A Discourse Analysis of Three Ancient Greek Textbooks

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1 1. Introduction Of all the things to apply linguistics to, it seems almost perverse to take a modern look at Ancient Greek. Centuries ago ancient Greek grammarians started studying their own language. Linguistics can barely function without a heavily Anglicized Greek vocabulary, e.g. syntax, lexicon, discourse analysis, phonology. Our field owes a debt to Greek in its basic vocabulary. I would like to repay some of that debt by applying modern discourse analysis to textbooks of Ancient Greek in order to cast light on the modern pedagogy of Ancient Greek. 1.1 Ancient Greek itself Is Ancient Greek even one language? The Greek language has been spoken from prehistory to the current day. Even within any one time frame, the language has many dialects. The span of extant literature from Greek antiquity stretches from Homer (8th Century BCE) at one end to Hellenistic Greek (6th Century CE) on the other end. This time span is approximately equivalent to the entire recorded history of the English language. Both the time span and multiple dialects affect how books present Ancient Greek. To avoid confusion, this study uses the term Ancient Greek as a generic catch all for everything from Homer to Hellenistic Greek. Greek is an IndoEuropean language that has been spoken in areas near Greece since at least the 14th Century BCE. Despite the centuries between then and now, Ancient Greek is more similar to modern Greek than Old English is to modern English (Comrie et al., 1996: 43). Its alphabet was adapted from Phoenician sources and has been

description

This is my thesis for my MA in Lingusitics. I investigated three introductory textbooks for Ancient Greek. I look at how well the books present vocabulary and culture. tl;dr Not all books are equal, so hope your prof picked a good one.Status: I need to add a few revisions and some front matter.Cite as: Sipes, P. (2015). A discourse analysis of three ancient greek textbooks (unpublished masters thesis). Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago.

Transcript of A Discourse Analysis of Three Ancient Greek Textbooks

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    1.Introduction

    Ofallthethingstoapplylinguisticsto,itseemsalmostperversetotakeamodern

    lookatAncientGreek.CenturiesagoancientGreekgrammariansstartedstudyingtheir

    ownlanguage.LinguisticscanbarelyfunctionwithoutaheavilyAnglicizedGreek

    vocabulary,e.g.syntax,lexicon,discourseanalysis,phonology.Ourfieldowesadebtto

    Greekinitsbasicvocabulary.Iwouldliketorepaysomeofthatdebtbyapplyingmodern

    discourseanalysistotextbooksofAncientGreekinordertocastlightonthemodern

    pedagogyofAncientGreek.

    1.1AncientGreekitself

    IsAncientGreekevenonelanguage?TheGreeklanguagehasbeenspokenfrom

    prehistorytothecurrentday.Evenwithinanyonetimeframe,thelanguagehasmany

    dialects.ThespanofextantliteraturefromGreekantiquitystretchesfromHomer(8th

    CenturyBCE)atoneendtoHellenisticGreek(6thCenturyCE)ontheotherend.This

    timespanisapproximatelyequivalenttotheentirerecordedhistoryoftheEnglish

    language.BoththetimespanandmultipledialectsaffecthowbookspresentAncient

    Greek.Toavoidconfusion,thisstudyusesthetermAncientGreekasagenericcatchall

    foreverythingfromHomertoHellenisticGreek.

    GreekisanIndoEuropeanlanguagethathasbeenspokeninareasnearGreece

    sinceatleastthe14thCenturyBCE.Despitethecenturiesbetweenthenandnow,

    AncientGreekismoresimilartomodernGreekthanOldEnglishistomodernEnglish

    (Comrieetal.,1996:43).ItsalphabetwasadaptedfromPhoeniciansourcesandhasbeen

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    inusefromthe8thcenturyBCEtothepresentdayforalldialectsandtimeperiods

    (Comrieetal.,1996:183).Thespeakersofthelanguage,bothancientandmodernhavea

    strongidentityofwhoisGreekandwhoisnot.TheancientGreeksusedtheword

    barbaros()todescribeallnonGreekspeakersasthepeoplewhosay

    barbarbar.

    Despiteacommonliteraryandculturalhistory,AncientGreekwasnotatallone

    singlelanguage.Eachcitystatehadauniquedialectthatfellintooneoffivemain

    dialects:AtticIonic,ArcadoCyprian,Aeolic,DoricandNorthwestern(Thomson,1966:

    32).Fromoutofthesearosevariousliterarydialects,whichareofparticularinterestin

    thisstudysincetheliterarylanguageisthelanguagepreservedforstudyandthusthe

    languagepresentedintextbooks,theKoinedialectarose.Itisworthnotingthatspeakers

    ofonedialectmaywriteinanotherdialect.TheEpicdialectoftheIliadandOdyssey

    (amongothers)isbasedonAeolicandArcadoCyprianbuthasalsoadeepseatedIonic

    elementwithasuperficialadmixureofAttic(Thompson,1966:33).Sonotonlyisita

    languagewithmanydialects,butthesedialectsarealsopreservedinthesurviving

    literatureandeachisworthofhavingspecificgenresdevotedtoit.

    1.2Aclassicallanguageindanger?

    TheconsensusamongclassicistsisthatstudyofAncientGreekisintrouble.

    Thecurrentcrisis[inthestudyofAncientGreek]isinsteadsystemicandnationwide,

    theproductofanumberofinterrelatedfactorssuchasincreasedextracurricularpressure

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    onstudentsandanappallingdeclineinstudyskillsandoverallliteracy(Kitchelletal.,

    1996:401).Theskyisfalling.

    Worseyet,someclassicistsareverypessimisticabouttheabilityofstudentsto

    learnAncientGreekontheirown.ThefirstwordsonStephenTrzaskomaswebpageare,

    What,areyounuts?(2002).WhileProf.Trzaskomadoesgoontoexplainhowitcan

    bedoneandthathefeelsthatthesuccessrateisabout5%,thetoneissetfromthe

    beginning.Itishard.Giveuphope.ThetaskoflearningAncientGreekisbestdoneina

    classroom,whichyouwillnotbeabletofindwithoutsomededication.

    IfthestudyofAncientGreekisindangerofdisappearingintheEnglishspeaking

    world,itisnotthelanguagethatistheproblem.Sourcesofthisdangerofdisappearance

    mightincludetheteachersorthetoolsavailabletoteachersandstudents,butnotthe

    languageitself.Giventhatsomestudentsstudyontheirown,thestudyofsomeofthe

    resourcesavailabletouscouldprovideinsightintotheproblem.

    1.3Whataretherighttoolstohelpthecrisis?

    TextbookswillnotchangethecourseofAncientGreekstudiesmuchonewayor

    theother.Itisultimatelygoingtocomedowntostudentsbeinginterested,professors

    beingavailabletoteachandadministrationswillingtomakeclassesavailable.The

    textbookismerelyatoolwithintheclass,nonethelessitisaveryvisibletoolwithinthe

    studyofAncientGreek.

    Whileagreattextbookisanotmagicbullet,itwillcertainlynotdeterstudents

    fromeitherbeginningorcontinuingstudy.Thecentralquestionthatanytextbookneeds

    toansweristhis:

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    1.4DoesitaccuratelyreflectAncientGreeksocietyandlanguage?

    Ultimately,ausabletextbookneedstoanswerthisquestionwithyes.Ifthebook

    providesafaultyperspectiveonthelanguage,studentswillnotsuccessfullytransitionto

    readingtheoriginalliterature.IfthebookprovidesafaultyperspectiveonAncientGreek

    society,studentsmightnothavetheculturalframetounderstandwhattheyarereading.

    Inbothcases,thebookinmanywaysisthefinalauthorityonthelanguageandculture

    beingtaught,particularlyforclassicallanguages.Whilethereverseisnotnecessarily

    true,attheleastatextbookthataccuratelyreflectsAncientGreeksocietyandlanguage

    willnothinderastudent.

    Thisquestioncanbeanalyzedfromtwoangles.Thefirstisthroughastudyofthe

    vocabularythebookuses.Foronething,itiseasytocountwords.Foranother,itis

    relativelyconcrete.Whileanystudentacquiringasecondlanguagewillbelearning

    wordsinthenewlanguage,thesewordsshouldaccuratelyreflectthelanguage.Students

    shouldlearnthecommonwordsfirst.Theotherangleofanalysisislookingathowthe

    bookusesitsnarrativetobuildapictureofGreeksocietyinantiquity.

    Theotherangleisfromadiscourseanalysisperspective.Thisperspectiveallows

    forustoexaminehowthetextbookexistswithinthecontextofthelargerworldandhow

    itpresentsthecontextofthelanguageandsocietyofancientGreece.Withinthe

    discourseanalysis,Iparticularlywanttolookathowthebookspositionthemselvesin

    regardtothestudentsandhowthebookspositionGreeksocietytothestudents.

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    2.LiteratureReview

    2.1Positioning

    Asmatterofcourse,participantsinaconversationarealwaysbuildingidentities

    foreachotherandthemselves.Thisidentitybuildingiscalledpositioning,whichDavies

    andHarrdescribethisway:

    Positioning,aswewilluseitisthediscursiveprocesswherebyselvesarelocatedinconversationsasobservablyandsubjectivelycoherentparticipantsinjointlyproducedstorylines.Therecanbeinteractivepositioninginwhichwhatonepersonsayspositionsanother.Andtherecanbereflexivepositioninginwhichonepositionsoneself.Howeveritwouldbeamistaketoassumethat,ineithercase,positioningisnecessarilyintentional.Onelivesone'slifeintermsofone'songoinglyproducedself,whoevermightberesponsibleforitsproduction(1990/2014:7).

