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'dont's' perpetuate the point of view of the narrow-minded purism of the 18th century with its arrogant claim that 'even our most approved authors offend against every part of grammar' (26), the author stresses the need for 'a grammar that records the facts of the actual usage of those who are carrying on the affairs of English-speaking people and does not falsify the account in accord with a make-believe standard of "school-mastered" speech; a grammar that explains these facts in the light of their history, not by means of an a priori reasoning; and finally, a grammar that attempts to set forth the patterns or tendencies that have shown themselves in the drift of the English language' (44).

The chapters on 'Acceptable Grammar', 'Acceptable Pronunciation', and 'Acceptable Vocabulary' contain a simple and effective exposition of the old puristic and the new scientific point of view. The following chapters deal with the problems of the teacher of English in the light of the modern view of the nature and function of language.

If it is the chief task of the teacher of English to build up speech habits, what particular habits of speech are desirable? First and foremost, the author argues, those of the 'conversational English' of the particular section in which the student lives, as 'it is clearly not the business of the schools in any one of these sections to teach the language habits which constitute the dialect of another section, for the speech practices of the Middle West are just as good as those of New England, and the Southerners have long been justly proud of their dialect' (127). The acquisition of the written and the literary forms of the language comes second. This is sound common sense.

Fries would have the teacher of English acquire a knowledge of phonetics, for 'in matters of pronunciation a teacher without knowledge of phonetics is as useless as a physician who knows no anatomy' (177); he would have him acquire 'enough familiarity with the older stages of the language and the processes of sound-change and analogy that have operated in its development to understand the nature of the difficulties arising in connection with the forms and syntax used by pupils' (182); and he would demand of him a familiarity with the modern scientific view of the nature and function of language. These are surely moderate demands. But how many teachers of English, even in our colleges, have such training? And how many universities are equipped to offer such training? The author's university is one of the few.

However, there is in increasingly wider circles a sound revolt against the arbitrary dicta of dictionary and school grammar and a new interest in linguistic matters. It is to be hoped that this readable volume with

its clear exposition of the issues will contribute its share towards a reshaping of instruction in the English language.

Ample references to the literature on the English language and on general linguistics are a valuable feature of the book. The author's forthcoming 'Introduction to Modern English Grammar' will be of interest to all who would like to see the teaching of English reorganized. HANS KURATH

Die Bibel als Ariadenfaden im Labyrinthe der Sprachen: eine Probeschrift für Forscher aller humanistischen Gebiete. Pp. xvii + 136. By ZEKHARIA SCHAPIRA. Selbstverlag der Verfassers: Z. Schapira, Tel-Aviv, Tabor str., Erez-Jisraël, Palästina, 1927.

The author of this volume believes that the key to the origin of language is in the Bible, and that Hebrew presents the word-roots in their simplest forms. His examples are drawn from the Semitic and from the better known Indo-European languages. Samples of his learning are seen in his interpretation of German verstehen as a corruption of verstecken (89); in the reference of English bachelor to Hebrew bāḥēl (93); in the grouping together of English cede, sedate, sedulity (94) as derivatives of one root which is found in Hebrew. Misprints are common; homo alalus becomes alallus or allalus. Many short vowels in Latin words bear the circumflex to show that they are long, which they are not. One wonders when the pre-scientific attitude toward linguistics will come to an end; when would-be scholars can be restrained from spending their own and their friends' money on the printing of worse than useless treatises. In this entire treatise there is but one citation of a modern work on linguistics; the author seems neither to know nor to care whether a science of linguistics already exists. He calls upon the Lichtsucher to join with him in his research and to aid him with funds. for publication; but let us pray that Linguistic Science may be spared. ROLAND G. KENT

NOTES AND PERSONALIA

THE LINGUISTIC INSTITUTE, through its announcements, evoked such a response that the Administrative Committee went ahead with the plans, arranging definitely with the Yale Corporation for the use of the facilities of Yale University. The lectures will begin on July 9, and will last for six weeks. Those who are planning to attend, and have not yet registered their names, are requested to aid the Director by informing him as soon as possible, in care of the Linguistic Institute, Box 1849, Yale Station, New Haven, Connecticut.

THE FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING of the Linguistic Society will be held in New York City, in the week following Christmas Day, 1928, in conjunction with the annual convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The American Anthropological Association and the American Psychological Association also are meeting in New York at that time, and it is hoped that the mutual interests of these associations and of the Linguistic Society will be manifested in the attendance at the sessions. The exact days and place of the sessions of the Linguistic Society have not yet been fixed.

