Minerva (1562) Por Francisco Sánchez de las Brozas. Introducción y edición de Eduardo Del Estal Fuentes. (review)

Abstract

BOOK NOTICES 757 Minerva (1562). Por Francisco Sánchez de las Brozas. Introducción y edición de Eduardo Del Estal Fuentes. (Acta salmanticensia, Filosof ía y letras, 92.) Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca, 1975. Pp. 121. This volume (originally a Salamanca doctoral dissertation) is divided into three parts. Part I (9-14) contains a brief prolog, an introduction, and a few words about the Minerva, whose discovery was first reported by Liafto in 1963. Part II (15-59) includes four short sections. In the first, Del Estai explains the reasons why the work of Sánchez (Sanctius) had not been found earlier; he presents, comparing chapter headings, the parallelisms which exist between the 1 562 and 1 587 versions ; and he refers to the impact of S's views on future scholarship. Another section is devoted to the doctrines of ellipsis in the 1562 Minerva. Still another covers the historical sources of S's work. In the last section, DE compares S's ideas with those of 20th-century linguistics. This part ends with a conclusion and a bibliography. Part III (61-121) contains the Latin text of the 1562 edition with two facsimile folios from the original publication. DE could have reduced Parts I and II to half their size, or even eliminated them altogether . He repeats and quotes previous scholars extensively, and hardly offers anything novel. All his material might have been condensed quite appropriately in a twentypage introduction. At any rate, Part I, Sec. 3 and Part II, Sec. A-I could have been integrated in one section. Part II, Sec. A-2 was unnecessary : DE should have sent the reader to J. M. Liafto Pacheco's Sanctius el brócense (Madrid, 1971), since the entire discussion is based on that author. Part II, Sec. B might also have been omitted ; rather than ten pages of quotations on ellipsis, DE could have given in footnote form the chapters and lines of the 1 562 Minerva where such passages occur. In this particular case, an analysis of S's views on ellipsis at that early date would have been of greater interest to the reader. Several other items ought to be mentioned, but I shall select only two. DE indicates (p. 52) that references to Ramus and Vergara are deleted in the 1587 work; yet S does cite Vergara's Greek grammar in Book 1, Chapter VII:17v. Also, DE states (p. 54) that Lázaro Carreter published a monograph on S. However, Lázaro has simply written a book on the linguistic ideas of 18th-century Spain, in which he devotes only a few paragraphs to S. The most valuable portion of this volume is Part III, which contains the complete text of the 1 562 Minerva. The handwritten examples and comments added in the margin by S, in preparation for his later edition, appear in footnotes. At the beginning ofeach entry, DE gives the specific lines next to which additions in the margins occurred. The original pagination has been kept, and, to facilitate reading, DE has italicized all attestations adduced by S. This work should be welcome for the simple reason that it will permit a larger readership, knowledgeable in Latin, to gain access to a 16th-century theoretical grammar. [Manuel Breva-Claramonte, Universidad de Deusto, Bilbao.] Physiology of speech production: an introduction for speech scientists. By W. J. Hardcastle. London: Academic Press, 1976. Pp. xviii, 157. This description of the anatomy and physiology of speech is a very useful reference on the mechanisms of speech production. Most books on this topic tend to be too medically pedantic and unconcerned with language. But this book, written by a phonetician who is himself a member of a linguistics department, focuses continually on topics that are important in linguistic phonetics. The emphasis is on the functional activity of the vocal organs, rather than on anatomical descriptions of the muscles involved. There is also an excellent account of sensori-motor control systems, leading into an important discussion of the motor control of speech production. The three major chapters describe the physiology of respiratory activity, of the larynx, and of articulatory organs in the vocal tract. Each is clearly and...