    Twothingsjumpout.Firstandforemost,wepositionourselvesandothersonanongoing

    basiseitherwithorwithoutintention.Wedoitwhetherwemeantoornot.Theotheritem

    isthatitisinconversation.

    Textbooks,whilenotaconversationwithinthedailyusesenseoftheword,area

    conversationinsofarasabookistheauthorstooltohaveaonewayconversation. 1

    Whilethebooksauthororbyextensionthebookpositionsthereader,thereader

    cannotaffectthepositionoftheauthororbook.Intermsofpositioning,thetextbook

    cannotbepositionedbythestudenteventhoughthetextbookpositionsthestudent

    dynamicwaystartingwithapositionofinexperienceanddevelopingtoapositionof

    greaterexperience.

    1Anotherwayofputtingit:BecauseIviewthebooksIvereadasconversationpartners,andbecauseIviewmanyoftheirauthorsasfriends,Ihaveahabitofinvitingthemintoconversationswithmyphysicallypresentfriends.AllisonGrady,http://ccsummerresearch.blogs.wm.edu/forthebloggers/

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    Sohowdothetextbookauthorsaffectposition?DaviesandHarrmakeitclear

    thatpositioningneednotbeverbal,thoughtheverbalisonecomponent.Infact,the

    wordsthespeakerchoosesinevitablycontainimagesandmetaphorswhichbothassume

    andinvokethewaysofbeingthattheparticipantstakethemselvestobeinvolvedin

    (DaviesandHarr,1990/2014:8).Theseimagesandmetaphorspushthespeakerand

    listenerintorolesinmanyways.IfIamaddressedasdude,thespeakerispositioning

    memuchdifferentlythanaspeakerwhoaddressesmeasMr.Sipesandevenmore

    differentlythanthespeakerwhoaddressesmeasSir.Thefirstspeakerpositionsmeas

    afriendwhosharescertainidentitypointswithme,thesecondamoredistant

    relationshipthoughstillcloseenoughthatthespeakerknowsmynameandthethird,

    perhaps,acompletestranger.Butaddressformsarenottheonlywaypositioning

    happens.IfIwalkintoaprintshop,IpositionmyselfmuchdifferentlyifIsayIwant

    thistobeincolor,thanifIsayThiswillbetwocolor:blackandPantone183224. 2

    Thefirststatementpositionsmeasaninexperiencedprintbuyer.Theotherpositionsme

    asaninsider,beIprinterordesigner.

    Inadditiontotheseroles,thetextcanpositionthereaderasoutsidelookinginby

    howthereaderpercieves[sic]thenarratorand/orauthortobepositioningthem(as

    reader)oritmaybecreatedbythereader'sperceptionofthecharactersthemselves

    (DaviesandHarr,1990/2014:10).

    Whoelsewillthetextbookspositionandhow?DavisandHarrnotethatone

    speakercanpositionothersbyadoptingastorylinewhichincorporatesaparticular

    2RadiantOrchid,Pantones2014coloroftheyear.http://www.pantone.com/pages/index.aspx?pg=21129

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    interpretationofculturalstereotypes(1990/2014:10).Thispointiscritical,asthe

    textbooksareintroducingalanguageandculturethatarenewtothestudent.At

    minimum,thetextbookpositionsitselfasaculturalandlinguisticauthority.

    2.2Ideology

    Sincethebookpresentsitselfasaculturalandlinguisticauthority,weshouldask

    questionsaboutwhatthebookspresent.Onewaytodoaskthosequestionsisthrough

    examiningtheideology,becauseideologyprovidesthebasicframeworkfororganizing

    thesocialcognitionssharedbymembersofsocialgroups,organizationsorinstitutions

    (VanDijk,1995:178).Ofcourse,mentioningsocialcognitionmeansitneedsdefinition,

    whichVanDijkneatlydoesforus.Socialcognitionis,here,definedasthesystemof

    mentalrepresentationsandprocessesofgroupmembers(VanDijk,1995a:18).Put

    anotherway,socialcognitionistheversionofcultureheldinapersonshead.Since

    cultureandsocietycannotspeakandonlyindividualscan,weneedatheoretical

    interfacewherethesocialandthediscursivecanmeetandbeexplicitlyrelatedtoeach

    other.Onecandidateforthisinterfaceissituatedsocialinteractionitself(VanDijk,

    1995b:136).AncientGreekprovidesauniqueproblem:unlikeotherclassicallanguages

    (e.g.LatinorSanskrit),itisbarelyusedasaspokenlanguage,ifatall,andthushasno

    contemporarycultureattachedtoit.ForpracticalpurposesthereisnosocietyofAncient

    Greekspeakers,sowhatsocialinteractionthereexistsbetweenspeakerandlistenerisvia

    writingandisonewayfromwritertoreader.Evensotherestillaresystemsofmental

    representationandprocessoccurring,bothinoriginaltextsandintextbooks,solongas

    weareawarethatitisonewayonly.Weshouldkeepinmindthoughthattheoneway

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    natureofthiscommunicationstillallowsforanexplorationofideology.Ideologies

    defineandexplainthesimilaritiesofthesocialpracticesofsocialmembers,butour

    theoreticalframeworkatthesametimeaccountsforindividualvariation(VanDijk,

    1995a:21).OneoftheappealstoVanDijksapproachisthatheassignsideology

    productionandreceptiontoallmembersofsocietyandhedoesnotlabelideologiesas

    negativeorfalsebecauseideologyismerelyasystemofideas(VanDijk,1995b:139).

    VanDijkoutlinesthreelevelsofideologicalanalysissocialanalysis,cognitive

    analysisanddiscourseanalysis(VanDijk,1995a:20).Thesethreelevelsofanalysiswill

    beexploredinthestudysection.

    2.3AuthorityinSLAtextbooks

    Sincetextbookspresentmaterial,theypositionthemselves(ortheauthorsposition

    thebookifyoudislikeanthropomorphism)asauthoritiesonthetopicofinstruction.

    Howeverthebookisnottheonlyauthorityinvolvedinthesecondlanguageclassroom.

    Theotherauthorityistheteacher.Whenateacherisallowedtochoosethetextbook,the

    teachercanbecastasanequalauthoritytothetextbook(Dendrinos,1992:3233).This

    qualificationaboutteacherauthorityisimportant,sincetherearesituationswhere

    teachersarenotallowedtochoosetheirowntextbook.Whenintheclassroom,thetext

    andteachercanbeseenasasingle,unifiedauthority(Dendrinos,1992:32).Sincethis

    studylooksatthetextbooks,theroleoftheteacher,whileimportant,canbemore

    variablethancanpossiblyaccountedforinthisstudy.

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    Giventhenarrowrangeoftextbooksavailable, onecouldarguethattheteacher3

    ofAncientGreekisliketeachersinareaswheretextbookselectioniseitherverylimited

    ormandated.IshallnotargueonewayortheotherthantonotethatteachersofAncient

    Greekhoweverarefreetochoosethetextbooktheyuseinclass,andcertainlystudents

    whoarelearningontheirownarelikewisefree.

    Inanycase,thetextbookhasinherentauthority.Duetothetextbookspositionin

    theclassroom,itcanbeunderstoodasthelegitimateversionofasocietyssound

    knowledgetheknowledgethateverypupilhasaprimaryresponsibilitytomaster

    (Dendrinos,1992:27).Thisauthoritythroughpositioningisdoublytrueofthesocial

    knowledgeinAncientGreece,asnostudentcanseethatsocietydirectlyasastudentof

    anylivinglanguagemaydo.

    Beyondtheinherentauthorityinthetextbook,Dendrinosalsomakesclearthat

    secondlanguagetextbookscarryauthoritybyvirtueofhavingcontentthatisrelatedto

    othersocialinstitutionsoutsidetheschoolortheclassroom(1992:47)onaccountofthe

    factthatmanysecondlanguagetextbooksdrawtheirmaterialfromthelanguageunder

    study.SinceDendrinosislookingspecificallyatEnglishlanguagetextbooks,sheargues

    thattheyalsoderivetheirauthorityfromtwofacts.One:Englishisaprestigelanguage

    withmanyspeakers.Two:Thebooksaretheproductofaforeignculturethatboththe

    studentsandtheteacherare,insomedegreeoranother,ignorantof(1992:48).These

    factsdonotjustapplytoEnglish.TheyapplytoAncientGreekaswell.AncientGreek

    mightevenbethequeenofprestigelanguagesintheWest,sinceithasoccupieda

    3WhilethereareseveraltextbooksavailableforAncientGreek,thenumberpalesincomparisontoEFLtexts.

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    prestigepositionfromthe1stcenturyBCE. Thematerialsalsofocusonaculturethatis4

    foreignand,nottobelaborthepoint,unavailabletoeitherthestudentsorteachers.

    2.4ExtensivereadingandSLA

    ExtensiveReading(ER)isamethodoflanguagelearningthatemploys

    widerangingreadingsgradedtostudentabilitythatindicatesgenerallanguagegains

    (Horst,2005).StudieshaveshownthatERcanboostvocabulary,butHorstsresearch

    lookstomakebettermeasurementsofvocabularylearning.

    Forherresearch,Horstbuiltalibraryofscannedgradedreaders.Sinceittook

    morethanthreehourstoscansomeofthelongerbooks,shedecidedtosetalowerlimit

    ofscanningtothefirsttwentypagesofeachreader.Intheend,shehadseventytitlesin

    thelibraryofreadersavailabletostudyparticipants.Thirtyreadershadmorethantwenty

    pages,andasaresulthadsomewherebetween18%and100%ofthetextscanned.She

    thengavetwotestsof100wordseachtoESLstudents.Onewasoverwordsinthe

    1,0012,000frequencyrange.Theotherwasonlowfrequencywordstoseewhatthe

    studentslevelofvocabularywasatthebeginningofthestudy.

