from published reviews of
books by Jeff Heath
The following are short
evaluative excerpts from all published reviews known to me, beginning with the
most recent volumes.
Jewish and Muslim dialects of Moroccan Arabic
"Merely on account of
this, having probably salvaged important dialectal evidence that would have
been entirely lost within a few years, Heath's book would deserve high praise,
to which I must add my commendations for the excellence of his field work
methods and ensuing analysis of elicited data. ... I must conclude this review
by reinstating [=restating] my greatest respect and admiration for the huge
contribution Heath makes with this book to studies of Arabic dialectology."
--F. Corriente, International Journal of Applied Linguistics
13:152-7 (2003)
Dictionnaire songhay-anglais-français (3 vols)
"Heath's research
results from important, systematic, and meticulous fieldwork. ... The
trilingual format of the dictionary is commendable, making its rich and
important documentation available not only to the Malian public, but, more
generally, to other users in this French-speaker region of
--R. Nicolai, Anthropological Linguistics 42:289-90
(2000)
"H's dictionaries are
well-executed and easily serve as models for other linguists who plan to engage
in lexicographic work on other relatively unstudied African languages."
--A. Kaye, Language 76:496-7 (2000)
Grammar of Koyraboro (Koroboro) Senni
"H's extensive
descriptions, all based on recent fieldwork with native speakers, will be
particularly valuable as data-bases for future explorations ... As is true of H's
other monographs (see above), this book is now the authoritative reference for
the varieties of Songhay it describes. One can only anticipate more such
excellent descriptions of modern West Arican languages."
--E. Vajda, Language 77:183-4 (2001)
Texts in Koyra Chiini
"These carefully
edited texts in Koyra Chiini (KCh), the Songhay variety spoken from
--A. Kaye, Language 76:739-40 (2000)
Grammar of Koyra Chiini
"Cet ouvrage, de
première importance pour la linguistique africaine, est doublement exemplaire:
il procure une description précise, complète et sûre d'une langue non encore
décrite, ..., et il s'inscrit cette description dans une démarche exploratoire
qui vise, une fois parachevée, à résoudre un problème majeur et toujours d'actualité,
à savoir celui de la parenté généalogique du songhay. ... En achevant la
lecture de ce livre, on est frappé par un sentiment d'exhaustivité et aussi de
justesse dans l'analyse ... il a parfaitement réussi dans son entreprise. Cette
réussite est sûrement inputable aussi, et c'est impressionnant, à son souci de
rigueur et à sa volonté de traiter à fond chaque problème."
--E. Bonvini, Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de
Paris 94:307-10 (1999).
"Embarras de richesse;
and there is more coming. ... We will soon have a series of grammars,
dictionaries and texts on the major varieties of the Songhay cluster, as a
result of Heath's schoalrly work. His detailed discussion of productive as well
as unproductive morphological markers, of course will be crucial for historical
comparison, and should put us in a better positin to assess genetic
affiliations. Moreover, the detailed descriptions raise futher interesting
questions on the typology of languages i this part of the world."
--G. Dimmendaal, Journal of African Languages and Linguistics
22:108-12 (1999)
"This book reflects
the excellence one has come to expect of the Mouton Grammar Library ... It is a
well-written description of a complicated language for which little reliable
information was available. A real strength of the tome is that it is
unencumbered by excessive technical jargon and newfangled formalisms. ...The
most detailed sections of the grammar deal with syntax, and many intricate
constructions are cogently described. ... In conclusion, H's grammar is a most
welcome addition to the ever-growing arsenal of accurate information presently
available to researchers in linguistic typology and language universals among
other various subfields of linguistics."
--A. Kaye, Language 76:495-6 (2000)
From Code-Switching to Borrowing
"...a detailed and
systematic analysis of the adaptation into Moroccan Arabic of linguistic
materials from both Classical Arabic, the diglossic superordinate, and European
languages, especially French and Spanish ..."
--R. Loulidi, Multilingual and Multicultural Development
16:518-523 (1993).
