A Sociolinguistic Study of Persian in Tehran by Nader JahangiriReview by: Alan S. KayeJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 123, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 2003), pp. 449-450Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3217719 .

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Reviews of Books Reviews of Books

Nu'aym al-Isbahani, not directly from Tabaqat al-muhaddithin bi-Isbahan, ed. 'Abd al-Ghafur 'Abd al-Haqq Husayn al-Balushi, 4 vols. (Beirut: Mu'assasat al-Risalah, 1987-92). Other sources are over- looked despite their usefulness. For example, some of al-Nabil's works, both devotional and juridical, have been published in the 1990s in Saudi Arabia, hence were unavailable when Sobieroj was prepar- ing this study; however, Kitab al-Sunnah, essential for characterizing his theology, has been available for longer (2 vols. [Beirut: al-Maktab al-Islami, 1980]). It generally advocates Sunni orthodoxy, so far as I have noticed, but remains strangely silent concerning the creation of the Qur'an and whether faith comprises word and deed. Sobieroj takes no notice of it. By the way, this is a good example of where we need to agree better on names. Sezgin, GaS 1: 522, calls aberrantly for al-Nabil, it was under Ibn Abl' Asim al-Dahhak that I found his works in several library catalogues, while Sobieroj alternates between Ibn Abi' Asim and Ahmad, the latter sure to confuse. Still and all, this is a remark- ably comprehensive account of an important man and his time. If it fails to offer a new, clearer history of Sufism, it must be admitted that our sources are likewise vague about schools and stages. Atomism was part of their outlook.

CHRISTOPHER MELCHERT UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

A Sociolinguistic Study of Persian in Tehran. By NADER JAHANGIRI. Studia Culturae islamicae, no. 69; Iranian Studies, no. 15. Tokyo: INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF LANGUAGES AND CULTURES OF ASIA AND AFRICA, 2000. Pp. ix + 267.

The author, professor of Linguistics at Ferdowsi University in Mashad, has penned an interesting study with many solid generalizations concerning the sociolinguistic differences to be found within Tehran Persian. The results are based on the speech samples of sixty informants for a total of sixty hours of material. Before delving into substantive linguistic issues, I must alert the reader to the nu- merous stylistic infelicities, grammatical and printing mistakes of all persuasions, and errors in bib- liographical citations. Consider as a typical instance of the first of these the following sentence unchanged from the original: "Normally the level of education has a direct effect on the selection of jobs, as informants with only a primary or no education are usually involved in manual work, while those with a secondary education and higher edudation do mental works" (p. 27). Later on this page, we read about the locality of the city: "Tehran socially has two extreme areas .. ." Turning to the final item in the aforementioned list, suffice to note that the article by Carleton T Hodge, "Some Aspects of Persian Style" (p. 265), is given with erroneous page references (correct to Language [1957] 33: 355-69). It is easy for a reader to become more and more frustrated in trying to cope with the overall lack of editorial scrutiny evident throughout this work.

Chapter 1, "Background," presents information in its section 1 on Tehran and its history, housing, economic structure, etc., while section 2 deals with the history of Persian, non-Iranian languages, and the writing system, among other interrelated topics. Most of this information is not germane to the volume's main subject matter, and, in my opinion, could have been omitted.

The author's ideas on historical linguistic subjects are certainly not mainstream. As illustrative, consider his statement that the Indo-European family is a matter of "belief," since he opines that the Indo-Iranian languages are "believed to be derived from one language called Proto-Indo-European" (p. 16). No one seriously questions this and one can safely change "believed to be derived" to "are derived."

