Intransitive predication By Leon Stassen (review)

Abstract

BOOK NOTICES 205 cepted within the field (e.g. decreolization and the purported creóle past of Black English in the U.S., 166-67), but, on the whole, this compendious book is a welcome addition to the shelves of any linguist interested in the history and future of English in its many forms. [Michael Aceto, Old Dominion University .] Intransitive predication. By Leon Stassen . (Oxford studies in typology and linguistic theory.) Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997. Pp. xvi, 771. In this rather large work, Stassen creates and discusses a typology of intransitive predications (limiting himself to declarative, indicative, nonembedded one-place predicates with a definite subject NP). The discussion and conclusions are based on a sample of 410 languages which are listed in the appendices in alphabetical order, in terms of genetic and areal affiliation , and according to the types ofintransitive predicate they use. Part 1 (1-151) begins with an introduction to the theme and a general discussion of the aims and practices oflinguistic typology. S then introduces the necessary semantic and grammatical categorizations of intransitive predication. In semantic terms, he considers that there are four predicate types: event predicates , property predicates, class membership predicates, and locational predicates (there is some discussion of identity predicates, but these are not examined in detail). He establishes three formal strategies which languages use to encode these predicates : a verbal strategy, a nominal strategy, and a locational strategy. Part 1 ends with a chapter giving the various patterns which S has found in the languages of his sample. In Part 2 (153-340), S discusses cases of 'patternswitching ', where a language may use more than one formal strategy to encode sentences of one particular predicate type. This can either occur with free variation or only under certain conditions (different predicates within one predicate type may use different strategies, or the strategy used may depend on other grammatical features such as tense). These cases of 'pattern-switching' are shown to have a principled basis. Part 3 (341-574) introduces andjustifies the 'tensedness hypothesis'. From the previous parts it is clear that some languages are more 'nouny' in their encoding of property predicates (for example, treating adjectives similar to nouns), while others are more 'verby' (treating adjectival-like words in the same way as verbs). While this is a continuum, S's data suggest that there is a correlation between this and what he calls the 'tensedness parameter'—very roughly, if a language is 'tensed' (has a grammatical category of tense, shown by bound morphology on verbs, and has at least a distinction between past and nonpast), it is likely to have 'nouny' adjectives; if a language is 'nontensed' (all other cases), it is likely to have 'verby' adjectives. The relatively short Part 4 (575-610) attempts to integrate the descriptive results of the previous parts into a more general model, giving the sorts ofuniversal principles which may be operating to produce the observable distribution of languages in terms of the various parameters. The conclusion (61 1-66) gives a very useful summary , including the principles, parameters, tendencies , hierarchies and universals which S has developed throughout the book. Two indices, of subjects and of languages, follow the notes, appendices, and references. A random check of the data for languages that I know suggests that S's example sentences have quite a few orthographic errors although this probably has no impact on the use made of the data. Overall, while there are points at which one can disagree with S's analysis or conclusions, he has accompanied these with copious examples from a very wide array of languages, and it is always clear how he has formed and is justifying his arguments. This book is a very important contribution, notjust to the area ofintransitive predication but to linguistic typology in general. [Timothy Jowan Curnow, Australian National University .] First person singular III: Autobiographies by North American scholars in the language sciences. Ed. by E. F. K. Koerner. (Studies in the history of the language sciences 88.) Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1998. Pp. x, 267. $75.00. Two former LSA presidents, Charles A. Ferguson and Kenneth L. Pike, are included among the linguists represented in this, the second volume...