German Phrase Research Articles

On the ‘Stickiness’ of Words. A Comparative Language Study Screening the Internet for English, German, French and Latin Phrases

Language, one of the defining attributes of Homo sapiens, not only deploys as a chain of words. Rather, words group together in a non-random way to form phrases. Here, the world-wide web was searched for idiomatic expressions in three living and one extinct language: 1102 English, 1183 German, 1138 French and 1128 Latin phrases distributed into three categories, with high, middle and low frequencies. High-frequency phrases such as in addition to and as a matter of fact constituted 49.5% of all English phrases, but only 9.0% of the French and 2.5% of the German ones. The middle-frequency category with classical idioms such as a bitter pill or carved in stone comprised 34.9% of the English, 33.0% of the French, and 24.9% of the German phrases. Most French and German phrases were of low frequency. Latin phrases were found as often as French and more often than German ones in the world-wide web, and exhibited a frequency distribution similar to those of French and German. Frequency distributions yielded three main categories around similar maxima for all four languages, with differing relative proportions. The internet may prove useful for the quantitative comparison of languages.

Compounding in German and English

Abstract German is well-known for its propensity for nominal compounding. This claim is put on a firmer empirical footing by means of a bidirectional translation study between German and English. The difference between the two languages crystallizes in the competition between compounds and phrases. Two complementary asymmetries emerge: first, German compounds are more frequently translated by English phrases than English compounds by German phrases; second, English phrases are more frequently translated by German compounds than German phrases by English compounds. An extension to other word classes shows that the compounding bias in German is not restricted to nouns. It is tentatively argued that the token frequency of word classes plays a role in the emergence of compound propensity. The heavier use of nouns and adjectives in German than in English might be partly responsible for the higher rate of nominal and adjectival compounding in the former than the latter language.

Crosslinguistic Intelligibility of Russian and German Speech in Noisy Environment

This paper discusses the results of the pilot experimental research dedicated to speech recognition and perception of the semantic content of the utterances in noisy environment. The experiment included perceptual-auditory analysis of words and phrases in Russian and German (in comparison) in the same noisy environment: various (pink and white) types of noise with various levels of signal-to-noise ratio. The statistical analysis showed that intelligibility and perception of the speech in noisy environment are influenced not only by noise type and its signal-to-noise ratio, but also by some linguistic and extralinguistic factors, such as the existing redundancy of a particular language at various levels of linguistic structure, changes in the acoustic characteristics of the speaker while switching from one language to another one, the level of speaker and listener’s proficiency in a specific language, and acoustic characteristics of the speaker’s voice.

William Klingshirn

William Klingshirn Thomas Bunting, Talia Chicherio, Christopher Manners, Mark Weadon, and Judith P. Hallett Hodie honoramus collegam praeclarum egregiumque doctissimumque, fecundissimum cogitationibus scriptisque, cuius opera gravissima, monumenta aere perenniora,1 nostrum intellectum de serioribus annis antiquitatis classicae transformaverunt. Alumnus urbis notabilis ob progressionem prosperitatemque,2 adeptus gradum Baccalaurei Artium, summa cum laude, apud universitatem redigentem in memoriam verba augurantia signum victoria,3 iter fecit ad illum fundum quo ventus libertatis aspirat ut gradus Magistri Artium Doctorisque Philosophiae mereretur.4 Annos triginta docuit in urbe plena iustitiae omnibus,5 apud universitatem colentem deum sicut lucem,6 pariens inspiransque investigationes luculentas. Nostrae societati praesedit magna cum cura, multa cum reverentia, maxima plurimaque cum liberalitate laboris temporisque. Plaudamus igitur William Klingshirn. [End Page 554] Thomas Bunting, Talia Chicherio, Christopher Manners, Mark Weadon, and Judith P. Hallett University of Maryland, College Park Footnotes Today we honor a distinguished, outstanding, and most learned colleague, most prolific in ideas and publications, whose extremely important studies, bound to endure for generations, have drastically changed our understanding of late antiquity. A Cleveland native, after receiving his B.A. with highest distinction from the College of the Holy Cross, he travelled to Stanford University for his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. For thirty years he has taught at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, producing and inspiring brilliant research. In serving as president of our association he evinced great sensitivity and much respect in dealing with others, and gave immense, boundless generosity of effort and time to its collegial management. Let us thus applaud William Klingshirn. 1. Horace, Odes 3.30, exegi monumenum aere perennius. 2. Progress and Prosperity: motto of Cleveland. 3. The seal of the College of the Holy Cross features an open book on which is written in hoc signo vinces. 4. The motto of Stanford University, whose nickname is “the farm”, is the German phrase die Luft der Freiheit weht (“the wind of freedom blows”). 5. Iustitia Omnibus: motto of Washington, DC. 6. Deus Lux Mea est: motto of The Catholic University of America. Copyright © 2016 The Classical Association of the Atlantic States, Inc.

