What Is Morphology? by Mark Aronoff, Kirsten Fudeman

Abstract

REVIEWS What is Morphology? ByMARK ARONOFF and KIRSTEN FUDEMAN. Oxford: Blackwell. 2005. xViii+257pp. ?i6. ISBN 978-o-631-20319-3. This textbook isaimed at students on their firstcourse in linguisticmorphology. The book consists of eight chapters, togetherwith a glossary, index, and a listof references, and isa perfect length fora one-semester introductoryclass. The topics of thechapters are structured toprovide good coverage of the subject and constitute a basic founda tion upon which to build a deeper understanding ofmorphology. At the same time, the strategy of employing a previously little-studied language, Kujamaat Joola (also known as Diola-Fogny), as the language of exemplification throughout, makes the book a good introduction to this language. The consistent use of a single, little-known language is, in thiswriter's opinion, a far more gentle andmeaningful introduction to unfamiliar language data than the more commonly encountered method of peppering a textwith smatterings of dozens of languages, inevitably overwhelming the student. With regard to content, there is a somewhat detailed discussion of two early ap proaches tomorphology, Item-and-Arrangement and Item-and-Process (pp. 46-52), but, curiously, there is no discussion ofmore recentmodels, such as Lexical Mor phology, Prosodic Morphology, or Optimality Theory, although Lexical Phonology is mentioned briefly inSection 8.3.5. Similarly, reference is made to root-and-pattern morphology, but there isno presentation of previous treatmentsof thisphenomenon, such as the McCarthy templaticmorphology approach (John J. McCarthy, 'AProsodic Theory ofNonconcatenative Morphology', Linguistic Inquiry, 12 (I 981), 373-41 8). The same scarcity of references to the literatureapplies to the treatmentof reduplica tion and other processes. This is all inkeeping with the authors' stated objective that thebook isnot intended tobe an exposition of,or enquiry into,morphological theo ries.Their approach iseclectic, as they indicate on page i i: 'We take a no-holds-barred approach to linguistics.We'll use any tool ormethod thatwill tell us how language works. This attitude stems inpart fromour scepticism about particular theories.' As such, this isnot thebook toemploy fora course in morphological theory,but it would serve as a good general introduction to descriptive morphology for language or lin guistics undergraduate students, perhaps prior toa course of amore theoretical nature. In addition to numerous original exercises fromKujamaat J6ola, there aremany exercises drawn fromEugene A. Nida's textbook ofmorphology (Morphology: The Descriptive Analysis ofWords, 2nd edn (Ann Arbor: University ofMichigan Press, I949)), as well as other sources, and these are well chosen to reinforce the points in each chapter. The glossary contains some definitions that are perhaps a bit loose: for example, the definition of 'infix' is 'an affixthat surfaceswithin aword' when surely it would be better put as 'an affixthat surfaceswithin amorpheme'. This may reflect the authors' views on thenotion of themorpheme, but would then call intoquestion their claims to an eclectic a-theoretic approach. The index is perhaps a bit less de tailed thanmight be desired, but covers themain areas of discussion in thebook and isdefinitely an asset forstudents unfamiliar with the subject-matter. I should mention one small, personal quibble concerning theNuuchahnulth ex ample (aka 'Nootka' pp. I71-72). In addition to the antiquated phonetic representa tion (drawn directly fromEdward Sapir, Language: An Introduction to theStudy of Speech (New York: Harcourt Brace, I92 I)), the example is somewhat off themark in that itmore clearly highlights the category neutrality of roots rather than the com plexities of polysynthesis (John T. Stonham, Linguistic Theory and Complex Words (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), discusses this class of cases in more detail). This book constitutes an excellent introduction to the basic ideas ofmorphology, presented in an easily accessible format, suitable for linguistics students or those in I78 Reviews related areas, such as thevarious language degrees, who wish tohave some idea of the basics ofword-structure. PUKYONG NATIONAL UNIVERSITY JOHN STONHAM Celtic Presence: Studies inCeltic Languages and Literatures. Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Cornish. By PIOTR STALMASZCZYK. Lodz: L6dz University Press. 2005. I97 PP. ISBN 978-83-7I7i-849-6. This volume is primarily a survey of various aspects of the Celtic field for non Celticists, and, in that light, it is to be welcomed. Chapter i, 'Celtic Elements in English Vocabulary', itemizes loanwords mainly from the Gaelic languages...