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How Languages Work
An Introduction to Language and Linguistics

Second Edition

Edited by C AROL GENET TI

How Languages Work
An Introduction to Language and Linguistics

Language is a sophisticated tool which we use to communicate in a multitude of ways.

Updated and expanded in its second edition, this book introduces language and linguistics –
presenting language in all its amazing complexity while systematically guiding you through the basics.
You will emerge with an appreciation of the diversity of the world’s languages, as well as a deeper
understanding of the structure of human language, the ways it is used, and its broader social and
cultural context.
Part I is devoted to the nuts and bolts of language study – speech sounds, sound patterns, sentence
structure and meaning – and includes chapters dedicated to the functional aspects of language: discourse,
prosody, pragmatics, and language contact. The fourteen language profiles included in Part II reveal
the world’s linguistic variety while expanding on the similarities and differences between languages.
Using knowledge gained from Part I, you will explore how language functions when speakers use it in
daily interaction.
With a step-by-step approach that is reinforced with well-chosen illustrations, case studies, and study
questions you will gain understanding and analytical skills that will only enrich your ongoing study
of language and linguistics.

Carol Genetti is a Professor of Linguistics and the Anne and Michael Towbes Graduate Dean at
University of California, Santa Barbara.
How Languages Work
An Introduction to Language and Linguistics

Editor
CA R O L GE NE T T I
University of California, Santa Barbara

Assistant Editor
ALLISON ADELMAN
Antioch University Santa Barbara

Contributors
Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald James Cook University
Ayla Applebaum University of California, Santa Barbara
Mira Ariel Tel Aviv University
Claire Bowern Yale University
Mary Bucholtz University of California, Santa Barbara
Wallace Chafe University of California, Santa Barbara
Dorothy Chun University of California, Santa Barbara
Patricia M. Clancy University of California, Santa Barbara
Bernard Comrie University of California, Santa Barbara
Guy Deutscher Independent Scholar
Robert Englebretson Rice University
Jan Frodesen University of California, Santa Barbara
Matthew Gordon University of California, Santa Barbara
Birgit Hellwig Univeristät zu köln
Kristine Hildebrandt Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville
Daniel J. Hintz SIL International
Anne H. Charity Hudley University of California, Santa Barbara
Michael Israel University of Maryland, College Park
Ritva Laury University of Helsinki
Christine Mallinson University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Marianne Mithun University of California, Santa Barbara
Toshihide Nakayama Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
Loretta O’Connor Radboud University
Lal Zimman University of California, Santa Barbara
University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom

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education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781108470148
DOI: 10.1017/9781108553988

© Cambridge University Press 2019

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception

and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.

First edition published 2014

Revised edition published 2019

Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ International Ltd., Padstow, Cornwall

A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Genetti, Carol, 1961– editor.
Title: How languages work: an introduction to language and linguistics /
editor, Carol Genetti; assistant editor, Allison Adelman
Description: Revised edition. | Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University
Press, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018008142 | ISBN 9781108470148
Subjects: LCSH: Language and languages. | Linguistics.
Classification: LCC P121 .H725 2018 | DDC 400–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018008142

ISBN 978-1-108-47014-8 Hardback

ISBN 978-1-108-45451-3 Paperback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy

of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
 CONTENTS

List of Figures viii

List of Tables xii
Preface xv
Acknowledgments xvi
List of Glossing Conventions xviii
The Book’s Approach xxii
For Students: How to Use This Book xxvi

PART I PRIMARY CHAPTERS 1

1 Introduction: Language, Languages, and Linguistics 3
CAROL GENETTI

2 Phonetics: Physical Dimensions of Speech Sounds 26

M AT T H E W G O R D O N

3 Phonology: Organization of Speech Sounds 55

M AT T H E W G O R D O N

4 Morphology: What’s in a Word? 79

MARIANNE MITHUN

5 Word Classes: Evidence from Grammatical Behavior 108

CAROL GENETTI

6 Syntax: Words in Combination 129

CAROL GENETTI

7 Semantics: How Language Makes Sense 164

MICHAEL ISRAEL

8 Pragmatics: Inference for Language 195

MIRA ARIEL

9 Discourse: Language Beyond the Sentence 215

WA L L A C E C H A F E
vi Contents

10 Prosody: The Music of Language 236

WA L L A C E C H A F E

11 Language in the Social World 257

M A R Y B U C H O LT Z A N D L A L Z I M M A N

12 Language Change: The Dynamicity of Linguistic Systems 285

MARIANNE MITHUN

13 Language Contact and Areal Linguistics 314

A L E X A N D R A Y. A I K H E N VA L D

14 First Language Acquisition 336

PAT R I C I A M . C L A N C Y

15 Second Language Acquisition 366

DOROTHY CHUN AND JAN FRODESEN

PART II LANGUAGE PROFILES 387

1 Kabardian 389
M AT T H E W G O R D O N A N D AY L A A P P L E B A U M

2 Goemai 405
B I R G I T H E L LW I G

3 Manange 418
KRISTINE HILDEBRANDT

4 Finnish 439
R I T VA L A U R Y

5 Nuuchahnulth (Nootka) 456

T O S H I H I D E N A K AYA M A

6 South Conchucos Quechua 475

DANIEL J. HINTZ

7 Tsez 494
BERNARD COMRIE

8 Bardi 510
CLAIRE BOWERN

9 Lowland Chontal 525

L O R E T TA O ’ C O N N O R

10 Manambu 542
A L E X A N D R A Y. A I K H E N VA L D A N D C A R O L G E N E T T I

11 African–American English 563

ANNE H. CHARITY HUDLEY AND CHRISTINE MALLINSON
vii Contents

12 Indonesian 577
ROBERT ENGLEBRETSON

13 Seneca 594
WA L L A C E C H A F E

14 Akkadian 611
GUY DEUTSCHER

Glossary 624
References 656
Index 668
Appendix: IPA Summary Sheet 679
 FIGURES

PR IM A RY C HA P T ER S
1.1 Schematization of language varieties 12
1.2 Newars at the temple complex in Patan, Nepal 14
1.3 Members of the Gusii community in Kenya record traditional songs and dances as a
component of their documentation of the Ekegusii language and Gusii culture (photo by
Kennedy Bosire) 17
2.1 Three subsystems of speech articulation 27
2.2 The supralaryngeal vocal tract 30
2.3 Sequenced MRI images of the word leap /lip/ extracted from the phrase pea leap. [The MRI
images in this chapter were generously made available by Shri Narayanan of the University of
Southern California Speech Production and Articulation Knowledge Group (SPAN). More MRI
images (in video format with accompanying sound files) for other English sounds are available
on SPAN’s website: http:// sail.usc.edu/span/mri-timit/.] 42
2.4 Dental / lࡧ/ and retroflex / ܿ/ in Tamil 43
3.1 The phonemes /p/ and /t/ and their allophones 63
6.1 Labeled tree diagram for The kids arrived at the house 132
6.2 Labeled tree diagram for at the top of the steps to the library 141
6.3 Schemas representing active and passive constructions in English 151
6.4 Schematic representation of coordination and subordination 153
6.5 Labeled tree diagram for a sentence with an adverbial clause 154
6.6 Labeled tree diagram for a sentence with a complement clause 155
6.7 Labeled tree diagram for a noun phrase with a relative clause 156
7.1 The Semiotic Triangle and the word cat 171
8.1 Logical and pragmatic inferences 200
8.2 The derivation of contextual implications 204
8.3 Balancing for Optimal Relevance 206
8.4 Deriving the conveyed meaning 206
8.5 Deriving the explicature 207
ix List of Figures