Let us now take up the phonological differences between formal and informal Persian (a key topic in any discussion of Persian style) by discussing first the matter of /r/ deletion, one of the most dis- tinctive informal markers (pp. 121-27). The definite object marker /ra/ is often pronounced lo/ after a consonant; e.g., /ketab o bede man/ 'give me the book!', but in the plural, /ketaba ro bede man/. The author's research reveals that /r/ deletion occurs in over sixty percent of the cases and in all social

Nu'aym al-Isbahani, not directly from Tabaqat al-muhaddithin bi-Isbahan, ed. 'Abd al-Ghafur 'Abd al-Haqq Husayn al-Balushi, 4 vols. (Beirut: Mu'assasat al-Risalah, 1987-92). Other sources are over- looked despite their usefulness. For example, some of al-Nabil's works, both devotional and juridical, have been published in the 1990s in Saudi Arabia, hence were unavailable when Sobieroj was prepar- ing this study; however, Kitab al-Sunnah, essential for characterizing his theology, has been available for longer (2 vols. [Beirut: al-Maktab al-Islami, 1980]). It generally advocates Sunni orthodoxy, so far as I have noticed, but remains strangely silent concerning the creation of the Qur'an and whether faith comprises word and deed. Sobieroj takes no notice of it. By the way, this is a good example of where we need to agree better on names. Sezgin, GaS 1: 522, calls aberrantly for al-Nabil, it was under Ibn Abl' Asim al-Dahhak that I found his works in several library catalogues, while Sobieroj alternates between Ibn Abi' Asim and Ahmad, the latter sure to confuse. Still and all, this is a remark- ably comprehensive account of an important man and his time. If it fails to offer a new, clearer history of Sufism, it must be admitted that our sources are likewise vague about schools and stages. Atomism was part of their outlook.

CHRISTOPHER MELCHERT UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

A Sociolinguistic Study of Persian in Tehran. By NADER JAHANGIRI. Studia Culturae islamicae, no. 69; Iranian Studies, no. 15. Tokyo: INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF LANGUAGES AND CULTURES OF ASIA AND AFRICA, 2000. Pp. ix + 267.

The author, professor of Linguistics at Ferdowsi University in Mashad, has penned an interesting study with many solid generalizations concerning the sociolinguistic differences to be found within Tehran Persian. The results are based on the speech samples of sixty informants for a total of sixty hours of material. Before delving into substantive linguistic issues, I must alert the reader to the nu- merous stylistic infelicities, grammatical and printing mistakes of all persuasions, and errors in bib- liographical citations. Consider as a typical instance of the first of these the following sentence unchanged from the original: "Normally the level of education has a direct effect on the selection of jobs, as informants with only a primary or no education are usually involved in manual work, while those with a secondary education and higher edudation do mental works" (p. 27). Later on this page, we read about the locality of the city: "Tehran socially has two extreme areas .. ." Turning to the final item in the aforementioned list, suffice to note that the article by Carleton T Hodge, "Some Aspects of Persian Style" (p. 265), is given with erroneous page references (correct to Language [1957] 33: 355-69). It is easy for a reader to become more and more frustrated in trying to cope with the overall lack of editorial scrutiny evident throughout this work.

Chapter 1, "Background," presents information in its section 1 on Tehran and its history, housing, economic structure, etc., while section 2 deals with the history of Persian, non-Iranian languages, and the writing system, among other interrelated topics. Most of this information is not germane to the volume's main subject matter, and, in my opinion, could have been omitted.

The author's ideas on historical linguistic subjects are certainly not mainstream. As illustrative, consider his statement that the Indo-European family is a matter of "belief," since he opines that the Indo-Iranian languages are "believed to be derived from one language called Proto-Indo-European" (p. 16). No one seriously questions this and one can safely change "believed to be derived" to "are derived."

Let us now take up the phonological differences between formal and informal Persian (a key topic in any discussion of Persian style) by discussing first the matter of /r/ deletion, one of the most dis- tinctive informal markers (pp. 121-27). The definite object marker /ra/ is often pronounced lo/ after a consonant; e.g., /ketab o bede man/ 'give me the book!', but in the plural, /ketaba ro bede man/. The author's research reveals that /r/ deletion occurs in over sixty percent of the cases and in all social

449 449

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Journal of the American Oriental Society 123.2 (2003) Journal of the American Oriental Society 123.2 (2003)

classes and sex/age groups. I believe it is safe to conclude that, on the whole, the more informal the language, the more we can detect instances of /r/ deletion.