    Studentswerethenallowedtoreadthelibraryofscannedreadersforsixweeks.

    Sincethestudentsreadingwastracked,Horstknewexactlywhatlowfrequencywords

    eachstudenthadseeninthecourseoftheirER.Additionally,sinceshewasnotdirecting

    studentreadingselections,eachstudentsinterestdirectedthereading.Whiletherewasa

    gooddealofvariation,themeannumberofbooksreadwas10.52booksoversixweeks.

    4IfyoutellnonspecialistsyouknowAncientGreek,theyalwaysseemsuitablyimpressedathowdifficultitis.

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    Attheendofthesixweeks,asecondtestof100wordswasgiventoeachstudent,but

    thistimethewordswerecustomizedtothestudentsreading.Thestudybeganwith21

    studentsandfinishedwith17students.

    Horstfoundthat,despiteearlierconcernsabouttestlength,studentscompleted

    thepreandposttestinlittletime.Moreimportantly,thestudentsshowedimpressive

    gains.

    Pretest Posttest Difference

    M 41.35 47.94 6.59

    SD 5.38 1.89 5.47

    t=5.47p

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    reading,whetherstudentselectedornot.

    OneofHorstscritiquesofresearchwithESLstudentsinspokenlanguage,

    communicativebasedclassroomsisthatstudentsfindveryfewwordsnotfoundonlists

    ofthemostfrequentEnglishwordfamilies(Meara,Lightbown,&Halter,1997).(2005).

    Ofcourse,insecondlanguageacquisitionwedowantstudentstolearnthesewords.

    2.5HighfrequencyGreekwords

    MajorprovidesaplacetolookforthosewordsinAncientGreek.Hetellsusthat

    Greekisatypical,butinausefulway.65orfewerlemmasgeneratehalfof[allextant

    Ancient]Greektexts(2007:94).Alemmaisnormallydefinedasacollectionofallthe

    inflectedforms(i.e.,allthedifferenttypes)ofwhatis,conceptually,asingleword

    (Hanks,2013:26).SothismeansallofthevariousinflectedformsoftheverbFIGHT,

    likefight,fights,fightingandfought,areallonelemma.Hanksraisestheissueofwhether

    thenounlemmaFIGHTandtheverblemmaFIGHTarethesamelemmaornot(2013:

    2628).HankssconsiderationofthisproblemmaybeimportantforEnglishsincewe

    havethenoun/verbpairslikeFIGHT,butinAncientGreekthisproblemisvirtually

    nonexistentsinceverbsandnounsdonothaveoverlappingmorphology.Inmore

    ordinaryterms,lemmasaredictionaryentries,and65orfeweraccountfor50%ofa

    givenAncientGreektext.

    Bycomparison,Englishreaches53%coveragewith100words(Chujoand

    Utiyama,2005:7).Toreachthe80%coveragethresholdGreekrequiresbetween1000

    and1100words,lessthanhalfofthestandard20003000formanylanguages(Major,

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    2007:94). 5

    ThissmallernumberofwordstomasterisgoodnewsforstudentsofAncient

    Greek.Theproblemthatstillfacesthesestudentsisthattheyneedtolearnthewords.It

    takesbetweeneightandtenexposurestoawordforlearnerstoassignmeaningtoaword

    inincidentalwordlearning(Schmitt,2010:2723).Asaresult,extensivereadingmaybe

    onewaytosolvethatproblem.

    2.6LowerfrequencyGreekwords

    KnowingMajors1,100wordlistforcoveragedoesnotaidastudentinreading

    Greekliteratureforpleasureorstudy,whichisthepurportedaimofthetexts.Infact,an

    80%coveragedoesnotallowanyonetogainproperreadingcomprehensioninany

    language(Nation,2006:61).Inordertogettoalevelofreadingatwhichreaderscan

    comprehend,researcherssuggestthatastudentneedstogetto95to98%coverageofa

    text(Chujo&Utiyama,2005:2).

    Beforemovingon,aconcreteexampleisinorder.UsingthePerseusProjects

    GreekVocabularyTool,PlatosRepublic,book1,Ifoundthefollowingvocabularydata.

    SincetheGreekVocabularyToolisautomated,ittreatsambiguousformsinastatistical

    wayratherthaninadefiniteway. Withthatdisclaimer,herearethedata.6

    5BothofMajorslistscanbefoundhere:https://camws.org/cpl/cplonline/files/Majorcplonline.pdf6Theexactmethodologyforthestatisticalbreakdownishere:http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/help/vocab#wft

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    Coverage%

    Tokens Lemmas Note

    50% 4,637 53 ShorterthanMajorsshortlistof65

    80% 7,419 304

    95% 8,810 972 StillnotaslongasMajors80%list

    98% 9,088 1,276

    100% 9,274 1,753

    Figure2.3:VocabularyanalysisofRepublic,Book1forcoverageandlemmas(Perseus,

    2014).

    Obviously,thelistsaregoingtobesomewhatshorterifwecaneliminate

    ambiguousforms,butthisanalysisshouldgetusintotheneighborhoodofwhatastudent

    needstoknowtoreadwithfluency.Intermsofvocabulary,foranyoneselectedtext,the

    barisrelativelylow.1,276lemmasareneededfor98%coverage1,753forfullcoverage.

    Bycomparison,EuropeanstudentsofvariouslanguageswhohavestudiedtotheC2level

    ofcompetence havevocabulariesrangingfrom3,300to4,000words(Milton&Alexiou,7

    2009).Allofthisdiscussionaboutthenumberofwordstoachieveahighskilllevelina

    secondlanguageistosaythatthevocabularyproblempresentedtostudentsofAncient

    Greekisnotinsurmountable.

    Whilestudentsneedtolearnalargenumberofwordstogainskillwithina

    language,thewordstheycouldlearnarenotallequal.Someoccurmuchmorefrequently

    thanothers.Howdowedistinguishhighfromlowfrequencywords?Thecorpuscomes

    7CEFRtestscomeinsixlevels,fromlowesttohighest:A1,A2,B1,B2,C1,C2.Tocompare,aTOEFLiBTscoreof61isrequiredforundergraduateadmissionatNEIU,thelowendofB1.

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    totherescue.Acorpusisalarge,principledcollectionofnaturallyoccurringtextsthat

    arestoredelectronically(Conrad&LeVelle,2008:540).WhileMajordoesnotmention

    anyuseofacorpusinhisstudyofhighfrequencywordsinAncientGreek,doubtlesshe

    usedonetocompilehislist.Whileteachershavereportedadvantagestousing

    corpusbasedtechniquesintheclassroom,ConradandLeVelleadmitthattherehasbeen

    toolittleempiricalstudyintotheactualadvantagesofthesetechniques(Conrad&

    LeVelle,2008:548).Ofcourse,ignoringcorpusdatainSLAwouldmakeusalsoignore

    worklikeMajorsstudy.Italsowouldleadusawayfromdatadrivenevidenceforour

    ownintuitionsofwordfrequencylikethoseintuitionsreportedbySchmittandDunham

    (1999).

    Iamtakingtimetomakethispointaboutlexiconclearbecauselanguage

    learnersareseriouslyimpairedbyexcessiveconcentrationonteachinggrammarrather

    thanlexis(Hanks,2013:424).Thisstatementiscertainlytrueofalanguagewhereone

    caseislistedashavingfiveprimaryuses(GVE,1992:102103)andthengivesamore

    nuancedaccountofthatcaseinthereferencegrammarthatspreadsoverthreepages

    (GVE,1992:323325).Worse,someclassicistsperceivethatsametextbookashavinga

    fragmentedapproachtopresentinggrammarwhichisaproblemforsomestudents

    (Kitchelletal.,1996:398).SotosuggestthatSLAtheoryofanysortismakingittothe

    actualteachersofAncientGreekwouldbeastretch,basedontheKitchelletal.article,

    whichechoestheattitudesofmanypeopleIhavespokentointhecourseofmy

    experiencewithLatinandAncientGreek. 8

    8Whileatthesametimerecognizingthatanecdoteisntdata.

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    2.7LanguageSocialization

    Thesocialangleoflanguagedeservesspecialattention,especiallyinlightofthe

    difficultiesthatdeadlanguagespresentwiththispartoflanguage.Firstandforemost,

    thereisnonativespeakerpopulationanywhere.Thisabsencepresentsproblemsforan

    aspectofSLAknownasLanguageSocialization(LS).

    Whileallculturesvaryinthedetailsofhow,inallsocietiesstudiedtodate

    speakersaccommodatetolanguageacquiringchildreninsomefashion(WatsonGegeo

    &Nielsen,2005:158).ThesameistrueforL2learnersoutsideofaclassroom.Native

    speakersadapttheirlanguagewhenaddressinglessproficientnonnativespeakers(Gass,

    2005:230).Ofcourse,neitheroftheseaspectsarepresentwithAncientGreek.

    AlthoughWatsonGegeopointsoutthatthereisnostructureinthebrain[that]

    correspondstotheLanguageAcquisitionDevice(WatsonGegeo,2004:332)foreither

    firstorsecondlanguage,shemakesclearthatlanguagestructure,languageuse,and

    languageacquisitionareinseparablebecauseexperienceshapesallourneuralnetworks

    (WatsonGegeo,2004:333).Thiscombinationoffactsisimportant.Ittellsusthat

    languageisnotinbornbutratherisapartofoursocialdevelopment,perhapsnotjust

    languagebutmoregenerallylearning.Situatedlearningreferstomorethantheideathat

    learningtakesplacesomewhereandthroughdoing,orthatthemeaningofactivity

    dependsonsocialcontext(WatsonGegeo,2004:338).Thissocialcontextgetstothe

    heartofLanguageSocialization.Languageisnotjustacognitivephenomenonbuta

    socialphenomenon.ThissocialaspectpresentsmajorproblemsforAncientGreek,which

    willbeapparentinsomeofthetextbooks.

