Practical French Phonetics, by T. Macirone. vi+140 pp. Allyn and Bacon, 1921. The best brief description of this little book is found in the author's preface: "This book aims to help students of French to overcome the difficulties which confront them when they try to acquire a correct pronunciation of that language.—The book discusses the principles of voice production, illustrates by means of two cuts the organs of speech, and gives the exact position of these organs in making each French sound. It devotes a chapter to the vowels and one to consonants, giving the phonetic symbol for each sound with a paragraph explaining its use. One chapter is devoted entirely to daily exercises for the pupil's practice. Another is given to phonetic transcription of French stories and poems, the same piece of literature being presented in two columns, side by side, one in the regular Roman print and the other in the phonetic alphabet."' The author has limited himself to a very brief but clear presentation of the nature and need of a phonetic basis for studying or teaching French pronunciation, together with simple directions for the production of the sounds, some idea of ways in which they are normally spelled, and suggestions for drill. The book ought to be used by every student expecting to teach French. It will not replace such manuals as those of Geddes or Nitze and Wilkins, but should serve as an introduction to these. It should be in the possession of all members of teachers' classes and of all inexperienced teachers. Many seniors in our universities take courses in phonetics without learning how to present the subject to high school classes. To such this book should be a blessing. No text book is perfect, and Practical French Phonetics can not hope to run the gauntlet of criticism unscathed. The chief defect of the book will be found in the statements as to the ways in which the various sounds may be represented in normal spelling. In general, these statements are not precise. Some are misleading. For example, the note on page 19, to the effect that linking takes place for the sake of "euphony," is a stock expression and means nothing to many pupils. A text of this sort should offer a real reason: that two vowel sounds cannot be produced in succession without a pause, however slight, between them to allow for the breath required for their production. In French this pause is often, but not always, avoided by linking. To be logical and to carry out the author's laudable plan of fixing the attention on sounds first, such statements as "This is the regular sound for i, î, y'' (page 19), should read “This sound [i] is usually spelled i, î, y.” The second form of statement still keeps the attention on the sound and its phonetic symbol as the primary matter; the representation of its normal spelling being of secondary importance. The statements concerning other spellings for [i] are especially misleading: "It is also the sound of i in various combinations as ie, is, it, ient, ix." The statement holds good for ie only when final, or in a few such cases as scierie, maniement. It is true of -ient in only the rare cases like the one cited in the example, ils scient. What is the pupil to know about such cases as vient, scientifique? All such mis leading statements could have been avoided if the author had prefaced his discussion of the spellings of vowel sounds with a few general statements: that final consonants usually represent no sound; that -ent as a verb ending represents no sound; that nasal vowels have special spellings; that 's' as a plural sign represents no sound. This would avoid the need of multiplying' examples as on pages 21, 22, where j'allais and j'irais are both given to illustrate open 'e.' For the statement, page 30, that nasal sounds are peculiar to French and "a few other Latin tongues, 99 "French and Portuguese" would be a good substitute. For the statement, page 45, "this sound (liquid 1) is often given to i" should be substituted, "i before stressed vowels.'' The selections used for phonetic transcription are simple and the transcription itself represents in the main the careful speech of the teacher of beginners rather than the rapid utterance that so often puzzles the student by the suppression of many neutral e's and the unvoicing of voiced conC. E. Y. sonants. A Lithuanian Etymological Index, by Harold H. Bender, xvii+307 pp. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N. J. 1921. $5.00. In this book Professor Bender has indexed the citations of Lithuanian words found in Brugmann's "Grundriss" and in the etymological dictionaries of Uhlenbeck (Sanskrit), Kluge (German), Feist (Gothic), Berneker (Slavic), Walde (Latin), and Boisacq (Greek). In addition to these citations the author has in many cases added references to other works which throw light on some phase of the word in hand. In doing this he has drawn on practically all the literature dealing in any way with the grammar of the Lithuanian language. He has, however, avoided giving more than one citation of exactly the same etymological material. In orthography Bender agrees practically with Wiedemann. He retains the traditional Polish sz, for which many native Lithuanian scholars prefer to substitute a simpler and more universal sign. Many misprints and errors found in the older works have been corrected in the "Index.'' This one volume, then, presents in a systematic, condensed, and revised form all the material help which modern scholars have found in Lithuanian for the solution of problems of Indo-European grammar. When one considers the unique importance of Lithuanian for comparative grammar, it will be evident that the present book is indispensable to scholars working in this field. Obviously it will never be one of the "best sellers,'' and the publication of such a book in the interest of pure scholarship is worthy of the utmost commendation. The book is more than an index of etymological material, although that was its primary object, and as such it will have its greatest usefulness. After each Lithuanian word Bender has given the meaning in German. Thus the "Index" furnishes a fairly complete, perhaps the most complete working dictionary for students of Lithuanian. University of Iowa FRANKLIN H. POTTER EMIL ERMATINGER, Die deutsche Lyrik in ihrer geschichtlichen 154 FORTHCOMING ARTICLES Old Northern French Loan-Words in Middle English, by STEPHEN H. BUSH, Professor of Romance Languages, University of Iowa Dante Interests in 19th Century America, by EMILIO GOGGIO, Assistant Professor of Italian and Spanish, University of Toronto The Attitude of Contemporary French Drama towards Marriage, by CHARLES E. YOUNG, Associate Professor of Romance Languages, University of Iowa A List of Pioneer Iowa Words, and an Inquiry into their Dialect Origins, by FRANK LUTHER MOTT, Lecturer in English, University of Iowa Chaucer's "Shapen was my sherte," by LAURA A. HIBBARD, Associate Professor of English Literature, Wellesley College Articles are also in preparation by Professor GEORGE L. HENDRICKSON, Yale University Professor RALPH E. HOUSE, University of Iowa Professor PAUL SHOREY, University of Chicago Associate Professor CHARLES F. WARD, University of Iowa Professor FRANCIS A. WOOD, University of Chicago |