"Perhaps the most
thought-provoking aspect of the work is its view of the borrowing process as
complex and dynamic. ... an invaluable reference for research in or about
contemporary
-- E. Bergman,
"...l'étude, basée sur
un gros travail de terrain ... est extrêmement fine et attentive; les faits
sont présentés dans le détail, l'analyse n'en est jamais réductrice, et les
hypothèse[s] présentées ou suggérées le sont avec une grande prudence, et une
conscience aiguë du nombre et de la complexité des problèmes. Un autre de ses
mérites est d'avoir mis en parallèle l'emprunt aux langues européennes et à l'arabe
littéraire ... Le soin apporté, d'autre part, à distinguer les catégories
morphologiques touchées par les emprunts -- autrement dit à sérier les
problèmes, et à ne pas parler d'emprunts en bloc -- permet de prendre
conscience de phénomènes intéressants qui seraient sinon passés inaperçus ou
demeurés inexpliqués ..."
-- J. Lentin, Arabica 40:267-78 (1993)
"Patient field-work,
painstakingly thorough analysis of data and theoretical relevance: these are
the major characteristics of this impressive monograph. Scholars of Arabic
dialectology or language mixing will find it most useful for their work, as
will undergraduate students who are reading for joint/combined degrees in
Arabic and either French or Spanish. It is no mean achievement to be able to
satisfy both categories of reader. Heath does just that, with distinction."
-- Y. Suleiman, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies,
18:132-4 (1991)
"Je terminerai en
saluant ce livre important qui permet de poser des régularités et des lois dans
le domaine de l'emprunt et du mélange ... [it and Ablaut and Ambiguity] sont des travaux remarquables qui feront date
dans la dialectologie arabe."
-- D. Caubet, Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de
Pariss 54:165-166 (1991)
"To sum up, Heath's
linguistic analyses are much more detailed than any earlier studies in language
borrowing in North Africa, and, as a matter of fact, in the whole Arabophone
area. Heath's study not only makes a major contribution to the theory of language borrowing and to Arabic
sociolinguistics, but it also provides students of Arabic linguistics in
general with useful examples of exact description of many features of Arabic."
-- H. Palva, Studia Orientalia [
"Students of Arabic
dialects will surely find Heath's work important because of both the quantity of
data presented from Moroccan Arabic--unique among Arab dialects in many
ways--and his careful analysis of the interaction between the dialect and
source languages for the borrowings. Similarly, researchers concerned with
language mixing will appreciate the detailed documentation of a particularly
complex contact situation involving a dialect with root-and-pattern morphology
that constrains the nature of the borrowings ..."
-- K. Walters, American Anthropologist 93:510-11
(1991).
"... an excellent work
whose author seems to have absorbed not only the dialect he set out to study,
but also the culture which produced it, and he has been able to convey these to
his readers."
-- F. Abu-Haidar, Bulletin of the
"... this book is a
definite contribution to new knowledge. One can recommend it for its many
details presented in an enlightened sociolinguistic framework, such as the
pidginization-creolization perspective of Chapter 11 ..."
-- A. Kaye, Modern Language Journal, summer 1991
"... a detailed and
systematic analysis of language mixing, which is of great interest also to
linguists working on Arabic dialects outside
-- R. Malina, Journal of Islamic Studies July 1991,
249-250
Ablaut and Ambiguity
"The most extensive
and penetrating analysis of a Semitic language in terms of templatic morphology
is Heath's (1987) analysis of Moroccan Arabic."
--R.
Hoberman, "Current issues in Semitic phonology." In: Handbook of Phonological Theory, ed. J.
Goldsmith, 1995, p, 844
"... a gold mine of
information on a wide range of MCA dialect vaiation. The more general interest
of the work, however, arises from the fact that, in the course of this detailed
study focussed on a single dialect, H confronts a number of fundamental
questions concerning the nature of morphological and phonological
represenation. In two respects especially, the perspective he develops should
extend the relevance of his book beyond the narrow circle of Arabic dialect
specialists. These are precisely what is referred to by the two key words of
the title: 'ablaut' and 'ambiguity'."
