Linguistics Abstracts Online is a database containing abstracts from over 300 leading linguistics journals. The editors claim to update the database constantly, selecting articles for abstracting from the journals they cover. They do not indicate their selection criteria. The print version of Linguistics Abstracts is updated less frequently than the online version, which is a cumulative database dating back to 1985.
Linguistics Abstracts Online is transparent both in form and function, and the basics of searching are evident from the outset. A quick search option allows users to simply type a term in the search bar. A drop‐down arrow to the left of the bar permits limiting the search to the title of an abstract, an author, or a particular sub‐discipline. Tabs arranged at the top of the opening screen offer several options. Users can browse an alphabetically arranged journal list, browse by either abstract or author, carry out a more detailed search than can be done with quick search, or access a list of abstracts that they can create by opening an account.
The detailed search screen consists of several boxes that are combined by the Boolean “AND”. Boolean searching within the text field is not supported, although phrase searching is; the phrase should be enclosed in quotation marks. In addition to a text search box, there are also boxes for title, author, journal, volume/issue, and date of publication, plus a list of sub‐disciplines from which users can select from a drop‐down menu. Each record has three hyperlinked fields: abstract title (linking to the abstract), journal title, and author(s). Clicking on the title of the journal brings up the record for that journal which includes the ISSN, the year the journal was first published, the journal's Web site, if any, and, in some cases, a short description of the journal. Sometimes, however, the journal's record shows only the title. If there is a reason for this, it is not stated.
The help facility is very brief and general, providing limited information on searching the database, how to view special characters, and which browsers are supported (Internet Explorer version 5 or higher or Netscape version 6 or higher), as well as links for downloading supported browsers.
Linguistics Abstracts Online is a highly useful database for research in linguistics, and it provides wide coverage of the various subfields. It falls short in two principal areas. The first area is the indexing. There is no controlled vocabulary, so the only way to approximate a subject search is to select from the list of sub disciplines. It is not possible to combine sub‐disciplines by selecting more than one from the list. Another problem is that there is no author authority file, so a search on Ken Hale, for example, retrieves seven titles, while a search on Kenneth Hale retrieves one title that is not included among the other seven. The second deficiency is that the database has weak search capabilities. In order to find what is in the database by a particular author such as Ken Hale, it is necessary to treat the name as a phrase and enclose it in quotation marks. Failure to do this results in a Google‐style search, in which the documents containing both terms are retrieved first, but in which the hit list also includes articles by C.L. Hale, Mark Hale, Sandra Hale, Ken Murakami, etc. This requirement is noted only in help. This is somewhat distressing, because while it is common to enclose textual phrases inside quotation marks to force adjacency, it is not usual to have to do this for authors' names.
Perhaps a greater problem is the inability to use Boolean operators within the text field. One can search, for example, for “free word order, but not for free word order AND morphology. The lack of a Boolean search capability, coupled with the fact that subject searching is not supported, can result in users having to wade through a longer list of irrelevant titles than would be necessary if a more focused search were possible.
The scope of Linguistics Abstracts Online invites comparison to Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA). LLBA has considerably broader coverage, providing abstracts from about 2,000 serials dating back to 1973. Moreover, LLBA uses a controlled vocabulary and fully supports Boolean searching. It should be noted, however, that LLBA is considerably more expensive than Linguistics Abstracts Online, so budgetary considerations are certainly an issue. In sum, the limitations noted above notwithstanding, Linguistics Abstracts Online is a useful and economical tool for institutions supporting research in linguistics and its sub‐disciplines.
