Librarians and others who have purchased, or who are planning to purchase,
the _Atlas of the World's Languages_ (Christopher Moseley, General Editor),
just published by Routledge, should know that the section on North American
Indian Languages is rendered virtually useless by numerous errors. The
other sections of this important reference work are apparently not affected
by these problems, including the sections on Mesoamerican and South American
Indian Languages.
SSILA was involved with this project in its earlier stages, but for reasons
that are still unclear the editors had little contact with us during the
preparation of the actual maps and text. Many of the errors seem to have
resulted from misinterpretations of the material that SSILA had submitted
to the section editor, and which could easily have been spotted by a
knowledgeable proofreader. By the time we learned of the nature and
magnitude of the errors, the book had been printed and bound, and Routledge
understandably did not consider it feasible to recall the publication.
We are now having conversations with Routledge regarding a revised and
corrected printing, at least of the North America Indian maps and text.
In the meantime, purchasers of this otherwise very useful reference tool
may wish to have a list of the errors we have so far observed. This may
be obtained from the Society at the address below.
******************************************************************************
* THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF THE INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES OF THE AMERICAS *
* *
* Victor Golla Dept. of Ethnic Studies *
* Secretary-Treasurer Humboldt State University *
* Arcata, CA 95521 USA *
* *
* telephone: (707) 826-4324 or 677-3361 *
* fax: (707) 826-5555 *
* Internet: gollav @ axe.humboldt.edu OR golla @ nic.csu.net *
* Bitnet: golla @ calstate *
******************************************************************************
Forwarded to NAT_LANG by LIsa Mitten