How information structure influences the processing of rhythmic irregularities: ERP evidence from German phrases

This study explores the influence of focus and givenness on the cognitive processing of rhythmic irregularities occurring in natural speech. Previous ERP studies showed that even subtle rhythmic deviations are detected by the brain if attention is directed towards the rhythmic structure. By using question–answer pairs, it was investigated whether subtle rhythmic irregularities in form of stress clashes (two adjacent stressed syllables) and stress lapses (two adjacent unstressed syllables) are still perceived when presented in post-focus position in an answer sentence and attention is directed away from them, towards the meaning of the element in narrow focus position by the preceding wh-question. Moreover, by visually presenting the lexical-semantic input of the deviating structure in the question, the influence of rhythmical and lexical properties in these two forms of rhythmic deviations are disentangled. While words in the present stress clash condition do not deviate from lexical stress, stress lapses contain deviations from metrical and lexical stress. The data reveal an early negativity effect for stress clashes but not for stress lapses, supporting the assumption that they are processed differently. The absence of a negative component for stress lapses indicates that the metrical deviation alone is not salient enough to be registered in non-focus position. Moreover, the lack of a late positive component suggests that subtle rhythmic deviations are less perceivable and hence more acceptable when presented in non-focus position. Thus, these results show that attentional shift induced by information structure influences the degree of the processing of rhythm.

Teaching German declension as meaning: a concept-based approach

In this paper, we explore the results of a short-term concept-based pedagogical intervention on the learning of declension as a meaning-making resource among US university learners of German. The pedagogical approached derived its principles from Vygotskian sociocultural psychology, namely the role of explicit, scientific (i.e., abstract and holistic) concepts in promoting development. The pedagogical approach centered on the teaching of the concept of focus, which was supported with lessons on word movement and its functions in German in comparison to English, as well as the role of morphology (i.e., declension) in assigning roles to determiner phrases in German. Results show that students made significant gains in their ability to interpret the roles of determiner phrases in German sentences by attending to morphology, and they began to attempt to mark determiner phrases at a significantly higher rate following the intervention in a writing task. We discuss the results in relation to pedagogical and theoretical implications, and we offer several avenues for future research.

An application of graph theory to linguistic complexity

Abstract This article introduces a new measure of linguistic complexity which is based on the dual nature of the linguistic sign. Complexity is analyzed as consisting of three components, namely the conceptual complexity (complexity of the signified), the formal complexity (complexity of the signifier) and the form-meaning correspondence complexity. I describe a way of plotting the form-meaning relationship on a graph with two tiers (the form tier and the meaning tier) and apply a complexity measure from graph theory (average vertex degree) to assess the complexity of such graphs. The proposed method is illustrated by estimating the complexity of full noun phrases (determiner + adjective + noun) in English, Swedish, and German. I also mention the limitations and the problems which might arise when using this method.

On the Prosody of German Lyric Song

Proceeding from the premise that a nineteenth-century German lyric song is a reading of its text, the author develops new resources for describing acts of reading poetry and establishes the analytical relevance of the approach using examples drawn mainly from songs by Brahms. Part I provides an account of the rules that generate phonological words and phrases in German, the principles that determine the normal placement of stress in words and phrases, and motivations for the abnormal placement of stress. Part II looks at higher-level, facultative structures in prosodic phonology: intonation units, various rhythmic aspects of intonation (pulses, pauses, and lengthening), intonation sequences, and intonation contours. The study develops new methods of textual analysis specifically for use in forming and comparing interpretations of nineteenth-century German lyric song, but the approach also has clear implications for the study of other repertories.