8.6 Deriving the explicature of Double your efforts 208

8.7 Deriving the conveyed meaning (complete model) 208
9.1 Declining pitch (top line) and volume (bottom) in line 7 of Example (1) 221
9.2 Pitch and syllable length in line 1 of Example (1) 221
9.3 Line 13 with a low rising terminal contour, indicating more to come 222
9.4 Line 14 with a falling terminal contour 222
10.1 Waveform and fundamental frequency in Example (1) 238
10.2 Four ways of visually displaying sound 240
10.3 The four functions of prosody 242
10.4 Segmentation into intonation units with overall declining pitch 243
10.5 Deceleration over the course of an intonation unit 243
10.6 Terminal pitch contours extracted from Figure 10.4 243
10.7 Mean intensity of the intonation units in Example (5) 245
10.8 Syllables per second for the intonation units in Example (5) 246
10.9 Prominence in pitch (top line) and volume (bottom) in Intonation Unit (b) 246
10.10 Prominence in pitch (top line) and volume (bottom) in Intonation Unit (c) 247
10.11 Pitch (top line) and volume (bottom line) in Intonation Unit (e) 248
10.12 Spectrogram of Intonation Unit (e) 249
10.13 Fundamental frequency in Example (6) 249
10.14 Harsh voice from Example (7) 249
10.15 Laughter 250
10.16 Whispering 250
10.17 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s oratorical style 251
10.18 Rising pitch with increasing emotional involvement 253
10.19 Pitch contour for sound file for Exercise 1 254
10.20 Pitch contour for sound file for Exercise 2 255
10.21 Pitch contour for sound file for Exercise 5(a) 255
10.22 Pitch contour for sound file for Exercise 5(b) 256
11.1 Extreme raising of /aɪ/, combining gender and social category, separating two clusters of
burnout girls (adapted from Eckert and McConnell-Ginet 1995: 503) 276
12.1 Abbreviated tree of the Indo-European language family 299
13.1 L’Académie française, the Academy of the French Language, in Paris 316
13.2 Tariana men from Santa Rosa, who have Tariana as their first language and who also speak
Wanano, Desano, and Piratapuya. The women speak Piratapuya, Wanano, Siriano (Tucanoan),
and Baniwa (Arawak), but hardly any Tariana. Everyone also knows Tucano, and most people
know Portuguese 328
14.1 Percentage of transitive subjects, intransitive subjects, and direct objects that convey new
information in Korean clauses 354
x List of Figures

L A N GU AG E P R OF I L ES
LP1.1 Map of the Black Sea region 390
LP1.2 The Northwest Caucasian family of languages 391
LP1.3 Alveolar stops in English and Hupa 391
LP1.4 Bilabial stops in Kabardian 393
LP1.5 Kabardian vowel phonemes and their allophones 399
LP2.1 Goemai language family tree 406
LP2.2 Map: Nigeria, Plateau State, and the Goemai area (based on Monday 1989; Kurungtiem
1991) 406
LP3.1 Genealogical profile of Manange 419
LP3.2 Map of Manang District: dotted line shows Annapurna trekking route 419
LP3.3 A trekking lodge sign in Dharapani, Manang, written in English for tourists 420
LP3.4 Sheep herding along the road, Lower Manang 421
LP4.1 The geographical area where Finnish is spoken 439
LP4.2 Uralic family tree (simplified; languages listed are examples) 440
LP4.3 Bilingual street sign in Helsinki 441
LP4.4 A modern saunakamari (photo by Raimo Hyvönen) 450
LP5.1 Vancouver Island 456
LP5.2 Map of Nuuchahnulth area on Vancouver Island 457
LP6.1 Location of Peru 476
LP6.2 Map: The Quechua language family (Hintz 2011: 12, adapted from Landerman 1991: 37) 477
LP6.3 Map: The South Conchucos Quechua language area 478
LP6.4 Endangered Andean puma 480
LP6.5 Garfield strip featuring the “Peruvian Death Pepper” 492
LP7.1 Area of Russia bordering Georgia; the location of Daghestan 495
LP7.2 Location of the Tsez-speaking area 495
LP7.3 The author, Bernard Comrie, with Arsen Abdulaev, a native speaker of Tsez 496
LP8.1 Map of the region where Bardi is spoken 511
LP9.1 Region where Chontal is spoken 525
LP9.2 Map of ethnolinguistic families in Oaxaca, Mexico (P. Kroefges) 526
LP9.3 View from a hilltop of San Pedro Huamelula, Oaxaca, Mexico 526
LP9.4 Women on their way to a town dance 532
LP9.5 Scene from a Chontal sugar cane parade 537
LP10.1 Location of Manambu speakers in New Guinea 542
LP10.2 The Manambu-speaking villages Yawabak, Avatip, Malu, and Yuanab (Yambon) 544
LP10.3 The Ndu language family 544
LP11.1 Map of the primary areas where African-American English is spoken 565
LP12.1 Map showing the location of the Indonesian archipelago 578
LP12.2 Map of the Austronesian language area 579
xi List of Figures

LP12.3 A documentation training workshop in Maluku (photo courtesy Michael Ewing) 581
LP12.4 High school students at an exhibit on biography at a provincial government library in Ambon.
The banner reads: “Get to know the biography collection as an expression of the identity and
quality of prominent people” (photo courtesy Michael Ewing) 586
LP12.5 Sign at an archeological site in Bali written in Indonesian with Latin script and in Balinese with
Balinese script (photo courtesy Michael Ewing) 588
LP13.1 The Iroquoian language family 594
LP13.2 Map: The Iroquoian languages 595
LP13.3 Mrs. Jacobs as a young girl 599
LP14.1 Map of Mesopotamia 612
LP14.2 Clay tablet from the British Museum: letter, circa 1800 BCE 614
LP14.3 The effects of syncope on forms with prefixes (left) and suffixes (right) 621
LP14.4 Word written in cuneiform script (for Exercise 4) 623
 TA B L E S

PR IM A RY C HA P T ER S
1.1 Distribution of languages across continents 14
1.2 Number of languages by size of speech community 15
2.1 IPA chart for English consonants 36
2.2 IPA chart for American English vowels 37
2.3 IPA chart for British English vowels 37
2.4 Example words illustrating the vowels of American English 38
2.5 Example words illustrating the vowels of British English 38
3.1 The consonants of English 57
3.2 The consonants of Chickasaw 59
3.3 Data from Hupa 64
3.4 Vowel environment chart for [ɪ] and [u] in the Hupa data 65
3.5 Examples of vowel dissimilation in Finnish 68
4.1 Ilocano locative nominalizers (Rubino 1997) 86
4.2 Roots in several different languages 89
5.1 Declension of Latin frƗter ‘brother’ 112
5.2 Dolakha Newar verb forms in the present and future tenses 115
5.3 Inflection of the Russian adjective novyj ‘new’ (Corbett 2004: 202) 117
5.4 Summary of common morphological and grammatical properties of word classes 124
6.1 Examples of intransitive, transitive, and ditransitive verbs and sentences 144
11.1 Frequency of falsetto occurrence in Heath’s speech across situations (adapted from Podesva
2007: 486) 279
11.2 Japanese first-person and second-person pronouns 283
12.1 The Great Vowel Shift (Anttila 1972: 65) 290
13.1 No coincidence: color terms in English and German 315
13.2 Loanwords in English, borrowed from an Arawak language, Taino, via Spanish 318
13.3 Native and borrowed terms for hooved animals in English 321
15.1 Frequency of lexical verbs with the passive 373
xiii List of Tables

LA N G U AG E P R OF I L ES
LP1.1 The consonants of Turkish Kabardian 397
LP2.1 (Near) minimal pairs 407
LP2.2 Template for the Goemai noun phrase 410
LP2.3 Personal pronouns 413
LP2.4 Number-marking on verbs: some singular/plural pairs 416
LP3.1 Examples of Manange nouns 428
LP3.2 Semantic categories of Manange simple adjectives 430
LP3.3 Semantic categories of Manange verb-like adjectives 432
LP3.4 Properties of nouns, verbs, simple adjectives and verb-like adjectives 434
LP4.1 Inessive and allative nouns illustrating vowel harmony patterns 442
LP4.2 The fourteen Finnish cases, illustrated with the noun talo ‘house’ 446
LP4.3 The Finnish oblique cases (also called “local cases”) and their meanings 447
LP5.1 Nuuchahnulth consonants 459
LP5.2 Nuuchahnulth vowels 460
LP6.1 Native phonemes of South Conchucos Quechua 479
LP6.2 Verb structure 486
LP7.1 The vowel inventory of Tsez 498
LP7.2 The consonant inventory of Tsez 498
LP7.3 Tsez gender prefixes 503
LP7.4 Complex case inflections for two Tsez nouns (besuro ‘fish’ and halmaɣ ‘friend’) 508
LP8.1 Bardi pronouns 519
LP8.2 Constituent orders occurring in two Bardi narratives (Bowern 2008) 522
LP9.1 Agent–patient morphology in Chontal 530
LP10.1 Consonants in Manambu 545
LP10.2 Vowels in Manambu 545
LP10.3 Manambu personal pronouns 552
LP10.4 Agreement paradigm for topical arguments 555
LP10.5 Cross-referencing paradigm for non-topical subjects 556
LP13.1 Seneca vowels 597
LP13.2 Seneca consonants 598
LP13.3 Modifications on the word base -yëtwa- ‘plant’ 604
LP13.4 Some first-person prefixes in Seneca 605
LP14.1 Partial network of possible Akkadian three-consonant templates 617
 P R E FA C E

How Languages Work is designed to be the primary text for a university-level introductory
course in linguistics. The audience for the book includes:

t
undergraduates taking an introductory linguistics course as a general education requirement;

t
beginning linguistics students with limited background in the field;
t
linguistics graduate students seeking a helpful reference and introductory discussions of a
wide range of sub-disciplines and a range of languages;
t
students in related disciplines (such as education, anthropology, writing, or communica-
tion) that seek grounding in linguistics; and
t
general readers with an avid love of languages.