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    ThequestionIwanttoinvestigateisthefollowing:howdothetextbooksinthis

    studyusetheirauthority?Impliedwithinthisquestionisthematterofhowthetextbooks

    usetheirauthoritytocreateanaccuratepictureofbothlanguageandsocietyinancient

    Greece.

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    3.Methodology

    ThisthesisexploresthreeparticularAncientGreektextbooks.Thereasonfortheir

    inclusioninthisstudyisthattheyarecategoricallydifferentfromthemajorityofother

    AncientGreektextbooks:theyhaveconnectednarrativereadingsfromtheearlieststages

    oftheinstruction.

    ThesethreetextsaretheJointAssociationofClassicalTeachersReadingGreek,

    BalmeandLawallsAthenaze,andSaffireandFriessAncientGreekAlive.Sincethese

    threetextbooksemployconnectednarrativereadingsfromthebeginning,theyprovidea

    sharplydifferingpictureofancientGreeklanguageandculturethanbooksthatdonot

    employconnectednarrativereadings.TherearemanytextsforEnglishspeakingstudents

    tolearnAncientGreekineitherinstitutionalorindividualsettings,butthesethree,in

    additiontotheirnarrativereadings,arealsowidelyavailableforstudentsin

    Englishspeakingcountries.

    3.1Whatsetsthesethreeapart

    Thedifferenceisapparentinthefirstlessons.Thefollowingchartexaminesthe

    threetextbooksunderstudyaswellasMastronardesIntroductiontoAtticGreek,

    GrotonsFromAlphatoOmegaandSeligsonsGreekforReading.

  • 19

    Feature Mastronarde Groton Seligson AGAlive JACT Athenaze

    Booklength x+425(42) xii+506(50) xxx+325(31) xxiv+271(54)

    x+366(Grammar)xvi+182(Text)(19)

    xii+270(16)

    Pagescoveringalphabet

    621 112 xixxxvii 46 13(G) viix

    Chapters 2 2

  • 20

    narrativeismuchlargerthanintheothersetoftexts\JACT,AthenazeandAncient

    GreekAlivewhichhavenosuchdisjunctionbetweentheappearanceofGreekwords

    andusingtheminnarrative.

    Andtheuseofconnectednarrativeispowerful,becauseitgivescontext.Infact,

    fromaLanguageSocializationanglethereisnodecontextualized,neutralenvironment:

    Everythingoccursinandisshapedbycontext(WatsonGegeo,2004:338).Threeofthe

    booksprovidecontextforthelanguagefromtheverybeginning.ThatfactsetsAncient

    GreekAlive,AthenazeandJACTinafullydifferentcategoryoflearningtool.

    3.2Whatmakesthemthesame

    Thereisoneaspectthatbindsthebookstogether,anditisinextricablefromthe

    AncientGreeklanguagebeingtaughtinthem.Thataspectisanapproachtothelanguage

    teachingthatBessieDendrinosidentifiesasClassicalHumanism.

    Doubtless,anyoftheauthorsofthebookslistedabovewouldembraceorat

    leastnotrejectthelabelClassicalHumanism,astheacademicstudyofAncientGreek

    fallsundertheumbrellaoftheClassics.ThebookidentifiedasJACTisevenproducedby

    theBritishgroupcalledtheJointAssociationofClassicalTeachers.Dendrinosdescribes

    ClassicalHumanismascharacterizedbythedesiretopromotebroadintellectual

    capacities,suchasmemorizationandtheabilitytoanalyze,classify,andreconstruct

    elementsofknowledge.(1992:104).Noneoftheseareobjectionablethingsinandof

    themselves,thoughitwouldhelptoknowwhatknowledgeweareaimingat.

    Knowledgeisconsideredtobeasetoftruthswhichshouldberevealedbytheauthority

    (teacherortextbook)andmasteredbythepupil(Dendrinos,1992:104).Andthissetof

  • 21

    truthscanbeseendirectlyinsectionheadingsofJACT.Eachsectionexplicitlylabels

    whichliterarysourcesarebeingusedforthetext.Forexample,onp.7oftheJACTtext

    thebooklistsThucydidessHistories2.1317,5151,6667and3.83asaoneofthe

    sourcesforthereading(Text,1992).

    Oneofthedefiningfeaturesofeachofthesebooksisthateachchapterfeaturesa

    narrativereadingthechaptersarearrangedinanorderlywaytogivestructureto

    students.InoneClassicalHumanistapproach,theCognitiveApproach,itiscommonfor

    everyunittostartoutwithareadingpassageconstructedtoputondisplaythenew

    structuralelementstobedealtwith(Dendrinos,1992:109).Athenazeissetupthisway.

    TheotherClassicalHumanistapproachthatDendrinosoutlinesisthe

    GrammarTranslationmethod.Inthiscase,thegrammarteachingisdoneandthena

    passagefortranslationispresentedforstudents(1999:106).AncientGreekAlivefeatures

    thisorganizationmethodoncethestudentsarepastthescriptedorallessonsatthe

    beginning,thoughtheorallessonsfromthebeginningaredecidedlynotpartofthe

    GrammarTranslationmethod.WhatsetsJACTapartfromeachofthesetextbooksisthat

    thegrammarinstructionandthenarrativesareinseparatebooks.Theresultisthat

    teachersmayuseeitheraCognitiveApproachoraGrammarTranslationApproach.

    Thenextchapterofthisstudyexaminesthespecificwayseachbooktakesup

    ClassicalHumanism.

  • 22

    3.3Whatmakesallofthemdifferentfromothersecondlanguage

    textbooks

    AncientGreektextbooksaregoingtobedifferentfrommanyothertextbooksthat

    teachasecondlanguageforthesimplereasonthatnoone expectsstudentstogain12

    conversationalmasteryoveradeadlanguage.

    Inanoddcoincidenceoftextbookpublishing,AncientGreektextbooksarelike

    Englishasaforeignlanguage(EFL)textbooksinonespecificway.TheEFLtextbookis

    notonlyfrequentlyauthoredbynonlocals,butpublishedbylargemultinational

    companieswhoaddressaglobalmarket(Dendrinos,1992:40).Liketheir

    Englishlanguagecounterparts,someAncientGreektextbooksarepublishedby

    multinationalcompanies(JACTbyCambridgeUniversityPressandAthenazebyOxford

    UniversityPress)whileothersaremostlythedomainofsmalleruniversitypresses

    (AncientGreekAlivebyUNCPress).Inabsolutelyeverycase,thebooksarewrittenby

    authorswhoarenotlocaltotheculturepresentedinthebook.WhileDendrinosmeans

    nonlocalinthesenseofauthorswholiveincountrieswherethetextbookarenotused,

    nonlocalcanmorebroadlyimplypeoplewhoarenativestoneitherthetextbooks

    languagenoritsculture.

    EventhoughIusethetermnonlocalinawaydifferentfromDendrinos,thereis

    effectivelynodifferenceinthoseuses.Bothusesimplythatthereissomeremove

    12ChristopheRicoisaninterestingexceptiontothis.Sadly,hisbookisinFrenchwhereveritdoesnotuseKoineGreek.MyFrenchisnotuptothetaskofincludingitinthisstudy.

  • 23

    betweenthestudentsandthetextbook.Thetwowaysofremovingthestudentsfromthe

    textbooksareillustratedinfigure3.2.

    NonlocalinDendrinos Nonlocalinthisstudy

    Figure3.2:Twoaxesofnonlocalityinsecondlanguagetextbooks

    ForDendrinos,theauthorsareremovedfromthetextbooksusers,asseenonthe

    leftsideoffigure3.2.Authorsandtextbookusersarefromdifferentculturesand

    thereforehaveamajorflaw,whichisthattheneeds,theexpectationsandthe

    background(sociocultural,educational,linguisticandsociolinguistic)ofspecificgroups

    oflearnersandteacherscannotbetakenintoaccount(Dendrinos,1992:41).Forthis

    study,theremoveisbetweentheauthorsandtheoriginalculture,asseenontherightside

    offigure3.2.Whiletheauthorsmaybeabletotakesomeoftheexpectationsand

    backgroundsoflearnersintoaccount,theyareattemptingtodosowithaculturethatthey

    arenotnativetoandcannotvisit(beyondmuseumsandarchaeologicalsites).Another

    issuerelatedtononlocalitythatDendrinosbringsupisthatEFLtextbooksand

    presumablysecondlanguagetextbooksgenerallyarefrequentlyseenaspoor

    compromisesbetweenwhatiseducationallydesirableandwhatisfinanciallyviable

  • 24

    (1992:42).Oneguisethiscompromisecantakeisinillustrationsinthetextbook.While

    mostEFLtextbooksarewellillustrated,AncientGreektextbooksarenotbycomparison,

    which,asDendrinospointsout,failstotakestudentneeds(i.e.learningstyles)into

    account.Whatisworseisthat[publishers]arenotalwaysawareofthepedagogical

    implicationsofcurrenttheoryandresearchinlinguisticsandlanguagelearning

    (Sheldon,1988:239).Sheldonscriticismisdoublytrueforbookspublishedbysmall

    publishers,andIwilltakeuphercriticismoftextbooksthroughoutthisstudy.

    3.4Thebooksinthestudy

    Beforedivingintovariouslinguisticaspectsofthenarrativestyletextbooks,I

    wanttogiveashortdescriptionofeach.