The second phonological feature of informality is glottal stop deletion (pp. 128-38). Although this feature also occurs in Arabic, as one compares Classical Arabic /ra?s/ 'head' and colloquial Arabic /ras/, the Persian development is totally independent of the Arabic one. Even beginning students of Persian are sensitive to the fact that glottal stops in final position, for example, are often deleted in in- formal pronunciation (rapid and/or causal speech); e.g., /qat?/ 'cut', /vaz?/ 'situation', and /jam?/ 'total' (p. 135). As is reported by the author, ninety-six percent of all the informants deleted the glottal stop in this environment. The situation with the medial glottal stop is different, however. Many lexical items have free variation with /y/; e.g., /za?if/ - /zayif/ 'weak'. This is, of course, reminiscent of Clas- sical Arabic hamza > ya? in dialects (qa?im > qayim 'getting/standing up'). Other glottal stops "re- duce to an almost imperceptible stricture" (p. 132). I think the author could have stated that the glottal stops really can and do delete in the cited examples: /soal/ 'question' and /doa/ 'pray'. That has cer- tainly been my experience in listening to native speakers. It is quite interesting, incidentally, to learn that females (including children) delete glottal stops more than males. Might one posit the explana- tion that ladies may consider the glottal stop to be "unladylike"? Female children would presumably learn this from their mothers.

The final phonological variable we have chosen to discuss can be used as evidence for the theory of lexical diffusion (and here I agree with the author): "A phonological rule gradually extends its scope of operation to a larger and larger portion of the lexicon, until all relevant items have been trans- formed by the process" (p. 237). This variable is /a/ raising: /a/ > /u/, as in /'?an/ > /?n/ 'that' (by all the informants), /xiyaban/ 'street' where eighty percent pronounce /xiyabun/, /tehran/ where thirty- eight percent pronounce /tehrun/; however, /al?an/ 'now' is not pronounced */?al?un/ by anyone. Similarly, /mixanam/ 'I read' is pronounced /mixunam/ by ninety percent of the informants; however, /reza xan/ 'Master Reza' is not /reza xun/. Likewise, no one can colloquialize /mixan/ 'they want' as /mixun/ (p. 238). If this gradual sound change is still operative in a century or two, perhaps even the aforementioned lexemes will conform to the general rule.

The aforementioned imperfections notwithstanding, the tome can be regarded as a contribution to Persian and general linguistics.

ALAN S. KAYE CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FULLERTON

The Medieval Hebrew Encyclopedias of Science and Philosophy: Proceedings of the Bar-llan Uni- versity Conference. Edited by STEVEN HARVEY. Amsterdam Studies in Jewish Thought, no. 7. Dordrecht: KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS, 2000. Pp. 547.

It should perhaps be said from the outset that, although the articles assembled in this volume were first presented as lectures in a conference, this volume does not suffer from the haphazardness that often plagues conference proceedings. The volume offers a comprehensive and sustained examina- tion of a particular literary genre-the encyclopedia of science and philosophy-as developed in me- dieval Hebrew literature. It contains articles by some twenty authors, but an obvious preparatory and editorial effort has turned them into a joint work. As a result, this volume is indeed a comprehensive book, which not only examines various aspects of the genre, but also allows for an overall view of its place in medieval culture.

The conference to which the subtitle refers was held at Bar-Ilan University (Ramat-Gan, Israel) in

January 1998. The revised papers reflect the conference as well as the ongoing discussion between its participants. Steven Harvey, who convened the conference and edited the volume, defines the medi- eval Western encyclopedia as "a well-ordered, easy-to-use, comprehensive account of already exist-

ing information" (p. 5). But, he confesses, no consensus was reached among the participants as to the basic question of what is a medieval encyclopedia of science or philosophy, nor more precisely: "how original it may be, how comprehensive it ought to be, and how introductory it must be" (p. 9).

classes and sex/age groups. I believe it is safe to conclude that, on the whole, the more informal the language, the more we can detect instances of /r/ deletion.

