Rezensionen 350 Daniel Schreier, Consonant Change in English Worldwide. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. Ulrike Gut Daniel Schreier’s book Consonant Change in English Worldwide is concerned with phonotactic variation and change both in the historical development of English and in synchronic variation across different varieties of English. Focussing exclusively on the process of consonant cluster reduction (CCR), the author aims not only to explain historical changes through an analysis of current variation but also to predict future changes and diversification by identifying general principles underlying both. His objects are to find both language-internal and external factors contributing to phonotactic change in English and to identify the conditions under which variation turns into permanent change. The author locates the study of CCR at the crosssection of several linguistic subdisciplines including typology, universals and phonological theory, language variation and change, contact linguistics and genetic linguistics and language acquisition and psycholinguistics. Chapter 2 presents an introduction to syllable structure theory and to the sonority hierarchy. After a brief presentation of studies concerned with cluster modification in second language (L2) acquisition, the terms ‘naturalness’ and ‘markedness’ are defined and a summary of results on the phonetic and morphological constraints of CCR processes in various varieties of English is given. Here, the author stresses the importance of considering the possibility of a confounding influence of sonority effects on these factors. A presentation of all possible two-consonant (CC) and three-consonant (CCC) clusters in English onsets and codas is followed by a description of the consonantal processes metathesis, compensatory lengthening, assimilation, dissimilation, epenthesis and deletion. Section 2.3 raises the questions whether phonotactic change is caused by external factors such as language contact or by internal factors. Further, it is argued that children cannot be the agents of phonotactic change despite apparent similarities between their productions and the outcome of CCR processes. Chapters 3 and 4 form the heart of the book with analyses of reduction processes in onset clusters and coda clusters, respectively, that combine the investigation of diachronic and synchronic variation. Chapter 3 is concerned with initial consonant cluster loss in English. With a corpus analysis based on word spellings in the Helsinki Corpus, the Oxford English Dictionary and the Anglo-Saxon Dictionary the author confirms the traditional views on the time frame of the loss of <hn->, <hl-> and <hr->. These clusters already had the one-segment alternative spellings <n>, <l> and <r> in the earliest records of the 9 th century with the change being complete by the late 13 th century. Further, he shows that the loss of these clusters follows the pattern of an S-curve commonly found in language change. The loss of <fn-> and <wl-> is found to be mainly a function of lexical loss. The author demonstrates that contrary to traditional views the <wl-> cluster only died out in the early 16 th century. Section 3.2 analyses the ongoing change of / hw-/ to / w-/ in New Zealand English. It is based on the speech of 45 New Zealanders born between 1896 and 1935 with different places of origin (Canterbury, Southland/ Otago and North Island). The author observed a higher percentage of / hw-/ realisations for Southlanders than other speak- AAA Band 32 (2007), Heft 2 Rezensionen 351 ers, which is probably derived from the different settlement histories (a Scottish founder effect in the South compared to dialect levelling in other areas). In section 3.3, the author presents Alber & Plag’s (2001) analysis of initial cluster reduction in Sranan, an English-based Creole spoken in Suriname. They show that the clusters / sm-/ and / sn-/ are not reduced while biand trisegmental clusters involving / s/ such as / sp-/ and / str-/ have lost the / s/ . This finding is explained in part by lexical conditioning, but mainly by ‘phonotactic optimization’. Using the OT framework, they claim that the observed language change does not violate the constraints ‘no skip’ (“form a contiguous sequence”) and ‘no intrude’ (“no epenthesis”). The author interprets this as an optimisation of clusters in terms of the sonority hierarchy (p. 125) and as “evidence for substratal influence and the preference for universal structures in contact conditions” (p. 122). Chapter 4 is concerned with synchronic variation in final cluster reduction. After presenting the final consonant clusters of present-day standard English, the author discusses the phonetic, morphological and social constraints that have been identified to operate on final / -t,d/ deletion. In section 4.2 he reports on his analysis of final plosive reduction in Maori English, Pakeha (white) New Zealand English, St Helenian English and Tristan da Cunha English, the latter two being South Atlantic islands with a relatively late and particular colonization history. Based on an analysis of 5748 clusters he finds that the overall reduction rate is higher in the South Atlantic Englishes than in the New Zealand varieties and higher in Maori New Zealand English than in Pakeha New Zealand English. Further, in St Helenian English and Tristan da Cunha English plosives in bimorphemic clusters are more likely to be reduced than in monomorphemic clusters, which stands in contrast to the processes observed in the two New Zealand English varieties. In section 4.3, twelve studies on final CCR and / -t,d/ deletion in Philadelphia English, Appalachian English, Hyde County NC English, York (UK) English, Vietnamese L2 English in the U.S., African American English, Los Angeles Chicano English, Texas Tejano English, Indian English, Korean L2 English, Bahamian English and Jamaican English are compared. These varieties are grouped into native varieties, dialects, and varieties developed from language contact situations such as language-shift, bilingualism and English as a second language. Chapters 5 and 6 provide a summary of the various studies described in chapters 3 and 4 and offers some interpretations and explanations of consonant cluster reduction processes ranging from substratal influences and language-internal constraints to psycholinguistic explanations. This book would have constituted pioneering work in its aspiration to combine analyses of diachronic change with analyses of synchronic variation and due to the large number of varieties of English compared with respect to CCR variation had the writing and the analyses been carried out in a more scientific manner. As it is, the scientific value of the book is severely limited due to several factors. First, throughout the book, the author uses technical and theoretical terms in an imprecise and vague way, for example when he writes about “the extent to which phonotactic changes depend on phonological theory” on p. 7 (How can