In addition to courses offered within departments of linguistics, the book might be used in
departments of anthropology, education, psychology, communication, applied linguistics,
English, or other languages. It introduces the field of linguistics through its subfields, and
prepares students for more advanced and specialized coursework.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book has been the work of many hands over many years. My sincere thanks go out
to the contributing authors, whose combined experience in linguistics can be counted in
centuries and whose deep insights into language enrich every page of this book. They have
been extraordinarily patient with me as I’ve pursued this project simultaneously with many
others and have graciously accepted deeper editing than they are typically accustomed to as
I’ve strived to bring unity and a consistent voice to these pages. I have greatly appreciated
their wisdom, patience, good humor, and sheer hard work.
This book would never have come into existence without the dedicated energy of numer-
ous graduate students – former and current – in the Department of Linguistics at the
University of California, Santa Barbara. First and foremost, it is my pleasure to acknowl-
edge Allison Adelman, whose meticulous attention to detail and love of good writing have
served to improve this book greatly. I strongly doubt that I would ever have brought this
to completion if I hadn’t had her partnership, flexibility, and cheerful persistence to rely
on, and for this she will have my unending gratitude. For the website materials, especially
the interactive elements, I enthusiastically thank Carlos Nash for visioning and revision-
ing what might be possible and bringing them to fruition. I’m also grateful for the early
partnership of Kobin Kendrick, who helped to shape and creatively transform and extend
my initial ideas. Other graduate students who have contributed in ways too numerous
to mention include Dibella Caminsky, Onna Nelson, Nicholas Lester, Rebekka Siemens,
Kira Griffitt, Veronica Muñoz LedoYañez, Jennifer Garland, and Mara Henderson. UC Santa
Barbara undergraduates have also commented, corrected, and test-run these materials; I
especially note the careful work of Kristin Dunkinson, Kaveh Vee, and David Prine.
The Cambridge University Press editorial team has provided constant encouragement
and expert advice. Thanks especially to Andrew Winnard and Rosemary Crawley for their
encouragement, helpfulness, and impressive expertise.
The first edition of this book was partly written when I was in residence as a Distinguished
Visiting Fellow at the Cairns Institute, James Cook University, in Cairns, Australia. My
thanks to Sasha Aikhenvald and R. M. W. Dixon for their contributions, friendship, and
support. UC Santa Barbara has been the home of this book, both intellectually and in
financial support. I am grateful to the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts and the Office
xvii Acknowledgments

of the Executive Vice Chancellor for research funds that have made this project possible.
Development of the web materials was supported in part by Instructional Improvement
Grants from the Office of Instructional Development.
Finally, I thank Paul, Olivia, and Marcus for their love, support, uncomplaining patience,
and constant inspiration.
I dedicate this book to the UC Santa Barbara Linguistics graduate students: past, present,
and future.

CA RO L GENETTI
Santa Barbara
GLOSSING CONVENTIONS

Convention Meaning
1 first person
2 second person
3 third person
A agentive argument of transitive verb
ABL ablative
ABS absolutive
ACC accusative
AD adessive (“onward”)
ADJ adjective
ADV adverbial
ADV.DS adverbial, different subjects
ADV.SS adverbial, same subjects
AFFIRM affirmed evidential knowledge
AGT agentive
ALL allative
ALREADY already
ANT anterior
APPL applicative
APUD next-to locative
ASP aspect marker
ASSOC associative plural
AUX auxiliary
AV active voice
AWAY.FROM.RIVER directional affix
BRIEF brief duration
CAUS causative
CLF classifier
CLT clitic
COM comitative
COMPAR comparative
COMPL completive
xix List of Glossing Conventions

COND conditional
CONJ conjunctive
CONJECTURE evidential
CONS mutual consent
CONT continuous
COP copula
DAT dative
DECL declarative
DEF definite
DEM demonstrative
DESIDERATIVE desiderative
DET determiner
DIM diminutive
DIST distal
DISTR distributive
DLOC dislocative
DM discourse marker
DS different subject
DU dual
DUPLICATIVE duplicative
DUR durative
EMPH emphatic
ERG ergative
ESS essive
EVEN additive
EVENT event
EVID evidential
F feminine
FACTUAL factual
FOC focus
FUT future
FUT1>2 future tense for first-person subject with a second-person
object
GEN genitive
HABITUAL habitual
HON honorific
I/II/III/IV gender classes
IE informal ending
ILL illative
IMP imperative
IMPRS impersonal
INC inceptive
xx List of Glossing Conventions

INCL inclusive
IND indicative
INDF indefinite
INE inessive
INF infinitive
INST instrumental
INTENSIFIER intensifier
INTR intransitive
IO indirect object
IPFV imperfective
IRR irrealis
ITR iterative
JUST delimitative
LAT lative
LINKER linking morpheme
LOC locative
M masculine
MANIP manipulative
MIDDLE middle voice
MUTUAL evidential
N- non-
NEAR.FUT near future
NEG negative, negation
NF non-Feminine
NMLZ nominalizer
NOM nominative
NP noun phrase
NPST non past tense
NSG non singular
NUM.CLF numeral classifier
OBJ objective
OBL oblique
OBLIGATE obligation
P/O patientive argument of transitive verb
PASS passive
PFV perfective
PL plural
POSS possessive
POSSEE possessee
PREP preposition
PRF perfect
xxi List of Glossing Conventions

PROG progressive
PROX proximal
PRS present
PRT partitive
PST past
PST.PTCP past participle
PTC particle
PTCP participle
PURP purposive
Q question marker
QUOT quotative
REC.PST recent (past)
REDUP reduplication
REM.PST remote (past)
REP repetitive
REPORT non-personal knowledge
S intransitive subject
SBJ subject
SEMBL semblative
SEQ sequential
SG singular
SPEC specific-indefinite article
SS same subject marking
STAT stative
SUB below locative
SUPER above locative
TO directional affix
TOP topic
TR transitive
UNW unwitnessed
UP up(stream) directional
VERBAL.ADJ verbal adjective
WIT witnessed
YET yet
THE BOOK’S APPROACH

This textbook explores how languages work: the “pieces” of languages and the principles
governing their nature and how they fit together; the ways in which language conveys
meaning; how humans use language as the substance of everyday interaction; the role
of language in society and culture; how languages adapt and change over time; and how
they are learned by children and adults. It presents language as a quintessentially human
activity, showing how languages are grounded in human physiology and cognition, and
are both reflective and creative of human societies and cultures. It emphasizes the dynamic
and constantly changing nature of language. Teaching students this broader context allows
them to understand the forces that shape language, hence to gain a deeper understanding
of linguistic principles and structures.
The book does not introduce any particular “formalist” theoretical paradigm (such as
Generative Grammar) but describes grammatical structures from the perspective of linguis-
tic typology. It thus follows a broad international consensus on the nature of linguistic cat-
egories and structures. It is an appropriate choice for faculty members who wish to provide
their students with a rigorous orientation to language and linguistics without introducing
formal models. This book is highly technical and analytical, and requires exacting atten-
tion to structural detail. Grammar is presented in significant depth and the material may at
times be challenging. However, a major focus of the text is to provide students with explicit
direction that will help them acquire analytical skills. In addition, the associated website
includes numerous learning aids (such as interactive tutorials) that support this process.
The password-protected instructor materials on the website include suggestions for sections
to assign (and not assign) for classes with a less technical emphasis.
Importantly, this book is strongly cross-linguistic in its orientation; the focus is not just
on language but also on languages. In exposing readers to languages from across the
globe, it serves as an introduction to the world’s linguistic diversity. Cross-linguistic com-
parisons are important not only because they allow us to classify languages but also because
they reveal what a language is or might be. Understanding the similarities and differences
between languages is essential to the development of empirically justifiable theories about
language. In addition, linguistic variety is simply fascinating and fun; it reveals much about
humankind, and the thousands of ways that particular communities of speakers have
xxiii The Book’s Approach

categorized and represented the world around them. For that reason, this book contains a
special feature: a set of Language Profiles, each written by a linguist who has conducted
extensive fieldwork in the community that they write about (with the exception of Guy
Deutscher, whose profile is on the long-extinct language Akkadian, which is attested on
excavated clay tablets). After a brief introduction to the language and the community in
which it is spoken, each language profile provides an overview of the basic structures and
then goes into depth on one or more topics that tie in with the primary chapters. The
profiled languages were selected to represent languages of diverse locations, families, and
types. Together, these fourteen short studies serve not only to reinforce and illustrate the
main points of the primary chapters but also to expose the reader to the world’s linguistic
diversity.

