LINGUIST List 25.2689

Tue Jun 24 2014

Review: General linguistics: Newbrook (2013)

Editor for this issue: Mateja Schuck <mschucklinguistlist.org>

20-Jan-2014Alexander Droege Strange LinguisticsBook announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/24/24-626.html AUTHOR: Mark NewbrookAUTHOR: Jane CurtainAUTHOR: Alan Reed LibertTITLE: Strange LinguisticsSERIES TITLE: Linguistics Edition 93PUBLISHER: Lincom GmbHYEAR: 2013REVIEWER: Alexander Droege, Philipps-Universität MarburgSUMMARYMark Newbrook's book ''Strange Linguistics'' presents a critical survey ofrecent non-mainstream linguistic theories brought forward mostly bynon-professionals, but sometimes by trained linguists. The topics inNewbrook's collection cover various linguistic areas with a focus onhistorical linguistics and writing systems, but also artificial languages andlanguage-like animal communication. Newbrook has collected a great number ofnon-mainstream theories, ranging from controversial to truly bizarre, which hecomments on in an objective way while providing linguistic backgroundinformation where necessary.The book consists of an introduction and twelve chapters preceded by a prefaceand a glossary of linguistic terms, and followed by a coda and references. Allchapters were written by Mark Newbrook, with some sections co-authored withJane Curtain (in Chapter 6), and Alan Libert (in Chapters 9 and 11).The first four chapters are dedicated to historical linguistics. Chapter 1,''Language origins and language change'' (pp. 25-86), deals with theories onthe origins of language and language change. The first sections presentgenerally accepted ideas and concepts about historical linguistics,introducing some key terms such as ''diffusion'' (p. 26) and ''borrowing'' (p.29) that are crucial for understanding non-mainstream theories. Many of thenon-mainstream approaches discussed here apply the concept of diffusion in anextreme way, claiming that languages that are commonly assumed unrelated oreven that all languages descend from one single ancestor language, the''Ursprache'' (p. 31). Newbrook observes that such claims are often motivatedby nationalistic or religious convictions, and they fail to meet scientificstandards due to flawed methodology. Newbrook sketches the ''comparativemethod'' as applied by professional linguists (p. 29), relying on systematiccorrespondences across the lexicon, and shows how many amateurs fail in theirattempts of establishing links between languages not known to be related. Thecritical problem is often misguided etymologies, based on superficialresemblances in small samples of words rather than systematic soundcorrespondences. The remainder of this chapter is organized into sectionsdealing with theories of languages in a particular geographical region,covering Africa, the Americas, West and East Asia, India, Europe, and thePacific, with special sections on Egypt, and various languages in Europe suchas Greek, Latin, Hungarian, and Basque.In Chapter 2, '''Concocted' languages and very short words'' (pp. 87-103), welearn about linguistic 'concoction'. Most authors suggesting theories of thissort assume that languages are constituted of very short morphemes that aresaid to prove alleged linguistic relationships, for example between Englishand Hebrew because of the re-analysis of the word ''Saxons'' supposedlyoriginating from ''Isaac's sons'' (p. 100).Chapter 3, ''The origins of human language as a phenomenon'' (pp. 105-118), isconcerned with theories of the very emergence of language in ancient times.Many accounts of particular proto-languages must be regarded as speculationabout the prehistory of language with methodologically flawed linguisticreconstruction and no adequate archaeological evidence. On a related note,Newbrook discusses ''intelligent design'', proposed by creationist linguists,many professional linguists (p. 115). Creationist linguists believe that Godcreated the world's languages as described in the story of the Tower of Babel,and they disregard well-established linguistic theories that are generallyaccepted by most historical linguists.In Chapter 4, ''Mysterious writing systems, inscriptions and other texts''(pp. 119-144), non-mainstream theories about the history of writing and thedevelopment of various scripts are presented, including accounts ofdeciphering the Phaistos Disk or the Indus Valley Script. Among other strangetheories, we learn of the claim that the Hungarians used runic writing about6,500 years ago (p. 137), which would make runes far older than Egyptianhieroglyphs or Sumerian