Twilight of the Aristocrats: Foreign Words in Women in Love

Among Lawrence’s novels, Women in Love is remarkable for its frequent use of foreign words. Leaving aside the most common borrowings, many phrases in French, Italian, and German appear so strange to the English-speaking reader that Mark Kinkead-Weekes provided translations for them in the textual apparatus of his edition. One could argue that this is justified since the last chapters take place abroad, when the four main characters travel across the continent; foreign phrases contribute to gi...

On Proper Names in German: An Analysis from the Cognitive Perspective

The aim of this paper is a cognitive grammar analysis of noun phrases in German which contain a proper noun. It is common for proper nouns in German, like first names, surnames, the names of cities and countries, to occur without an article. They can, however, also occur with the definite article, the demonstrative pronoun or with the indefinite article. There are also proper nouns in German, such as the names of rivers, mountain ranges, and some countries, which—according to many grammars—obligatorily occur with the definite article. However, it may happen that even those occur without an article. Whether there is an article before a proper noun or not is regarded as a grammatical phenomenon, without acknowledging its semantic aspects. The latter are only considered in a very few cases. A cognitive grammar analysis makes it possible to look at the abovementioned phenomena from the semanticconceptual perspective, thus ensuring wider opportunities to explain and describe them. According to cognitive grammar, every use of any element should have a semantic-conceptual motivation. The cognitive grammar analysis of German noun phrases containing a proper noun carried out in this article allows us to conclude that the use of articles in the German language is in most cases determined by the speaker’s intention. The analysis in this paper includes a description of noun phrases containing proper nouns selected from the German magazine Der Spiegel.

The influence of rhythmic (ir)regularities on speech processing: Evidence from an ERP study on German phrases

The present study investigates the status of rhythmic irregularities occurring in natural speech and the importance of rhythmic alternations in cognitive processing. Previous studies showed the relevance of rhythm for language processing, but there has been only little research using the method of event-related potentials to investigate this phenomenon in a natural metrical context. To this end, an experiment was conducted in which the so-called Rhythm Rule (alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables) was either met or violated by stress clashes or stress lapses which are known to occur in German. The comparison of rhythmic well-formed conditions with the conditions including rhythmic irregularities revealed biphasic EEG-patterns for rhythmically marked structures, i.e., stress clashes and lapses.The present results show that irregular but possible rhythmic variants are costly in language processing, reflected by an early negativity and an N400 in contrast to the well-formed control conditions. Supposedly, the early negativity reflects error detection in rhythmical structure and supports the view that the brain is sensitive to subtle violations of rhythmical structure. A late positive component reflects the evaluation process related to the task requirements.The study shows that subtle rhythmical deviations from the Rhythm Rule are perceived and treated differently from well-formed structures during processing, even if the deviation in question is permitted and can therefore occur in language production.

Postmodifying verb-second clauses in spoken German

This usage-based and corpus-based study examines the use of verb-second clauses as restrictive postmodifiers of noun phrases in spoken German (ich kenn leute die haben immer pech ‘I know people they are always unlucky’) in relation to verb-final relative clauses. Previous accounts largely work with de-contextualised and constructed data and stop short of accounting for the discourse function of verb-second postmodifying structures. The ratio of verb-final relative clauses to postmodifying verb-second clauses does not indicate a shift towards main clause syntax. Rather, the verb-second clauses form part of a set of existential or presentational and ascriptive copular constructions which serve to highlight properties of entities and/or introduce discourse topics. Relative clauses can be used for such functions, but this is not as common. The syntactic and semantic features associated with postmodifying verb-second clauses can be seen as a direct result of their discourse function, which only a corpus analysis could reveal. The paper also comments on the wider related aspects of verb position, clause combining and pronoun use in spoken German from the perspective of a usage-based language model.

