Abstraction and instance: The type-token relation in linguistic theory By Christopher M. Hutton (review)

BOOK NOTICES 229 The indigenization of Pali meters in Thai poetry. By Thomas John Hudak. (Monographs in International Studies, Southeast Asia Series , 87.) Athens, OH: Ohio University Center for International Studies, 1990. Pp. x, 237. Paper $15.00. This meticulously executed book is a welcome addition to the relatively small, though growing, corpus of studies on the Thai language. The book appeals to a far wider audience than its title may suggest, because it discusses not only details of Thai poetry, for which Hudak is regarded as the foremost authority in North America, but also the culture, language, and people behind it. InCh. 1 (1-23), on the literary history ofThailand , the reader will be struck by the obsession of the Thai people with poetry, as indicated by the saying Thais breathe in and out in poem'. Not surprisingly, most premodern literature in Thailand took verse forms, praising, as favorite themes, courageous kings in battles, the virtues of their Teacher (Buddha), and love. H describes in Ch. 2 (25-44) how highly Thais regard speech acts that are pleasing to the ear (phayrá?). Indeed, the language itself is rich in features that help to create the aesthetics of sound, among them reduplication, alliteration, intensification, and elaborate expression (e.g. r5an ?dk roon cay 'to be anxious' [lit. 'hot chest hot heart']). From a linguistic viewpoint, all these features are rich mines to be explored. Briefly discussing the influence of Pali (Buddhist) literature in Thailand, H explains in Ch. 3 (45-95) the transformation of the Pali stanza (chanda) to the corresponding Thai form (chän). Among the five major types of Thai poetry , chän is unique in that it is sensitive to syllabic weight. Although chän adopted Pali meters , it differs from chanda in the definition of syllabic weight and in that rhyme is added (for the sake of enhancement of phayro'). Chs. 4 (97-145) and 5 (147-72), the core of the book, reproduce H's previous works in the Journal ofthe American Oriental Society (1985, 1986). Ch. 4 examines the importance of treating chän as a reciting art rather than as a written art. H takes exception to the criticism that the earlier chän (composed before the introduction of printing in Thai) often violates meter requirements , arguing that all these apparent metrical discrepancies are due to scholars' ignorance of such conventions as vowel reduction, degemination , and nasal deletion. These poetic conventions transformed heavy syllables to light ones when chän was recited, thus conforming to the chän meters. Ch. 5 continues this theme, discussing the conservative trend appearing in the chän literature, leading to an emphasis on strict adherence to the syllable arrangements required by meters and to their written forms. Ch. 6 ( 1 73-5) describes the decline ofthe chän literature in Thailand. Chän was destined to diminish because its metrical requirements were never suited to the language, whose phonological structure has limited environments for light syllables (e.g., they never occur in word-final position). In addition, the thematic material of the chän failed to reflect people's real life. With the rise of Western prose literature, and also with the rise of kloon, indigenous poetry whose rhyme structure was perfectly suited to the tonal language, chän lost popularity when the Thai nobility, who were the primary guardians of literary activity, were ousted from the main political scene in 1932. H's citations of Thai, Pali, and Sanskrit terms are meticulous, and so is every aspect of the book's editing. The bibliography will be helpful to those interested in Thai linguistics. Appendices (175-225) include twenty-three pages of poems in Thai scripts which are cited in the main text in roman script—a thoughtful addition for those who can read Thai. Just as Mary R. Haas's dictionary (Thai-English student's dictionary, Stanford UP. 1964) is a must for every learner of Thai, so, too, is Hudak's book. [Tadao Miyamoto, University of Victoria.] Abstraction and instance: The typetoken relation in linguistic theory. By Christopher M. Hutton. (Language & Communication Library, vol. 11.) Oxford: Pergamon, 1990. Pp. viii, 180. $52.95. Basically, Hutton...