The Psycho-Biology of Language. Pp. ix + 336 and 7 plates. By George K. Zipf. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1935.

Abstract

This is the third publication by Zipf on the theory and application of his principle of relative frequency in the structure and development of language.His first treatise on the subjectl applied the theory to accent and phonology, and laid the foundation which he still uses with inconsiderable modifications.It was reviewed, in a generally sympathetic spirit but with regretful refusal to agree that the problems attacked had been solved, by Elise Richter2 and by Eduard Hermann.3The second book was shorter.4In it Zipf presented his study of the vocabulary of four Plautine plays, and a phonetic, syllabic, and vocabulary study of 20,000 syllables of connected text in the colloquial Chinese of Peiping; there were hints of a contemplated extension into the field of morphology.It was reviewed by Eduard Prokosch5 with a severity that bespoke a painful disappointment of his hopes for the possibilities of the new line of inquiry.In the present volume Zipf embraces the whole range of linguistic study and phenomena, from phonemes to 'the stream of speech and its relation to the totality of behavior'.Apparently nothing remains untouched within that range, and the treatment almost uniformly evidences a belief that the author has attained valid formulations.Further, the book is subtitled 'An Introduction to 1 Relative Frequency as a Determinant of Phonetic Change, Harvard Stud.Class.Phil.40.1-95 (1929). 2 ASNS 157.291-6 (1930).3 PhW 51.598-603 (1931).Other reviews: Kent, LANG.6.86-8, 'not convinced ...despite the statistics'; Meillet, BSL 31.3.17 (1931) (not available, but Meriggi, IdgJb 16, reports 'ablehnend'); Meriggi, IF 50.246-7 (1932), 'calls attention to neglected factor' but 'exaggerated, almost mechanical utilization' and 'paper phonetics'; Sutterlin, LGRPh 52.241-3 (1931), appreciative; Twaddell, Monatshefte f. deut.Unterricht 21. 230-7 (1929), appreciative and constructively critical.4 Selected Studies of the Principle of Relative Frequency in Language (Harvard Univ.Press 1932) viii + 51 and plates 62. 5 LANG.9.89-92.Other reviews: Cohen, BSL 33.3.10 f (1932) (not available); Malone, MLN 48.394 f. (1933) 'deserves credit for taking the first steps' but 'does not seem to realize that his task has just begun.'