Der genetische Aufbau des Russischen: Statt einer historischen Grammatik by Baldur PanzerReview by: H. LeemingThe Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 59, No. 2 (Apr., 1981), pp. 315-316Published by: the Modern Humanities Research Association and University College London, School ofSlavonic and East European StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4208308 .

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REVIEWS 315

Cmalice', as distinct from and in addition to 'intent', is one of the consti- tuent elements (sostav) of several crimes in Soviet law (for instance mali- cious hooliganism in Art. 206 of the R.S.F.S.R. Criminal Code).

Chapter vii is dedicated to the attitude of the Soviet press towards Art. 7 and to a number of cases in which it was involved. The last chapter in this part examines in every detail the legal and political issues of the civil law suit brought in 1978 by Gostelradio against two American journalists, C. R. Whitney and H. D. Piper, for publishing in The New rork Times and The Sun allegedly false statements defamatory to the honour and dignity of the plaintiff's staff. This most unusual case in Soviet practice and relatively minor incident in East-West relations was at the time of the trial abundantly exploited by Soviet media and provoked many com- ments in the Western press. It certainly deserves attention in such a book, but one may wonder whether it merits a full chapter of thirty pages.

In Part Two - Privacy - Dr Levitsky presents and discusses in extenso the civil law protection of the remaining two personal non-property rights: the right to one's own image (works of pictorial arts, photography, etc.) and the right to protection of one's private writings (letters, diaries, notebooks, etc.).

The book is, obviously, the result of many years of most conscientious research and it shows the author's outstanding erudition. In addition to useful comparisons with the relevant legal provisions and theoretical approaches to the matters under discussion in other legal systems, especially in English, American, French and German law, there are many excursions into history and literature with numerous quotations in foreign languages. To write a book of five hundred pages with I,319 footnotes on two or three articles of a statute is by itself a remarkable achievement, but such a size also indicates that the distinguished author attaches exaggerated importance to a question of little significance in Soviet conditions.

All engaged in Soviet and East European studies or in the legal protec- tion of honour and dignity in general will find in Dr Levitsky's work a lot of most useful information and appropriate legal analyses, although some other interpretations could be challenged. For those interested in juristic casuistry several long sections will be stimulating reading. London Ivo LAPENNA

SHORTER NOTICES

Panzer, Baldur. Der genetische Aufbau des Russischen: Statt einer historischen Grammatik. Sprachwissenschaftliche Studienbuicher, Abteilung L. Carl Winter Universitatsverlag, Heidelberg, 1978. Viii + I84 pp. Bibliography. Word Index. DM 35; paperback DM 20.

THIS is a straightforward and lucid account of the facts of Russian historical phonology and morphology, presented against the general Indo-European background, with copious examples of parallel forms from Latin, Greek,

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3I6 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW

Sanskrit, the Baltic languages, Gothic and other Germanic languages, including modern German. It begins with a short apologia for historical grammar, headed by this epigraph: 'Only emotional involvement or doctrinary narrow-mindedness can induce a linguist to deny the des- criptive function and the explanatory power of historical grammar' (R. Kati6ic). This is enough to reassure us that Baldur Panzer himself accepts the validity and methods of historical grammar in spite of the implications of his title. He himself believes that the disfavour in which this discipline has been held for the past few decades is a passing phase, a swing in the pendulum of academic taste.

From the technical and pedagogical point of view there is much to commend in this handbook. The typescript is unfailingly neat and easy on the eye. Intelligent and resourceful use is made of the limited devices available, such as underlining of the phoneme, syllable or word under discussion. The tables and paradigms are easy to scan. Various diagrams present Indo-European relationships in a graphic and assimilable form. The facts are generously illustrated with copious examples from the modern Russian language. Indo-European and Common Slavonic recon- structions are given whenever these help to explain the historical pro- cesses. The exposition is admirably clear and avoids controversy. If the rest of Carl Winter's new series of aids to students upholds the standard set by this prototype it will be a notable contribution to scholarship. London H. LEEMING

Stricker, Gerd. Stilistische und verbalsyntaktische Untersuchungen zum mosko- vitischen Prunkstil des i6. Jahrhunderts. Slavistische Beitrage, Band I27. Otto Sagner, Munich, 1979. xiii + 678 + (6) pp. Bibliography. Notes. Tables.

GERD STRICKER'S book is a most thorough examination of the sixteenth- century account of the siege of Pskov by Stephan Bathory in I58I-82; its style is analysed and compared with that of the tale of the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in I453. Topics discussed in an introductory chapter include Metropolitan Makary and the ideological concepts of Ivan Grozny; official literature and the Muscovite monumental style; motivation and objectives of the work; method of investigation. The next three sections are devoted to an account of the two sources examined, their history, conception and composition; remarks on phonetic, morpho- logical and lexical features of the texts; comments on the use of stylistic devices, including repetition, antithesis, metaphor and simile. The main part of the work follows: a 433-page review of the use of verbal forms, with sub-sections devoted to the present, future and conditional (pp. 27I-99); imperfect, with a statement of the occurrence of certain forms (-ale in singular, -ase and -axu in plural) and a consideration of the function of this tense (pp. 335-78); forms and function of the aorist, its replacement by the past participle (pp. 379-470); perfect and pluper- fect tenses (pp. 47I-514; 515-29) with a summary of finite forms met

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