Book Reviews 99

conversing. Hall states, “when we talk to each other our central nervous
systems mesh like two gears in a transmission” (p. 166). People in different
cultures not only have different rhythms of movement, speech, and thought,
they may also have different central nervous systems which may be “out of
sync” with each other when they interact.
This book is filled with interesting anecdotes and case histories. Hall
skillfully uses these illustrations to describe, clarify, and crystallize many of
his complex concepts and ideas. He presents extensive research data to
provide empirical support to the assertions he makes in this book. For those
who are Edward Hall aficionados, this book is a must. The Dance of Life is
part of the logical progression of his thinking over the years, and adds an
important dimension to our understanding of cultural imprints on human
behavior. Reading this brilliant and challenging treatise is certainly well
worth the time.

Gary R. Weaver
American Universit y
Washington, DC

LANGUAGE OF THE UNDERWORLD

Dax*id W. Maurer (Collected and edited by Allan W. Futrell and
Charles B. Wordell)

Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky, 1981, 417 pp.,

$30.00 (hardcover)

Students of intercultural communication have historically gathered much

of their content from other disciplines. This collection of 20 articles by
linguist David W. Maurer is yet another example of the advantages of such
academic borrowing. However, to fully appreciate the link between Maurer’s
work and intercultural communication one must be aware of the impact and
influence of Maurer on both linguistics and anthropology. This influence,
and the reasons for it, make this collection an important volume for anyone
concerned with how members of different cultures share ideas and feelings.
For those not familiar with Maurer’s research, it should be noted that
over 50 years ago he championed the notion that language and culture are
inseparable. While this idea may not be new in 1983, it was seldom studied
in 1930—the year Maurer published his first four articles on the argot of
subcultural groups. At that time descriptive lexicography (defining words in
terms of behavior) was only a theory. The techniques of descriptive
linguistics had been developed by such anthropologists as Sapir and
100 Book Review's

Bloomfield, but until Maurer’s studies these theories had seldom been put
into practice. What Maurer did in those early years, and continued to do for
half a century, was to go out “into the field” and see how various subcultures
used language. Maurer’s overriding assumption was that by defining words
(argot) from the point of view of the subculture that used them, he could gain
insight into that subculture’s attitudes, beliefs, values, and behaviors. He
maintained that the words these groups selected, and the reason behind that
selection, told us about that group’s environment and what they thought of
that environment. His premise was simply and clearly stated by Kantrowitz:
“If a phenomenon is important, it is perceived, and being perceived, it is
labeled.” This volume looks at thousands of those labels (words and phrases)
from 20 different subcultures.
The articles and glossaries in this collection are drawn from more than
200 books, monographs, essays, and professional papers written by Maurer
over a 50-year period. The following samples of chapter titles will identify
the range of subcultures treated in this volume: “Circus and Carnival Argot,”
“The Argot of the Underworld Narcotic Addict,” “Prostitutes and Criminal
Argot,” “Marijuana Users and Their Lingo,” “The A rgot of Pickpockets,”
“The Argot of the M oonshiner,” and “The Argot of the Racetrack.”
The arrangement of the articles is chronological according to the date the
piece was first published. Most of the selections have two introductions. The
first is written by Maurer especially for this volume, and places the argot
into its proper historical context by describing the circumstances surrounding
the writing of the article. The second introduction is extremely interesting in
that it is one that appeared when the article was originally published, thus
enabling the reader to share in Maurer’s original perspective as well as in the
evolution of that perspective. What fun it is to reminisce along with a
famo us researcher as he evaluates his long career: “Nearly 50 years later I
hardly know what motivated my publishing this article. 1 suspect I smelled
something rather yeasty in the linguistic ferment which was bubbling
beneath the tight lid of literary purism.”
People concerned with intercultural communication will like the fact that
Maurer includes behavioral, cultural, and psychological details with each
article. These details help the reader understand the meaning and ambience
of each of the vocabularies. The actual vocabularies (there are thousands of
them) add to our knowledge of each of the subcultures. For example, we can
see part of the life style and the role of illegal activity within the circus and
carnival subculture with argot such as “grifter, short-change artists, pick-
pockets, and con-men who preyed upon the local citizenry and paid the
management a percentage of the take; mender or patch, people who resolved
conflicts between the circus and the local law; monkey, a rube (native) who
has been taken in or fleeced; squa w k, a ‘monkey’ who registers a complaint
over losses;Jam-man, a pitchman who has no professional ethics—he would
box up axle-grease and sell it for salve, or sell colored and perfumed water
 Book Re.view s 101

for hair tonic; lugger, someone who is paid to bring in customers to certain
shows; dip, a pickpocket; cleaner, the man who takes paid players aside and
recovers the money or prizes they have won to make an impression on the
crowd; and slum, cheap goods to be given as prizes.” Each of these and the
many other examples help us understand the group using them.
The book includes a forward by Stuart Berg Flexner that explains
Maurer’s contribution to language studies. There is also a long introduction
written by the editors. This section is useful in that it attempts to explain
Maurer’s research methodology. For example, Maurer’s interview tech-
niques, methods of validation and authenticity, recording devices, cross-
checking procedures, and the like are discussed.
The volume concludes with an epilogue by Maurer (“Social Dialects as a
Key in Cultural Dynamics”), and a general and key word index.
Admittedly Maurer’s research procedures seem unsophisticated by
today’s standards (we are never told specifically how many subjects he
interviewed or the length of the interviews), and many of the groups he
studied seem obscure (“North Atlantic Fishermen,” “Moonshiners”), yet the
articles and glossaries help us appreciate Emerson’s observation that
“Language is the archives of history.” The words and definitions in this
collection tell us of the history, both past and present, of groups other than
our own. It is this information that is often the key to effective
communication. To that end, I recommend this book to anyone who is
interested in intercultural communi- cation—to anyone who accepts the
notion that language and behavior are so intertwined that it is often difficult
to say which is the voice. and which the echo.

Larr v A. Samovar
San Diego State Universit y
San Diego, California

HANDBOOK OF INTERCULTURAL TRAINING.

VOLUMES I, II, III
Dan Landis and Richard W. Brislin (Editors)

New York: Pergamon Press 1983, 951 pp., $100.00 (hardcover)

Brislin, Landis and Brandt introduce the Handbook of Intercultural

Training with a lighthearted analysis of the history of intercultural relations.
They choose as their starting point the march of imperial armies, followed
by both religious and mercantile interests (Mars, God, and Mammon as the
intercultural trinity, so-to-speak).