New Books: Robinson; Graffi

[Paul Peranteau]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
John Benjamins Publishing has brought out two new books related to the 
study of Historical Linguistics:

Whose German?
The ach/ich alternation and related phenomena in 'standard' and 'colloquial'.

Orrin W. ROBINSON (Stanford University)
Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 208
US & Canada: 1 58811 007 9 / USD 64.00 (Hardcover)
Rest of world: 90 272 3715 8 / NLG 140.00 (Hardcover)

The author addresses a number of issues in German and general
phonology, using a specific problem in German phonology (the
ach/ich alternation) as a springboard. These issues include
especially the naturalness, or lack thereof, of the prescriptive
standard in German, and the importance of colloquial
pronunciations, as well as historical and dialect evidence, for
phonological analyses of the "standard" language. Other important
topics include the phonetic and phonological status of German /r/,
the phonetic and phonological representation of palatals, the
status of loanwords in phonological description, and, especially as
regards the latter, the usefulness of Optimality Theory in
capturing phonological facts.
The book addresses itself to scholars from the fields of German and
Germanic linguistics, as well as those concerned more generally
with theoretical phonology (whether Lexical or Optimal). It may
even appeal to the orthoëpists and lexicographers of modern German.

* * * * * * * *


200 Years of Syntax.
A critical survey.
Georgio GRAFFI (University of Verona)
Studies in the History of the Language Sciences 98
US & Canada: 1 58811 052 4 / USD 114.00 (Hardcover)
Rest of world: 90 272 4587 8 / NLG 250.00 (Hardcover)

This book argues convincingly against the widespread opinion that
very few syntactic studies were carried out before the 1950s.
Relying on the detailed analysis of a large amount of original
sources, it shows that syntactic matters were in fact carefully
investigated throughout both the 19th century and during the first
half of the 20th century. Moreover, it illustrates how the enormous
development of syntactic research in the last fifty years has
already condemned even several recent ideas and analyses to
oblivion, and deeply influenced current research programs.

The wealth of research undertaken over the last two centuries is
presented here in a systematic way, taking as its starting point
the relationship of syntax with psychology throughout this period.
The critical ideas expressed in the text are based on a detailed
illustration of the different syntactic models and analyses rather
than on the polemics between the different schools.



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