BOOK REVIEWS 761

ly baffled. This sounds too much like "the music of the spheres" and
smacks of Pythagoras rather than Galileo.
In the compass of a brief review it is impossible to describe all the vari-
ous findings, to cover all the stimulating implications, and adequately to
criticize the minor shortcomings of this most provocative book. It is
likewise impossible to do more than mention Zipf's excellent prose style,
his dry humor, and his wide scholarship. This is an ambitious and an
important work. The final validity of the arguments (as the author him-
self admits) awaits both further evidence and the course of history. In
the meantime this book should go on the required reading list of every
serious student of social phenomena.
J. F. BROWN.
University of Kansas.
BRYANT, M. M., & AIKEN, J. R. Psychology of English. New York: Co-
lumbia Univ. Press, 1940. Pp. 229.
The thesis of this book will be warmly approved by most psychologists
interested in the field of verbal behavior. It is that "English language and
grammar are the products of the group thinking of billions of people whose
minds have worked psychologically rather than logically; and the fruit of
this group thinking is a system which reflects behavioristic patterns rather
than formal regularity." The book is said to be "to a considerable extent,
a book against logic"; but a more accurate statement, perhaps, is that it is
designed to show how grammar and syntax are influenced by psychologi-
cal processes which are not usually recognized or encompassed by formal
logical systems. An antilogical approach to linguistic problems is by no
means new (indeed, as the authors point out, it is characteristic of the
modern trend), but it is here sustained with much interesting and per-
tinent material.
The support of the thesis is attempted by classifying instances of
speech which exemplify modern English usage under a number of psycho-
logical chapter headings. The instances are chosen for reasons which sug-
gest that the authors have not completely thrown off traditional linguistic
preoccupation. Many of them exemplify historical changes, many are
merely curious deviates from a (logical?) norm, many present interesting
puzzles in the construction of sentences, and so on. The headings under
which they are grouped are apparently offered as explanatory principles.
For example, a chapter entitled "Arrogance" discusses the fortunes of the
word welsh—how it was first applied by invading Teutons to their Celtic
victims, how it came to mean stranger, foreigner, or servant, and how during
a later period of bad feeling between the Welsh and the English it supplied
a verb meaning "to cheat" or "to avoid an obligation." Similarly, a chap-
ter on "Sloth and Slovenliness" lists solecisms like mitigate for militate,
popular etymologies like penthouse for appentis, and numerous examples
of phonetic short cuts.
A complete list of these principles will indicate the psychological sta-
tus of the book. There are chapter headings containing the following more
or less psychological terms: consistency, inconsistency, tendency to change,
expedition, impatience, anticipation, long-cutting, imagination, striving for
762 BOOK REVIEWS
beauty, humdrum, escape, arrogance, desire to impress, modesty, politeness,
abbreviation, emphatic frankness, confusion, profundity, sloth, slovenliness,
indecisiveness, time. The list gives a fair indication of the sort of analysis
attempted. It is not very satisfying from the point of view of the psychol-
ogist, because it does not go beyond the vocabulary of the layman and
because it makes no attempt to elucidate the actual psychological proc-
esses by virtue of which the principles affect speech. The authors would
perhaps be among the first to assert that much remains to be done at this
point, but a certain lack of clarity in the conclusions might have been
avoided by an explicit statement. Are we to understand that the se-
mantic change in welsh is merely an example of "arrogance," or is there
some causal relationship between the arrogance of the speaker and the
change in the meaning of the word, so that, knowing the one, we might
have predicted the other? If the latter question is answered affirmatively,
what is the mechanism involved?
Since the authors make no attempt to answer questions of this sort, it
is scarcely fair to criticize them on such grounds. They have undertaken
to provide material reflecting the operation of psychological principles,
and their contribution in this direction sufficiently justifies their work.
Even though the actual behavioral mechanisms remain untouched, they
show beyond any reasonable doubt that the English language reflects
many aspects of human behavior which lie outside logical systems.
The book presupposes no special linguistic knowledge. Its few tech-
nical terms will be familiar to the grammar school student, and its psy-
chological terms are almost as elementary. Since little or nothing would
be gained by a more technical vocabulary at this level of analysis, the au-
thors appear to have made a wise choice of terms. The many interesting
and often amusing examples will recommend the book, not only to the
psychologist, but to the layman who is interested in problems of verbal
behavior.
B. F. SKINNER.
University of Minnesota.
PATERSON, D. G., & TINKER, M. A. How to make type readable: a man-
ual for typographers, printers and advertisers (based on twelve years
of research involving speed of reading tests given to 33,031 persons).
New York: Harper, 1940. Pp. xix+209.
To those who have read the numerous articles by the authors in the
Journal of Applied Psychology during the past twelve years the greater
part of the book will be familiar. However, there is some new material,
and it is convenient to have the studies gathered into one volume. The
book is not, however, directed primarily to the psychologist, but rather to
the printer. The subtitle indicates that it is a "manual for typographers,
printers and advertisers." The experimental basis centers around the
familiar Chapman-Cook Speed of Reading Test, presented in two forms
differing in typography. Brief paragraphs contain one "wrong" word
which the subject must locate as quickly as possible. Readability in this
sense is defined by the authors as equivalent to legibility. Ten variables
are investigated by this technique.