Perspectives in phonology Ed. by Jennifer Cole and Charles Kisseberth (review)

450 LANGUAGE, VOLUME 74, NUMBER 2 (1998) munication, language origins, properties of language, aspects of linguistic structure from sounds to syntax (six chapters), semantics, pragmatics, discourse analysis , language and machines, language and the brain, acquisition of first language, second language learning , writing, sign language, language varieties, language history and change, and language in the context of society and culture. Because the book is meant to be used as a text, each chapter includes several pages of study questions, discussion topics/projects, and suggestions for further reading. For a rather slender book, this is a large order. How did the author acquit himself? In my opinion, very well. Yule is well informed, writes carefully but clearly and to the point, introduces each chapter with a witty quotation, and illustrates the many concepts introduced in the text (nearly 300 of them) with examples from some 60 languages. Although this is an introduction to the study of language, Y has touched on several topics that deal with language in its sociocultural context, e.g. sociolinguistics, age and gender , speech acts, politeness, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, diglossia, and several others. Written in a lively style, the work covers so much material that students will have to read it closely to digest all the book has to offer. But the educated layperson will appreciate the concise style of this informative volume. The book concludes with suggested answers to study questions in an appendix (254-60), a comprehensive bibliography favoring recent publications (261-85), and an index (286-94) [Zdenek Salzmann, Northern Arizona University.] Toward a theory of cultural linguistics. By Gary B. Palmer. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1996. Pp. xii, 348. Paper $21.95. According to Palmer, 'cultural linguistics' is the synthesis that results when the emergent field of cognitive linguistics is tied into Boasian linguistics, ethnosemantics (ethnoscience), and the ethnography of speaking (4-5). The cultural linguistic approach 'centers on linguistic imagery, which is largely defined by culture' (290). This interesting book of eleven chapters is divided into Part 1 (1-109), 'Goals and concepts', and Part 2 (111-296), 'Interpretations and applications'. In general, P is sympathetic to the three traditions of linguistic anthropology mentioned above but is critical of some of their aspects. In his opinion, for example , the ethnosemanticists have not endeavored to develop or utilize a theory of imagery, focusing instead on folk taxonomy, and Dell Hymes, the main exponent of the ethnography of speaking, has failed to present an explanatory theory, remaining content with a 'descriptive theory [which] is essentially a linguistic checklist [e.g. of settings, participants, and genres]' (24) In Ch. 3 P places cognitive linguistics within cognitive science and points out the advantages ofcognitive linguistics, stating that it 'unifies the study of seemingly disparate realms of language as phonology , syntax, semantics, and discourse by treating them all in terms of the same set of principles' (30). What is still needed in linguistic anthropology is a better grasp of the native point of view, combining it with the study of speech in its sociocultural context. The object of cultural linguistics is not to describe 'howpeople talk about some objective reality, but . . . how they talk about the world that they themselves imagine' (36). In Part 2, P offers numerous illustrations of what he has discussed earlier in the book. A few brief examples will have to suffice. In Ch. 6 (113-69). 'Connecting languages to world views' , he mentions approvingly Roger M. Keesing's formal treatment of the semantics of nonphysical senses of words in Kwaio (1979. Linguistic knowledge and cultural knowledge American Anthropologist 81.14-36.), Anthony F. C. Wallace's concept of mazeway (1970. Culture and personality. New York: Holt, Reinhart, and Winston.), and the semantic categories of ProtoBantu noun classes and Western Apache verb classes. Of particular interest to the reader in Ch. 7 (170-221), 'Discourse and narrative', may be P's comparison of approaches in cultural linguistics and the ethnography of speaking (ES). 'Ideally,' he comments , 'cultural and cognitive linguistics will remain as aware of social contexts as ES, while ES will make more explicit distinctions between folk and analytical categories' (191). In Ch. 10 (272-89), 'Cultural phonology", P attempts...