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Mary E. McGroarty and Christian J. Faltis, eds. Languages in School and Society, Policy and Pedagogy. In the series Contributions to the Sociology of Language 58 . Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 1991. Pp. x + 570. DM 228,-(hardcover).

Summing up, the author affirms that the very notion of grammar is conditioned by a complex web of sociocultural and politicoeconomic factors which, along with established grammatical tradition, determines the dialect chosen for study and/or proposed as a norm, the facts selected for emphasis, as well as the order and manner of their presentation. Our idea of grammar as base-forms, categories, meanings, rule-governed processes, and discursive relationships owes more to history than we may realize. According to Kibbee, the metaphors and metalanguage of any linguistic description reflect an attitude — conscious or unconscious— toward the object of study, and toward the understanding of what constitutes authentic science. The widespread notion of linguistics as an autonomous science is misleading, he argues, because it invites explicit comparison with the natural sciences, where sociocultural factors are not an issue. Only by studying the history of linguistic thought, he suggests, can we gain perspective on the contemporary landscape, fully understand the structure of linguistic theory, or appreciate its place in scientific discourse. Perhaps he is right: the current popularity of formal linguistics, our concern with universals and typology, compartmentalization of the field by specialty and subspecialty, the streamlining of facts with an eye to constructing idealized base-forms, transformational rules and predictive generalizations, should not blind us to the fact that much of linguistics remains a soft, human science, embedded in a rich socio-historical and communicative context. Unless he or she walks on water, the sober linguist should never try to divorce language from its functions, values, environment and history.