The Book’s Structure

The book contains fifteen primary chapters and fourteen language profiles. These can be
fit into academic programs in a number of ways. The book provides more than sufficient
material for a semester-long introductory course. It can also be used in a shorter academic
quarter, with instructors selecting the topics they deem the most crucial for students within
their programs. It can also be used across multiple courses; for example, the language pro-
files can be used in subsequent courses on linguistic analysis, morphosyntax, or languages
of the world. Chapters not covered in an introductory course can serve as initial readings
in more specialized topic-specific courses (such as on language acquisition). The material
could also be expanded to a two-quarter or year-long course, although in the latter case
some supplementary readings may be desirable. Further discussion on different ways to
structure courses and how to incorporate the language profiles are available on the instruc-
tor’s portion of the website.
The chapters in this book follow the traditional format of tracing linguistic structure,
beginning with the smallest units (sounds), building up to successively larger units, and
ending with discourse. Chapters on orthogonal topics – such as semantics, language change,
and language acquisition – follow the structural chapters. Several chapters are included on
a variety of topics that are not typically found in introductory textbooks. These include
prosody, discourse, pragmatics, and language contact.
The theoretical perspective and broad coverage of this book allow it to fill a niche in the
market that is currently not covered by other texts. The contributing authors are practicing
linguists and distinguished leaders in their given fields. The editor and each author, while
not losing their individual voice, maintain a consistent chapter structure and level through-
out, to ensure a smooth reading experience for the student. The text is contemporary and
up to date. Most importantly, it presents language in the full richness of its context, as a
complex dynamic tool shaped by generations of speakers through discourse interactions,
adaptive to the broader social and cultural context in which it is embedded. Readers will
develop a deep appreciation of the beauty, complexity, and sheer genius of language, and
of humankind to whom it belongs.
xxiv The Book’s Approach

Changes to the Second Edition

The Second Edition contains a number of enrichments and improved features. Most
substantively, this edition contains a new language profile on African-American English
that is well integrated with Chapter 11: Language in the Social World. The latter has been
restructured and updated. In addition, Chapter 2, Phonetics: the Physical Dimensions
of Speech Sounds, has been expanded to include a description of British English, and
both British and American English are represented in the examples, exercises, and asso-
ciated sound files. This will make it easier for the text to be used in classrooms in the
United Kingdom. It also allows for direct comparison between these two major English
dialects.
Other changes include:

t
a significant increase in the number of exercises in the primary chapters;

t
increased examples from English and other major world languages in the main text and
the exercises;
t
clarification of the distinction between Textboxes and Sidebars, and the addition of a dis-
tinct category of “Stop and Reflect” boxes;
t
greater integration of website materials and Language Profiles through increased
cross-referencing;
t
reduction of highlighted text to better emphasize primary points;
t
updated suggestions for further readings;
t
overall streamlining of prose.

www.cambridge.org/genetti2
The website materials are important companions to the book. The website contains a range
of materials that will help instructors teach the course and help students engage with and
master the skills of linguistic analysis.
Online resources for students include:

t
sound files associated with particular examples in the text;

t
interactive tutorials on problem solving;
t
online flashcards;
t
“how-to” guides that take students through steps of linguistic analysis;
t
explicit instruction in writing for linguistics;
t
study guides;
t
self-administered online quizzes on vocabulary and key concepts;
t
enriched material about the profiled languages, including interesting cultural information
and profiles of speakers.
xxv The Book’s Approach

Online resources for instructors include:

t
PowerPoint slides for each chapter;

t
suggested exam questions;
t
sample assignments;
t
answer keys;
t
suggestions on how to structure courses, depending on class goals;
t
guide to the Language Profiles and suggestions on how to incorporate them into classes.
FOR STUDENTS: HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

Linguistics is a highly diverse and interdisciplinary field, encompassing phenomena as var-

ied as the concrete details of physical acoustics, abstract logical argument, concise gram-
matical structures, and rich observations on culture and society. There are few people for
whom all of it comes easily – everyone has their favorite subfields – but it is all essential;
every subfield deeply interacts with all others. This book has been designed with students
in mind and has many features to facilitate acquisition of the skills necessary to fully appre-
ciate the complexity of language.
It is important in linguistics to engage with the text. Linguistics is not a field where you
read quickly and lightly. It is better not to plan to cover too much at one time and not to
hurry through it; take adequate time to fully work through a couple of sections, and then
take a break. Throughout the primary chapters, you will find that key points have been
put in bold italics. Of course, there are many other important points that you will want
to note as well.
Be sure to really think about the discussion and make it your own; take time to reflect on
your own lifelong experience of language and connect it to what you are learning, and try
to become conscious of language use as you are immersed in it daily. This practice will take
your understanding to an entirely new level.
Textboxes contain case studies and important related points and should always be read.
“Stop and Reflect” boxes give you the opportunity to consider important questions or try
your hand at linguistic analysis; taking time to work through these will facilitate your learn-
ing. Sidebars provide information on online resources as well as cross-references to related
discussions in other parts of the book. Wireless icons ( ) direct you to specific online
resources that are relevant at particular points in the text.
You will find that the pages are filled with examples taken from languages throughout
the world. Most of these are numbered and set off from the text. It is critical that you spend
time looking at these in detail, even if you are tempted to skip over them to continue with
the main text. They are as important as the text itself: each informs the other and neither
can be fully understood in isolation. You will find that words from other languages are usu-
ally broken into their component parts and that translations of the meanings of each part
are provided. Often these translations are abbreviated and put in small caps, for example,
xxvii For Students: How to Use This Book

SG for singular. Each chapter has a list of the glossing conventions used within it positioned
just before the exercises. A full list of all glossing conventions in the book can also be found
on pages xviii–xxi.
One of the essential features of this book is its focus on linguistic analysis. This is the
process by which you take a linguistic expression (a word, a sentence, a stretch of discourse)
and figure out all of its parts and subparts and how they contribute to the whole. This
fine-grained analysis then leads us to a broader understanding of how languages work, the
underlying principles, and how the design of languages both serves and reflects their func-
tions as tools of human communicative interaction.
There are many methods of linguistic analysis, depending on which aspects of language
are being studied. For example, determining which aspects of phonetic articulation are
meaningful in a language is a very different (though surprisingly not unrelated) exercise
from determining whether two languages are members of the same language family, or
whether a language differentiates active voice from passive voice. Learning how to apply
these methods is central to learning linguistics. In order to make this as easy as possible,
methodologies are presented in step-by-step fashion. “Stop and Reflect” boxes prompt you
to apply the methods to further data sets. Each chapter has a set of exercises that allow you
to analyze new data. In addition, there are many resources on the companion website that
serve as aids for improving your analytical skills. These include interactive tutorials, step-
by-step instructions, guides to writing in linguistics, and other chapter-specific resources.
Linguistics has extensive terminology that must be learned to understand the field suc-
cessfully. The Glossary in the back of the book provides simple definitions and is an impor-
tant reference tool. All words in the Glossary are presented in bold at first mention (as well
as later in the book if they haven’t been mentioned for a while, as a reminder that a glossary
entry is available). Chapter-specific glossaries are available on the website. There are also
online flashcards for each chapter to help you memorize terms.
Another important component of the website is the addition of sound files. The major-
ity of instances of language use are spoken, and sound is an integral part of most lan-
guages (sign languages being the exception). Throughout this book (and others) you will
see speech sounds represented by letters and other two-dimensional symbols, but keep in
mind that these are only representations of sounds, not sounds themselves. In moving to the
abstraction of representation, considerable richness is lost. To partially address this, espe-
cially for those chapters that focus on sound (phonetics, phonology, and prosody), many of
the examples are accompanied by sound files accessible on the How Languages Work website;
these are indicated by the wireless icon. Take the time to listen to them carefully. Most of
the language profiles also have sound files, typically of recorded texts. These provide a tan-
gible sense of the language and its speakers that cannot be otherwise replicated.
One of the most fascinating aspects of studying linguistics is learning about the tremen-
dous variety – and ingenuity – of human languages. Linguistic diversity is both captivating
and fun. In addition, understanding linguistic diversity is critical to understanding the
broader principles that underlie languages, i.e., how languages work, and what languages
do. The primary chapters in the book are replete with examples taken from languages across
the globe. In addition, the book contains fourteen language profiles, which are case studies
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
Then did I gather, with a keen delight,
All changes of the seasons, and their signs:
Then did I speed forth, at the first glad sight
Of the coy spring—of spring that archly shines
Out for a day—then goes—and then more bright
Comes laughing forth, like a gay lass that lines
A dark lash with a ray that beams and burns,
And scatters hopes and doubts, and smiles and frowns, by turns.
On a sweet, shining morning thus sent out,
It seem’d what man was made for, to look round
And trace the full brook, that, with clamorous route,
O’er fallen trees, and roots black curling, wound
Through glens, with wild brakes scatter’d all about;
Where not a leaf or green blade yet was found
Springing to hide the red fern of last year,
And hemlock’s broken stems, and rustling rank grass sere.
But hazel catkins, and the bursting buds
Of the fresh willow, whisper’d “spring is coming;”
And bullfinches forth flitting from the woods,
With their rich silver voices; and the humming
Of a new waken’d bee that pass’d; and the broods
Of ever dancing gnats, again consuming,
In pleasant sun-light, their re-given time;
And the germs swelling in the red shoots of the lime.
All these were tell-tales of far brighter hours,
That had been, and again were on their way;
The breaking forth of green things, and of flowers,
From the earth’s breast; from bank and quickening spray
Dews, buds, and blossoms; and in woodland bowers,
Fragrant and fresh, full many a sweet bird’s lay,
Sending abroad, from the exultant spring,
To every living heart a gladsome welcoming.
Howitt.