cuneiform, contrary to generally accepted views. As inChapter 1, the sections here are thematically divided into geographicalregions (Africa, Egypt, the Americas, West and East Asia, India, Europe, andthe Pacific, with additional sections on particular languages).Chapter 5, ''Language (itself sometimes mysterious) from mysterious sources''(pp. 145-166), touches upon paranormal issues related to language, such as''glossolalia'' (p. 145), ''channelling'' (p. 146), or ''xenoglossia'' (p.152). A major part of this chapter is dedicated to extraterrestrial language.Newbrook hypothesizes that aliens from outer space would probably differ fromhuman beings considerably, suggesting that their type of language might showdramatic differences: If aliens used the oral modality at all, it might bethat their frequency range is imperceptible to human hearing. Luckily, aliensappear to be able to use telepathy and communicate in a holistic way, as someindividuals who have allegedly had contact with alien language report (p.159).In Chapter 6, ''Reversals and other alleged mysterious features'' (pp.167-173), reversed speech is discussed. Many popular songs, especially in rockmusic, are said to contain hidden, mainly sinister messages when playedbackwards. There is even a theory developed by David Oates and colleagues(Oates 1996, and related work) that these messages are present in everydayspeech, produced unconsciously during conversation. Newbrook and Jane Curtainexamine this proposal critically and provide results of their own experiments(Newbrook & Curtain 1997) questioning claims of reversed speech.Chapter 7, ''Allegedly mysterious scripts, texts, etc. (non-historicalissues)'' (pp. 175-186), again deals with non-mainstream ideas about scriptsand texts, but now with a focus on non-historical aspects. A number oftheories address religious texts. For example, Newbrook cites several claimsthat there exist hidden messages or numerical patterns in the Bible, possiblyeven created by alien life-forms, as suggested by Michael Drosnin (2002) (p.175).Chapter 8, ''Alleged animal 'languages' and language-learning abilities'' (pp.187-194), is concerned with language-like animal communication. Newbrookdiscusses the difference between using language and mere articulation ofspeech-like sounds. Some interesting cases of animals are reported that werecapable of learning words and even using some form of syntax. However, claimsabout languages of the Yeti and the Sasquatch suffer from a lack of sufficientevidence (p. 194).In Chapter 9, ''Non-mainstream theories of language and the mind'' (pp.195-208), Newbrook treats a variety of topics that include ''teaching andlearning'' (p. 197), ''Neuro-Linguistic Programming'' (p. 203), and ''feminismand language'' (p. 205), among other topics. The last section on''graphology'' (p. 207), co-authored by Alan Libert, discusses how handwritingand personality are possibly related. The theories in this chapter arethematically rather diverse, linking language to psychological and biologicalprocesses in one way or another.In Chapter 10, ''Non-mainstream general theories of language'' (pp. 209-218),Newbrook presents non-mainstream theories of a more general nature proposed bymostly non-professionals. The chapter is organized into sections on theauthors of the respective theories, for example John Trotter's (1995/1996)idea that the phoneme-allophone relationship should be replaced by a generaltype-token relationship, a claim based upon his philosophical views. Newbrookrejects Trotter's criticism of well-accepted linguistic terminology, and heexplains that an allophone cannot be considered a token of a phoneme, but that''it is itself a type'' (p. 210).The main topics of Chapter 11, ''Language reform and language invention'' (pp.219-237), are suggestions for language reforms and invented languages. Anumber of reform proposals have been brought forward by amateurs suggestingthat we standardize English spelling by establishing a regular correspondencebetween graphemes and phonemes. Newbrook explains why making English spellingmore phonemic may not be a good idea to start with, given that differentvarieties of English may have different phonological inventories. To makethings worse, many reform proposals confuse phonemic and phonetic differences.The second half of the chapter, co-authored by Alan Libert, deals withinvented languages, both those intended for actual communication likeEsperanto, and those used in fiction like Elvish created by J.R.R. Tolkien, orKlingon created by Marc Okrand (p. 235f.).Chapter 12 ''Skepticism about mainstream linguistics'' (pp. 239-250) standsout from the previous discussion because in this final chapter, Newbrook takesa skeptical look at well-known mainstream linguistic theories. Newbrook notesthat it is usually the non-mainstream ideas that are subject to skepticism,but he also sees the need for adopting a more critical attitude towardmainstream theories. He argues, for example, that there are a number ofdifferent frameworks within linguistics, but some linguistics departmentsfocus on only one particular paradigm or theory. Partly due to the growingcomplexity of certain linguistic paradigms, it seems to have become difficultto challenge theories in-depth in teaching (p. 242). In the first section ofthis chapter, some widely used linguistic concepts such as the Chomskyannotion of Universal Grammar are examined (Chomsky 1975, and related work), andcomments by other professional linguists are discussed. The following sectionpresents controversial objections to linguistic theories brought forward byamateurs, including, for example, Amorey Gethin's (1990) attempt to accountfor all linguistic phenomena in terms of semantics only, disregardingmorphological or syntactic structures completely. According to Newbrook,Gethin claims ''that the entire discipline of linguistics is essentiallynonsense'' (p. 246).EVALUATION''Strange Linguistics'' provides an essential resource for the trainedlinguist who might before have been completely unaware of some of thenon-mainstream theories, for instance Le Plongeon's (1896) analysis that''Jesus spoke Mayan on the Cross'' (p. 50). If you read this book but do notfind those approaches convincing -- whether due to the questionable evidence,inappropriate methods, or absurd claims -- you might well appreciateNewbrook's extensive and well-founded critiques, as he unmasks theirtheoretical shortcomings and methodological pitfalls.Readers interested in language theories but not professional linguiststhemselves may also enjoy ''Strange Linguistics''. Newbrook aids this bymaking an effort to explain linguistic concepts and terminology where needed,and includes a glossary with the most important definitions.Some issues that limit the book's usability are the coarse-grained table ofcontents, the lack of a keyword index, and the non-alphabetical references.Newbrook acknowledges the missing index in the preface (p. 9), and as analternative he uses cross-referencing in the chapters. This might establishlinks between related topics while reading through the book, but it stillprecludes looking up a specific keyword later. The reference section isdesigned as a list of endnotes, which give the references to the works citedin the text. That the endnotes are numerically listed in the order ofappearance in the respective chapters allows for a unidirectional access tothe references. However, an alphabetic bibliography would have been preferableto allow readers to look up specific authors.In this book Newbrook tells us to be skeptical, and the reader may well beskeptical toward some of Newbrook's own views. Possibly not everybody willsympathize with each of his critiques, but this book provides an informativeand entertaining survey of non-mainstream theories, some controversial andothers just bizarre. We can take home the message that we should remainskeptical, even toward established mainstream linguistic theories.REFERENCESChomsky, Noam (1975). Reflections on Language. New York: Pantheon Books.Drosnin, Michael (2002). The Bible Code 2: The Countdown. London: Weidenfeld &Nicolson.Gethin, Amorey (1990). Antilinguistics: A Critical Assessment of ModernLinguistic Theory and Practice. Oxford: Intellect Books.Newbrook, Mark and Curtain, Jane (1997). Oates' theory of Reverse Speech: acritical examination. In: The Skeptic (Australia), XVII/3, pp. 40-44.Le Plongeon, Augustus (1896). Queen Moo and the Egyptian Sphinx. New York: TheAuthor.Oates, David J. (1996). Reverse Speech: Voices from the Unconscious. SanDiego: International Promotions.Trotter, John (1995/1996). System of Rational Discourse (Several Volumes).Aranda, ACT: Just Talk.ABOUT THE REVIEWERAlexander Droege holds an M.A. in German linguistics from the University ofMarburg, Germany. He currently works as a research assistant at the departmentof Germanic Linguistics at the University of Marburg. His main focus is on EEGresearch on syntax/semantics processing in different languages (German,Italian, Welsh). But he is also interested in syntactic theories, Asianlanguages (Japanese, Thai), bilingualism, SLA, and writing systems.