Historical linguistics and the comparative study of African languages (review)

As indicated by the title, this important new work attempts to wed the traditional field of historical linguistics with the comparative study of African languages. This is a particularly welcome effort by one of the world's most distinguished scholars in African linguistics. Although most of Gerrit Dimmendaal's research has centered around Nilotic and adjacent areas of East Africa, much of which he cites, D makes a serious effort to treat other areas and linguistic groups from throughout the continent. The result is an impressive reference work that students and scholars alike will want to own and consult. D's coverage of issues is extensive, as he addresses not only linguistic reconstruction and language classification, but also issues that arise in the study of language in context. As a result one gets a feel not only for the forms and where they come from, but also for how they are actually used in various African communities. The over thirty pages of references (373-406) further attest to the serious scholarship that went into the production of this work.

Although there have been recent books introducing African linguistics (Heine & Nurse 2000, Mutaka & Tamanji 2000, Childs 2003), areal linguistics (Heine & Nurse 2008), and language history (Blench 2006), D's goal in writing this book is quite unique. As he states in the preface, his original intention was to produce a historical linguistics textbook drawing mostly from African languages, wishing especially to target 'many students in African countries [who] do not have access to more recent developments in historical-comparative linguistics or to the literature published on language families in their home countries' (ix).

What this book in part represents, then, is an experiment: as opposed to the standard texts based on Indo-European, the question is whether one can successfully teach historical linguistics drawing primarily from African languages (or similarly for other language areas, for example, Australia and the Pacific; Crowley & Bowern 2010). D goes on to say, however, that the ultimate publication strays from his original intention:

The initial plan was to write an introduction to comparative linguistics with special focus on Africa. Due to the fact that the original manuscript had to be reduced considerably, the end result was a much more dense presentation of information on different topics, which also requires more extensive basic knowledge of linguistics. As a result, the text probably is no longer suitable as an introduction for undergraduates. Instead, it has become a textbook for more advanced students of linguistics and colleagues working on language families outside of Africa with an interest in a state of the art in African linguistics as seen by the present author.

(x)

D thus often refers to the book as 'a monograph on the comparative study of African languages' (245). This pinpoints two problems, which we note in our review. The first is that this is not one book, but two: in Part 1 (Chs. 1-7) it starts out as an introductory textbook in historical linguistics, but it gradually transforms in Parts 2 and 3 (Chs. 8-16) into D's view of how African languages bear on comparative and historical issues, including controversial ones. Beyond the early chapters on the comparative method that cite well-accepted concepts and Indo-European examples, the later topics are increasingly qualified by the phrase 'in the present author's view'. This duality produces certain organizational as well as conceptual problems, which students and other readers will have to disentangle.

The second problem concerns the content itself. At various points in reading the book, we came away with the feeling that it needed more serious editing and proofreading. Although most of the infelicities that occur should be quite easy to correct, the organizational issues will likely require some revision, should D (and the publisher) consider a second edition.

As indicated, the volume consists of three parts. Part 1, 'The comparative method' (Chs. 1-7), is concerned with...