16.2053, Review: Morphology: Bauer (2004)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-16-2053. Sat Jul 02 2005. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 16.2053, Review: Morphology: Bauer (2004)

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1)
Date: 01-Jul-2005
From: Charlotte Hohnheit < charliehohnheit at aol.com >
Subject: A Glossary of Morphology 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Sat, 02 Jul 2005 16:35:35
From: Charlotte Hohnheit < charliehohnheit at aol.com >
Subject: A Glossary of Morphology 
 

AUTHOR: Bauer, Laurie 
TITLE: A Glossary of Morphology 
SERIES: Glossaries in Linguistics 
PUBLISHERS: Edinburgh University Press & Georgetown University 
Press 
YEAR: 2004 
Announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/15/15-2852.html


Charlotte Hohnheit, Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Kiel, Germany

This book aims to be of help to readers who have already been 
introduced to the fundamentals of morphology and are now seeking 
clarification of specific morphological terms. It consists of six parts: 
The glossary as the main part is preceded by a preface and 
introduction, and followed by a listing of fundamental works, a select 
bibliography of books on morphology, an index of names, and an 
index of languages.

The PREFACE acts as a short guide to the book. It mainly contains 
information about the conventions used in the glossary (such as bold 
type for cross-references, or the use of small capitals to indicate 
lexemes) and gives instructions on how to use the entries. 

Bauer starts her INTRODUCTION by first giving an overview of the 
concerns of morphology. After providing the readers with a definition 
("Morphology deals with the correlation of form and meaning within 
the word"), she lists sets of words taken from the English language. 
Bauer describes the relations between sets like friend-friendly-
friendliness and body-embody-disembody, thus giving examples for 
the type of structures discussed in morphology. She talks about the 
existence of patterns and rules in different languages and about the 
questions arising from the study of those patterns. She then writes 
about the development of terminology in morphology and the reasons 
why some terms might not always be used by different authors in 
precisely the same way. Last, she describes the way morphology is 
closely related to other linguistic fields, for example how morphological 
and phonological structures can influence each other, or how 
syntactic and morphological structures are "in some way intertwined" 
since morphological elements are used to show how words function in 
sentences, etc. Bauer ends her introduction with the presentation of 
two possible reading methods for her book: Apart from using it like a 
dictionary, it is possible to go through it thematically by starting with 
one article and following the cross-references to related articles "to 
see how various aspects of morphological study are being treated 
together as packages which we call morphological theories".

The GLOSSARY itself starts with 'abbreviation' and 'abessive' and 
ends with 'zero-derivation' and 'zero morph'. Pronunciation is provided 
for many entries (e.g. acronym, hypocoristic and hapax legomenon). 
Cross-referencing between glossary entries is numerous. A 'basic' 
entry, such as "morpheme", usually also contains information about 
the term's history and its development due to differing theoretical 
concepts. While most of her examples are based on English, 
examples from various other languages -- such as French, Spanish, 
Russian, Dutch, Italian, Arabic, Latin, Sanskrit, Maori, etc. - can also 
be found. 

In the section FUNDAMENTAL WORKS, Bauer lists those authors who 
are occupying a "privileged position" since their works are being 
referred to in the glossary without a full reference. The eleven authors 
include e.g. Leonard Bloomfield, John Lyons, and Charles F. Hockett.

The BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BOOKS ON MORPHOLOGY is extensive, 
even though it does not contain articles or books written in languages 
other than English. Bauer helps beginners narrow down their selection 
by marking works suggested especially for that group with an asterisk 
(there are seven books marked liked that, two of them written by 
Bauer himself). Books which are "rather more complex" but "still 
relatively approachable" are marked with two asterisks (four were 
selected for this category).

The INDEX OF NAMES contains 33 entries, from Anderson to Wurzel. 
Each name is listed together with the glossary entry where it can be 
found.

The INDEX OF LANGUAGES contains 34 entries, from Arabic to West 
Greenlandic. 'World languages' such as French, German, and 
Spanish are each associated with several glossary entries, while other 
languages, such as Tlingit or Samoan, are represented just once.

On the whole, Bauer's Glossary of Morphology is a good choice for 
students of linguistics (specifically undergraduate students) as well as 
for anyone desiring to acquire additional knowledge of specific 
morphological terms. Undergraduate students of morphology might 
find glossaries in their textbooks as well but Bauer's certainly is more 
detailed and more extensive. Readers should not expect a sizable 
volume, though. The book contains a mere 124 pages; this is probably 
the reason the publishers call it an "invaluable little glossary" and 
a "handy guide" on the back cover.

The introduction is well-written; it sums up important morphological 
issues and shows interfaces between morphology and the other 
subfields of linguistics. The bibliography can help beginners choose 
introductory works as well as show advanced students choices for 
more complex reading and further research. Even if more advanced 
students already know much of the additional information (such as the 
overview in the introduction or the pronunciation given for well-known 
terms like "paradigm" and "acronym"), the glossary entries alone are 
helpful tools for studying and research. 

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

I am a graduate student at the English Department and the 
Department of General and Comparative Linguistics at the University 
of Kiel, Germany. Morphology is my preferred area in linguistics and 
has been a main focus point of my studies. I am currently working on 
my Master's thesis on endangered languages.





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