Basic Russian: A Grammar and Workbook by John s> Murray Sarah Smyth (review)

Abstract

Reviews Murray, John and Smyth, Sarah. Basic Russian.A Grammar and Workbook. Routledge Grammars. Routledge, London and New York, 1999. xi + 244 pp. Key. Appendices. Glossaries. Vocabulary. [13.99 (paperback). BASIC RUSSIAN is described by the publisher as 'an accessible reference grammar and related exercises in a single volume'. It comprises forty units which are grouped into seven functional'blocks'(forexample, 'Talkingabout people and things') to which the grammaticalpoints are subordinated.The exercises in the units are described as 'graded'and are all in Russian, and at the end of each of the seven blocks there is a revision unit. A key to all the exercisesis usefullyprovided at the end of the book; this is followed by rather concise appendices with paradigms and the spelling rules, a glossary of grammatical terms in English, a glossary of proper names and a RussianEnglish vocabulary. Users of BasicRussianare expected to know the Cyrillic alphabet and about 500 Russian words. After successfullycompleting all the exercises,the learnerwill have reached a good intermediatestandard. In attemptingto appeal to the widestpossibleaudience, the authorsof Basic Russian claim to servelearnersat the beginnersstage, and also those seekinga revisioncourse;the book is intended to be suitablefor those studyingon their own as well as for learnerswith a teacher; it is not a course book, claim the authors, lecturers in Russian at Trinity College, Dublin, but an 'additional resource' for teachers and learners of Russian. The limited and superficial coverage of grammar in many foreign-language course-books today would indeed suggest the need for such an additional resource. For students of Russian in particular,the problems posed by the forms of the language are such that a reliable reference grammar is essential. Does BasicRussianmeet thisneed? The testof a good referencegrammaris how usefulit is for actualreference purposes. The organization of the grammarinto 'thematicallylinked blocks' such as 'Saying who does and did what' and 'Responding to others and the world about you' is an attempt to prioritize functions and notions in the manner of a GCSE syllabus. This approach considerably reduces the usefulness of Basic Russianas a tool of grammar reference per se, because learnersseek in a reference grammarprecise and detailed informationon the forms and structuresof the language. A grammar which has a functionalnotional framework may serve very well as a course book, but it is not exhaustiveenough to be a reallyusefulreferencegrammar.While it ispossible to locate the grammaticalpoints within this frameworkreassuringlyquickly, ratherheavyweatheris made of the grammaticalexplanationsin Englishand, in common withso manylanguagetextbooks,thereistoo littleexemplification and demonstrationof the language points. Reference to theanimateaccusative-genitive,forexample, takesthe student to Unit 3 and a rather wordy explanation of the grammatical point. The learner is directed to Unit 4 to refer to 'the endings of nouns in the genitive REVIEWS I43 case', but the forms are nowhere to be found in Unit 4, which does not mention the genitive case at all. The full declension of nouns is given only in an appendix, not in the unitsthemselves.In Unit I3 it would have been more satisfactoryif the authorshad presentedand exemplifiedthe genitive formsin a paradigm as well as in phrases, preferablyreservingbold type for the case inflections in order to help the learner to focus on them. Similar criticism could be made of the approachto othercases. The reiteratedinvitation in the units to consult the appendices for the case endings means that the appendices will be for many learners the most importantpartof the book. However, even thesefailto satisfyreferenceneeds. Although the full declensions of the main noun and adjectivetypes are given, learnerswillfeel frustratedat the absence of anyinformationon the declension of numerals, the plural of masculine nouns in -a, -si, -bil, the declension of nouns of the type -aH4H/-YIH4H, and the declension of AeTm and AIO,4H. From a functional point of view these are not 'advanced' points and they represent common difficulties for the learner at this level. A substantial list of the conjugations of common verbs is usefully appended, but the topic of verbs of motion is given very little attention (xoAv4Tb and e3S4Tb are introduced in Unit 23 and the past of H4ATH is referred to in unit io). Prepositions also deserve far more attention in a 'reference grammar' than they receive in Basic Russian. If the usefulness of...