Spracheinstellungen und phonetische Variation als Ausdruck verschwommener Dialektabgrenzung

The following text presents parts of a study that was carried out in Leipzig. 22 native inhabitants of Leipzig were interviewed for their perception of different varieties spoken in their hometown. A result of the study showed that people generally differentiate between a Standard German and a dialectal variety, which both are subcategorized in a higher and a lower variety. Concerning the perception of their individual linguistic behavior, the interviewed speakers can be categorized into three main groups. The fi rst category consists of people using only varieties that can be evaluated as better and worse Standard German. A dialect does not belong to their repertoire. The second category also uses different varieties.–The lower of these varieties is now called dialect, that is only used in specifi c situations. One part of this group states to use a lower standard variety for everyday live. The other part differentiates three varieties: a variety close to the standard, a higher dialectal variety that is their usual variety and the low dialect they try to avoid. The third category consists of speakers who use the higher dialect as their main variety. Besides they admit themselves a limited competence in Standard German. Comparing this perceptive distinction made by the speakers themselves to actual phonetic realization, the distinction cannot be maintained. No one of the interviewees has full competence of the dialect. Particularly, when asked to translate Standard German phrases into the dialect of Leipzig, some of them even realize less dialectal variants than in the interview. Concluding, dialects are blurred due to the fact that people do not have a sense for a dialectal grammar anymore, and substandard varieties cannot be linguistically differentiated. Therefore, there is only one variety below the standard. However, the old dialect has captured new fi elds of application. The dialect can be used as a stylistic variant within a conversation. Nevertheless, to focus on this aspect, one the one hand new recordings have to be done and on the other hand new approaches using methods of variation linguistics and of conversation analysis have to be developed.

The German Drang nach Osten:Linguistic Perspectives on Historical stereotyping1

ABSTRACTOne of the most enduring stereotypes concerning the history of Central and Eastern Europe is the notion of a German Drang nach Osten. While the German impact on the region is beyond doubt, its alleged motivation in terms of a ‘drive to the East’ has been dismissed almost universally by historians (especially in Germany and Poland) as a ‘myth’ that obscures the complexities of history more than it illuminates them. Starting from this observation, the present article approaches the phrase Drang nach Osten from a linguistic point of view for the first time. The historical content and background of Drang nach Osten are surveyed first, including its origin in the crisis of German‐Polish relations during the 1848 revolution. Three linguistic approaches to stereotyping are then presented with regard to their application to Drang nach Osten. Starting from general cognitive‐discursive strategies of stereotyping, Drang nach Osten is defined linguistically as a ‘Nominationsstereotyp’; its characteristic syntactic and semantic stabilisation is explicated in frame‐semantic terms, and its use as a German phrase in non‐German discourse is analysed from a semiotic point of view. The paper closes with thoughts concerning the interdisciplinary nature of ‘Stereotypenforschung’.Ein besonders hartnäckiges Stereotyp in Ost‐ und Ostmitteleuropa ist die Vorstellung, die Geschichte dieser Region sei in hohem Maße von einem deutschen Drang nach Osten geformt worden. Nachdem der Begriff Drang nach Osten als motivationale Kategorie von Historikern nahezu einhellig ins Reich der Mythen verwiesen worden ist, die die unzweifelhafte Komplexität und Ambivalenz der historischen Wirklichkeit eher verdunkeln als erhellen, versucht der vorliegende Beitrag, sich dem Ausdruck Drang nach Osten erstmals aus linguistischer Sicht zu nähern. Zuerst wird kurz der historische Gehalt und Hintergrund des Ausdrucks Drang nach Osten dargestellt, ausgehend von der Krise der deutsch‐polnischen Beziehungen in der Revolution von 1848. Danach werden drei verschiedene linguistische Annäherungen an sprachliche Stereotypisierung im Hinblick auf Drang nach Osten diskutiert. Ausgehend von allgemeinen kognitiv‐diskursiven Stereotypisierungsstrategien wird Drang nach Osten als Nominationsstereotyp definiert, dessen semantische und syntaktische Stabilisierung in frame‐semantischen Kategorien beschreibbar ist; zusätzlich wird die Verwendung des deutschen Ausdrucks Drang nach Osten in nicht‐deutschsprachigen Diskursen aus semiotischer Sicht interpretiert. Überlegungen zu den interdisziplinären Aspekten einer historisch‐linguistischen Stereotypenforschung runden den Beitrag ab.

