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LANGUAGE, VOLUME 73, NUMBER 4 (1997) nicht unbeträchtlich verändert.' For the historical record it would have been interesting to include in an appendix S's chapter from the second edition on 'Prinzipien', namely, his approach to methodology; particularly interesting here is his analysis ofthe relationship of his work to Darwinism. Kuhn's 90-page review emends many of S's forms. [Lisi Oliver, Louisiana State University.] An introduction to Old Russian. By William Schmalstieg. (Journal of Indo-European Studies. Monograph 15.). Washington, DC: Institute for the Study of Man, 1995. Pp. 311. Old Russian is the sum of all Eastern Slavic tribal and later territorial dialects that modern Eastern Slavic languages have developed from. Old Russian was spoken in the Kievan Rus' between the eighth and fifteenth centuries. This linguistic system is the standard that the development and history of Eastern Slavic languages are measured against. The first and so far the most detailed description of the phonetic structure and the dialects of Old Russian is the work of A. A. Schmatov (Ocerk drevnejsego penoda istorii russkogo jazyka. Enciklopedija slavjanskoj filologii. 11/1 Petrograd, 1915). In the former Soviet Union a number of Old Russian grammars were published especially for students of history . So far the only Old Russian grammar by a foreigner that we know of is Jean-Yves Le Guillou's Grammaire de vieux russe (Études Linguistiques XII. Paris, 1972). Schmalsteig's book, as far as we know, is the first Old Russian grammar in English by the well-known Indo-Europeanist and Slavist. The 'Foreword' and 'Abbreviations' are followed by six chapters: 'The Cyrillic alphabet' (13-15), 'Brief remarks in phonology' (16-49), "The adjective , pronoun & numeral' (50-75), "The noun' (76-88), 'The verb' (89-145), and ? few remarks on syntax' (146-75). These are followed by 'Reading selections' (176-91) and 'Vocabulary' (192-302). The book concludes with a well selected 'References and brief bibliography' (303-11). The book contains all one needs to know about Old Russian and can be used to teach that language. As to the arrangement of the material, instead of taking the traditional approach, S begins discussing morphology with 'The adjective, pronoun & numeral ' , probably out of pedagogical considerations. The short, well summarized, and to the point syntax is a special merit of this book. Two missing aspects should be mentioned here (1) It is regrettable that the book omits to mention the linguistic records of Old Russian. (2) Although the author occasionally refers to Old Russian dialectal phenomena (19, 22, 30, 31, 40, etc.), this information remains fragmented. It would have been desirable to sum up the dialects of Old Russian in a separate chapter. Concerning the material discussed by S, the following should be emphasized: (1 ) In some cases there are earlier data than that referred to by S on the phenomena . (2) Certain changes are mentioned without examples or data. Linguistic records can be useful sources here (e.g. -ce, -zë, -se > -kë, -gë, -chë). (3) Some of his examples are not convincing; in the case ofpotreubBno, posreudu (35) the letter e in the place of the yat is not the reflection of the ë > e change, but of Church Slavonic pronunciation. The development of the Old Russian personal pronoun jejê (gen sing, fern.) > jeje > jejo rules out a phonetic explanation for the gen. sing, nom., ace. plur. fern., ace. plur mase, -ja morpheme of binary types. These forms can probably be regarded as hybrid Old Slavic-Old Russian forms. Although not based on independent research, S's book is founded on the best monographs and articles and is informed by a consistent scientific approach. The author has a feeling for pedagogy, and he has produced an interesting book, complemented with a number of original observations. A special merit of the book is that instead of describing Old Russian phenomena only (40, 41, 81, 82, etc.), S refers to modern Russian as well. Thus behind the modest title of his book we have a well written, excellent Russian historical grammar. It is a pity that this useful book meant for everyday use has been bound in a shamefully poor fashion. [Imre H. Tóth. JózsefAttila University...

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