    3.4.1JACTsReadingGreek

    Thisseriesofbooks(hereaftercalledJACT)isdesignedforclassroomsettings,

    althoughathirdbookallowsforstudentsworkingwithoutteacherstostudyaswell.The

    firsttwobooksaredividedintoagrammarbookwithexercises(GVE)andareading

    bookwithrunningvocabulary(Text). 13

    ThenarrativeitselfisbasedonAncientGreeksources,whichareclearlyindicated

    atthebeginningofmajorsections.Insomesectionsthesectionisdevotedtooneworkof

    Greekliterature.InthecaseofSectionSevenitisAristophanessplay,Birds.The

    structureofthenarrativeisapparentifyouknowthepurposeofthecommitteebehind

    ReadingGreek.

    13Thisstudyusesanearliereditionwhichissplitintogrammarbookwithexercisesandrunningvocabularyandareadingbook.Thetextismateriallythesame.

  • 25

    Therewouldhavebeenlittlepointinsuchaproject[i.e.theproductionofReadingGreek]ifthecurrentdeclineofGreekinschoolshadclearlyreflectedageneral,growingandirreversiblefailureonthepartofmodernsocietytorespondaestheticallyandintellectuallytoGreekculture:buttherehasbeennosuchfailureofresponse,forthepopularityofGreekliteratureintranslationandofcoursesinGreekartandhistoryhascontinuedtoincrease.(JACT,1992:Text,vii).

    3.4.2Athenaze

    Athenazeisaseriesofbooksalsodesignedforclassroomsettings,butitdoesnot

    haveanyguideforselfinstruction.Thebookhereisdividedintotwolevels,butthefirst

    volumeistheonlyoneIwillexamine.

    ThenarrativeofthistextbookfollowsaGreekfamilythroughtheirlivesinrural

    GreecewithadetourthroughmythandculminatesinaseavoyagetoAthens.LikeJACT,

    thereisarelianceonthesourcetexts.BalmeandLawallsay

    theGreekinmuchofthemainstorylinehasbeenmadeuptoservetheinstructionalpurposesofthebook.Mostofthesubplots,however,arebasedontheancientGreekwritingsofHomer,Herodotus,andThucydides.TheymovesteadilyclosertotheGreekoftheauthorsthemselves.TheextractsfromBacchylidesandAristophanesareunalteredexceptforcuts(1990:vi).

    3.4.3AncientGreekAlive

    Liketheothertwo,AncientGreekAliveisaclassroombookfilledwithnarrative,

    butthedifferenceinnarrativetopiccouldnotbemoredifferent.Otherfeatures,which

    willbediscussedinlaterchapters,areuniquetothisbooktoo.WhereearlierIsaidthat

    mostAncientGreektextsplacenoemphasisonactuallyspeakingAncientGreek,this

    textopenswithaseriesofninespokenscripts.Theauthorssaythatstudentsfindthe

  • 26

    conversationalmethodthemostnaturalandleastintimidatingwaytobeginandthat

    teacherscancontinuewithconversation(AGA,1999:xvii).Towhichtheybothsay

    thattheymostlydroptheconversationintheirteaching.

    ThenarrativesinAncientGreekAlivearenotbasedonAncientGreeksources.

    Saffirestatesthatsheisapurist[who]wasunwillingtowaterdownorotherwisedistort

    Greekmaterial.IadmiredtheGreektextsfortheirbeautyandvigor,anddidnotwantto

    tamperintheleast(1999:xv).Hersolutionwas,amongothersources,touseSheikh

    NasrudinstoriesbecauseIthoughttheywereintenselyamusing(ibid.). Whilepurists14

    mightbalkatthistactic,Aesopstalesincludestoriesthatfeatureanimals.Thisstyleof

    storyfeaturinganimalsandwisdommaystrikeusaschildlike,butinfifthcentury

    AthensAesopcouldstillbeanauthoritywhomyouhadtoconsult(Gibbs,xi).The

    fableswereabodyofpopularknowledgethatwasmeanttoberegularlygoneoverand

    broughttomindasneeded(Gibbs,xi).Sointhisaspect,AncientGreekAliveusesa

    teachingmethodofancientGreecetoavoidtamperingwiththeliterarysourcesof

    AncientGreece. 15

    3.5Thestudy

    3.5.1CorpusMatching

    OneparticularaspectIexamineisvocabularyusewithinthenarratives,

    particularlyfrequenciesofthelemmas.ForeachbookIextractthreeselectionsfor

    vocabularyanalysis.Theselectionsarethefirstnarrativestudentsencounter,anarrative

    14Ialmosthatetoleaveitonamusingasitfeelslikeshestrivializingheraccomplishment.15Yodawg,Iheardyouliketv,soIputatvinyourcarsoyoucanwatchtvwhileyoudrive.

  • 27

    nearthemiddleofthebook,andthelastnarrativeinthebook.

    Althoughthisstudymaybeimprovedbytheuseofthewholeofthenarrativetext

    inAncientGreek,Iuseselectedportionsfortechnicalratherthanmethodological

    reasons.SinceIdonothaveaccesstothetextdigitally(despiteattemptstocontactthe

    publishers),IhadtokeyintheAncientGreekpassages.Thusthelimitationtothree

    selectionsfromeachofthethreebooks.

    Ifocusonvocabularytotheexclusionofmorphologyandsyntaxforatwofold

    reason.Thefirstisthatinalanguagetextbook,particularlyinclassicallanguage

    textbooks,thelanguageaccessibletostudentsisconstantlymovingfromsimpletomore

    nativelikebothinthestudentscapacitytounderstandandinwhatlanguagethebookis

    presenting.Soinvestigatingthematchofcaseusage,forexample,inonebookwithcase

    usageinAncientGreekliteratureisafoolserrand.Earlyinthebook,allofthecases

    haveyettobetaughtand,therefore,cannotaccuratelyreflectthelanguageinany

    meaningfulway.Thesecondhalfofmyfocusonvocabularyisthattosomedegree

    vocabularycanserveasaproxyforknowledgeofthelanguageasawhole.Indeed,

    researchershavefoundthatlexicalknowledgecorrelateswithreadingabilityinasecond

    language(Schmitt,2010:4).Asanexampleofthisclaim,theparticleancannotbetaught

    tostudentsbeforetheoptativeorsubjunctivemoodistaught.Likewise,theappearanceof

    theverblanthanoisaprettyreliablestandinforknowledgeofaccusativecaseandthe

    presentparticiple.Foreachoftheseexamplestheoppositeissomewhattrueaswell.Ifa

    studentknowstheoptativemood,theyshouldalsoknowhowtousetheparticlean.Ifa

    studentknowsthepresentparticiple,theymayalsobeawareofitsconnectionto

  • 28

    lanthano.

    Forthepurposeoflexicalanalysis,Igatherseveralpiecesofdatafromeach

    selection.SinceAncientGreekisahighlyinflectedlanguage,insteadofsortingtokens

    intotypesIsortthetokensintolemmas.Thisapproachtolemmatizingthetokensis

    justifiedsincepsycholinguisticresearchindicatesthatthemindstoresonlythebase

    formofthelemmaandthenattachesinflectionalsuffixesonlinewhentheyareneeded

    (Schmitt,2010:189).Ithencalculatethefrequencyofeachlemmaper1,000tokens(so

    astohavefrequencieshigherthan1)andpercentageofcoverageaseachlemmaisadded.

    Thepurposebehindeachofthesepiecesofdataistocreatecomparisonswithinthetexts,

    withinAncientGreekandwithinlanguagegenerally.

    EachofthesesectionswillbecomparedagainstPlatosRepublic,book1,fora

    fewreasons.One,itisalongcorpusthatIhavegoodvocabularyfrequencydatafor.

    Two,itiswrittenintheAtticdialectofAncientGreek,whichisthetargetdialectofeach

    ofthebooks.Three,Platoisawriterwhosewordsarecommonlystudiedbymore

    advancedstudentsofAncientGreek.ThefrequencydataisdrawnfromSteadmans

    commentaryofRepublic,book1(2012).

    ThemajordrawbacktousingRepublic,book1,asastandinforthewholecorpus

    ofancientGreekliteratureisthatPlatohasadistinctwritingstyle.Ihesitatetosaythat

    Platohasawrittenidiolect.Eventhoughwrittenstylehaselementsofidiolectboundup

    intoit,idiolectinvolvesspokenlanguagewhereasstyleispartofthediscursivetradition

    (Rico,n.d.). Thedifferenceisnotminor,buttheeffectismuchthesame.Platos16

    16Lidiolecteconstitueuncasdespcedelalanguetandisquelestylereprsenteuneapplicationdelatraditiondiscursive.

  • 29

    Republic,insomeways,haspeculiaritiestoitthatmakeitdistinctfromthewritten

    corpusofthelanguageasawhole.

    Evenso,Republic,book1,canserveasastandinforthecorpusofancientGreek

    literature.First,itisareasonablylongtext.Itrunsto9,274wordsinlength.Whileitmay

    reflectPlatossubjectmatterorstyleofwriting,itisalsowritteninAtticGreek,whichis

    thetargetdialectofthetextbooksinthisstudy.Theidealcorpusofalanguageisalarge

    andprincipledcollectionofnaturaltexts(Biber,Conrad&Reppen,1998:12).The

    reasonalargecorpussizeisdesirableisbecausewordsensesandcollocationalpatterns

    areoftenmuchlesscommonthangrammaticalpatterns(Biber,Conrad&Reppen,1998:

    25).Fortunately,itispossibletousesmallercorporatofacilitatestudies(1998:26).

    SinceIamnotlookingtofindwordsensesorcollocationalpatternsbuttogetahandleon

    rawfrequencyoflemmasinthelanguage,PlatosRepublic,book1sufficesforthetaskat

    hand.Itislongenoughtonotdisplayanyoddfrequencieseffect,whichIshowcan

    happeninChapter4withashortselection,butitisshortenoughthatsomeofthenumber

    crunchingforlexicalfrequencyhasbeendone(Steadman,2012b,andPerseus,2014).