<strong>The Other “Other Singer”</strong>: Linguistic Alterity in Esther Kreitman's Transit Fiction

Interpretations of Esther (Hinde) Kreitman’s work have focused most attention on its autobiographical dimension, in particular her troubled life as a woman writer in the shadow of the two Singer brothers. This article argues that some of the assumptions embedded in these autobiographical interpretations are in need of qualification in view of the other-directed dynamic of Yiddish autobiography, the scarcity of reliable sources on Kreitman’s life, her relation to Yiddish literary traditions, and the impact of translations. Through an extended close reading of Kreitman’s second novel Brilyantn (1944), the article shows how the author functionalized elements taken from her own life story (such as mental instability) to address broader concerns pertaining to Jewish transit communities in Western Europe (in particular the diamond Jews in Antwerp and London) around the time of the First World War. In Brilyantn , madness is not merely an individual aberration but first and foremost a marker of the quasi-liminal condition of Jews in transit, whose in-between position is further underscored by the linguistic hybridity of their speech. By mixing her Yiddish prose with Flemish, French, German, and English words and phrases, Kreitman brings to life the complex human relations underpinning the diamond trade, where social standing and business success are predicated on linguistically defined identities.

Reconsidering a <i>Wehg</i> Less Traveled: Another Look at Stündel's German <i>Finnegan</i>

Reconsidering a Wehg Less Traveled:Another Look at Stündel's German Finnegan Emily Cersonsky (bio) As none of you knows javanese I will give all my easyfree translation of the old fabulist's parable. Da keiner von euch Javanisch kann, gebe ich euch meine ganz freie Übertragung der Parabel eines alten FabelDichters. Finnegans Wake (152.12-13) and Finnegans Wehg1 Arguments concerning the translatability of Finnegans Wake have long turned on the question of whether there exists a "standard" from which the text should be approached. Fritz Senn, the ever-pragmatic denizen of all matters Joycean and translational, suggests that we not adopt Joyce's professed preference for "sound" over "sense"—or any other rule—too dogmatically, instead applying these as guidelines in each contextualized case.2 Over and again, Senn's has been the voice reminding readers, translators, and scholars that Finnegans Wake is only an extreme case proving the rule that there can be no "good" or "bad" translation, that there is no escaping some sort of reading model, that in translation as in reading, the being of the text is less important than "what happens there."3 In calling for readers and translators to focus recursively on the minutiae of the text4, Senn's theory of translation as regards the Wake seems to echo the nearly contemporaneous words of T. S. Eliot—"we shall not cease from exploration . . ."5—even as it mirrors the Viconian structure of Joyce's own work. Yet in discussing translation, Senn (admittedly) has a "reading model" of his own, and this is, as Patrick O'Neill has pointed out, Joyce's original text itself.6 That would seem to go without saying, yet various scholars [End Page 191] have proposed what O'Neill terms an "extensive" or "transtextual" reading of translations of Joyce, which strives toward an understanding of the translation as on an even keel with the original, taking stock of how even variously "bad" translations might enrich, expand, and emend Joyce's meaning. Such an approach twists free of the concept that translations might mature along with the translators' increasing understanding and audacity (see "ALP Deutsch" 190); instead, much like the "Google Translate" system, translations' collective interest and informativity increase as their numbers increase, adding more and more idiosyncratic voices, approaches, and reading models to the collective database, which is Finnegans Wake and its satellite texts. Such a view resembles the metaphor by which Rosa Maria Bollettieri Bosinelli describes the multiple languages of the Wake itself: as part of a "translinguistic" text, where English and other languages are mutually contextualized in each other, forming "multiple meaning in a kind of mirror game."7 In other words, the relationship between original and translation is dynamic, enriching both in endless interpretation. Yet where to begin translating or reading-in-translation within this ineluctable circularity? Subtly, Joyce provides an answer within his own text. At the heart of "Anna Livia Plurabelle," he replays an anecdotal meeting of French and German soldiers at the Rhine, in which a Frenchman shouts "Filou!" ("Scoundrel!"), but the German hears this in German, as "Wie viel Uhr?" ("What time is it?")—inadvertently translating and neutralizing the insult.8 Because of this German phrase's connection to the passage of time, Joyce places the anecdote at the moment in which the two washerwomen of his text recognize from their respective sides of their river that it is getting late and that they are turning into natural objects. Yet Joyce reverses the order of the exchange: "Fieluhr? Filou! What age is at?" (FW 213.14). Here, the innocent, epochal question translates into a sophomoric, aggressive answer. Yet here, too, are all the elements of every act of translation: its occurrence in time, its dependence on calculated misunderstanding, its aggressive appropriation of another's language, or its infection of one language with another. The German-derived question begets a near-homonymous answer in French (the sound of the German shapes the sound of the French), yet, reciprocally, the answer is a word that had by this time already been adopted into German from French.9 By reversing (translating) the anecdote from its original form, Joyce further exhibits the...

