REVIEWS. 281 



or at best very superficial!}" known language of a people of northern 

 Luzon, who upon the downfall of Spanish sovereignty were taken charge 

 of by the American Government as crude head-hunters, and are now 

 being prepared for entrance into the comity of their civilized brother- 

 tribes. The compilation of an exliaustive gTammar, ample vocabulary, 

 and representative collection of texts of their language is certainly a 

 means to bring them nearer our understanding, and to promote the task 

 just indicated. To comparative Indonesian philology the complete re- 

 presentation of a member of the so-called Igorot dialects has always been 

 a desideratum; thanks to Doctor Seidenadel this is now fulfilled and his 

 work is already being drawn upon in furtherance of such studies. 



In the interest of the linguistic exploration of the Philippine Islands 

 it is to be hoped that Doctor Seidenadel will continue dedicating his 

 eminent talent to a task already so greatly furthered by him. 



Otto Scheerer. 



Allin's standard English-Visayan Dictionary. By Beujamin Casey AUin, gov- 

 ernment surveyor working in the Province of Cebu, Philippine Islands. 

 Cloth. Pp. 260. Falek's Printing House, Cebu, Cebu, P. I. 



This is a handy little volume designed for the use of Filipinos who 

 are learning English and of English speaking persons who are learning 

 Bisaya. 



As there is no Bisaya-English section it could not be used by a person 

 who had no knowledge of English. 



It contains over 5,000 English words listed alphabetically in the first 

 cohmm. The second column contains the same words spelled phone- 

 tically, the third abbreviations indicating whether the word is a substan- 

 tive, verb, preposition, etc., and the fourth the definitions in Bisaya. 



It is not quite clear why the compiler states that the letter "V" is 

 "used only in introduced Spanish words" and yet spells the name of the 

 language "Visayan" instead of Bisaya. There is also a good deal of 

 difference of opinion as to the wisdom of representing by "aw" the final 

 sound ordinarily represented by "ao." This sound in other countries 

 where the languages are being written phonetically is represented by "au." 

 To many this seems more nearly to represent the sound and it certainly 

 would have the advantage, if adopted, of bringing Philippine philologists 

 into conformity with other students of the languages of the east. 



There are many typographical errors in the book but probably none 

 of them so important as to interfere seriously with its usefulness. 



One who has some knowledge of Bisaya or a considerable knowledge of 

 English ought to find the Dictionary useful. 



M. L. M. 



