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clause linkers may then be relatively low since the job is effectively done by other means. The problems connected with this topic are seen as an issue for further investigation (393). The universal semantic types of clause linking enumerated above are shown to exist in all languages analyzed in the volume, albeit represented in different ways. The interpretation of certain semantic types is more dependent on the broader narrative context than others. As Aikhenvald notes, this issue requires further investigation. A crosslinguistic study of prosody in clause linking would also be a most fruitful direction for future research. Although all languages employ prosody as an additional means for marking clause linking, it is not always given the attention it deserves. Apposition of dependent clauses may have a different semantic effect compared with apposition of independent clauses. Further in-depth studies can help us understand how the clause types influence the semantics of linking in various ways. The possible existence of additional semantic subtypes should not be excluded. Further parameters relevant to clause linking may relate to the overall grammatical structure of each language. A substantial grasp of the whole grammar is necessary for an adequate description of the semantics of clause linking. One interesting aspect of the analyses in this volume is found in the discussions of the relations between dedicated clause linkerswhich are exclusively allocated to a particular functionand less determined linking devices. The degree of accuracy with respect to the expression of the semantic relationship seems to be a highly relevant parameter. Johanson (1993), for example, draws attention to differences with respect to the degree of semantic sharpness or preciseness of linking devices that express meanings of cause in Turkic and other languages. In the case of relatively high semantic accuracy, the causal relationship is expressed in a precise way by means of language-specific grammatical devices such as English because, therefore, French parce que, car, or German weil, da. In the case of relatively low semantic accuracy, the relationship is expressed in an unfocused or vague way, the causal interpretation being derivable from a similar concept, as a nonsemanticized pragmatic inference, for example, English thus, accordingly, in this way, that being so, inasmuch as, insofar as, considering that, French alors, or German insofern (als), demgem. Studying the choice of more or less precise devices available at one and the same time in a given language might add an interesting dimension to further investigations into the processes of clause linking. Built upon an innovative theoretical basis and well-documented empirical materials from an impressively wide and representative variety of the worlds languages, this book presents a wealth of insightful analyses and highly useful suggestions for further research on clause linking.
JOHANSON, LARS. 1993. Typen trkischer Kausalsatzverbindungen. Journal of Turkology 1.21367.

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REFERENCE

Seminar fr Orientkunde Mainz University DE-55099 Mainz, Germany [johanson@uni-mainz.de]

Language talent and brain activity. Ed. by GRZEGORZ DOGIL and SUSANNE MARIA REITERER. (Trends in applied linguistics 1.) Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2009. Pp. v, 366. ISBN 9783110205183. $137 (Hb).

Neuroscience has branched into multiple subfields, among them neurolinguistics, thanks largely to the advent of increasingly sophisticated noninvasive brain imaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Neurolinguistics holds out the possibility of offering

Reviewed by ARDEN COLLIER, SAMEER ASHAIE, and LORAINE K. OBLER, City University of New York, Graduate Center

REVIEWS

more conclusive answers to questions about which linguists have so far only been able to speculate, as it renders the ephemeral nature of language processing comparatively concrete and tangible. Language talent and brain activity (LTBA) represents a useful contribution to the literature in that it provides focused investigation into a specific aspect of second language (L2) acquisition what its authors refer to as LANGUAGE TALENTas well as broad literature reviews covering both the century-long history of research into language functions in the brain, and more recent work on bilingualism in the brain. As stated in the preface and first two chapters, the contributors are interested in finding explanations for the particular talents that some L2 learners display in achieving native-like or nearnative L2 pronunciation. MATTHIAS JILKA, in Talent and proficiency in language (116), suggests that talent is inborn while proficiency is acquired, making the distinction clear. However, in a homogeneous population such as the one they study (Germans who have learned English in school from around age ten), if one examines them as young adults, the relatively high proficiency of someat least with respect to their approximation to native-like Englishmay be taken to reflect innate talents (and indeed in later chapters, some authors use the two terms interchangeably). This is what makes LTBA a pioneering work: so far, few neurolinguists have explored why it is that some seem to pick up languages and accents more readily than others. The title of this volume does require some clarification. First, the reader should not expect to find a series of reports on investigations into the connection between brain activity and language talent. Instead, LTBA has an unusual format: its thirteen chapters reflect somewhat disparate components of a single sizable project, for which a team based largely at the University of Tbingen and at Universitt Stuttgart collected a pool of German first language (L1) learners of English, administering to them a comprehensive set of tests and classifying them along a continuum of talent in their ability to produce native-like English. Seven chapters report on data from substudies of the larger project and draw their subjects from the same pool of participants, although not all contributors make that clear. Following are brief summaries of the contributions directly related to the core study. Another chapter by Jilka, Assessment of phonetic ability (1766), introduces the overall objective of the project, which, as stated above, is to conduct a multifaceted examination of L2 pronunciation talent. Jilka presents information on the 117 participants in the study: 102 German L1 speakers and fifteen English L1 controls. The former group is comprised of about fifty percent college-age students and fifty percent members of the wider community. Participants were selected based on a self-assessment of their proficiency in L2 pronunciation, as reported in an online questionnaire. This chapter also includes a description of the various tasks employed to evaluate both nonverbal and verbal talent in production and perception at segmental and suprasegmental levels of speech, some of which are standardized tests, such as the Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT) or the Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices Test. Jilka does not mention, however, any brain imaging studies conducted on the participants in the core study. GIUSEPPINA ROTA and SUSANNE MARIA REITERER, in Cognitive aspects of pronunciation talent (6796), discuss empathic skills, mental flexibility, working memory, and intelligence. While verbal and nonverbal IQ, as measured by Ravens Progressive Matrices, do not predict L2 pronunciation talent by the authors measures among the sixty participants they report on here, nonverbal IQ does correlate with what they term the overall score on the three subtests of the MLAT that they employed, as well as with each of the subtests individually: phonetic coding, grammatical sensitivity, and vocabulary learning. Furthermore, the overall MLAT and the phonetic coding subtest correlate positively with measures of verbal IQ. Beginning with a discussion of definitions of personality from psychoanalytic, behaviorist, dispositional, cognitive, and biological/neuroscientific perspectives, XIAOCHEN HU and Susanne Maria Reiterers Personality and pronunciation talent (97130) seeks to clarify the relationship of personality to pronunciation talent based on data from sixty-two of the core studys participants. While no correlation obtains between extraversion and pronunciation, other personality factors such as agreeableness, conscientiousness, and readiness to empathize do correlate with pronunciation ability. In addition, the authors refer to an fMRI study they have conducted, presumably Hu et al. 2009.

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DAVIDE NARDO and Susanne Maria Reiterer open Musicality and phonetic language aptitude (21356) with a description of various tests used to measure musicality. The authors report on data from sixty-six participants who appear to be part of their larger study (though that is never stated directly). The data show that L2 pronunciation and musical talentparticularly rhythm perception, pitch perception, and the ability to singare not independent phenomena. The neuroscientific evidence points to shared networks used in both linguistic and musical processing, suggesting that the size of Heschls gyrus could constitute a possible marker of musicality as well as language talent. In Sociolinguistic factors in language proficiency: Phonetic convergence as a signature of pronunciation talent (25778), NATALIE LEWANDOWSKI examines a strategy in dialogue whereby speakers adapt to certain features employed by their conversational partners. After a summary of studies conducted on phonetic convergence with an emphasis on the theoretical framework of usage-based accounts of language, Lewandowski reports on eight participants from the larger population who have been divided into groups of more- and less-talented L2 speakers of English. Her study indicates that the participants abilities to accommodate their dialectal pronunciation to that of their interlocutors correlates with their level of L2 pronunciation talent. HENRIKE BAUMOTTES Segmental factors in language proficiency: Coarticulatory resistance as a signature of pronunciation talent (279304) describes an acoustic study of velarization of English /l/ and the influence of neighboring segments on it, as produced by twenty-nine speakers of Swabian German, a dialect known for its relatively clear /l/ (i.e. nonvelarized) pronunciation. While not even the eleven L2 English speakers designated as proficient are entirely accent-free on this English phoneme, what does distinguish the particularly proficient participants from those who are average or below is that their pronunciation of /l/ shows greater velarization in certain formants and environments and less coarticulatory resistance: that is, the former are able to break away from their habitual L1 patterns of coarticulation and form new ones more in line with those of native speakers of their L2. VOLHA ANUFRYK reports on a study of thirty-eight German L1 speakers in Prosodic factors in language proficiency: Intonational variation as a signature of pronunciation talent (30536), finding that the variability of intonational categories produced in a paragraph read-aloud task correlates both phonetically and phonologically with talent/proficiency. Anufryk also argues that it is important to discriminate between positive and negative transfer of L1 variation patterns into the L2. Interspersed among the chapters described above and covering a range of topics associated with language learning and pronunciation talent are the remaining chapters, some more and some less pertinent to the questions at hand. The following two emphasize brain imaging research. WOLFGANG GRODD, DIRK WILDGRUBER, and VINOD KUMAR open Functional imaging of language competent brain areas (13153) with an introduction to Brocas area, Wernickes area, and additional regions traditionally considered responsible for language. While they describe various methods used to map language areas of the brain, the focus is on fMRI and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies conducted at the authors institutions, the findings of which are included in sections dealing with multiple aspects of language production and perception. Susanne Maria Reiterers Brain and language talent: A synopsis (15592) provides a literature review of various brain imaging studies of talented/proficient/successful bilinguals that were conducted prior to the publication of this volume. Highlights of the findings include those of Golestani & Pallier 2007 and Golestani et al. 2002, 2007, in which it was determined that a higher degree of myelination in posterior parietal regions and in left Heschls gyrus may enhance language learning, while Golestani and Zatorre (2004) noted relatively high levels of left angular gyrus activity among proficient L2 learners. These two chapters contain nuggets of fascinating information; however, the reader is left with the impression that in LTBA we have been given a cross-sectional slice of an interesting ongoing study and that more brain-related results have been, or will be, reported elsewhere. Readers of LTBA will wish that already published articles had been summarized in the volume. Earlier works that appear relevant to the central project include Baumotte et al. 2007, Jilka et al. 2007, 2008, Reiterer et al. 2005a, 2005b, 2008, 2009. From an editing perspective, the selection of topics covered in LTBA is interestingly varied. There is one major shortcoming, however: almost all chapters contain both syntactic and seman-

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tic errors. Of course, those of us who do not easily read German must appreciate that the contributors wrote LTBA in English. Some chapters (those by Jilka, Lewandowski, and Anufryk) read relatively easily, while others would have benefited from more thorough editing. A handful of errors also have to do with content. For example, in claims about the pronunciation talent of their subject pool, statements by Grzegorz Dogil and Baumotte in their respective chapters appear to contradict each other: the former claims that SOME subjects speak English as an L2 without an accent, while the latter claims that NO subjects speak accent-free English. Also contradictory are two citations in Reiterers Brain and language talent of the findings in Chee et al. 2004: the first on p. 163 inaccurately describes the anterior cingulate as LESS active in unequal bilinguals than equal bilinguals, when it is in fact MORE active according to the original article. Reiterer later discusses the same piece with an accurate summary of the results on p. 175, but a reader unfamiliar with Chee et al. 2004 would not know which of the two was correct. Such content-based errors are, however, relatively rare. Because LTBA includes both reports of original research and review articles, as well as an extensive literature review in most chapters, it is more suitable for a reader familiar with linguistics but less versed in neurolinguistics. For example, the chapters by Reiterer or by Grodd, Wildgruder, and Kumar are appropriate as introductory-level pieces for those who are unfamiliar with the study of the brain and language in general or bilingualism in particular. Overall, LTBA provides an ample foundation for the topics it covers, and many of its chapters can serve as a springboard for further investigation.

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BAUMOTTE, HENRIKE; MATTHIAS LENZ; GRZEGORZ DOGIL; and SUSANNE M. REITERER. 2007. Coarticulatory resistance as a basis for foreign accent: V-to-V coarticulation in German VCV-sequences: A pilot study. Complexity, accuracy and fluency in second language use, learning and teaching, ed. by Siska van Daele, Alex Housen, Folkert Kuiken, Michel Pierrard, and Ineke Vedder, 1125. Wetteren: Universa Press. CHEE, MICHAEL W. L.; CHUN SIONG SOON; HWEE LING LEE; and CHRISTOPHE PALLIER. 2004. Left insula activation: A marker for language attainment in bilinguals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101.1526570. GOLESTANI, NARLY; NICOLAS MOLKO; STANISLAS DEHAENE; DENIS LEBIHAN; and CHRISTOPHE PALLIER. 2007. Brain structure predicts the learning of foreign speech sounds. Cerebral Cortex 17.57582. GOLESTANI, NARLY, and CHRISTOPHE PALLIER. 2007. Anatomical correlates of speech sound production. Cerebral Cortex 17.92934. GOLESTANI, NARLY; TOM PAUS; and ROBERT J. ZATORRE. 2002. Anatomical correlates of learning novel speech sounds. Neuron 35.9971010. GOLESTANI, NARLY, and ROBERT J. ZATORRE. 2004. Learning new sounds of speech: Reallocation of neural substrates. NeuroImage 21.494506. HU, XIAOCHEN; HERMANN ACKERMANN; MICHAEL ERB; DAVIDE NARDO; WOLFGANG GRODD; and SUSANNE M. REITERER. 2009. Mapping brain structure and personality in an adult sample of second language pronunciation talent. NeuroImage 47.S118 (Supplement 1). JILKA, MATTHIAS; VOLHA ANUFRYK; HENRIKE BAUMOTTE; NATALIE LEWANDOWSKI; GIUSEPPINA ROTA; and SUSANNE M. REITERER. 2008. Assessing individual talent in second language production and perception. New sounds 2007: Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech, ed. by Andreia Rauber, Michael Watkins, and Barbara Baptista, 22439. Florianpolis: Federal University of Santa Catarina. JILKA, MATTHIAS; HENRIKE BAUMOTTE; NATALIE LEWANDOWSKI; SUSANNE M. REITERER; and GIUSEPPINA ROTA. 2007. Introducing a comprehensive approach to assessing pronunciation talent. Proceedings of the International Conference of Phonetic Sciences 16.173740. REITERER, SUSANNE M.; MICHAEL L. BERGER; CLAUDIA HEMMELMANN; and PETER RAPPELSBERGER. 2005a. Decreased EEG coherence between prefrontal electrodes: A correlate of high language proficiency? Experimental Brain Research 163.10913. REITERER, SUSANNE M.; MICHAEL ERB; WOLFGANG GRODD; and DIRK WILDGRUBER. 2008. Cerebral processing of timbre and loudness: fMRI evidence for a contribution of Brocas area to basic auditory discrimination. Brain Imaging and Behavior 2.110. REITERER, SUSANNE M.; CLAUDIA HEMMELMANN; PETER RAPPELSBERGER; and MICHAEL L. BERGER. 2005b. Characteristic functional networks in high- versus low-proficiency second language speakers detected