The Historical Development of Helicopter Emergency Medical Services in the German Democratic Republic

The eastern part of Germany, formerly the German Democratic Republic (GDR), existed as a sovereign country from 1949 to 1990. During that time, the emergency medical service (EMS) was developed as a system of ground ambulances. It was called the SMH system (abbreviation of the German phrase Schnelle Medizinische Hilfe for “fast medical aid”).1,2 Although the use of helicopter EMS (HEMS) in the GDR had been demonstrated to improve prehospital care since the late 1950s, the East German government did not support systematic helicopter use for medical purposes until the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989.

Speeding Up Syntax: On the Relative Timing and Automaticity of Local Phrase Structure and Morphosyntactic Processing as Reflected in Event-related Brain Potentials

Neurolinguistic research utilizing event-related brain potentials (ERPs) typically relates syntactic phrase structure processing to an early automatic processing stage around 150 to 200 msec, whereas morphosyntactic processing is associated with a later and somewhat more attention-dependent processing stage between 300 and 500 msec. However, recent studies have challenged this position by reporting highly automatic ERP effects for morphosyntax in the 100 to 200 msec time range. The present study aimed at determining the factors that could contribute to such shifts in latency and automaticity. In two experiments varying the degree of attention, German phrase structure and morphosyntactic violations were compared in conditions in which the locality of the violated syntactic relation, as well as the violation point and the acoustic properties of the speech stimuli, were strictly controlled for. A negativity between 100 and 300 msec after the violation point occurred in response to both types of syntactic violations and independently of the allocation of attentional resources. These findings suggest that the timing and automaticity of ERP effects reflecting specific syntactic subprocesses are influenced to a larger degree by methodological than by linguistic factors, and thus, need to be regarded as relative rather than fixed to temporally successive processing stages.

Adjectival constructions involving measure phrases in English and German

This paper surveys the major English-German contrasts associated with the type four metres long. German makes use of an increased inventory of relevant colloca-tions and favours the attributive position. English generally employs a larger set of less explicit structures. For instance, the English type can occur as an opaque noun phrase in contexts not matched by German, and the attributive use in German is regularly rendered by an English structure lacking an adjective. A special section explores the erroneous equation of examples like meterdicke Mauern and metre-thick walls.

Ancient Privileges: 'Beowulf', Law, and the Making of Germanic Antiquity by Stefan Jurasinski (review)

