Variety in contemporary English By W. R. O'Donnell and Loreto Todd (review)

BOOK NOTICES 485 advances in sociolinguistics, pidgin and creóle studies, variation studies, and lexicography, all of which offer something to the historian of English. Equally unfortunate is his failure to demonstrate that there are regular patterns and discernible causes for the change of English over 1300 years. This book will not merely bewilder the beginning student; it is likely to spread misunderstanding about a subject that is already sufficiently misunderstood. [James Shay, University of Texas, Austin.] Variety in contemporary English. By W. R. O'Donnell and Loreto Todd. London & Boston: George Allen & Unwin, 1980. Pp. xii, 156. Cloth $25.00, paper $8.50. In eight short chapters, this volume surveys a range of topics concerning English varieties without imposing any specific theoretical orientation . It is addressed to students planning to teach English or some other language, but will be useful to practising teachers or intelligent laymen who desire a closer acquaintance with the subject. Linguistics students will need to supplement this book with readings in theoretical approaches to language variation, e.g. the works of C-J. N. Bailey and William Labov. The first chapter argues that writing is as much an aspect of language as speech—a position once denied, but now generally accepted. Chap. 2 discusses 'Dialects, accents, and standards ' . Chap. 3 is on 'Pidgins and creóles' , while the fourth chapter considers 'Style'. Chaps. 5-8 discuss, respectively, English in the media, in advertising, in literature, and in the classroom. Each chapter closes with an extensive list of 'additional reading', allowing the curious reader to pursue further topics of special interest (though works by Bailey are curiously absent from these lists). There is no general bibliography ; but the final index will direct readers to relevant materials. The book is written in a flowing style; given its broad coverage, it should appeal to a wide range of readers. It is a fine introduction to the study of variety in English and to language variation generally. [John T. Jensen, University of Ottawa.] The role of prescriptivism in American linguistics, 1820-1970. By Glendon F. Drake. (Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science, III: Studies in the history oflinguistics, 13.) Amsterdam: Benjamins , 1977. Pp. 109. /40.00. Although, as Drake points out in his preface, 'the phenomenon ofabsolutist, prescriptive correctness is persistent and pervasive in the linguistic thought of educated and intelligent citizens of the United States' (v), there has been little research on the origins and development of American prescriptivism. To account for the tenacity of this characteristic American attitude toward language, D realizes that he must move out of the narrow confines of the grammar text and into the social, cultural, and intellectual context of 19th and 20th century America. The principal contribution of D's work is his historical approach: he draws upon educational journals , dictionaries, magazines, and newspapers; and he refers to national events, intellectual trends, social changes, and racial conditions. D divides his book into two major parts: the first, consisting of two chapters, deals with the 19th century; the remaining three chapters survey the 20th century. Throughout, D develops his argument that Americans have strongly favored prescriptivism despite the fact that linguistic scholarship in the United States has supported descriptivism. Citing Cardell 1825 as a representative text which opposed the dogma of prescriptivism, D explains that the first challenges to normative grammar in the early 18th century grew partly out of a revolt against rote learning. In referring to the tension between change and stability in the history ofa language, D discusses the attacks by Goold Brown, Asa Rands, and James Brown on the prescriptive doctrine of Lindley Murray. His evidence establishes that, during this mid-19th century debate , the description ofusage had clearly emerged as an alternative to the doctrine of correctness. In Chap. 3, D considers the revival of prescriptivism in the late 19th century as reaching the level of a 'mania for correctness' (18). His brief account of the dictionary war of 1860 between the Worcester dictionary and the Goodrich revision of the New Webster attests to the reliance on lexical authority by 19th century Americans. In Chap. 4, D deals with the persistence of American prescriptivism into...