The second phonological feature of informality is glottal stop deletion (pp. 128-38). Although this feature also occurs in Arabic, as one compares Classical Arabic /ra?s/ 'head' and colloquial Arabic /ras/, the Persian development is totally independent of the Arabic one. Even beginning students of Persian are sensitive to the fact that glottal stops in final position, for example, are often deleted in in- formal pronunciation (rapid and/or causal speech); e.g., /qat?/ 'cut', /vaz?/ 'situation', and /jam?/ 'total' (p. 135). As is reported by the author, ninety-six percent of all the informants deleted the glottal stop in this environment. The situation with the medial glottal stop is different, however. Many lexical items have free variation with /y/; e.g., /za?if/ - /zayif/ 'weak'. This is, of course, reminiscent of Clas- sical Arabic hamza > ya? in dialects (qa?im > qayim 'getting/standing up'). Other glottal stops "re- duce to an almost imperceptible stricture" (p. 132). I think the author could have stated that the glottal stops really can and do delete in the cited examples: /soal/ 'question' and /doa/ 'pray'. That has cer- tainly been my experience in listening to native speakers. It is quite interesting, incidentally, to learn that females (including children) delete glottal stops more than males. Might one posit the explana- tion that ladies may consider the glottal stop to be "unladylike"? Female children would presumably learn this from their mothers.

The final phonological variable we have chosen to discuss can be used as evidence for the theory of lexical diffusion (and here I agree with the author): "A phonological rule gradually extends its scope of operation to a larger and larger portion of the lexicon, until all relevant items have been trans- formed by the process" (p. 237). This variable is /a/ raising: /a/ > /u/, as in /'?an/ > /?n/ 'that' (by all the informants), /xiyaban/ 'street' where eighty percent pronounce /xiyabun/, /tehran/ where thirty- eight percent pronounce /tehrun/; however, /al?an/ 'now' is not pronounced */?al?un/ by anyone. Similarly, /mixanam/ 'I read' is pronounced /mixunam/ by ninety percent of the informants; however, /reza xan/ 'Master Reza' is not /reza xun/. Likewise, no one can colloquialize /mixan/ 'they want' as /mixun/ (p. 238). If this gradual sound change is still operative in a century or two, perhaps even the aforementioned lexemes will conform to the general rule.

The aforementioned imperfections notwithstanding, the tome can be regarded as a contribution to Persian and general linguistics.

ALAN S. KAYE CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FULLERTON

The Medieval Hebrew Encyclopedias of Science and Philosophy: Proceedings of the Bar-llan Uni- versity Conference. Edited by STEVEN HARVEY. Amsterdam Studies in Jewish Thought, no. 7. Dordrecht: KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS, 2000. Pp. 547.

It should perhaps be said from the outset that, although the articles assembled in this volume were first presented as lectures in a conference, this volume does not suffer from the haphazardness that often plagues conference proceedings. The volume offers a comprehensive and sustained examina- tion of a particular literary genre-the encyclopedia of science and philosophy-as developed in me- dieval Hebrew literature. It contains articles by some twenty authors, but an obvious preparatory and editorial effort has turned them into a joint work. As a result, this volume is indeed a comprehensive book, which not only examines various aspects of the genre, but also allows for an overall view of its place in medieval culture.

The conference to which the subtitle refers was held at Bar-Ilan University (Ramat-Gan, Israel) in

January 1998. The revised papers reflect the conference as well as the ongoing discussion between its participants. Steven Harvey, who convened the conference and edited the volume, defines the medi- eval Western encyclopedia as "a well-ordered, easy-to-use, comprehensive account of already exist-

ing information" (p. 5). But, he confesses, no consensus was reached among the participants as to the basic question of what is a medieval encyclopedia of science or philosophy, nor more precisely: "how original it may be, how comprehensive it ought to be, and how introductory it must be" (p. 9).

450 450

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.86 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 11:13:36 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions