Review

Author(s): Jill K. Welch

Review by: Jill K. Welch
Source: The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 75, No. 3 (Autumn, 1991), pp. 390-391
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers
Associations
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 390 The Modern Language Journal 75 (1991)
grammar of texts in order to apply the valuable
analyses provided by textual linguistics to the
teaching/learning of writing.
The first chapter describes in detail the dif-
ferent operations involved in the creation of a
text relating a news item and explains in par-
ticular the very useful concept of co-reference,
a discourse phenomenon that allows the
speaker/writer to use different linguistic
elements (anaphoras, for example) to refer to
the same reality and ensure by the same token
the cohesion of a text.
The second chapter examines how texts re-
lating news items progress, and focuses on the
different types of thematic progression as well
as the main linguistic elements that facilitate
textual cohesion (anaphoras and cataphoras,
verb tenses, connectors). This section definitely
offers interesting, practical suggestions for
bettering the often problematic cohesion of our
learners' writings.
The next two chapters study linguistic traces
of the subjectivity of the speaker/writer in
discourse. The author examines various well-
chosen texts taken from critiques of books and
movies in the press in order to explore more
thoroughly how critics leave traces of them-
selves in this type of discourse (use of modal,
axiological terms in particular). The teachers
will find here numerous useful techniques to
train students to detect (and to produce them-
selves) subjective and objective texts.
The final chapter, and certainly the most
complex, deals with a study of dialogical and
argumentative texts; it emphasizes the different
linguistic means used to guarantee the dy-
namics and cohesion of this sort of text.
This manual for the preparation of language
teachers is a kind of model lecture because of
the logic of its progression, the clarity of the
explanations, and the variety and pertinence
of the numerous sample texts analyzed by
Moirand throughout her study. In a field
sometimes confusing because of the lack of
common terminology, definitions, Moirand has
succeeded in borrowing from different works
on the grammar of texts the most useful tools
that can help the language teacher become
aware of the linguistic elements contributing to
the progression and cohesion of different types
of discourses, and in suggesting many exercises
to teach learners in a precise, efficient manner
how to write texts that are not simply a jux-
taposition of sentences.
This book is an invaluable source of infor-
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mation on the essential works dealing with the
grammar of texts. Each chapter is accompanied
by an annotated bibliography that will allow
the readers to go directly to the most useful
sources. I recommend Moirand's book to all
teachers who are interested in developing the
writing skills of their language students and
who want to base their practice on a scientific
analysis of authentic documents founded on the
latest research.
DANIEL B. PERRAMOND
James Madison University
SAVILLE-TROIKE, MURIEL. The Ethnography of
Communication: An Introduction. 2nd ed. Oxford,
UK: Blackwell, 1989. Pp. x, 315. $17.95,
paper.
The second edition of Saville-Troike's renowned
The Ethnography of Communication reflects the ever-
expanding knowledge base of how language is
used across cultures. This well-referenced edi-
tion brings that knowledge base up to date and
analyzes the various approaches to studying the
ethnography of communication employed in
the last decade. In this respected introductory
textbook, there is something for everyone.
Saville-Troike draws from multiple research
sources in many disciplines including linguistics
and its many specializations, as well as ethnog-
raphy, anthropology, folklore, and pedagogy.
After a concise introduction to the text, the
seven chapters move from basic concepts and
issues in the field through varieties of language,
research analyses, and appropriately, attitudes,
acquisition, and applications.
Educational issues receive a somewhat brief
but illuminating treatment in this text. In her
introduction, for example, Saville-Troike
highlights "one of the most significant contribu-
tions made by the ethnography of communica-
tion" (p. 9): the identification of what it means
to communicate appropriately in a second lan-
guage - certainly a timely issue in our field. In
the final chapter, entitled "Directions and Ap-
plications," the author cites Hymes' call in 1972
for increased use of ethnographic methods in
classroom settings, and pursues an up-to-date
discussion of such inquiry and application. As
research on communication in foreign language
classrooms continues to assume greater propor-
tions in the research field at large, The Ethnog-
 Reviews
raphy of Communication should find itself on re-
quired reading lists for our graduate students.
