Slovene: A Comprehensive Grammar (review)

This book lives up to its subtitle of ‘comprehensive’ in several ways. It provides a thorough, up-to-date introduction to Slovene grammatical structure. It also deals with all facets of the written standard in a straightforward fashion that pays careful attention to the differences between written and spoken Slovene. The sections dealing with phonology and orthography (5–26) are particularly useful as a prelude to the longer grammatical descriptions that follow. There are also sections on word order (333–44) and a general treatment of word formation (345–62), in addition to separate sections on all major and minor parts of speech; no significant aspect of language structure is left without comment. The examples of usage reflect contemporary written sources and represent a fresh new approach rather than a compilation gleaned from older sources.

Despite its relatively small geographic range, Slovene exhibits certain features that complicate any effort at a comprehensive introduction. There are many local dialects, and the language spoken in Ljubljana, the capital, differs somewhat from that codified as the literary standard in such key native works as the latest edition of the Academy dictionary (Slovar slovenskega knjižnega jezika, ed. by Anton Bajec et al., Ljubljana: Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti, 1997). The language described by Peter Herrity is Contemporary Standard Slovene—the written, rather than spoken, standard. In bridging the gap between written and colloquial Slovene, H bases his pronunciation on dialects with nontonal word stress, ignoring the older pitch-accent system now characteristic of only a minority of dialect areas. Another useful compromise is H’s marking of word stress using an acute accent, with words having two alternative stresses in Contemporary Spoken Slovene being marked with two accents; the reader is referred to the Academy dictionary for finer points of register and local usage. The result is a description of the standard language that is as close as possible to the actual pronunciation most likely to be encountered by a visitor to Slovenia. An ample discussion of relevant historical and dialectal matters rounds out the book’s presentation, making it truly ‘comprehensive’. The bibliography (363–64) lists other sources dealing in greater detail with diachronic issues, as well as all of the major non-English references to modern Slovene grammatical structure.

This book is a welcome addition to the Routledge grammar series. Since Slovenia’s independence in 1991, it represents the only full-length grammar of the standard written language to appear in English at all. As such, it complements a similar general treatment of the spoken standard (William W. Derbyshire, A basic Slovene reference grammar, Columbus, OH: Slavica, 1993). It also builds upon T. M. S. Priestly’s more concise sketch in The Slavonic languages (ed. by Bernard Comrie and Greville G. Corbett, London & New York: Routledge, 1993, pp. 388–451).

Now the official language of an independent country, Slovene has long deserved just such a book as this. By virtue of its position between ‘South Slavic’ and ‘West Slavic’ (Slovene became permanently detached from what became Czech and Slovak after the Hungarian invasion of 896 AD), Slovene has always been important for Slavic historical and areal linguistics, yet it rarely receives the attention it requires. This book is highly recommended both for the uninitiated beginner and the professional Slavicist.