallels outweigh the inconsistencies. The latter may reduce access to comparative data for a complete novice to the Celtic languages, but will cause little more than annoyance to those familiar with one or more of the languages. Most of the sections are well illustrated with data (although a few discussions would profit from the addition ofexamples), and each chapter ends with a list of references and further readings (ranging from less than a page for Cornish to three pages for Breton and Welsh). Misprints are few and unlikely to mislead, except for the unaccountable absence of the Meath Gaeltacht from the Irish map. AU in all, the volume provides a valuable comparative overview in accessible form of a group of languages which have been enjoying increased prominence in the linguistic literature. Department of Linguistics[Received IO January 1994.] University of Minnesota Minneapolis. MN 55455 Current issues in ASL phonology: Phonetics and phonology, vol. 3. Edited by Geoffrey R. Coulter. San Diego: Academic Press, 1992. Pp. xii, 302. Cloth $85.00. Reviewed by Linda Uyechi, Stanford University* * I would like to thank Bill Poser for his comments on an earlier draft of this review. 568LANGUAGE. VOLUME 70. NUMBER 3 (1994) This volume, the third in the Phonetics and phonology series edited by Stephen Anderson and Patricia Keating, is one of several recent publications to herald the 'coming of age' of sign language linguistics (Fischer & Siple 1990, Lucas 1990, VaIIi & Lucas 1992). This subdiscipline is, for now, a specialization within a field traditionally devoted to the study of spoken language. Current issues in ASL phonology is intended to bring some of the issues familiar to ASL (American Sign Language) researchers to the attention of phonologists trained in spoken language analysis. The volume succeeds when authors discuss ideas embedded in familiar theoretical frameworks, but is problematic when authors discuss data. For specialists, the volume is a valuable reference, containing articles in which primary researchers in the field focus on specific issues about their theories of ASL structure. The articles themselves reflect the issues discussed at The ASL Phonology Workshop, held at the LSA Linguistic Institute at the University of Arizona in the summer of 1989. Segmentation and the appropriate representation of signs in an autosegmental framework were key issues at the workshop, where specialists in sign language research presented papers, non-sign language linguists gave comments, and Stephen Anderson provided closing remarks at the end of the workshop. Though not acknowledged in the volume, the articles generally appear in pairs, reflecting the format of the workshop. Diane Brentari & John Goldsmith argue that the licensing criterion in...