A Pilgrimage to Angkor by Larry BriggsReview by: Robert von Heine-GeldernJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 64, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1944), pp. 155-156Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/594245 .

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Reviews of Books 155

increase, however, as Pike goes on. The definition of the "speech" sound (116), for instance, seems to imply that single phonemes never cover less than one segment. But is not the segment "flapped [n] " in many American pronunciations of winter phonemically /nt/, /n/ being represented by [n], /t/ by the flap feature ? Still more complex is the matter of syllables and syllabicity. It is true that this question has been regarded all along as truly phonetic. The author's very efforts, however, at defining syllables and syllabics on this basis have confirmed the reviewer's view that phonemics can do without a phonetic definition of the sylla- ble; in other words that syllables are convenient or necessary terms for sequences of established phonemes.5 This will do away with such stopgap

devices as the "suberiterion of prominence " cited above; it will also permit us to regard E. string or Russian rta as one syllable (despite the greater prominence and higher initiator speed in the first phone and the interruption of the chest pulse during the second phone) on a phonemic basis, although these examples will impress certain for- eign phoneticians as being bisyllabic. It is very doubtful, then, that phonetic technique should ever have to go beyond the setting up of minimum segments and, of course, the recording of all such phonetic features as will later turn out to be rele- vant for the grouping of phonemes into syllables (loose contact, differences in release, etc.).6

This criticism concerns that small part of Pike's argument where he seems to lapse against his plan into a phonemic rather than strictly phonetic approach. The fact that his analysis is altogether successful wherever he follows his own precepts demonstrates the soundness and fruitfulness of these precepts. The main desideratum left is a complete handbook of phonetics by the hand of the author, with all categories filled in and the resulting sounds discussed in detail, as well as with examples from actual languages.

H. M. HOENIGSWALD. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

' G. Trager, American Speech 1942. 146-148. 5 The criteria for setting up syllables will, then, vary

from language to language and may include, for in- stance, (1) the domain of certain accent phonemes (e.g. stress in English or pitch in Vedic Sanskrit affects sylla- bles, i. e., sequences of phonemes within which no contrast of loudness (height of pitch) is permitted are called syl- lables); (2) minimum permitted sequences (the smallest sequences of phonemes still capable of being uttered alone in the pattern of the language may be called syllables; thus, since in English, utterances between pauses must normally contain at least one vowel, Eng- lish syllables must contain a vowel) ; (3) juncture phonemes which in many languages determine syllable boundary. These and other criteria may have to be used in combination; where they conflict, there will be ambi- guity. Any purely phonetic definition of the syllable, however consistent in itself, is bound to conflict some- where with the obvious usefulness of a phonemic defini- tion for a given language, such as in the cases cited above. The whole matter needs a thorough discussion.

8 Thus, the often cited contrast of a name vs. an aiim is one of juncture and syllabification as far as the English phonemic system is concerned, while in purely physical terms it is a matter of different stress contours, differences in length of certain segments, different types of onset and release, etc.

A Pilgrimage to Angkor. By LARRY BRiGGS. Pp. 95, 10 pls., 5 maps and plans, 20 figs. in the text. Oakland, California: THE HOLMES Booi COMPANY, 1943.

As the author, one-time American Consul in Saigon, tells in his preface, this little booklet is an expanded lecture and intended to serve as an intro- duction and adjunct to the history of ancient Cambodia. He visited Angkor in 1915, and later made a thorough study of the French literature on the subject. After giving a brief account of his trip to Angkor he describes and discusses the vari- ous monuments and their history and the achieve-

ments of the Acole Frangaise d'Extr~eme-Orient. His knowledge is sound and up to date, his judg- nient well balanced and his way of writing clear and stimulating. The booklet may be recommended to students and to future tourists who may prefer facts to the phantasies so often dished out by less well informed visitors to Angkor,-as a short and popularly written introduction to the archaeology of Cambodia.

From this recommendation I feel, however, obliged to exclude the two sections headed'Anthro- pology and Prehistory' and 'Comparative Philology.' There, the author obviously treads on unfamiliar ground. Unaware of the results of more recent

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156 Reviews of Books

researches, he relies solely on antiquated sources. It was unnecessary and unfortunate to revive Father Schmidt's and Roland B. Dixon's hypotheses about the racial affinities of the Mon-Khmer peoples, both based on completely insufficient data and long since obsolete, as Father Schmidt himself would certainly be the first to admit. The author's con- ceptions of human races seem to be rather confused. Otherwise he would hardly have quoted the dis- covery of so-called 'Indonesian ' skulls in early neolithic deposits of Indo-China, as a proof for the correctness of Dixon's view, according to which the Mon-Khmer were negroid. If the neolithic 'Indonesians ' of Indo-China were really the original Mon-Khmer, which is quite uncertain and doubtful, this would, of course, prove the exact contrary.

In view of recent criticism, the author would have done better to be more cautious in accepting Father Schmidt's ' Austro-Asiatic' family of languages as an established fact. In no case, however, is there the slightest reason to assume, as the author does, that the Mon-Khmer came from northern India and that this migration took place 'not earlier than 1000 B. c. and perhaps later, certainly after the Aryan had reached North Central India.' If any- thing is certain in the prehistory of southern Asia

it is the fact that whatever (probably rather slight) Mon-Khmer elements exist in the Munda languages of India were introduced by a migration of peoples of Mongolid race from Burma or Assam in late neolithic times.

Lastly, two minor corrections of a personal character. Although Father Schmidt trained many missionaries, he has never been a missionary him- self and has never lived among the peoples of South- east Asia, as Mr. Briggs seems to think, nor have I ever been Father Schmidt's pupil, as he calls me.

It is only fair to the author to state that the two sections criticized above form a very small part of his book, not even one tenth. They are really quite unessential to the main subject and should have better been omitted.

As the author mentions, he intends to publish a well documented history of ancient Cambodia. We may hope that he will carry out his intention. To judge from the small preliminary work reviewed here, he should be well prepared and able to accom- plish the task. The planned book would certainly fill an often deplored gap in the literature on Southeast Asia.

ROBERT vON HIINE-GELDERN.

EAST INDIB INsTITTmu OF AMERICA.

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