an actual observable language pattern depend on its theoretical description? ) or when he distinguishes between language acquisition, “the mental and cognitive processes by which children acquire their native language […] and […] language learning, the efforts of adolescents or Rezensionen 352 adults to achieve competence in a second […] language” (p. 47) (Does he mean to imply that the processes of L2 acquisition are not mental and cognitive? ). Terminological and theoretical uncertainty is especially pronounced in the area of phonetics (whose exclusion from the list of related linguistic disciplines is puzzling) and phonology, for example when the definition of sonorous sounds is given as “more prominent in terms of articulation” (p. 19) (instead of “in their acoustic properties”), when the author claims that / / and / w/ do not exist in present-day English anymore as a combination in a cluster (how about thwart? ) and when, on page 130, he analyses the / -ndld/ of the disyllabic kindled / kin.dld/ as a final consonant cluster consisting of four consonants. Moreover, throughout chapter 4, the author uses the term ‘CCR’ indiscriminately and variably to refer to final cluster reduction in general, to final plosive reduction and to final / -t,d/ deletion. Second, a lack of theoretical grounding is evident throughout the book, especially in the areas of phonetics and phonology, first and second language acquisition and psycholinguistics. To give just a few examples: The author does not answer satisfactorily the central question of whether / hw-/ really constitutes a sequence of two sounds or whether it should be analysed as the one segment / / . Whilst it is impossible to solve this question for Old English, the author could have easily analysed his recordings of New Zealand English acoustically for evidence of a consonant cluster. Further, on page 188 the author admits that he is not aware of the extensive literature on CCR in L2 English (e.g. Tarone 1980, Anderson 1987, Major 1996, Hansen 2001, to name but a few). Similarly, his claim that epenthesis and paragogue are uncommon in L2 English varieties (p. 190) shows his unawareness of current knowledge in this area (e.g. Jowitt 1991, Simo Bobda 1995 on Nigerian English and Cameroon English). Moreover, the book does not include any discussion of Bybee’s (e.g. 2002) work on frequency effects on phonetically conditioned final cluster reduction. Both an explanation of the differences in ‘/ hw-/ ’ frequency between function words and content words found for New Zealand English in section 3.2 as well as the discussion of language-internal factors would have profited greatly from an inclusion of her findings. This theoretical vagueness is also reflected in numerous claims contradicting each other. To give just two examples: On page 80, the author raises the question why initial cluster reduction is more advanced in English than in other related languages and claims that “surely there can be no external motivation here”. Yet on page 216 he states that “[t]he external history may thus at least to some extent account for the trajectory of initial English cluster loss in English”. On page 221, he claims that vowel epenthesis is mostly found in L2 English varieties, yet on p. 190 he stated that it was uncommon (see above). The third and by far weakest point of the book is its lack of methodological sophistication, which renders many of the conclusions and theoretical interpretations of the author’s analyses invalid. For example, on page 181, the author interprets the clearly not significant differences between 82.7% and 82.5% and between 79.5% and 78% as a weak effect. Further, in chapter 3, he presents the results of his analysis of putative / hw-/ in New Zealand English and claims to have found a higher realisation rate for women than for men. Yet when considering the percentages given in Table 3.7 and his statement that within-speaker variation ranged from 0% realisations to 85% (also shown in Figure 3.10), it becomes clear that the differences between 27% and 20.8% cannot be statistically significant. His claim that men led the change and Rezensionen 353 women caught up faster in later periods is not supported by his data. Neither can the author’s claims on the role of the preceding and following phonetic context be upheld when considering the percentages presented in Table 3.7 and in Figure 3.11. The interpretation of the percentages found in the study of final plosive deletion in Maori English, Pakeha (white) New Zealand English, St Helenaian English and Tristan da Cunha English shows the same lack of statistical evaluation, which again leads the author to wrong conclusions. A quick glance at the numbers presented in Table 4.4 shows that his claims about the influence of the preceding phonetic environment of final plosives and his conclusion that “C 1 -related effects are to a certain extent variety-specific and therefore particularly diagnostic” (p. 155) are contradicted by his own data. As a last example: throughout section 4.3 the author confuses final CCR with / -t,d/ deletion and compares findings of studies on both phenomena. Despite the incomparability of the data (also in terms of speaking style, data elicitation, number and type of speakers and data analysis) elicited in the various studies he makes farreaching claims concerning the role of preceding and following phonetic context, morphological status on cluster/ plosive/ -t,d deletion as well as on language typology, variation and language change. To end on a more positive note: the object of the book, the investigation of variation and change both in the historical development of English and in synchronic variation across different varieties of English is an exciting one. In this way the book might serve as an inspiration for future research. References Anderson, Janet (1987). “The markedness differential hypothesis and syllable structure difficulty.” In: Georgette Ioup and Steven Weinberger (eds.). Interlanguage Phonology. Cambridge, MA: Newbury House. 279-304. Bybee, Joan (2002). “Word frequency and context of use in the lexical diffusion of phonetically conditioned sound change.” Language Variation and Change 14. 261-290. Hansen, Jette (2001). “Linguistic constraints on the acquisition of English syllable codas by native speakers of Mandarin Chinese.” Applied Linguistics 22. 338-365. Major, Roy (1996). “Markedness in second language acquisition of consonant clusters.” In: Robert Bayley and Dennis Preston (eds.). Second Language Acquisition and Linguistic Variation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 75-96. Simo Bobda, Augustin (1995). “The phonologies of Nigerian English and Cameroon English.” In: Ayo Bamgbose, Ayo Banjo and Andrew Thomas (eds.). New Englishes, Ibadan: Mosuro. 248-268. Tarone, Elaine (1980). “Some influences on the syllable structure of interlanguage phonology.” International Review of Applied Linguistics 18. 139-152. Ulrike Gut Chair for Applied English Linguistics University of Augsburg