[117] Vol. i. p. 407.

April 1.
All Fool’s Day.
 In the first volume of the present work, (p. 409,) there is an
account of the singular usage of fool-making to-day, which may be
further illustrated by a few lines from an almanac of 1760:—
The first of April, some do say,
Is set apart for All Fool’s-day;
But why the people call it so,
Nor I, nor they themselves, do know.
But on this day are people sent
On purpose for pure merriment;
And though the day is known before,
Yet frequently there is great store
Of these forgetfuls to be found,
Who’re sent to flance Moll Dixon’s round;
And having tried each shop and stall,
And disappointed at them all,
At last some tell them of the cheat,
And then they hurry from the street,
And straightway home with shame they run,
And others laugh at what is done.
But ’tis a thing to be disputed,
Which is the greatest fool reputed,
The man that innocently went,
Or he that him designedly sent.
Poor Robin.

The custom of making April fools prevails all over the continent.
A lady relates that the day is further marked in Provence by every
body, both rich and poor, having for dinner, under some form or
other, a sort of peas peculiar to the country, called pois chiches.
While the convent of the Chartreux was standing, it was one of the
great jokes of the day to send novices thither to ask for these peas,
telling them that the fathers were obliged to give them away to any
body who would come for them. So many applications were in
consequence made in the course of the day for the promised bounty,
that the patience of the monks was at last usually exhausted, and it
was well if the vessel carried to receive the pease was not thrown at
the head of the bearer.
 There is an amusing anecdote connected with the church of the
convent of the Chartreux, at Provence. It was dedicated to St. John,
and over the portico were colossal statues of the four evangelists,
which have been thrown down and broken to pieces, and the
fragments lie scattered about. The first time Miss Plumptre with her
party visited this spot, they found an old woman upon her knees
before a block of stone, muttering something to herself:—when she
arose up, curiosity led them to inquire, whether there was any thing
particular in that stone; to which she replied with a deep sigh, Ah
oui, c’est un morceau de Saint Jean, “Ah yes, ’tis a piece of Saint
John.” The old lady seemed to think that the saint’s intercession in
her behalf, mutilated as he was, might still be of some avail.

In Xylander’s Plutarch there is a passage in Greek, relative to the

“Feast of Fools,” celebrated by the Romans, to this effect, “Why do
they call the Quirinalia the Feast of Fools? Either, because they
allowed this day (as Juba tells us) to those who could not ascertain
their own tribes, or because they permitted those who had missed
the celebration of the Fornacalia in their proper tribes, along with
the rest of the people, either out of negligence, absence, or
ignorance, to hold their festival apart on this day.”

The Romans on the first day of April abstained from pleading

causes, and the Roman ladies performed ablutions under myrtle
trees, crowned themselves with its leaves, and offered sacrifices to
Venus. This custom originated in a mythological story, that as Venus
was drying her wetted hair by a river side, she was perceived by
satyrs, whose gaze confused her:—
But soon with myrtles she her beauties veiled,
From whence this annual custom was entail’d.
Ovid.

Newcastle.
Extract from the Common Council Book.
 “April 1, 1695. All-Saints’ parish humbly request the metal of the
statue, towards the repair of their bells.”
This refers to a statue of James II. pulled down from the
Exchange in consequence of lord Lumley having entered the town
and declared for a free parliament. It was an equestrian figure in
copper, of the size of Charles I. at Charing-cross. The mob
demolished the statue, dragged it to the quay, and cast it into the
river. As the parish of All-Saints desired to turn the deposit to some
account, the parish of St. Andrews petitioned for a share of the spoil,
and it appears by the subjoined extract from the council books, that
each was accommodated.
“Ordered that All-Saints have the metal belonging to the horse of
the said statue, except a leg thereof, which must go towards the
casting of a new bell for St. Andrew’s parish.”
A print of the statue was published “on two large sheets of
Genoa paper,” price 5s. by Joseph Barber of Newcastle. There is an
engraving from it in “Local Records, by John Sykes, bookseller,
Newcastle, 1824,” a book which consists of a chronological
arrangement of curious and interesting facts, and events, that have
occurred exclusively in the counties of Durham and Northumberland,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Berwick, with an obituary and anecdotes
of remarkable persons. The present notice is taken from Mr. Sykes’s
work.

NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR.
Mean Temperature 44·17.

April 2.
Chronology.
On the 2d of April 1755, Severndroog castle, on the coast of
Malabar, belonging to Angria, a celebrated pirate, was taken by
commodore James. His relict, to commemorate her husband’s
heroism, and to testify her affectionate respect to his memory,
erected a tower of the same name on Shooters-hill, near Blackheath,
where it is a distinguished land-mark at an immense distance to the
circumjacent country.

NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR.
Mean Temperature 44·37.

April 3.
Signs of the Seasons.
It is noticed on this day in the “Perennial Calendar,” that the birds
are now arriving daily, and forming arrangements for the hatching
and nurture of their future young. The different sorts of nests of
each species, adapted to the wants of each, and springing out of
their respective instincts, combined with the propensity to construct,
would form a curious subject of research for the natural historian.
Every part of the world furnishes materials for the aërial architects:
leaves and small twigs, roots and dried grass, mixed with clay, serve
for the external; whilst moss, wool, fine hair, and the softest animal
and vegetable downs, form the warm internal part of these
commodious dwellings:—
Of vernal songsters—some to the holly hedge,
Nestling, repair, and to the thicket some;
Some to the rude protection of the thorn
Commit their feeble offspring: the cleft tree
Offers its kind concealment to a few,
Their food its insects, and its moss their nests:
Others apart, far in the grassy dale
Or roughening waste, their humble texture weave:
But most in woodland solitudes delight,
In unfrequented glooms or shaggy banks,
Steep, and divided by a babbling brook,
Whose murmurs soothe them all the livelong day,
When by kind duty fixed. Among the roots
Of hazel, pendent o’er the plaintive stream,
They frame the first foundation of their domes,
Dry sprigs of trees, in artful fabric laid,
And bound with clay together. Now ’tis naught
But restless hurry through the busy air,
Beat by unnumbered wings. The swallow sweeps
The slimy pool, to build the hanging house
Intent: and often from the careless back
Of herds and flocks a thousand tugging bills
Pluck hair and wool; and oft, when unobserved,
Steal from the barn a straw; till soft and warm,
Clean and complete, their habitation grows.
Thomson.
The cavern-loving wren sequestered seeks
The verdant shelter of the hollow stump,
And with congenial moss, harmless deceit,
Constructs a safe abode. On topmost boughs
The glossy raven, and the hoarsevoiced crow,
Rocked by the storm, erect their airy nests.
The ousel, lone frequenter of the grove
Of fragrant pines, in solemn depth of shade
Finds rest; or ’mid the holly’s shining leaves,
A simple bush the piping thrush contents,
Though in the woodland concert he aloft
Trills from his spotted throat a powerful strain,
And scorns the humbler quire. The lark too asks
A lowly dwelling, hid beneath a turf,
Or hollow, trodden by the sinking hoof;
Songster of heaven! who to the sun such lays
Pours forth, as earth ne’er owns. Within the hedge
The sparrow lays her skystained eggs. The barn,
With eaves o’erpendant, holds the chattering tribe:
Secret the linnet seeks the tangled copse:
The white owl seeks some antique ruined wall,
Fearless of rapine; or in hollow trees,
Which age has caverned, safely courts repose:
The thievish pie, in twofold colours clad,
Roofs o’er her curious nest with firmwreathed twigs,
And sidelong forms her cautious door; she dreads
The taloned kite, or pouncing hawk; savage
Herself, with craft suspicion ever dwells.
Bidlake.

NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR.
Mean Temperature 43·37.

April 4.
Cheap Weather Guide.
To the Editor of the Every-Day Book.
Cornhill, March, 1826.
 Sir,—The following observations on the leechworm were made by
a gentleman who kept one several years for the purpose of a
weather-glass:
A phial of water, containing a leech, I kept on the frame of my
lower sash window, so that when I looked in the morning I could
know what would be the weather of the following day. If the
weather proves serene and beautiful, the leech lies motionless at the
bottom of the glass, and rolled together in a spiral form.
If it rains, either before or after noon, it is found crept up to the
top of its lodging, and there it remains till the weather is settled. If
we are to have wind, the poor prisoner gallops through its limped
habitation with amazing swiftness, and seldom rests till it begins to
blow hard.
If a storm of thunder and rain is to succeed, for some days
before it lodges, almost continually, without the water, and discovers
very great uneasiness in violent throes and convulsions.
In the frost, as in clear summer weather, it lies constantly at the
bottom; and in snow, as in rainy weather, it pitches its dwelling upon
the very mouth of the phial.
What reasons may be assigned for these circumstances I must
leave philosophers to determine, though one thing is evident to
every body, that it must be affected in the same way as that of the
mercury and spirits in the weather-glass. It has, doubtless, a very
surprising sensation; for the change of weather, even days before,
makes a visible alteration upon its manner of living.
Perhaps it may not be amiss to note, that the leech was kept in a
common eight-ounce phial glass, about three-quarters filled with
water, and covered on the mouth with a piece of linen rag. In the
summer the water is changed once a week, and in the winter once a
fortnight. This is a weather-glass which may be purchased at a very
trifling expense, and which will last I do not know how many years.
I am, &c.
J. F.

NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR.
Mean Temperature 44·82.
 April 5.
Swallows in 1826.
Our friend J. H. H. whose letter on wild-fowl shooting, from
Abbeville, is in vol. i. p. 1575, with another on lark shooting in
France in the present volume, p. 91, writes from Southover, near
Lewes, in Sussex, on this day, 1826, “How delightful the country
looks! I shall leave you to imagine two swallows, the first I have
seen, now preening themselves on the barn opposite, heartily glad
that their long journey is at an end.” The birds come to us this year
very early.

Pump with two Spouts.

In a letter of the 5th of April, 1808, to Dr. Aikin, inserted in his
“Athenæum,” Mr. Roots says,—“In the year 1801, being on a tour
through the Highlands of Scotland, I visited the beautiful city of
Glasgow, and in passing one of the principal streets in the
neighbourhood of the Tron church, I observed about five-and-twenty
or thirty people, chiefly females, assembled round a large public
pump, waiting their separate turns for water; and although the
pump had two spouts for the evacuation of the water behind and
before, I took notice that one of the spouts was carefully plugged
up, no one attempting to fill his vessel from that source, whilst each
was waiting till the rest were served, sooner than draw the water
from the spout in question. On inquiry into the cause of this
proceeding, I was informed by an intelligent gentleman residing in
the neighbourhood, that though one and the same handle produced
the same water from the same well through either of the spouts, yet
the populace, and even better informed people, had for a number of
years conceived an idea, which had been handed down from father
to son, that the water when drawn from the hindermost spout would
be of an unlucky and poisonous nature; and this vulgar prejudice is
from time to time kept afloat, inasmuch, as by its being never used,
a kind of dusty fur at length collects, and the water, when suffered
from curiosity to pass through, at first runs foul; and this tends to
carry conviction still further to these ignorant people, who with the
most solemn assurances informed me, it was certain death to taste
of the water so drawn, and no argument could divest them of their
superstitious conceit, though the well had been repeatedly cleaned
out, before them, by order of the magistrates, and the internal
mechanism of the pump explained. We need not be surprised at the
bigotted ignorance of the ruder ages, either in this country or in less
civilized regions, when we witness facts so grossly superstitious
obtaining in our own time.”

NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR.
Mean Temperature 45·67.

April 6.
Spring.
This period of the year is so awakening to intellectual powers,
that for a few days some matters of fact are occasionally deferred in
favour of imaginative and descriptive effusions occasioned by the
season.
 The Poet’s Pen.
(From the Greek of Menecrates.)
I was an useless reed; no cluster hung
My brow with purple grapes, no blossom flung
The coronet of crimson on my stem;
No apple blushed upon me, nor (the gem
Of flowers) the violet strewed the yellow heath
Around my feet, nor Jessamine’s sweet wreath
Robed me in silver: day and night I pined
On the lone moor, and shiver’d in the wind.
At length a poet found me. From my side
He smoothed the pale and withered leaves, and dyed
My lips in Helicon. From that high hour
I SPOKE! My words were flame and living power,
All the wide wonders of the earth were mine,
Far as the surges roll, or sunbeams shine;
Deep as earth’s bosom hides the emerald;
High as the hills with thunder clouds are pall’d.
And there was sweetness round me, that the dew
Had never wet so sweet on violet’s blue.
To me the mighty sceptre was a wand,
The roar of nations peal’d at my command;
To me the dungeon, sword, and scourge were vain,
I smote the smiter, and I broke the chain;
Or tow’ring o’er them all, without a plume,
I pierced the purple air, the tempest’s gloom,
Till blaz’d th’ Olympian glories on my eye,
Stars, temples, thrones, and gods—infinity.
Pulci

NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR.
Mean Temperature 46·84.

April 7.
Saints.
Our old acquaintance with the saints is not broken: but they are
sad intruders on the beauties of the world, and we part from them,
for a little while, after the annexed communication of an attempt to
honour them.
Sermon at St. Andrew’s.
For the Every-Day Book.
The following anecdote, under the article “Black Friars,” in
Brand’s “History of Newcastle-upon-Tyne,” as a specimen of the
extreme perversion of mind in the Romish clergy of former times, is
curious, and may amuse your readers as much as it has me.
Richard Marshall, who had been one of the brethren, and also
prior of the house, in the year 1521, at St. Andrew’s, Scotland,
informed his audience there, that Pater noster should be addressed
to God and not to the saints. The doctors of St. Andrew’s, in their
great wisdom, or rather craftiness, appointed a preacher to oppose
this tenet, which he did in a sermon from Matt. v. 3. “Blessed are the
poor in spirit.” “Seeing,” says he, “we say good day, father, to any
old man in the street, we may call a saint, pater, who is older than
any alive: and seeing they are in heaven, we may say to any of
them, ‘hallowed be thy name;’ and since they are in the kingdom of
heaven, we may say to any of them ‘thy kingdom come:’ and seeing
their will is God’s will, we may say, ‘thy will be done,’” &c. When the
friar was proceeding further, he was hissed and even obliged to
leave the city. Yet we are told, the dispute continued among the
doctors about the pater. Some would have it said to God formaliter,
to the saints materialiter; others, to God principaliter, to the saints
minus principaliter; or primario to God, secundario to the saints; or
to God strictè, and to the saints latè. With all these distinctions they
could not agree. It is said, that Tom, who was servant to the sub-
prior of St. Andrew’s, one day perceiving his master in trouble, said
to him, “Sir, what is the cause of your trouble?” The master
answered, “We cannot agree about the saying of the pater.” The
fellow replied, “To whom should it be said but to God alone?” The
master asks, “What then shall we do with the saints?” To which Tom
rejoined, “Give them ave’s and crede’s enough, that may suffice
them, and too well too.” The readers of the Every-Day Book will
probably think that Tom was wiser or honester than his master.
J. F.

NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR.
Mean Temperature 47·10.

