Bernard Bloch on Japanese by Roy Andrew MillerReview by: Bernard Saint-JacquesLa Linguistique, Vol. 12, Fasc. 2 (1976), pp. 157-158Published by: Presses Universitaires de FranceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30248336 .

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COMPTES RENDUS

Gaston CANU, Contes mossi actuels. Etude ethno-linguistique, Dakar, IFAN, Memoires, no 8!, 1969, 361 p.

Compte rendu par Emilio BoNVNI.

Jusqu'A pr6sent, les contes mossi n'avaient fait l'objet que de deux publi- cations : l'une en m6ore, publi6e par un Europden, le RP Alexandre, I'autre en frangais, publi&e par un Africain autochtone, M. Yamba Tiendrebeogo, Larhallk Naba.

Le travail de G. Canu arrive en guise de synthese des deux essais precidents : les 25 contes qu'il renferme sont presentes, A la fois, dans la langue m6or6 et dans une double traduction : litterale et litteraire.

Le grand merite de cet ouvrage est d'&tre le premier essai d'une transcription phonologique. De plus, une esquisse phonologique de quinze pages precede la presentation du texte. Ce n'est, certes, pas une description phonologique ddtaill'e et exhaustive de la langue m6orE, mais un bref apergu destin6 rendre

plus ais&e la lecture du texte. Nianmoins, cette transcription phonologique aura permis d'6carter definitivement certaines ambiguitis que l'on rencontrait dans l'orthographe des travaux linguistiques prec6dents : double categorie de

voyelles nasales, variante constrictive postvilaire sonore, etc. D'autre part, G. Canu a le mdrite de noter, le premier, les tons. C'est 1A

un fait de premiere importance qui avait 6te ignore, jusqu'ici, par les 6crits pric6dents en langue mbor8.

Ajoutons, enfin, que l'ouvrage est complete d'une analyse ethnologique des themes et des personnages des contes, suivie d'un lexique des mots figurant dans les textes.

L'dtude scientifique et exhaustive du m6orE est loin d'6tre faite. Il manque des ouvrages scientifiques dignes de cette langue qui est parl6e par l'ethnie la plus nombreuse de la Haute-Volta. Souhaitons que l'6tude A peine 6bauchde par le present ouvrage trouve bient6t son achevement.

Bernard Bloch on Japanese, by Roy Andrew MILLER, ed., New Haven, Yale; Montreal, McGill, 1970, 190 p. $ x6.50 Can.

Reviewed by Bernard SAINT-JACQUES.

The primary purpose of this book is to make available in one volume the five articles that Bernard Bloch has written about the Japanese language. A convenient index of grammatical and linguistic terms is appended. It is also Andrew Miller's hope that this book may provide a "suitable scholarly memo- rial to a man who was a notable Yale scholar, a well-remembered teacher, and a pioneer in Japanese linguistic studies" (vmi).

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158 COMPTES RENDUS

In the Introduction (Ix-XLI), Miller made use of several new sources, parti- cularly B och's professional correspondence which was presented to Yale by his son after his father's death. This Introduction is very revealing of Bloch's personality as a linguist; it also yields important historical details about Bloch's scholarly career and influence.

For instance, one of the reasons why Bloch's work was virtually ignored in Japan is not related to mere distance in cultures or differences in academic traditions. In his first Studies in Japanese, Bloch used a slightly adapted version of a romanization system originally worked out by Japanese scholars in the late 193os. As unbelievable as it might seem today, the American military occupation officials "seem to have believed that this romanization had natio- nalistic, or even militaristic, implications and that it must by all means be suppressed" (xxxvili). They were urging instead the more ,democratic' Hep- burn romanization. "For this completely trivial reason, Bloch's publications on Japanese came under the extremely effective ban which the occupation officials were then in a unique position to enforce" (xxxrx).

Bloch's philosophy of linguistic analysis appears very clearly in his corres- pondence : "I have no right to say that a quotative particle to has been left out : to is simply not there, just as dozens of other words that might have been used in such a sentence are also not there. I consider it incumbent upon me to

analyse the sentences I hear on the basis of the words that they actually contain, without reference to other words that might have been used instead of or beside these" (xxxiii). In other words, one does not 'explain' a grammatical structure by what he wishes were there instead of what is there. This attitude could be called 'realistic' in Martinet's terminology. Many linguists will agree with Miller's remark : "This is not only very sound advice, but a more salutary caution than ever today, when "embedded transforms", "deep structures", and a whole new repertory of superficially sophisticated labels has been gene- rated in an attempt to transform the same old technique, still scientifically untenable, of trying to describe one thing in terms of something else that, in Bloch's words, "is simply not there" " (xxxIm).

University of British Columbia.

COLLOQUES DE LINGUISTIQUE FONCTIONNELLE

Aprbs le Premier Colloque qui s'6tait tenu A Groningue en juillet I974, et avant le troisieme, qui vient d'avoir lieu A Saint-Flour en juillet I975, le Deuxieme Colloque de Linguistique fonctionnelle avait eu lieu A Clermont- Ferrand en juillet 1975. Les Actes de ce Colloque sont disponibles au Centre

Regional de Recherche et de Documentation Pedagogique, 15, rue d'Amboise, Clermont-Ferrand-Cedex. T6l. : (73)92-41.91, C.C.P. 5500-59 Clermont.

Actes du Deuxidme Colloque de Linguistique fonctionnelle, Clermont-Ferrand, 22-25 juillet 1975, 230 p., 35 F.

Les Actes du Colloque de Groningue sont egalement sur le point de sortir. Une annonce donnera toutes pricisions A leur endroit dans le prochain numiro de La Linguistique.

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