Journal of Pragsnatic~12 (1988) xiii-xiv xiii ]qorO~-llo|Lznd EDITORIAL STATEMENTS One of our readers has drawn our attention to the "uncanny resemblances", as she calls it, that exist between the article by Sami Alrabaa, 'The use of address pronouns by Egyptian adults: A sociolinguisti¢ study', which appeared in this Journal (9: 645-657) and an earlier work by ~liT~-~bethBates and Laura Benigni in Language in Society (4: 271-288), entitled 'Rules of address in Italy: A sociological survey'. Upon inspection, this 'uncanny resemblance' turned out to be of a kind that would have preempted any thought of publication, had we been alert enough in our editorial functions. Indeed, it is not clear at this point whether any Egyptian data were collected at all for the article that we ended up printing. As Editors, it is our duty to apologize, not only to the authors of the original article, |:l;7abeth Bates and Laura Benigni, but also to the readership- at-large of our Journal for having published a piece of work that is not up to the standards of scientific publishing, to say the least. We have, of course, contacted Mr. Alrabaa, and asked him for an explana- tion. His letter (dated August 23, 1987) states verbatim that "While writing my articte 'The use of address pronouns by Egyptian adults...' I must have confused my own notes with those from different sources, i.e. references, I regret very much this misfortunate situation and apologize for having caused you inconvenience." To which we only want to add that it seems rather odd, in view of the above, that the only "different source" which might have played a part in this alleged "confns[ion of] notes" is precisely a work that does not figure Jn Mr. Alrabaa's list of quoted references, viz., the above cited article by Drs. Bates and Bcnigni. As matters stand now, we do not wish to prolong this unpleasantness (and neither do the original authors). Sapienti sat - and whoever might be inter- ested in having all the details, can write to us, and we will be happy to oblige her or him. 037~-2166/81]/$3.50 • 1988, Eascvier Science Publishers B,V. ('Noz't.h-Holland)

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Journal of Pragsnatic~ 12 (1988) xiii-xiv xiii ]qorO~-llo|Lznd

EDITORIAL STATEMENTS

One of our readers has drawn our attention to the "uncanny resemblances", as she calls it, that exist between the article by Sami Alrabaa, 'The use of address pronouns by Egyptian adults: A sociolinguisti¢ study', which appeared in this Journal (9: 645-657) and an earlier work by ~liT~-~beth Bates and Laura Benigni in Language in Society (4: 271-288), entitled 'Rules of address in Italy: A sociological survey'.

Upon inspection, this 'uncanny resemblance' turned out to be of a kind that would have preempted any thought of publication, had we been alert enough in our editorial functions. Indeed, it is not clear at this point whether any Egyptian data were collected at all for the article that we ended up printing.

As Editors, it is our duty to apologize, not only to the authors of the original article, |:l;7abeth Bates and Laura Benigni, but also to the readership- at-large of our Journal for having published a piece of work that is not up to the standards of scientific publishing, to say the least.

We have, of course, contacted Mr. Alrabaa, and asked him for an explana- tion. His letter (dated August 23, 1987) states verbatim that

"While writing my articte 'The use of address pronouns by Egyptian adults... ' I must have confused my own notes with those from different sources, i.e. references, I regret very much this misfortunate situation and apologize for having caused you inconvenience."

To which we only want to add that it seems rather odd, in view of the above, that the only "different source" which might have played a part in this alleged "confns[ion of] notes" is precisely a work that does not figure Jn Mr. Alrabaa's list of quoted references, viz., the above cited article by Drs. Bates and Bcnigni.

As matters stand now, we do not wish to prolong this unpleasantness (and neither do the original authors). Sapienti sat - and whoever might be inter- ested in having all the details, can write to us, and we will be happy to oblige her or him.

037~-2166/81]/$3.50 • 1988, Eascvier Science Publishers B,V. ('Noz't.h-Holland)

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Book Notices

Thr. Journal of Pragmafies will, beginning with Vol. 12 have a new category of contributions called 'Book Notices'.

S.eh notices are supposed to be short (max. 1 p.) reviews or comments of /on either current books or other publications, particularly in fields that do not belong to 'core pragmatics', or that address themselves to special problems in individual languages from a pragmatic point of view. (For books that are central to the fieId we still prefer, naturally, to have regular, full length Book Reviews or Review Articles.)

Requests for books, suggestions for reviewing, inquiries, as well as com- pleted Book Reviews should be sent to one of our Review Editors, Claudia Caffi or Marlene Dolitsky (addresses on inside cover of any issue of the Journal).

The Editors

March 25, 1988