Sins of the Tongue in the Medieval West: Sinful, Unethical, and Criminal Words in Middle Dutch (1300–1550) by Martine Veldhuizen (review)

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Or so they say. Regardless of the fact that it has been medically proven that words, in truth, can inflict real physical pain, words can cause many other kinds of harm. They can be used to slander, incite, and lie, hurting both those who utter them and those who listen. These are just a few of the speech acts which were considered dangerous and morally damaging in the Middle Ages.

Sins of the Tongue in the Medieval West: Sinful, Unethical, and Criminal Words in Middle Dutch (1300–1550) by Martine Veldhuizen aims to 'investigate the extent to which there is an overarching discourse of destructive speech behaviour in Middle Dutch writings between 1300 and 1550' (p. 3). Aware of the recent and ongoing research in separate linguistic areas, the author manages to be innovative by identifying an overarching discourse in three distinct domains. On top of that, Veldhuizen uses modern language theory insights to reveal patterns and improve the clarity of the analysis. Through this, she aims to gain insight into harmful speech behaviour as a conceptual whole and investigate the existence of a certain cohesion between the ecclesiastical, secular-ethical, and judicial domains.

These three areas form the framework in which the author studies and describes discourses on harmful speech behaviour. After the first two chapters, consisting of a thorough demarcation of her research and an overview of the language theories she utilizes, Veldhuizen gets straight to the point, discussing first the ecclesiastical domain and its 'sins of the tongue' (p. 45). There appears to be a clear connection between the intent behind words and their degree of sinfulness, and restraint is regarded as the best way to manage one's speech. The medieval texts emphasize the impact of speech sins on both the ones who talk and those who hear them, and state that words can damage both one's social standing and one's soul.

Second, Veldhuizen discusses the secular-ethical domain and 'improper words', which are defined as words 'unsuitable or impolite in the eyes of one's fellow man' (p. 85). This second chapter deals with two groups of speech acts: 'foolish' speech, such as bickering, and speech acts involving flattery and slander. Similar to the first chapter, the material which Veldhuizen investigates speak of the harmful potential of the source behind the words. The tongue is ambiguous, and can both break and build its surroundings. The intention of the speaker plays an important part in the effects of the spoken words.

Third, the author investigates the judicial domain through a case study of a dispute between a landlord and his tenant in 1480. These men had had previous disagreements in court about rent business, which came to an ugly climax when the landlord defamed his tenant by calling him a 'perjuring crook'. Veldhuizen analyses the case and explains in clear terms what implications this defamation had for the men involved.

The closing observations show the overarching results of Veldhuizen's analysis on the ambiguous power of the tongue. Next to that, she points out the merits of using modern language theory to identify similarities in notions on speech behaviour. The approach shows that within the corpus of texts, there is a significant focus on the effect of the words and less emphasis on their actual content. Veldhuizen states that while her results are indicative, her research methods appear to create new ways to compare various kinds of texts and might help us gain more insight into linguistic trends.

While the research is solid and well executed, a few minor shortcomings blemish this book. It contains several typographical errors and in a few cases it appears the author...