International African Institute

Geschichte der Erforschung der nilotischen Sprachen by Oswin KöhlerReview by: A. N. TuckerAfrica: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 27, No. 1 (Jan., 1957), p. 95Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International African InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1156376 .

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It is a pity that the author has limited her study to certain aspects only of the economic life (there is, for example, no analysis of exchange), and has omitted a discussion of the re- lation of the economy to kinship and political organization. However another volume on the social life of the Ndiki is promised and it is to be hoped that the relevance of much of the material on economic activities for an understanding of social organization will be recognized and incorporated. In the meantime, we have a work that, in its wealth of detail and careful documentation, is an important contribution to our knowledge of the material culture of one African group, and of the nature and the extent of the changes which have occurred during the last twenty years.

PHYLLIS KABERRY

Geschichte der Erforschung der nilotischen Sprachen. Von OSWIN K6HLER. Afrika und Obersee, Beiheft 28. Berlin: D. Reimer, 1955. S. 84, Kart. DM. I4.50. IN this work, which is a complete supplement to Afrika und (bersee, appropriately dedicated

to the late Professor Westermann on his eightieth birthday, Dr. Kbhler starts from the year I 8 12, when the first 'Probe' in the ' Schiilluk-Sprache' saw the light in Mithridates, and con- ducts us through the history of' Nilotic ' (including' Nilo-Hamitic ') research up to the year I954, with references to works then still in the press. But this work is more than a list of publications arranged in chronological order; the story is a fascinating one, behind which one can obtain glimpses of missionary endeavour and governmental policy from time to time-with even faint echoes of two world wars.

Since these languages occupy a key position in Africa, they have been the centre of much speculation as to origins and classification, the history of this alone being a complete study in itself. As the story unfolds, we are kept in touch with the chronology by means of dates in the margin, and it is significant that the dates follow more closely on each other from I86o onwards. These dates, and the consecutive series of footnotes, are the ciphers by means of which the difficult task of indexing, whether languages, subjects, or authors, is achieved.

Afrika und Ubersee may be congratulated on putting out a treatise of this nature. The amount of research undertaken by Dr. K6hler cannot be overestimated, especially in view of the widely scattered, fragmentary, and often virtually inaccessible references he had to con- sult, or at least know about, extending into odd corners of three continents. Considering the magnitude of the task he set himself, working mostly from Berlin and Hamburg, the omis- sions are negligible; one cannot but be sorry, however, that the author, in his journey from Germany to South Africa, where he is now working, was prevented, by some official hitch, from calling in at the International African Institute in London, as some of the very few items missing from his account were then being dealt with by the authors of Part III of the Handbook of African Languages-especially in the matter of unpublished manuscripts. Furthermore, although he gives due weight to the Rejaf Conference of I928 and the role played by Professor Westermann and the International African Institute, he might also have stressed the continued interest in orthographic unification shown by the Governments of Uganda, Kenya and especially the Sudan (the latter actually employing the present re- viewer as ' Linguistic Expert ' over a period of years in order to supervise the application of the Rejaf findings).

One hopes that Dr. K6hler will one day publish an English version of this impressive work-perhaps expanded to include the research done on the other non-Bantu languages in this very important area.

A. N. TUCKER

It is a pity that the author has limited her study to certain aspects only of the economic life (there is, for example, no analysis of exchange), and has omitted a discussion of the re- lation of the economy to kinship and political organization. However another volume on the social life of the Ndiki is promised and it is to be hoped that the relevance of much of the material on economic activities for an understanding of social organization will be recognized and incorporated. In the meantime, we have a work that, in its wealth of detail and careful documentation, is an important contribution to our knowledge of the material culture of one African group, and of the nature and the extent of the changes which have occurred during the last twenty years.

PHYLLIS KABERRY

Geschichte der Erforschung der nilotischen Sprachen. Von OSWIN K6HLER. Afrika und Obersee, Beiheft 28. Berlin: D. Reimer, 1955. S. 84, Kart. DM. I4.50. IN this work, which is a complete supplement to Afrika und (bersee, appropriately dedicated

to the late Professor Westermann on his eightieth birthday, Dr. Kbhler starts from the year I 8 12, when the first 'Probe' in the ' Schiilluk-Sprache' saw the light in Mithridates, and con- ducts us through the history of' Nilotic ' (including' Nilo-Hamitic ') research up to the year I954, with references to works then still in the press. But this work is more than a list of publications arranged in chronological order; the story is a fascinating one, behind which one can obtain glimpses of missionary endeavour and governmental policy from time to time-with even faint echoes of two world wars.

Since these languages occupy a key position in Africa, they have been the centre of much speculation as to origins and classification, the history of this alone being a complete study in itself. As the story unfolds, we are kept in touch with the chronology by means of dates in the margin, and it is significant that the dates follow more closely on each other from I86o onwards. These dates, and the consecutive series of footnotes, are the ciphers by means of which the difficult task of indexing, whether languages, subjects, or authors, is achieved.

Afrika und Ubersee may be congratulated on putting out a treatise of this nature. The amount of research undertaken by Dr. K6hler cannot be overestimated, especially in view of the widely scattered, fragmentary, and often virtually inaccessible references he had to con- sult, or at least know about, extending into odd corners of three continents. Considering the magnitude of the task he set himself, working mostly from Berlin and Hamburg, the omis- sions are negligible; one cannot but be sorry, however, that the author, in his journey from Germany to South Africa, where he is now working, was prevented, by some official hitch, from calling in at the International African Institute in London, as some of the very few items missing from his account were then being dealt with by the authors of Part III of the Handbook of African Languages-especially in the matter of unpublished manuscripts. Furthermore, although he gives due weight to the Rejaf Conference of I928 and the role played by Professor Westermann and the International African Institute, he might also have stressed the continued interest in orthographic unification shown by the Governments of Uganda, Kenya and especially the Sudan (the latter actually employing the present re- viewer as ' Linguistic Expert ' over a period of years in order to supervise the application of the Rejaf findings).

One hopes that Dr. K6hler will one day publish an English version of this impressive work-perhaps expanded to include the research done on the other non-Bantu languages in this very important area.

A. N. TUCKER

REVIEWS REVIEWS 95 95

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