Shirley Silver & Wick R. Miller, American Indian languages: Cultural and social contexts. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 1997. Pp. xxi, 433. Hb $60.00.

Abstract

The authors of this book were senior figures in the cohort of students who pursued American Indian linguistics under the direction of the late Mary Haas at Berkeley starting in the 1950s and 60s. In 1994, while the present work was being prepared for publication, Miller – the unquestioned dean of Uto-Aztecan linguistic studies – died tragically as a result of a bicycle accident in Mexico. The volume was seen through the press by Silver, an area specialist in Native Californian languages. As it now stands, the book is a fitting reminder of the richness of the “Berkeley tradition” in which the authors were trained; it is also an appropriate memorial to Miller's life and achievements.