Furthermore, instructors of beginning language
will find that "Varieties of Language" (chapter
three) provides many possibilities for fascinat-
ing excerpts on language codes to share with
their students.
In short, one need not be an ethnography
nerd to enjoy this textbook. With the excep-
tion of some distracting typographical errors
(on the back cover and in the foreword and in-
troduction) and a persistent and exasperating
misuse of the word which throughout, The Eth-
nography of Communication is highly readable,
given its logical organization, succinct writing
style, and captivating cultural examples from
speech communities around the world. New-
comers to the ethnographic approach to com-
munication will come away with a good
understanding of and appreciation for this
"emergent discipline" (p. 2) in sociolinguistics.
JILL K. WELCH
Denison University
The Origins of Writing. Ed. Wayne M. Senner.
Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1989. Pp.
x, 245. $37.95, cloth.
Senner begins his historical overview of the
origins of writing by emphasizing that since
most linguists have considered language to be
basically parole, writing and its systems have
been relatively ignored. Grammatology is infre-
quently touched upon in linguistics courses,
and, unfortunately, even fewer textbooks sur-
vey this fascinating material. The twelve
polished essays in this book by many leading
authorities should, therefore, be obligatory
reading because, as has been claimed, writing
marks the birth of civilization.
There are four superb contributions dealing
with Afroasiatic languages. Giving necessary
background for these, Denise Schmandt-
Besserat's "Two Precursors of Writing: Plain
and Complex Tokens" is a fine summary of her
work on Sumerian, the first attested script
(3200 B.C.). M. Green competently reviews
"Early Cuneiform," including the various stages
of Akkadian (Assyrian and Babylonian).
Cuneiform was also adapted for the recently
discovered Eblaite, as well as the non-Semitic
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391
Elamite, Hittite, and other Anatolian lan-
guages. Canaanite cuneiform (Ugaritic) is
handled by Frank Cross in his thorough "The
Invention of the Alphabet." Quite contrary to
the syllabic and ideographic natures of Meso-
potamian cuneiform systems, (Semitic) Ugari-
tic is written in an alphabet, without vowels
except for three alephs (glottal stops), which
preserve Proto-Semitic vocalism: a, i, and u.
I agree with Cross' perspectives that 1) the
alphabet was invented only once, 2) all alpha-
bets derive from Phoenician, and 3) the
alphabet was a revolutionary, unique contribu-
tion to civilization (p. 77).
Discussing the Arabic alphabet, James Bel-
lamy demonstrates how this cursive and artistic
script developed from Aramaic. Next to the
Roman alphabet, it is the most widely used of
any in the world. Bellamy leans towards the
Syriac origin of the Arabic script, the older but
less-favored solution, rather than the Nabatean
theory, associated with Theodor N61deke and
Nabia Abbott, to which I am partial.
The last Afroasiatic contribution is Henry
Fischer's "The Origin of Egyptian Hiero-
glyphs." Although ancient Egyptian writing
(3050 B.C.) is almost as old as Sumerian, it
does not reflect any Sumerian influence. Quite
coincidentally, both were pictographic in origin
and developed into intricate systems, which ac-
counts for the fact that literate individuals
(generally priests) were a chosen elite.
The non-Afroasiatic essays, also excellent,
deal with Greek (Ronald Stroud), Latin (Rex
Wallace), Runic (Elmer Antonsen), Ogham
(Ruth Lehmann), Chinese (David Keightley),
and Central American, chiefly Mayan Hiero-
glyphics (Floyd Lounsbury). These are infor-
mative and exciting, showing that gram-
matologists must be au courant with a variety of
disciplines, chiefly anthropology, art, and
history. Grammatology is not a field for the
amateur as Lounsbury has shown concerning
Benjamin Whorfs work on Mayan Hiero-
glyphics (p. 215).
Although some might criticize Senner for not
including chapters on Devanagari (India),
Korean Han'gul, the Easter Island script, or
Linear A (touched upon by Stroud), the book
had to have some limitations. One can only
hope that another volume, which covers these
aforementioned scripts, will soon appear.
ALAN S. KAYE
California State University, Fullerton