    3.5.2Countingvocabulary

    Anotherwaytogetasenseofhowmuchlanguagestudentsarelearningisto

    countupthenumberofvocabularywordsthatstudentsareexpectedtoknow.While

    gettingtoa98%coveragerateforallofancientGreekliteraturemightbeastretch,one

    wouldexpectstudentscouldreachMajors80%coveragelist.Sincethelistis1,100

    itemslong,Idonotcounteachwordandmatchittothevocabularyformemorization.

    RatherIcountupthenumberofitemspresentedtostudentsasitemstolearn.Tobesure,

  • 30

    thenumberreportedwillbesomewhatinflatedaswordformsputonthevocabularyto

    memorizelistmayshowuplaterasacompletelemma,oranidiomorcollocationmaybe

    addedintothemixofvocabularyitemstolearn,butinanycasethenumbersshouldgive

    usanapproximateideaofthedepthofvocabularyknowledgethatstudentsacquireinthe

    curriculum.

    3.5.3Accuracyofculturalportrayal

    TheotheraspectofthisstudyistheportrayalofAncientGreekculture.Iexamine

    culturalportrayalintwoportionsofthebook.Thefirstportrayalofcultureiswithinthe

    AncientGreeknarrativesthatarethemaintoolforconveyingthelanguage.Thesecond

    portrayalofcultureisinEnglishlanguageculturalessays.UsingGeesContextis

    ReflexiveTool(2014:8485),Iexaminehowthebooksdeploytheirauthoritytocreate

    understandingsofancientGreekcultureinstudentsheads.Theimportantthinghereis

    thatweseecontextasreflexive,whichistosayspeakingreflectscontextandcontext

    reflects(isshapedby)speaking(whatwassaid)(Gee,2014:85).Ofcourseinthecase

    ofthetextbooks,itiswritingandnotspeakingthatweareconcernedwith.

    Thecontextthatthebookscreateinsideandoutsideoftheirnarrativesisthatof

    ancientGreekculture.Sincethecontextsarenotequal,onecontextiscreatedwith

    AncientGreekitselfandtheothercontextiscreatedwithEnglish,Iexaminebothofthem

    separately.ThereasonIwanttotreatthemseparatelyisbecauseofGeesFrameProblem

    (2014:3037).Statedatitsmostsuccinct,GeesFrameproblemsaysthatanyaspectof

    contextcanaffectthemeaningofanutterance(2014:31).Giventhattwolanguagesare

    beingusedineachbook,thatdividemayhavepowerfulconsequencesbehindit.WhileI

  • 31

    donotexpecttofindoutandoutfalseinformationaboutGreeksociety,Ifullyexpectto

    findthatthepictureisratherlimitedinwhatispresented.

  • 32

    4.Study

    Ultimately,thetextsinthisstudyhaveamassiveadvantageoverthetextsthatare

    notunderconsideration:thenarrativesineachtextbooksupplymanyrepetitionsof

    vocabularytobelearnedinnarrative.Thetextsareclearlynotextensivereadingasseen

    inHorstsstudytheyprettytightlyconstrainwhatstudentswillbereadingratherthan

    allowstudentstoreadatwill.Ontheotherhand,theyincludeagreatdealof

    readingfar,far,farmorethaneventhemosttextrichgrammartranslationtextbook

    (seesection3.1forarepresentativeselection).

    Buthowdotheycompareonthefrontofvocabulary?Dotheyteachallof

    Majors50%list?DoesitmirrorMajors80%coveragelist?Doesthedistributionof

    vocabularyitemsmatchtheMiltonandAlexiounumbersneededforfluency?Dothe

    booksportrayAncientGreeksocietyinanaccurateway?Questionslikethisinterestme

    becausetheyshowhowtextbooksdeploytheauthorityinherentinthemamongthe

    students.

    4.1Positioningandauthority

    Beforeexaminingthewaysthatthetextsinquestionusetheirauthoritybetween

    theircovers,aquicklookathowthebookspositionthemselvestothestudentsisinorder.

    Initspreface,AthenazestartsoffweaklybystatingthatAthenazesoriginaleditionwas

    usedquitewidelyinEnglishschoolsandalsoinafewuniversities(1990:not

    numbered).

    Thisapproachtopositioningthebookitselfismuchweakerthantheapproach

  • 33

    thatAncientGreekAlivetakes,whichinvolvestellingteachershowlongithadbeenin

    usethirtysevenyearsasofpublicationandthatitisagreatstudentfavoriteandfun

    toteach,impartingasolidandthoroughmasteryofintroductoryGreek(AGA,1999:

    xvii).Itisveryhardtoarguewithastudentfavoritethatalsoimpartsmasteryofthetopic

    athand. Onethingthatmaybeworthnoting:AncientGreekAliveispublishedbya17

    smallacademicpublisherUniversityofNorthCarolinaPressratherthanthelarge

    multinationalthatpublishesAthenazeOxfordUniversityPress.Asasmallpressthey,

    andbyextensiontheirbooks,mustpositionthemselvesdifferentlyfromacompanythat

    haslargeamountsoffinancialresources.Inasimilarvein,smallbeveragecompanies

    sometimestrytocompeteagainstlargecompaniesbyofferingcolas,whichislikeasmall

    presspositioningitstitlesnodifferentlythanalargepresspositionsitstitles.Dr.Pepper,

    however,maximizedproductdifferentiationbymaintaininganarrowlineofbeverages

    builtaroundanunusualflavor(Porter,1979:143144).Likewise,theUniversityof

    NorthCarolinaPresshasabookAncientGreekAlivethatismarkedlydifferentfrom

    theothertwobooksinthestudy.Ifthelargepressesareofferingtraditional

    narrativedrivenAncientGreektextbooks,AncientGreekAlivepositionsitselfawayfrom

    AthenazeandJACTbyusingopeninglessonswithspokenAncientGreekandnarratives

    drawnfromnonGreeksources.Theresourcestodowhattheotherbooksdoinexactly

    thesamewaydonotexistatasmallerpress.

    CambridgeUniversityPresshasthoseresources.JACTmentionssomeofthe

    financialfiguresinvolvedinitsforeword.anappealfor40,000...63,000

    17AndthenarrativesinAncientGreekAlivearefun.

  • 34

    contributed...andappealfor15,000in1974money(Text,1992:vii).Whilenotvast

    sumsofmoney,40,000in1974isequivalentto363,700or$557,623asofearly2015.

    Thisamountofmoneymaynotbeenoughmoneytobuyamansion,butcertainly18

    enoughtobuyanordinaryhousewithmoneyleftover.Inanycase,itismeanttoimpress

    thereaderthatJACTisnotaflybynighttextbook.Dover,oneoftheauthorsofJACT,

    thengoesontotoexplain,though,thatthecontentofthetextisdeterminedasseldomas

    possiblebylinguistictidinessandasoftenaspossiblebytheneedtoacquainttheadult

    andnearadultlearnerdirectlywiththecharacteristicfeaturesofGreekculture(Text,

    1992:viiiix).And,onewouldhope,language.Bethatasitmay,itisanindicationthat

    theauthorsofJACTwereawareoftheneedtoprovideanaccuratepictureofAncient

    Greekcultureandlanguage,eveniftheywerenotawareofthereasonsthatIhavebeen

    discussingtothispoint.

    Inallthreecases,thebooksaredifferentiatingthemselvesviapositioningfrom

    theverybeginning.JACTpositionsitselfashavingseriousresourcesbehinditand

    desiringtoprovideanaccuratepictureofGreekculture.Athenazepositionsitselfasatext

    thathasbeeninuseinschoolsalready.(Andwhyareyounotyetonthebandwagon?).

    AncientGreekAlivepositionsitselfasafunandrefreshingalternativetotraditionalstudy

    ofAncientGreek.

    4.2Vocabularyanalysis

    Lookingatthevocabularyisprobablythesinglebestwaytogetameasurementof

    18Iusedhttp://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/tomake1974poundsinto2015poundsandhttp://coinmill.com/GBP_USD.htmltoconvertfrompoundstodollarsasthetimeofwriting.

  • 35

    howthetextbooksstackupaslearningtoolsforreadingtheliterature.Althoughthesize

    ofthelexiconthatstudentscouldpotentiallylearnforanygivenlanguageisinfinite

    (Hanks,2013:29),itispracticallyboundedforAncientGreekowingtothefactthatno

    newtextsarejoiningtheliterarycorpus. 19

    4.2.1Highfrequencywords

    Inanycase,studentswillwanttofocusonthewordswiththehighestfrequencies

    andwordsinclosedcategories.Hankstellsusthatinthenextdecadeorsotherewillbe

    comparativelylittlesignificantgrowthinthenumbersofverbsintheEnglishlexicon,no

    newadverbs,nonewprepositions,andnonewpronouns(2013:32).LookingatMajors

    listof63toreach50%coverage,thereareexactlyfournouns.WhileAncientGreekis

    notaddingwordstoitscorpus,itcertainlyalignswithHanksnotionsaboutwherewords

    areadded.Theyareaddedinnouns.Hankslateraddsthatforlearnersfunctionwords

    canbeconsideredaspartofthegrammaticalcomponentofasyllabus(2013:424).

    Again,Majorslistbearsthisout. Thirteenprepositions,11conjunctionsand820

    pronounsareonthelist.Buriedintheadjectivesaresuchfunctionalwordsasonedefinite

    articleandsixdeterminers(Major,2008:4).Theproblemthatconfrontsusishow

    quicklydostudentsrunacrossthesewordsincontext?

