Mark Southern's book deals in great depth and considerable detail with a question that is quite specific yet has wide ramifications as an example of language contact and change and offers many insights into the functioning of expressive forms. The book focuses on the origin of one particular type of expressive phrase – the highly productive Yiddish binomial dismissive pairs with the structure X – shmX (as in gelt-shmelt ‘money – who cares?’). The pattern has now spread beyond Yiddish into Hebrew, Russian, and of course English, where expressions like linguistics shminguistics, to cite just one of Southern's examples, are recognized as unmistakable Yiddishisms.
Southern's choice of expressive forms in Yiddish as a research topic was certainly not random; he reaffirms Uriel Weinreich's observation that “the transfer of morphemes naturally flourishes where affective categories are concerned” (248) and Brian Joseph's remark that the expressive dimension of language has often been neglected in discussions of historical linguistics (7). He also makes the relevant point that Yiddish is an oral and popular language, and reiterates Milroy's observation that linguistic innovations are after all made by speakers and take place in speech.
Southern then sets out to trace the origin of this category of echo phrase. His exploration leads him into a wide-ranging and profound examination of material from a large number of languages, from Urdu to Judezmo. His basic thesis is that the -m- element in these pairs originated from a Turkic pattern of echo pairs, which then spread into Iranian and Slavic languages. On the other hand, the -sh- element is traced to a Germanic pattern. The Yiddish pattern is thus to be seen as the result of a blend of elements from two separate sources – a development which he describes as a “meta-template” and a multiple cause morphological development. The vehicle for such transfers, he argues, can only have been the discourse of bilingual individuals, and he notes that the Ashkenazi Jews of central and eastern Europe were indeed partly bilingual, using Yiddish, reading Hebrew/Aramaic, and speaking the local colloquial variety as well.
The most impressive aspect of this work is the wealth of material that has been examined and incorporated into the arguments. Southern provides a detailed survey of expressive forms in the Turkic/Altaic, Iranian, Slavic and Baltic, South Asian, and even Basque languages. His account of forms in the Germanic languages is particularly detailed. The argumentation is further enriched by an appendix containing other examples of multiple cause morphological development, including material from Gullah. Southern's impressive scholarship is likewise reflected in a thorough index and an extensive bibliography covering works in a number of languages.
The book will thus be valued by those interested in Yiddish, but also by anyone concerned with the development of expressive forms, who will be delighted by the plentiful illustrations of iconicity and sound symbolism from around the world, all carefully classified and compared. And, of course, the general implications of the study for theories of language contact and change will concern an even wider audience.
Sadly, Mark Southern died not long after this book was published. While regretting the fact that his research has been cut short, we must be thankful that he at least had time to complete this work, which is a worthy memorial.
