Comparative Indo-European linguistics: An introduction By Robert S. P. Beekes (review)

BOOK NOTICES 905 nett. London & New York: Routledge, 1996. Pp. 303. $19.95. This introductory book includes 45 texts from the six periods identified by the author: 9th- 11th century ; 12th-13th century; 14th-15th century; 16th century; 17th— 18th century (up to the revolution); and from the revolution to the present day. Texts from different discourse types include the expected poetry and literary prose as well as religious texts, legal and political documents, medical and scientific texts, journalistic writings, one piece ofpersonal correspondence , and several metalinguistic documents including one transcribed text of spoken language. The introduction contains a brief (seven-page) external history of the French language; a short (eightpage ) overview of the internal history of the French language makes up the bulk ofAppendix I. Appendix II is a glossary of technical terms and a guide to the sounds of Modem French, and Appendix III provides suggestions for further reading. The brevity ofboth the external and internal histories ofthe language will make this book less useful as a main text than as a valuable source of supplemental materials. The texts will allow students a more active role in discovering aspects of the history of the language than is often permitted. In addition, the variety of text types from each period will provide what is often lacking in courses of this type—a solid perspective on the synchronic state of the language at a given point in time. Although the coverage of linguistic developments in Appendix I is far from comprehensive , linguistic commentaries, which follow most texts, focus on phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, lexis, orthography, and discourse type. The quality of many of the commentaries is remarkably high. In the discussion of nasalization, for example, alternatives are presented to the traditional view that the process occurred in stages, according to vowel height. Although there have been more recent discussions bearing on this issue than the ones included , no other introductory text poses even the slightest challenge to the traditional account. Given the high quality of linguistic commentary, one might wonder why the book is not sufficient in itself for an introductory course. One important problem in this regard (which could have been easily avoided) is the absence of an index. This means that if the reader happens to skip the text following which the author chose to include the discussion of nasalization , this material will be difficult to recover. This also poses a challenge for review, of course, as well as for the selection of texts if an instructor only wants to use the book as a source of supplemental material. Another problem posed by the lack of an index is that one cannot easily trace the development of a particular linguistic feature (e.g. negation or subject pronouns) over the entire history of the language. Nevertheless, this book will surely provide a welcome source of materials for those who teach the history of the French language. [Randall Gess, University of Utah.] Comparative Indo-European linguistics : An introduction. By Robert S. P. Beekes. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1995. Pp. xxii, 376. Ferdinand de Saussure's famous essay Mémoire sur le système primitifdes voyelles dans les langues indo-européennes (Leipzig, 1879), the solution ofthe Hittite cuneiform inscriptions, and the appearance of structuralism have caused significant changes in Indo-European comparative linguistics. Comparative Indo-European linguistics by Beekes, a wellknown Indo-European linguist and a prominent advocate of the laryngeal theory, offers insight into the more recent achievements in Indo-European linguistics , and reconstructs a system that cannot be ignored in future research. Limited space obliges me to give only a summary ofthe main part ofB's work: 'Part I. General section' (2-123), and 'Part II. Comparative Indo-European linguistics [phonology, morphology]' (124-257). This is followed by two appendices and a list ofterms (260-83). The book concludes with a generous bibliography , well selected and valuable illustrative material , and indices (284-376). Part I contains material well-known from IndoEuropean comparative grammars—the list of IndoEuropean languages and information about the origins and the original homeland of these languages and about Indo-European culture. This is followed by chapters that introduce university students to the essence of linguistic...