Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x5gtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-14T20:04:22.562Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Gerrit van Enk & Lourens de Vries, The Korowai of Irian Jaya. (Oxford studies in anthropological linguistics, 9). New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Pp. xiv, 321. Hb $95.00.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 1999

William A. Foley
Affiliation:
Linguistics, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia, william.foley@linguistics.usyd.edu.au

Abstract

One mainstay of the Boasian tradition in anthropological linguistics is the notion that adequate documentation of a language must consist of at least three volumes: a grammar, a dictionary, and a collection of texts. This convention grew out of Boas's dogged insistence on the collection of copious texts in the native languages as a way of documenting the cultures of Native North Americans, which he believed were breaking down and disappearing. Obviously, if one were actually to make use of such texts, a grammar and a dictionary were also needed; so this practice of a necessary trilogy was established, a tradition that has continued in academic departments which carry on the Boasian heritage (illustrated by the postgraduate work and resulting publications of the editor of this journal).

Type
REVIEWS
Copyright
© 1999 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)