April 8.
Flowers.
On this day in the “Perennial Calendar,” Dr. Forster observes, that
it may be proper to notice the general appearance of the wild and
less cultivated parts of nature at this time. In the fields, the bulbous
crowfoot, ranunculus bulbosus, begins to blow. Daisies become
pretty common, and dandelions are seen here and there by road
sides, and in fields, on a warm soil, are pretty abundant. The
pilewort, ficaria verna, still decorates the thickets and shady green
banks with its bright yellow stars of gold. It may be observed
generally, that the flowers found at this time belong to the
primaveral Flora; those of the vernal being as yet undeveloped. By
the sides of rivers, streams, and ponds, along the wet margins of
ditches, and in moist meadows, and marshes, grows the marsh
marigold, caltha palustris, whose golden yellow flowers have a
brilliant effect at a small distance.
Prolific gales
Warm the soft air, and animate the vales.
Woven with flowers and shrubs, and freshest green,
Thrown with wild boldness o’er the lovely scene
A brilliant carpet, of unnumbered dyes,
With sweet variety enchants the eyes.
Thick are the trees with leaves; in every grove
The feathered minstrels tune their throats to love.
Kleist.

Domestic Antiquities,
and a
 Letter of Lord Thurlow’s.
A gentleman indulges the editor with the following account of a
singular household utensil, and a drawing of it, from whence a
correct engraving has been made; together with a letter from the
late lord chancellor Thurlow, which from his distinguished hand on a
singular occurrence, merits preservation.
To the Editor of the Every-Day Book.
April 3, 1826.
Sir,—I shall be happy to communicate any thing in my power,
connected with antiquities to the Every-Day Book, which I have
taken from the beginning and been highly pleased with; and, first, I
send you a drawing for insertion, if you think it worthy, of a carving,
in my possession, on an ancient oak board, two feet in diameter.
 Ancient Carving.
It represents the letters I. h. c. in the centre, surrounded by this
legend, viz.
“An harte that is wyse wyll obstine from
sinnes and increas in the workes of God.”

As this legend reads backward, and all the carving is incuse, it

was evidently intended to give impression to something; I imagine
pastry.
 An original letter is now before me, from lord chancellor Thurlow,
to a Norfolk farmer, who had sent him a hare, and two and a half
brace of partridges, enclosed in a large turnip of his own growth.
The farmer had not any personal knowledge of his lordship, but,
being aware he was a Norfolk man, he rightly conceived that his
present would be looked upon with more interest on that account.
The following is a copy of the chancellor’s letter:—
Bath, Dec. 31, 1778.
Sir,—I beg you will accept of my best thanks for your agreeable
present. It gave me additional satisfaction to be so remembered in
my native country; to which I, in particular, owe every sort of
respect, and all the world agrees to admire for superiority in
husbandry.
I am, Sir,
Your most obliged
And obedient servant,
Thurlow.
Having transcribed his lordship’s answer, you are at liberty to do
with that, and the drawing of my carving, as you please; with this
“special observance,” that you do not insert my name, which,
nevertheless, for your satisfaction, I subscribe, with my abode.
Believe me, Sir, &c.
Eta.

⁂ The editor is gratified by the confidence reposed in him by the

gentleman who wrote the preceding letter. He takes this opportunity
of acknowledging similar marks of confidence, and reiterates the
assurance, that such wishes will be always scrupulously observed.
It is respectfully observed to possessors of curiosities of any kind,
whether ancient or modern, that if correct drawings of them be sent
they shall be faithfully engraven and inserted, with the descriptive
accounts.
The gradual disappearance of many singular traces of our
ancestors, renders it necessary to call attention to the subject.
“Apostle Spoons,” of which there is an engraving in vol. i. p. 178,
have been dropping for the last thirty years into the refiner’s
melting-pot, till sets of them are not to be purchased, or even seen,
except in cabinets. Any thing of interest respecting domestic
manners, habits, or customs, of old times, is coveted by the editor
for the purpose of recording and handing them down to posterity.

NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR.
Mean Temperature 46·72.

April 9.
An April Day.
Some verses in the “Widow’s Tale,” are beautifully descriptive of
the season.
All day the lowhung clouds have dropt
Their garnered fulness down;
All day that soft grey mist hath wrapt
Hill, valley, grove, and town.
There has not been a sound to-day
To break the calm of nature;
Nor motion, I might almost say,
Of life or living creature;
Of waving bough, or warbling bird,
Or cattle faintly lowing;
I could have half believed I heard
The leaves and blossoms growing.
I stood to hear—I love it well,
The rain’s continuous sound,
Small drops, but thick and fast, they fell,
Down straight into the ground.
For leafy thickness is not yet
Earth’s naked breast to screen,
Though every dripping branch is set
With shoots of tender green.
Sure, since I looked at early morn,
Those honeysuckle buds
Have swelled to double growth; that thorn
Hath put forth larger studs;
That lilac’s cleaving cones have burst,
The milkwhite flowers revealing;
Even now, upon my senses first
Methinks their sweets are stealing.
The very earth, the steamy air,
Is all with fragrance rife;
And grace and beauty every where
Are flushing into life.
Down, down they come—those fruitful stores!
Those earth-rejoicing drops!
A momentary deluge pours,
Then thins, decreases, stops;
And ere the dimples on the stream
Have circled out of sight,
Lo! from the west, a parting gleam
Breaks forth of amber light.
But yet behold—abrupt and loud,
Comes down the glittering rain;
The farewell of a passing cloud,
 The farewell of a passing cloud,
The fringes of her train.

NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR.
Mean Temperature 47·17.