ACCEPTANCES OF ELECTION have been received from the three foreign scholars who were elected to honorary membership at the Cincinnati meeting. It is to be noted that Professor Sommer is no longer at the University of Bonn, but has accepted a call to the University of Munich. We make the following extracts from the letters of acceptance:

Die ernennung zum ehrenmitglied der Linguistic Society of America freut und ehrt mich in besonderem masse und ich spreche Ihnen dafür meinen wärmsten dank aus. Ich sehe darin vor allem die gleichstellung der romanischen sprachwissenschaft mit den anderen, was ja auch in den artikeln Ihrer zeitschrift zum ausdruck kommt, was aber im allgemeinen sehr selten geschieht. So nehme ich denn die ehrung mehr noch für mein fach als für mich persönlich in empfang und betrachte sie als ein zeugniss dafür, dass, was ich aus innerem triebe, den mir von der natur gegebenen neigungen folgend, geleistet habe, der sache zum grossen nutzen gereicht hat. . . . W. Meyer-Lübke.

Ihr Brief vom 19. Januar, der mir die Nachricht von meiner Erwählung zum Ehrenmitglied der Linguistic Society of America brachte, war für mich eine grosse

Ueberraschung: eine um so grössere, da ich ja eigentlich den mehr linguistischen Arbeiten meiner Jugendjahre immer ferner getreten bin. Aber schliesslich darf ich mir vielleicht doch einbilden, dass auch die Dinge die ich jetzt treibe und wohl auch bis zu meinem nach der Natur der Dinge nicht mehr allzufernem Ende treiben werde, doch auch der Linguistik einigermassen zu Gute kommen: so dass ich also die Wahl mit gutem Gewissen, und jedenfalls mit allen guten Vorsätzen für die Zukunft annehmen kann. Darf ich Sie bitten, das der Gesellschaft mitzuteilen, und ihr zugleich meinen ergebensten Dank für die mir zuteilgewordene Auszeichnung zu übermitteln. . . . E. Sievers.

Ihr freundliches Schreiben vom 14. I. 1928 ist erst heute in meine Hände gelangt, da ich inzwischen als Professor von Bonn nach München übergesiedelt bin. Der Linguistic Society of America spreche ich meinen herzlichsten Dank aus für die grosse Ehre, die sie mir durch meine Wahl zum Ehrenmitglied hat zuteilwerden lassen, und ich nehme diese Ehre mit Freuden an. . . . F. Sommer

Acting under the authority granted by the Society at the Annual Meeting in Cincinnati, the President and the Secretary appointed and issued credentials to the following members of the Society, as delegates to the various European Congresses in which the participation of the Linguistic Society had been invited:

To the Conference on Linguistic Bibliography, Paris, March 12: E. B. Babcock, W. A. Oldfather.

To the First International Congress of Linguists, The Hague, April 10 to 15: Franz Boas, W. A. Oldfather.

To the First International Etruscan Congress, Florence and Bologna, April 27 to May 3: J. W. Hewitt, D. M. Robinson.

To the Seventeenth International Congress of Orientalists, Oxford, August 27 to September 3: H. H. Bender, W. N. Brown, A. R. Nykl. W. A. Oldfather.

Brief accounts of these meetings will be given in later issues of LANGUAGE.

The Twenty-Second International Congress of Americanists will be held in New York City during the week beginning September 17, 1928. The Committee of Organization has the following officers: Franz Boas, Chairman; P. E. Goddard, Secretary.

Professor E. C. Armstrong has been unable to serve on the Committee of the Linguistic Society to seek a subvention of $10,000 for certain publications, and Professor Leonard Bloomfield has succeeded to the chairmanship, with Professor Edward Prokosch as his associate on the Committee.

Dr. W. Norman Brown, Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Pennsylvania, has been appointed to a fellowship on the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, for the fifteen months from June 1, 1928. He will make a study of the legends and history centering around the Jaina sage Kalaka, as preserved in Sanskrit and Prakrit texts, of the texts themselves, and of the art of the paintings illustrating certain manuscripts of those texts. His studies will be pursued mostly in India, but also for a short time in Europe.

Professor Carl D. Buck has been added to the Honorary Committee of the First International Congress of Linguists, at the Hague.

Professor Aurelio M. Espinosa, of the Leland Stanford Jr. University, has been elected to the presidency of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish.

Miss Marie W. Smith, graduate student in Indo-European Philology at the University of Pennsylvania, has been appointed Instructor in Latin at Temple University, Philadelphia, from September of this

year.

Dr. Ralph Marcus, Instructor in Semitic Languages and Lecturer on Hellenistic Judaism in the Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City, was also Lecturer in Semitic Languages at Columbia University during the spring semester of 1928.

Dr. Edward Sapir, until recently Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago, has been promoted to be Professor of Anthropology and General Linguistics.

The Committee on Publications has accepted, as the second number of the LANGUAGE DISSERTATIONS, the dissertation of Edward Yoder, Professor of Classics at Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana, on "The Position of Possessive and Demonstrative Adjectives in the Noctes Atticae of Aulus Gellius', which he is offering for the Ph.D. degree at the University of Pennsylvania. Several other numbers of this series are under consideration, and announcement of their acceptance is expected shortly.

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