    Thefollowingtablegivesusanideaofhowquicklythislistofwordsispresented

    notjustincontext,butitalsogivesusasenseofhowoftensomeofthesewordscan

    potentiallyberepeated.Ishouldnotethatmanyprepositionsarepolysemousdepending

    19TherearedefinitelyhapaxlegomenonsinthecorpusofAncientGreekliteratureaswellaspossiblenewwordsjoiningthecorpusasinthecaseofthenewtechnologybeingabletopiercecharredpapyrusesaddingtotheliterarycorpus.http://lat.ms/1zaM7NbSothelexiconisntquiteasclosedasImakeitouttobe.20IknowIciteitinthereferencelist,butheresalink:http://bit.ly/16CzQLR

  • 36

    onwhatcasetheircomplementhas,soIammerelynotingthefirstpresentationofeach

    prepositionalmeaningratherthanexhaustingthelist.

    Timetoreachthreshold

    JACTchapter

    JACT%ofcoursetocover

    Athenazechapter

    Athenaze%ofcoursetocover

    AGAchapter

    AGA%ofcoursetocover

    10 1C 5% 1 6% Scripts 2%

    20 1Grammar

    5% 3 19% Prechapter

    4%

    30 2A 11% 5 31% 2 7%

    40 3E 16% 6 38% 7 16%

    50 5D 26% 7 44% 16 29%

    59 14 88%

    60 9E 47% 38 68%

    63 glossary

    Bookscoverageoflist

    61 97%oflistcovered

    59 94%oflistcovered

    61 97%oflistcovered

    Figure4.1AppearancerateforMajors50%coveragelist

  • 37

    Majors50%coveragelistdoesnotmakeitintothememorywordsforanyofthe

    booksinitsentirety.Ascanbeseen,allofthebookscoveratleast90%ofthelist,which

    isimportant,butonlyoneofthebooksincludesallofthewordswithinthe

    narrativesJACT.HoweverevenJACTdoesnotputallofthosewordsintothe

    vocabularytobememorized.

    JACT Athenaze AncientGreekAlive

    Omittedwords

    ,andnot,

    suchasthis

    ,modalparticle,,anyonewho,prior,such

    asthis

    ,especially,prior

    Figure4.2WordseachtextbookomitsfromvocabularytobelearnedinMajors50%coveragelist

    WhatisinterestingaboutthewordsthatareskippedfromMajors50%coverage

    listineachbookisthatnoneofthemsavethemodalparticle,an,inAthenazeare

    particularlycrucialtoastudentsabilitytoreadAncientGreek.Athenazeslackofthe

    modalparticle,an,isnotamajorhinderanceasthegrammaticalstructurescorrelated

    withitarenottaughtinthebook1oftheseries,whichistheonlybookintheseriesthat

    isinthisstudy.

    Inanycase,thewordsthatmakeupthestructureofAncientGreekareincluded,

    forthemostpart,inthebooks.

    4.2.2Thefrequenciesofthewordsthemselves

    AsidefromthefunctionworkswithinAncientGreek,wecanlookattheentirety

  • 38

    ofthevocabularyused,bothasawholeandinsections. 21

    Figure4.3FrequencyandlemmacoveragecurvesforJACTsection1A

    21Fulldataishere:http://bit.ly/TextbookLemmaAnalysis

  • 39

    Figure4.4FrequencyandlemmacoveragecurvesforAGAsection1A

    Figure4.5FrequencyandlemmacoveragecurvesforAthenazesection1A

  • 40

    WhileIhaveplottedthefrequenciesascurves,Ishouldnotethatthesedataare

    notcontinuousinnature.Eachlemmahasaspecificfrequencyanditisnotinanyway

    continuouswithneighboringlemmas.Thecurveismeantasanaidforvisualizationof

    dataindiscretepointsratherthananimplicationofcontinuity.

    Ascanbeseeninallthree,theblueline,whichrepresentswordfrequenciesper

    1,000,fallsoffsteeplytocreateaZipfstylecurve(Matthews,2007:442).Inthecaseof

    JACTsection1A,Figure4.3,wecanseeabumpabovethelabelploion.Thisbumpisnot

    characteristicofaZipfcurve.ThesameistrueofthecurveinFigures4.4and4.5.

    Insteadofmovingevenlytowardlowfrequency,thereisalumpofwordshangingout

    justabovetheoneuseinthepassagefrequency.InFigure4.4thislumpishanging

    betweeneisandlego.InFigure4.5thislumpishangingoutbetweenbiosandchalepos.

    Whatweareseeingineachofthesefiguresisadistortionofthefrequenciesofwords.

    Giventhattheseselectionsareattheverybeginningofstudywherestudentshavethe

    leastvocabulary,itshouldnotcomeasanysurprisethatthissortoflessnatural

    distributionoffrequenciesshouldoccur.

    WhatisnotableisthenearabsenceofpronounsinJACTandAthenaze.Ancient

    GreekAlivehasa90wordtextwith3pronounlemmas(outof40distinctlemmas)

    makingup8ofthetokens(8.9%ofthetext).Thereasonforthisdifferenceistwofold.

    Ontheonehand,vocabularyisastandinforsyntax.Giventhatastudentssyntaxisas

    rudimentaryastheirvocabularyatthisearlystageoflearning,itisnosurprisethatsome

    things,pronounsinthisinstance,getleftout.Ontheotherhand,AncientGreekAlive

    opensupwithaseriesofninespokenlanguagelessons.Whileitispossibletohavea

  • 41

    writtentextthatassiduouslyavoidspronouns,particularlyinaprodroplanguagelike

    AncientGreek,itisalmostimpossibletodosoinconversation.Inanycasethelackof

    pronounsinAthenazeandJACTisastrikeagainsttheirfidelitytoAncientGreek.

    Frequency/1,000

    Lemma 22 Tokens ho autos kai de tis eimi

    PlatosRepublicbook1 23

    4,637 199.70 26.53 101.72 62.54 12.51 97.69

    JACT1A 136 257.35 0 66.18 66.18 14.71 7.35

    AGA1 90 177.78 22.22 22.22 22.22 11.11 33.33

    Athenaze1A 94 159.57 0 63.83 31.91 0 85.11

    Figure4.6Relativefrequenciesofselectedlemmasatstartoftextbooks

    Intermsoftheuseofthedirectarticleho,wecanseethatthefrequenciesinthe

    beginningnarrativesinthebook,whilenotexactlymatchingthePlatotextareinthe

    approximateneighborhoodofhisusage.Theconjunctionskaianddeareanotherstory.

    Ofthethreetexts,onlyJACTapproximatesPlatosuse.AthenazeisshortofPlatosuse,

    butAncientGreekAliveisevenfurthershortofPlatosfrequencies.Ontheotherhand,

    AthenazecomesclosesttoPlatosfrequencyofeimi,whichisAncientGreekscopula,

    andJACTandAncientGreekAlivefallquiteshortofanativespeakersliterary

    frequency.Partofthesefrequencydiscrepanciesaredoubtlessduetothestageofstudent

    knowledgeofthesecondlanguage.Theotherpartofthesefrequencydiscrepanciescould

    alsoarisefromthebrevityofthecorpus.OnlyJACTsreadingselectiontops100words.

    22ThesixlemmasinthisandthefollowingfiguresarethemostfrequentlemmasinAncientGreekinthedatacollectedbyFrancese(2014)fortheDickinsonCollegeCommentariesvocabularylist.23TherawdataforthischartisdrawnfromPerseus(2014)andSteadman(2012b).

  • 42

    Whenthesamplesizeissmaller,itiseasiertocreatedistortionsinthefrequencies,as

    willbeseenbelow.

    Frequency/1,000

    Lemma Tokens ho autos kai de tis eimi

    PlatosRepublicbook1

    4,637 199.70 26.53 101.72 62.54 12.51 97.69

    JACT10B 335 125.37 17.91 65.67 29.85 8.96 14.93

    AGA26 184 173.91 21.74 54.35 10.87 0 38.04

    Athenaze8A 298 154.36 0 57.05 57.05 3.36 16.78

    Figure4.7Relativefrequenciesoflemmasatmidpointoftextbooks

    Atthemidpointofthebooksweseethesamesortsofissues.Ofthethreebooks,

    JACTmostcloselyresemblesthesampledtext,thoughitisoffintermsofthelemmas

    autosandeimi,particularlyinthelattercase.Thisvariancecouldjustbeanartifactofthe

    selections.AncientGreekAliveandAthenazebothshowseriousvariancefromthesample

    text.Eachonehasalemmathatitdoesnotuseatall.AncientGreekAlivehasno

    instancesoftis(what?)initsselection,thoughitisnotimpossibletoimagineatextthat

    asksnoquestions.

    Whatismoreworryingintermsofthelanguagepresentedistherepeatedabsence

    ofautos(3rdpersonpronoun)inAthenaze.Itisnotasifthe3rdpersonpronounhasnot

    beencoveredbythebook.Quitethecontrary,asitisintroducedinchapter5B.Whyand

    howtheauthorsofAthenazemanagetoavoidtheuseofautosisapuzzle,thoughthere

    maybecluesindeixis.

  • 43

    Frequency/1,000

    Lemma Tokens ho autos kai de tis eimi

    PlatosRepublicbook1

    4,637 199.70 26.53 101.72 62.54 12.51 97.69

    JACT19G 299 46.82 3.34 30.10 60.20 0 13.38

    AGA54 103 19.42 9.71 19.42 19.42 19.42 9.71

    Athenaze16B 300 146.67 6.67 20.00 56.67 10.00 10.00

    Figure4.8Relativefrequenciesoflemmasatendoftextbooks

    Attheendofthebook,thefrequencieslookcompletelyoffinsomewayor

    anotherforeachofthethreetextbooks.Aswasthecasewiththefirstchapter,the

    frequencyofsomelemmasisonthelowside,butthereisareasonforthesevariances.