REFERENCES

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Linguistics Department and Speech and Hearing Department City University of New York, Graduate Center 365 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10016 [ardenlcollier@gmail.com] [sameerashaie@gmail.com] [loraine.obler@gmail.com]

also during native language processing: An explorative EEG coherence study in 6 frequency bands. Cognitive Brain Research 25.56678. REITERER, SUSANNE M.; ERNESTO PEREDA; and JOYDEEP BHATTACHARYA. 2009. Measuring second language proficiency with EEG synchronization: How functional cortical networks and hemispheric involvement differ as a function of proficiency level in second language speakers. Second Language Research 25.77106.

The anatomy of meaning: Speech, gesture, and composite utterances. By N. J. ENFIELD. (Language culture and cognition 8.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Pp. xii, 252. ISBN 9780521880640. $112.99 (Hb).

This book focuses on composite utterances, where the meaning of a single communicative move turns on the interrelation between multiple signs, partaking of both verbal and gestural modalities. Based on over ten years of linguistic and ethnographic research with speakers of Lao (a language of Southeast Asia), each of its six chapters presents a detailed case study of a crosslinguistically relevant domain. The first half treats the deictic component of moves, focusing on composite utterances that incorporate demonstratives, lip-pointing, and hand-pointing. The second half treats the illustrative components of moves, focusing on composite utterances that involve modeling artifacts, diagramming social structures, and editing such models and diagrams. While all of the chapters involve painstaking analysis of speech-plus-gesture in interaction, itself grounded in the authors extensive knowledge of the language and culture of his field site, it is theorized from a broadly comparative and typological stance. It thereby provides not only rich case examples to think through (whatever ones theoretical commitments), but also a sophisticated analytic framework to apply (whatever ones empirical focus). Enfields book constitutes an outstanding contribution to the literature on gesture, language, and interaction. The analytic framework is explicitly neo-Gricean (grounded in inference and intentionality) and neo-Peircean (grounded in indexicality and context). This fact distinguishes it from much work on language and gesture that has minimal sophistication with respect to meaning; and it distinguishes it from much work on meaning that takes its inspiration from neo-Saussurean semantics (focused on context-free types). Moreover, it is empirically grounded in detailed, multimodal analysis of video-recorded interactions in situ (versus experimental settings, elicitation sessions, or imagined situations), which distinguishes it from much work in relevance theory, semiotics, gesture studies, discourse analysis, and cognitive linguistics. Finally, it also takes some inspiration from key ideas, topics, and methods in conversational analysis and linguistic anthropology, and thereby weaves together the sequencing of moves in situated interaction and the social relations and cultural values of a speech community. Notwithstanding its topical and areal focus, then, the analysis is meant to be general: how signs and minds emerge from and contribute to code, context, and culture. The first part of the book, Deictic components of moves, consists of three chapters on deictic signs (or symbolic indexicals). The key function of these signs is to link conventional and nonconventional signs: demonstratives, lip-points, and hand-points. These chapters thereby offer descriptions of the variety of forms underlying joint-attentional processes as well as the multiple functions served by such processes. They should be broadly relevant to psychologists working on shared intentionality, linguists investigating the pragmatics-semantics interface, ethologists inter-

Reviewed by PAUL KOCKELMAN, Barnard College, Columbia University