252 Reviews 'take' on theworld (one inwhich the acknowledgment of the addressee's personal autonomy remains an important cultural premise). The wealth of evidence that Wierzbicka presents in every case firmlyanchors her research but in no way combines to render her text less than interesting arguments without compromising the clarity of her expositions, or rendering it less than highly readable. The style is lucid, clear, and logicallypresented, and whileWierzbicka can and does challenge conventional readings (her conclusions will no doubt be controversial in certain circles), thebook reveals, and sustains, a level of insightand sheer interest that isimmensely engaging. UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD LYNDA MUGGLESTONE AncientPrivileges:'Beowzuf', Law, and the Making ofGermanic Antiquity. By STEFANJURASINSKI. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press. 2006. x + I83 pp. $45. ISBN: 978-0-937058-98-5. AncientPrivileges discusses Germanic law and the editing of Beowu!f, two subjects with more in common thanmight be thought.Both were dominated by nineteenth-century Germans, who often saw them in thedistortingmirror of romantic nationalism.Jurasin ski setsout to remove thatglass, claiming that it misrepresents law and poetry alike, for all the 'aura of objectivity' (p. 3) thatphilologists claim for themselves. His book has an introduction,fourchapters, and a conclusion. The introductionoutlines theself-flatteries of patriotic romanticism and the manipulations of ideology.The unseen hand of imperialism and racial pride ledAnglo-Saxonists to exalt the law and poetry of theirancestors as a nobler and trueralternative to thehegemonies of Greek and Latin. Germanic lawswere seen as titledeeds of Teutonic freedom and egalitarianism, with Lord Acton informingCambridge students that theUS Declaration of Independence could be dimly perceived in the ancient 'forestsof Germany' (p. 7). Such delusions charmed not only historians. Stillworse, they interfered with textual interpretationand even emendation, which should be immune fromsuch a taint, like logic or algebra. The four chapters make the point in a series of case-studies. Chapter I discusses emendations byJakob Grimm and Friedrich Klaeber. Grimm, with Volksgeist inmind, thought that Wiglaf's denunciation of Beowulf's faithlesscompanions had legal forceas a formal expression of banishment. He thusemended hu 'how' to nu 'now' (1.2884) and (citingaModern German phrase) lufen'comfort' to leofen 'sustenance' (1.2886). Klaeber similarly interpreted goldhwete (1. 3074) on the basis of anathemas inAnglo-Saxon charters. YetJurasinski shows that the belief that these passages can be emended by reference to legal formulas has no substance. Chapter 2 deals with the rareword folcscare(1.73) uttered by Hrothgar. Jurasinski dispels themyth, dear to thehearts of commentators, that it means 'land common to the community'. Hrothgar cannot alienate certain possessions, not because theywere 'public', but because their statusmeant theyhad to remain within his family.Legal scholars grasped thepoint generations ago; but philologists have not noticed. Chapter 3 turns to animism and what the author calls the 'irrational, consuming fascinationwith vengeance' (p. 77) thatsupposedly governed Germanic folk.To the fore YES, 38.I & 2, 2008 253 here is the translation of woroldredenne(1. I142) in the Finn episode as 'universally acknowledged duty (of vengeance)'. By discussion of the laws,Jurasinski shows thatan enthusiasm by earlyGermans for 'sacred' blood feuds is illusory. Teutons likeBeowulf actually appear reasonable fellows,who could come to terms over disputes. It is nineteenth-century philologists who seem a wild, bloodthirsty lot, always ready (metaphorically speaking), inbetween bouts of treeworship, tohack off the arms and legsof anyone who fellfoulof them. The last chapter deals with the tragedyof Hrethel andfeohleas gefeoht (1.2441), taken as 'conflictbeyond compensation'. Jurasinski dismisses the claim thatGermanic law made no distinction between redress for murder and for manslaughter. IfHrethel took no action, it would not be because (p. 148) his sonHerebeald was killed by a kinsman, but because thedeath was accidental. This isa book of distinction. It is sober, lucid, precise, and illuminating.Even those with little interest inOld English may learn from itscomments on the psychology of scholars, for whom inertia is so potent, and the echoing of one's predecessors so very softan option. AncientPrivileges, therefore,isan outstanding achievement, greatly to the credit of itsauthor and of theUniversity ofWest Virginia. UNIVERSITY OF NAVARRE,PAMPLONA ANDREw BREEZE The Mabinogion. Trans.bySIONED DAViES. Oxford: Oxford University Press.2007.xxxviii + 293 pp- ?I2.99. ISBN:978-0-i9-283242-9. TheMabinogion is...