-- G. Gragg, Language
65:820-23
"Eine Fülle weiterer,
ingeniöser Beobachtungen und Bemerkungen wäre zu erwähnen, doch sei darauf
verzichtet, verbunden mit der Ermunterung, diese Arbeit gründlich zu studieren,
um sich allmählich in die Terminologie und die Argumentationsart einzugewöhnen
und einzulesen; eine gehörige Fülle von Siglen macht einem die Lektüre nicht
gerade leicht, aber der Aufwand lohnt sich. Weiteren Arbeiten des Verf.s darf
man mit Erwartung entgegensehen."
-- H.-R. Singer, Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des
Morgenlandes 80:257-258 (1990)
"... Heath's book
should not be regarded as a state of the art report on Moroccan Arabic
phonology, but rather should be viewed as a phonological treatise based on new
(important) fieldwork and, as such, must be taken as a serious contribution to
comparative Arabic dialectology. The field anxiously awaits his From Code-Switching to Borrowing ..."
-- A. Kaye, Journal of the American Oriental Society
109:134‑35 (1989)
"This is possibly the
fullest phonological description of a variety of modern colloquial Arabic yet
to appear, impressive both in the range of phenomena studied and in the rigour
of theoretical analysis achieved."
-- H. Wise, Journal of Linguistics 25:272-3 (1989)
Nunggubuyu (3 volumes)
"Heath's three volumes
together represent the most comprehensive work published on an Australian
language and one of the most comprehensive grammars of any 'anthropological
language' anywhere. They deserve to be read because they embody a very
competent description of a heavily cross-referencing language tending towards
the polysynthetic end of the typological spectrum.
"... the texts are
fascinating from the point of view of content and as examples of discourse in a
language maximally different from Standard Average European."
-- B. Blake, Australian Journal of Linguistics 5: 304‑310
(1985)
"... with all its
expository defects, H's work seems to me to be one of the greatest grammars
ever written.
".. the texts and the
dictionary in themselves constitute an encyclopedic ethnography of Nung. lore.
Together with Chap. 5 of the grammar (a dense 20-page presentation of the
kinship nomenclature and the social organization it reflects), they establish H's
pre-eminence not only as the guardian linguist of the Nung. language, but as an
ethnographer as well. His mastery of cultural anthropology and biology ... is
beyond praise--at least from this reviewer."
-- J. Haiman, Language 58:435‑40 (1982)
"Heath's texts ...
will be of interest not only to anthropologists for their content but also to
linguists ...
"The combination of
linguistic expertise, ethnographic insight, and textual cross-references makes
this one of the most valuable dictionaries available for any Aboriginal
language.
"... a monumental
grammar ...; the grammar is "functional" in the sense that discussion of grammatical
phenomena is related to the functioning of grammatical devices in discourse by
frequent cross-references to the volume of texts; these cross-references
further enable readers to form their own assessments of Heath's analyses ..."
-- B. Comrie, American Anthropologist 88: 191-92
(1986)
Ngandi
"For such a short
period of investigation, the results are surprisingly rich. ... The volume in
toto is a very welcome and readable addition to the growing number of
professional grammars of Australian languages."
-- S. Johnson, [journal
name illegible]
"a very competent
description"
--
Linguistic Diffusion in
"... lest this volume's
slim size be taken as a measure of H's contribution, it is well to remember
that he had to collect and analyse most of the basic language data himself. It
is fortunate that someone of Heath's abilities has undertaken the long-term
commitment which such a project requires. The result is a milestone in the
study of diffusion, as well as a major contribution to Australian linguistics."
--
Languages of Kinship in Aboriginal
"... most of the
papers do present exceptionally rich and well-organized sets of data on, and
analyses of, kinship vocabularies and socially situated used of them, and the
volume as a whole is eloquent testimony to the mutual relevance of linguistics
and anthropology."
-- H. Scheffler, American Anthropologist 86:149-50 (1984)