American automobile names by Ingrid Piller
1998; Linguistic Society of America; Volume: 74; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/lan.1998.0141
ISSN1535-0665
Autores Tópico(s)Lexicography and Language Studies
Resumo658 LANGUAGE, VOLUME 74, NUMBER 3 (1998) This book is divided into three parts. Part 1 establishes a theoretical framework for the historical study of English and identifies the major mechanisms of linguistic change. In Part 2, this theoretical framework is tested and exemplified through the examination of a number of major linguistic developments in English. The author demonstrates that linguistic changes are the results of dynamic interaction between intralinguistic developments and extralinguistic events. Support for the central thesis of the book can be found in the writing system, sound change, lexical change, and grammatical change. The focus of Part 3 is the origins of two nonstandard varieties: Scots and London Jamaican. This book was written for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students who have had some exposure to the history of the English language. S aimed to demonstrate that the history of the English language can be exciting and stimulating, and he was indeed successful. I highly recommend this textbook for adoption in appropriate courses. [Colette M. van Kerckvoorde, Simon 's Rock College.] American automobile names. By Ingrid Piller. Essen: Die Blaue Eule, 1996. Pp. 339. This Technical University of Dresden dissertation is the first full-length academic book on American automobile names and only the second linguistic work, the first having been my 1981 article, 'Automobile semantics' (Linguistic Inquiry 12.329-48). But whereas my article covered a fairly narrow time frame (1953-78) and used the field of car names mainly as an example of how to reconcile Kripkean and opposition-based theories of lexical semantics, Piller is much more exhaustive. Based on a corpus of 2241 names gleaned from the entire history of the American automobile, the book covers a broad range oftopics. Ch. lisa general introduction dealing with car names as legal trade names and with the place of the automobile in American culture. Ch. 2 treats the internal syntax of American car names. P notes that the normal English order in which the modifier or specifier precedes its head is systematically reversed in this one domain: we say Ford Taurus GL and not *GL Taurus Ford. Ch. 3 categorizes the names in terms of such standard types of word formation as compounds (Roadmaster, Sportwagen), affixes (Wagoneer, Chevette), phrases (Town and Country), and acronyms (GTO, LTD). P finds that unorthodox spelling, a very common device for trade names in general, is almost absent in car names (exceptions include Prizm and Galaxie). Similarly, names manufactured out of whole cloth, so popular among Japanese manufacturers (Camry, Miata) are almost totally absent, though nonce borrowings from other languages (Esprit, Festiva—French and Spanish are the most popular sources) may serve a similar function. Ch. 4, 'The meaning of American car names', is by far the longest, taking up almost 100 pages, much ofit devoted to the devices ofmetonymy and metaphor. Prominent metaphors are those of the car as person, sometimes ofdistinguished rank (Monarch , Squire) but sometimes aggressive (Marauder, Bandit), as animal, most frequently a bird (Eagle, Falcon) but often a large cat (Jaguar, Wildcat) or other beast of prey (Cobra, Barracuda) or a wild hoofed mammal (Mustang, Impala). The pervasive juxtaposition of savagery against a machine, nature against culture, might well provide fodder for much speculation, which P avoids here as elsewhere. Ch. 5 is a treatment of variation, both diachronic and synchronic. One of the most noticeable of P's findings is that the highest-ranked makes of each manufacturer (Cadillac, Chrysler, and Lincoln) differ quite consistently from their lower-ranked relatives on a number of abstract dimensions: they are the least likely to have simple names, they show more metonymies than metaphors when compared with lowerranked makes from the same manufacturer, and almost never have animal names, though again P does not speculate about underlying causes. Editorially, the book is remarkably well done. The style is not heavy, the English is almost completely unmarred by foreignisms, and there are even illustrations where appropriate. If it were not for the thoroughness of the treatment, one might well doubt that this is a dissertation. But so it is, and one written in the former East Germany, where access to anything having to do with American cars and car...
Referência(s)