This book analyses the pragmatics, semantics and syntax of demonstratives in the Sabellian languages of ancient Italy (Oscan, Umbrian, South Picene and ‘Pre-Samnite’), and it is the most ambitious and thorough work on this subject to date. Dupraz discusses all 338 examples of demonstratives attested in the epigraphic evidence, grouping the examples by stem. The book argues for a system of four main demonstrative stems (*esto-/*esmo-, *eko-/*ekso-, *ollo- and *i-/*eyo-/*eyso-) across all of the Sabellian languages; it suggests that this system is broadly comparable to that of Latin, because of both inheritance from Common Italic and the stylistic koine that existed across the languages of Italy in official and legal writing.

As D. explains in his introduction, the available evidence is patchy and limited to certain text types, but is sufficient for a synchronic analysis if supported by theoretical models derived from modern linguistics (outlined in ch. 1). The main sources of evidence used are the Iguvine Tables, South Picene funerary epigraphy and the longer Oscan texts: official texts, curse tablets, the Cippus Abellanus treaty and the Lex Osca Tabula Bantina. Some evidence is also included from ‘Pre-Samnite’; Venetic and Sicel are not included, because they provide little relevant evidence. The lack of casual texts that might more closely reflect spoken style is acknowledged, and D. keeps stylistic and pragmatic considerations in mind throughout his analysis.

In chs 2 and 3, D. discusses two controversial demonstrative stems. D. argues (a) the traditional view that *esto-/*esmo- and *eko-/*ekso- are suppletive paradigms of two separate proximal demonstratives, both employed for exophoric, text deictic and discourse deictic uses; (b) that both of these demonstrative paradigms were present in all the Sabellian languages, but that the lack of documentation of more complex sentences in South Picene and Oscan means that only Umbrian has both attested; and (c) that there was some kind of pragmatic and syntactic distinction between the two demonstratives. These chapters therefore constitute a response to Penney's 2002 article (‘Notes on some Sabellian demonstratives’, Oxford University Working Papers in Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics 7, 131–42), which argued that the Umbrian, South Picene and Pre-Samnite forms deriving from *esto-, *esmo and *ekso- all belong to one demonstrative paradigm, and that Oscan *eko-/*ekso- represents a non-cognate form. The pragmatic distinctions suggested between the two demonstratives and the proposed stylistic reasons for the lack of *esto-/*esmo- in Oscan (cf. the near total lack of iste in Latin Republican inscriptions) are generally convincing. However, this is a situation in which a lack of evidence prevents any definitive conclusion.

Ch. 5 deals with the stem *i-/*eyo-/*eyso-, of which there are many examples in both Umbrian and Oscan. Ch. 6 covers some of the more obscure and grammaticalized forms, including Umbrian and Oscan essuf/esuf (equivalent to Latin ipse). It is only in chs 7 and 8 that D. turns to the relationship between Sabellian and Latin, with a synchronic comparison and a diachronic reconstruction of the Italic demonstratives, respectively. This is commendable — while it is clearly important to compare Sabellian and Latin/Faliscan, in the past too many works have relied too heavily on Latin comparanda in explaining the Sabellian data. D., on the other hand, is in a position to point out the overall similarity between the Sabellian and Latin demonstrative systems, but also the distinction between them, based on the detailed analysis of the earlier part of the book. So, while he argues in ch. 7 that Latin hic, iste, ille and is broadly correspond to Sabellian *eko-/*ekso-, *esto-/*esmo-, *ollo- and *i-/*eyo-/*eyso- respectively, there are also clear differences in usage. However, this chapter is very short and deals with only a few examples of Latin prescriptions, poetic epigraphs, curses and prayers — there is more to say here, as D. himself admits. The diachronic reconstruction in ch. 8 then cautiously lays out the possible forms and usage of the demonstratives of Common Sabellian, Common Latin-Faliscan and Common Italic.

There are very few complaints to be made about how this book is laid out and produced. All quotations from ancient languages are translated clearly, not always an easy task with the more fragmentary inscriptions — though the use of ‘thou/thee’ for the second-person singular is a little unusual, and not used consistently (see the use of singular ‘you’ on pp. 71, 75). In a book which defines its terminology so carefully, it seems strange that D. does not deal with the problematic position of ‘Pre-Samnite’ (which may represent several different languages rather than one) until a footnote on p. 60, after having discussed several Pre-Samnite inscriptions at length. The book includes an index locorum and an index verborum, which will be particularly helpful for those interested in specific texts or languages, since comments on any one inscription are understandably scattered across a number of different chapters. Overall, this book is likely to be a lasting point of reference for anyone studying the Sabellian languages, not just for its detailed analysis of the demonstratives, but for its contribution to the scholarship on the stylistics and pragmatics of a range of Sabellian inscriptions.