April 10.
The Season.
Art, as well as nature, is busily occupied in providing for real
wants or natural desires. To gratify the ears and eyes of the young,
we have more street organs and shows in spring than in the
autumn, and the adventures of that merry fellow “Punch in the
Puppet-show,” are represented to successive crowds in every street,
whence his exhibitors conceive they can extract funds for the
increase of their treasury.
A kind hand communicates an article of curious import, peculiarly
seasonable.
Punch in the Puppet Show.
To the Editor of the Every-Day Book.
Sir,—I do not know, whether in the absence of more interesting
matter, a few remarks on an old favourite may be allowed. The
character I am about to mention, has I am sure at one time or
another delighted most of your readers, and I confess to be still
amused with his vagaries—I mean “that celebrated wooden Roscius,
Mister Punch.” It is very difficult to trace accurately the origin and
variation of any character of this description; and I shall, therefore,
only offer some unconnected notices.
In some of the old mysteries, wherein you are so well read, “the
devil” was the buffoon of the piece, and used to indulge himself
most freely in the gross indecencies tolerated in the earlier ages.
When those mysteries began to be refined into moralities, the vice
gradually superseded the former clown, if he may be so designated;
and at the commencement of such change, frequently shared the
comic part of the performance with him. The vice was armed with a
dagger of lath, with which he was to belabour the devil, who,
sometimes, however, at the conclusion of the piece, carried off the
vice with him. Here we have something like the club wielded by
Punch, and the wand of harlequin, at the present time, and a similar
finish of the devil and Punch, may be seen daily in our streets.
About the beginning of the sixteenth century the drama began to
assume a more regular form, and the vice, in his turn, had to make
way for the clown or fool, who served to fill up the space between
the acts, by supposed extemporaneous witticisms; holding,
occasionally, trials of wit with any of the spectators who were bold
enough to venture with him. The last play, perhaps, in which the
regular fool was introduced, was “The Woman Captain” of Shadwell,
in the year 1680. Tarleton, in the time of Shakspeare, was a
celebrated performer of this description. The fool was frequently
dressed in a motley or party-coloured coat, and each leg clad in
different coloured hose. A sort of hood covered his head, resembling
a monk’s cowl: this was afterwards changed for a cap, each being
usually surmounted with the neck and head of a cock, or sometimes
only the crest, or comb; hence the term cockscomb. In his hand he
carried the bauble, a short stick, having at one end a fool’s head,
and at the other, frequently a bladder with peas or sand, to punish
those who offended him. His dress was often adorned with morris-
bells, or large knobs. We may observe much similarity to this dress,
in the present costume of Punch. He degenerated into a wooden
performer, about the time that the regular tragedy and comedy were
introduced, i. e. in the beginning of the sixteenth century. Strolling
players were prohibited a few years afterwards, and some of those
performers who had not skill or interest enough to get a situation in
any established company, went about the country with puppet
shows, or “motions,” as they were then called, wherein Punch was a
prominent character, though not by that name, which was a
subsequent importation, originally Policinello, or Punchinello; and
when this name was introduced from the continent, some
modifications were made also in the character to whom the name
was attached. The civil wars, and subsequent triumph of puritanism,
depressed theatrical proceedings, and Punch with other performers
was obliged to hide himself, or act by stealth; but in the jovial reign
of Charles II., he, and his brother actors, broke out with renewed
splendour, and until the time of George I. he maintained his rank
manfully, being mentioned with considerable respect even by the
“Spectator.” About this time, however, harlequinades were
introduced, and have been so successfully continued, that poor
Punch is contented to walk the streets like a snail, with his house on
his back, though still possessing as much fun as ever.
Pantomime, in its more extended sense, was known to the Greek
and Roman stages, being introduced on the latter by Pylades and
Bathyllus, in the time of Augustus Cæsar. From that time to the
present, different modifications of this representation have taken
place on the continent, and the lofty scenes of ancient pantomime,
are degenerated to the bizarre adventures of harlequin, pantaloon,
zany, pierrot, scaramouch, &c.
The first pantomine performed by grotesque characters in this
country, was at Drury-lane theatre, in the year 1702. It was
composed by Mr. Weaver, and called “The Tavern Bilkers.” The next
was performed at Drury-lane in 1716, and it was also composed by
Mr. Weaver, in imitation of the ancient pantomime, and called “The
Loves of Mars and Venus.”
In 1717, the first harlequinade, composed by Mr. Rich, was
performed at the theatre in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, called, “Harlequin
Executed.” This performer, who acted under the name of Lun, was
so celebrated for his taste in composing these entertainments, and
for his skill, as a harlequin, that they soon became established in the
public favour. He flourished until the year 1761, and all his
productions succeeded.
The harlequin on the French stage differed from ours, for he had
considerable license of speech, somewhat similar to the theatric
fools of the sixteenth century. Many of the witticisms of Dominique,
a celebrated harlequin in the time of Louis XIV. are still on record; it
is said, indeed, that before his time, harlequin was but a grotesque
ignorant character, but that he being a man of wit, infused it into his
representation, and invented the character of Pierrot as a foolish
servant, to fill up the piece. The old character of zany was similar to
our modern clown, who now is generally the possessor of all the wit
in the performance. The name of pantaloon is said to have been
derived from the watch-word of the Venetians, pianta leone; if so,
(which is doubtful) it must have been applied in derision of their
fallen state, as compared with their former splendour. A more
doubtful origin has been given of the name of harlequin; a young
Italian actor of eminence in this style of character, came to Paris in
the time of Henry III. of France, and having been received into the
house of the president, Achilles de Harlai, his brother actors, are said
to have called him harlequino, from the name of his master. There
was a knight called Harlequin, an extravagant dissipated man, who
spent his substance in the wars of Charles Martel, against the
Saracens, and afterwards lived by pillage. Tradition says he was
saved from perdition in consequence of his services against the
infidels, but condemned for a certain time to appear nightly upon
earth, with those of his lineage.
But, as to derivations, some have derived the term merry-
andrew, from the time of the Druids, an Drieu, i.e. Arch-Druid,—
others, from the celebrated Andrew Borde, the writer and empiric.
The merry-andrew used at fairs to wear a patched coat like the
modern harlequin, and sometimes a hunch on his back. It has been
remarked that the common people are apt to give to some well-
known facetious personage, the name of a favourite dish; hence, the
jack-pudding of the English; the jean-potage of the French; the
macaroni of the Italians, &c.
A word or two more about Punch, and I have done. There are
some hand-bills in the British Museum, of the time of queen Ann,
from whence I made a few extracts some time ago. They principally
relate to the shows at Bartlemy fair, and I observe at “Heatly’s
booth,” that “the performances will be compleated with the merry
humors of sir John Spendall and Punchinello;” and James Miles, at
“the Gun-Musick booth,” among other dances &c., exhibited “a new
entertainment between a scaramouch, a harlequin, and a
punchinello, in imitation of bilking a reckoning,—and a new dance by
four scaramouches, after the Italian manner,” &c.
 The famous comedian Edwin, (the Liston of his day) acted the
part of Punch, in a piece called “The Mirror,” at Covent-garden
theatre: in this he introduced a burlesque song by C. Dibdin, which
obtained some celebrity; evidently through the merit of the actor,
rather than the song, as it has nothing particular to recommend it.
Can’t you see by my hunch, sir,
Faddeldy daddeldy dino,
I am master Punch, sir,
Riberi biberi bino,
Fiddeldy, diddeldy, faddeldy, daddeldy,
Robbery, bobbery, ribery, bibery,
Faddeldy, daddeldy, dino,
Ribery, bibery, bino.
That merry fellow
Punchinello,
Dancing here, you see, sir,
Whose mirth not hell
Itself can quell
He’s ever in such glee, sir,
Niddlety, noddlety, niddlety, noddlety, niddlety, noddlety, nino.
Then let me pass, old Grecian,
Faddeldy, daddeldy, dino.
To the fields Elysian,
Bibery, bibery, bino.
Fiddledy, diddledy, faddledy, daddledy,
Robbery, bobbery, ribery, bibery,
Faddledy, daddledy, dino,
Ribery, bibery, bino.
My ranting, roaring Pluto,
Faddledy, daddledy, dino,
Just to a hair will suit oh,
Bibery, bibery, bino.
Faddledy, daddledy, &c.
Each jovial fellow,
At Punchinello,
Will, laughing o’er his cup roar,
I’ll rant and revel,
And play the devil,
And set all hell in an uproar,
Niddlety, noddlety, nino.
Then let me pass, &c.
 I therewith conclude this hasty communication, begging you to
shorten it if you think proper.
I am, &c.
W. S——.

Edwin’s song in the character of Punch is far less offensive than

many of the songs and scenes in “Don Juan,” which is still
represented. This drama which is of Italian origin, the editor of the
Every-Day Book, in his volume on “Ancient Mysteries,” has ventured
to conjecture, may have been derived from the adventures of the
street Punch. The supposition is somewhat heightened by Edwin’s
song as the Punch of Covent-garden.

NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR.
Mean Temperature 48·32.

April 11.
 St. Mary Islington Old Church
“Merry Islington.”
Islington Parish Dinner.
In March, an anonymous correspondent obligingly enclosed, and
begged my acceptance of a ticket, for a parish dinner at Islington,
on the 11th of April, 1738. It would have been rudeness to decline
the civility, and as the editor was not prepared to join the guests at
the great dinner, “not where they eat, but where they are eaten,” he
appropriates the ticket to the use for which it was intended by the
donor, T. H. of St. John-street.
It would do the reader’s heart good to see this ticket—“printed
from a copper plate,” ten inches high, by seven inches wide—as
large as a lord mayor’s ticket, and looking much better, because
engraved by Toms, a fine firm artist of “the good old school,” which
taught truth as an essential, and prohibited refinements, not existing
in nature or sensible objects, as detraction of character.
It would do the reader’s heart good, I say, to see the dinner
ticket I am now looking at. First, above the invitation—which is all
that the lover of a dinner first sees—and therefore, because nothing
precedes it, “above all,”—is a capital view of the old parish church,
and the churchyard, wherein “lie the remains” of most of the
company who attended the parish dinner—it being as certain that
the remains of the rest of the company, occupy other tenements, of
“the house appointed for all living,” as that they all lived, and ate
and drank, and were merry.
This is not a melancholy, but a natural view. It may be said, there
is “a time for all things,” but if there be any time, wherein we fear to
entertain death, we are not fully prepared to receive him as we
ought. It is true, that with “the cup of kindness” at our lips, we do
not expect his friendly “shake,” before we finish the draught, yet the
liquor will not be the worse for our remembering that his is a
previous engagement; and, as we do not know the hour of
appointment, we ought to be ready at all hours. The business of life
is to die.
I am not a member of a parish club, but I have sometimes
thought, if I could “do as others do,” and “go to club,” I should elect
to belong to an old one, which preserved the minutes of its
proceedings, and its muniments, from the commencement. My first,
and perhaps last, serious motion, would be, “That each anniversary
dinner ticket of the club, from the first ticket to the last issued,
should be framed and glazed, and hung on the walls of the club
room, in chronological order.” Such a series would be a never-failing
source of interest and amusement. If the parish club of Islington
exists, a collection of its tickets so disposed, might be regarded as
annals of peculiar worth, especially if many of its predecessors in the
annual office of “stewards for the dinner,” maintained the
consequence of the club in the eyes of the parish, by respectability
of execution and magnitude in the anniversary ticket, commensurate
with that of the year 1738, with Toms’s view of the old parish church
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