kornfilt turkish jaklin kornfilt 1997 turkish london new york routledge xxxi 575 pp 110 us 180 reviewed steve seegmiller montclair state university jaklin kornfilt grammar turkish hereafter referred turkish first new comprehensive grammar language published english two decades appearance significant event especially since author well known respected authority turkish latest title descriptive grammars series edited bernard comrie published routledge goals works series different grammars descriptive grammars intended linguists rather general users grammars series address issues uniform format given feature may easily compared across languages contain information sort often absent traditional grammars toward end review comment briefly potential utility grammar nonlinguists part focus usefulness grammar linguists descriptive grammars series includes nearly 30 titles according editorial preface series gives preference languages comprehensive descriptions presently available iv aim series provide information linguists interested language typology language universals comparative grammar employing terminology notation make information accessible linguists regardless particular specialization orientation authors grammars series expected organize descriptions answers series questions originally published lingua vol 42 1 1977 turkish contains 600 pages including prefatory material table contents bibliography grammatical description alone amounts 550 pages thus roughly twice long lewis 1967 100 pages longer underhill 1976 book contains five chapters widely varying lengths chapter 1 syntax contains 211 pages chapter 2 morphology 270 pages chapter 3 phonology 32 pages chapter 4 ideophones interjections 3 pages chapter 5 lexicon 16 pages thus approximately 90 per cent book devoted morphology syntax furthermore good deal information morphology chapter deals syntactic matters giving book especially heavy bias toward syntax distribution information doubt reflects interests author current emphasis typological research chapters phonology lexicon well done useful address issues might interest phonologist lexical semanticist notable feature book extensive detailed table contents eleven pages long used conjunction fourteenpage index provides easy access extensive body information turkish well turkish accomplish goals think handles syntax morphology marvelously well phonology lexicon adequately ideophones interjections cursory fashion chapters syntax morphology provide best detailed descriptions parts language available analyses date insightful kornfilt done superb job bringing clarity difficult parts language concept terminology description straddles line generative traditional nongenerative approaches instance kornfilt uses terms possessive adjective 105 emonstrative adjective 106 rather usual possessive emonstrative similarly descriptions stated terms surface phenomena grammatical constructions recognizable theoretical framework probably right choice given diverse backgrounds probable users grammar range coverage broad thorough kornfilt deals sentence types simple complex negation questions grammatical categories phrase types grammatical phenomena might interest linguists morphology chapter contains information inflection derivation also uses various morphological forms cross referencing extensive making easy reader find relevant information topic even found section book approach interrelating syntax morphology useful allows kornfilt clarify cloudy areas turkish grammar perhaps notable treatments participial nominal systems relation subordination pp 323413 various places chapter 1 finite subordination rare turkish far frequent pattern subordination involves use participial nominalized verbal stem complexity system mindboggling students language kornfilt description makes coherent intelligible treatment aspects turkish morphology syntax equally well done useful feature turkish inclusion information occur language often essential information linguists whether studying typology syntax morphology rarely included traditional grammars thus find page 104 statement postpostitions govern one case lone exception kadar lewis 1967 information inferred discussion cases pages 8595 easy find categorically stated many similar examples especially syntax chapter chapter phonology short clear precise contain amount detail found syntax morphology chapters information presented adequate many purposes phonologists doubt wish elaborate discussions issues like vowel harmony stress assignment phonological morphophonemic alternations found one omission chapter page 491 final devoicing rule described applying syllablefinal plosives affricates yet page 487 examples final devoicing liquids well described standard universal crossreference would useful part transcriptions phonology chapter follow ipa norms one exception though transcription palatalized consonants means comma rather raised j may done typographical reasons might confuse casual user chapter 4 ideophones interjections 3 pages long provides briefest commentary phenomena many linguists included mind short shrift given topics doubt disappointed list ideophones occupies less page half chapter 5 lexicon short interesting sample lexicon turkish chapter contains lists words organized semantic field include kinship terminology color terms body parts cooking terminology also included list 200 items basic vocabulary seems correspond socalled swadesh list linguists interested historical linguistics language classification grateful find set words conveniently collected together setting aside minor qualifications reference work turkish linguists turkish equal comprehensive date effectively organized description language method organization well detailed table contents index make wealth information available almost instantaneously simply put admirable reference work turkish linguists said utility turkish nonlinguists two main reasons book accessible nonlinguistic audiences first kornfilt assumes familiarity linguistic terminology first paragraph page 1 example uses terms nominalized clause constituent clause neither likely familiar nonlinguists second turkish presupposes interest knowledge certain linguistic questions kornfilt little say example questions stylistic variation formal versus colloquial speech range topics typical student scholar turkish might interested really criticism since descriptive grammar series well defined audience excludes nonlinguists nevertheless unfortunate grammar useful wider audience supplement replace lewis 1976 underhill 1976 two complaints turkish first relatively large number errors inconsistencies minor consist missing verbs using etc cause confusion page 27 example turkish described ubjectverb object language actually v sentence page 30 addresses question whether piedpiping postpositions obligatory leaves reader unsure answer also contradictions page 142 claim made reflexive never occur subject position page 305 learn reflexive occur honorific subject page 542 three references given works discuss reflexive subjects subordinate clauses inconsistencies found bibliography turkish titles translated english others author aware errors prepared addendum contains short list errata many errors found included addendum available free charge author publisher complaint concerns cost turkish us 180 grammar unlikely find way many private libraries unfortunate since book useful linguists interested turkish want close hand references lewis g l 1967 turkish grammar oxford oxford university press underhill robert 1976 turkish grammar cambridge london mit press steve seegmiller interested universal comparative grammar working turkish turkic languages many years published first grammar english turkic language karachay presently work comparative syntax english japanese steve seegmiller linguistics department montclair state university upper montclair nj 07043 u e mail seegmillerm alpha montclair edu