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Baker, following Freud, is interested in the fundamental position of linguistic symbolism in relation to dream symbolism. Believing primitive forms
of language the most convincing, he offers an impressive classified word list based essentially on the Polynesian group of dialects. In some instances a single word has a sexual or excremental meaning simultaneous with a relatively remote meaning which finds frequent concrete representation in dreams as a symbol for the first meaning. In many instances the words or parts of apparent compound words are linked by close resemblance rather than identity; in these instances, one assumes that Baker finds that these words have a close etymological relationship. For example, the word 'puta' (Maori) means vagina, also hole or cave; the word 'ure' (Maori) means penis while the word 'uri' (Maori) means child (penis=child). The groups represented are the phallic symbol-complex, vaginal symbol-complex, coital symbol-complex, anal symbol-complex, symbols related to penis products, castration symbol-complex, symbols relating to masturbation, and isolated symbols. Polynesian dialects. with scattered examples from other sources, are found to contain linguistic associations which directly parallel dream symbolism. Some evidence for a similar process is found in the regressive forms of pidgin English. Baker reiterates his earlier opinion that word taboos are devoted not to erasing words from the vocabulary but to 'preserving those words in their most highly affective forms'. He points out that 'vulgarisms', instead of being peripheral phenomena, stand at the core of language in general. It may be assumed that the author refers to long-standing taboo words rather than to ephemeral, sometimes evasive expressions. The primary position of pleasure-giving bodily experiences in learning and language is stressed. Sperber's ideas concerning sexual factors in language are favorably mentioned. Baker's views regarding the central posit