    ItisespeciallyevidentinthefrequencyofthelemmahoinJACTandAncient

    GreekAlive.Thisdiscrepancyisanillusioncreatedintwoways.BothJACTandAncient

    GreekAliveareusingactualAncientGreektextsastheirnarrativesinthelesson,sothe

    problemisnotinauthenticlanguage.ThefirstpartoftheillusionisthatJACTstextisa

    selectionofOdyssey,book6,whichisnotwritteninAtticGreek.Infact,theuseofhoin

    EpicGreekiscompletelydifferentfromitsuseinAtticGreek.hocanbeusedasasimple

    pronounmeaninghe/she/itratherthanasadefinitearticle(GVE,1992:255).Sochange

    inthelanguageitselfcandriveafrequencydiscrepancy.TheselectioninAncientGreek

    Alivehasdivergentfrequencyforadifferentreason.Itisshort.Whileitsselectionisalso

    drawnfromtheliterature,itsselectionofOedipusRexisveryshort.IfOedipusRexasa

    wholeisinvestigated,weseethis.

  • 44

    Frequency/1,000

    Lemma Tokens ho autos kai de tis eimi

    PlatosRepublicbook1

    4,637 199.70 26.53 101.72 62.54 12.51 97.69

    OedipusRex 9,345 55.22 7.60 26.22 13.48 10.91 16.37

    AGA54 103 19.42 9.71 19.42 19.42 19.42 9.71

    Figure4.9Relativefrequenciesoflemmasinshortselectionversuscompletework

    WecaneasilyseethatRepublichasmorefrequentuseofthewordsinfigure4.9.

    Thewholeoftheplaythoughhasslightlydifferentfrequenciesthantheshortselectionin

    AncientGreekAlivemightleadustobelieve.WhileRepublicandOedipusRexbothuse

    hoatdifferentrates,theybothuseitmuchmorefrequentlythantheselectioninAncient

    GreekAlivemightleadustobelieve.Sowhilebotharedefinitivelyusingauthentictexts

    asthenarrative,itispossibletoselecttextsthatarenotrepresentativeoftheprevious

    contentofthebookinsomewayoranother.

    4.2.3Lowerfrequencywords

    Whilethehighfrequencywordswilltosomedegreeoranothergettakencare

    oftheyareafterallthegrammaticalmachineryofthelanguagethelowerfrequency

    wordsareanothermatter.TurningbacktoMajors80%coveragelist,wecannowlookat

    howmanyvocabularyitemsareincludedinthecorelistofitemstobememorized.None

    ofthesearewordsthatmightfallintoastudentsknowledgethroughrepeatedexposure

    orExtensiveReading.Thesewordsaretheonesthattheauthorsselectedasworthyof

    committingtomemory.

  • 45

    Textbook Itemsinvocabularytobelearned

    Majors80%list 1,000to1,100

    JACT 1,318

    AncientGreekAlive 682

    Athenaze 603

    Figure4.10Numberofvocabularyitemstobelearnedineachbook

    Astrikingdifferenceisimmediatelynoticed.JACThasmorethandoublethe

    vocabularyformemorizationthaneitherAncientGreekAliveorAthenazedoes.Partof

    thisexplanationisthatAthenazeisatwobookseries,ofwhichthesecondbookwasnot

    countedinthetotalfigure.ButhoworwhyAncientGreekAlivefallssoshorton

    vocabularytomemorizeisinexplicable.Sixhundredeightytwowordsdoesnoteven

    comeclosetothe80%coverageofMajorslonglist.OnlyJACThasanyhopeof

    presentingthatmuchvocabulary.

    Anotherstrikingfeatureisthatthevocabularymemorizationloadisspread

    reasonablyevenlythroughoutthebookonbothJACTandAthenaze.Inanygivenunitof

    JACT,astudentcouldbeexposedtoanywherebetweentwoand34wordsfor

    memorization.LikewiseinAthenaze,studentscouldbeexposedtoanywherebetween

    fourand34wordsformemorizationinanychapter.Inasense,AncientGreekAliveisthe

    oddmanoutonthisfront,too.Insteadofdirectingstudentstolearnvocabularygradually,

    therearefourlargevocabularyreviewswithbetween104and175wordsfor

    memorization.Alsoatvariancewiththeothertwobooks,thewordspresentedinthe

  • 46

    vocabularyreviewsarefrequentlyleftundefined.

    4.2.4Wordlearningadviceoffered

    Withsuchadeficitofvocabularyitemsinthevocabularyreviews,another

    strategyisnecessaryforstudents.AncientGreekAlivegivesastrikingbitofadvice:

    studentsshouldpunt.Noteverythingislearnedsystematicallytobeginwith.Sometimes

    youwillpuntfirst,andlearnthesystemlater(AGA,1999:19).Incaseyouhadany

    doubtastohowimportantthisinformationis,theauthorshavethoughtfullycalleditout

    withabox.Andthisstrategyisuseful,becausesomeGreekwordshavemethodsof

    formationthatmatchupwithEnglishwordformation.

    JACTontheotherhandismuchmorecircumspectaboutvocabularyhelpand

    tellsstudentsthatthereadingsaresupportedbyfullvocabularyhelp(Text,1992:xi).

    However,assoonasthestudentturnstotheGVE,exercisestheredirectstudentstomake

    connectionsbetweenrelatedAncientGreekwords.Makinganeducatedguessisnot

    officiallycondoneduntilyouaredoingyourhomework.Athenazestrikesasomewhat

    middleroad.Exerciseswherestudentsaretodeducethemeaningofthefollowing

    compoundverbs(Athenaze,1990:17)arescatteredthroughouttheearlyportionofthe

    bookandincludeexercisesaimedatmakinglexicalconnectionsbetweenAncientGreek

    wordsandtheirEnglishderivatives. Athenazefurthernotesthatstudentsshouldstart24

    makingtheseconnections,sincerightfromthestartofyourstudyofGreekyoushould

    begintorecognizethemeaningofmanynewwordsfromyourknowledgeofoneswith

    24Twoexamplesfromthenotedparagraph.SomeGreekwordsinEnglishclothingareobvious,suchaslexical,butothershavegoneabitmorenative,sotospeak.SystemhasGreekoriginsthatsomepeoplemaynotguessat.

  • 47

    whichyouarealreadyfamiliar(1990:17).Infact,theauthorsofAthenazedonotgloss

    compoundverbswitheasilyguessablemeanings(1990:17).Theyfeelitisnoteven

    guessingsomewordsshould,anddo,havemorphologicallytransparentmeanings.

    4.3WhatpictureofAncientGreecedothebooksbuild?

    Inanotherfacetofwhatthebookspresent,weareconfrontedwiththeculture,

    whichisasystemofideas,attitudesandpractices,ofAncientGreeceinbothJACTand

    Athenaze.Aswithconsiderationsofvocabulary,doesthecultureofAncientGreece

    presentedmatchuptowhatweknowaboutGreeksocietyofthattime?

    IfEFLbooksareanyguide,weshouldbeskeptical.EFLbooksinGreat

    Britainoverrepresentthewhitemiddleclasspopulationwiththeirconcernsabout

    holidaysandleisuretime,homedecorationanddiningout,theirpreoccupationwith

    success,achievementandmaterialwealth.Absent,ornearlyabsentarethegreatvariety

    ofminorities,peopleofAfrican,Indian,Pakistanese[sic]descentwhomakeupa

    considerablepartofthepopulationandtheproblemsoftheilliteratemassesarerarelyor

    nevermentioned(Dendrinos,1992:153).

    WecanalsolevelthissamecriticismathowJACTandAthenazepresentAncient

    Greeksociety. 25

    4.3.1Dialectineachbooksnarrative

    AncientGreeceencompassedmuchmorethanthecurrentcountryofGreece.In

    the6thCenturyBCE,theGreekshadcolonizedmuchofthecoastlineoftheBlackand

    25Ishouldbequicktosay,thatwhateverweaknessesthebooksinthestudymayhave,theyrelightyearsaheadofgrammartranslationstylebooks.InbothJACTandAthenazeweatleastgetoneportionofGreeksocietypresentedwithinthecontextofthelanguage.

  • 48

    AegeanSeasaswellassouthernItaly,Sicily,thesoutherncoastofFrance,partsofthe

    coastsofSpainandLibyaandpartoftheNileDelta(Adkins&Adkins,1997:126).But

    readingbothAthenazeandJACTwouldleadastudenttobelievethatAthenswas,ifnot

    theonlyplaceinGreece,themostimportant.Modernstudentswouldnotbemistakento

    drawthisconclusion.ModernGreecehasapopulationof10.8millionandRegionof

    Attica,whichmoreorlesscorrespondstotheAthensmetropolitanarea,hasapopulation

    of3.8million(HellenicStatisticalAuthority,2014:1).Whilenumbersaredifficultto

    comeby,itwouldbeamistaketoassumethatAthenswasthefocalpointof

    Greekspeakingsocietyinantiquity.Inthe5thcenturyBCE,Athenshadabout45,000

    citizens,whichdoesnotincludewomen,childrenornoncitizenmenslaveorfree

    (Adkins&Adkins,1997:29).Andwhileitwasthelargestsinglecityonmainland

    Greeceatthetime,itwascertainlynottheonlylargecityintheGreekworld.Overall,

    noonecitydominatedfifthcenturyGreecedemographically.About6percentofall

    GreekslivedinAttica,roughly4percentinSyracusesterritory,and3percentin

    Spartas.Anotherdozenorsocitystateseachcontained1percentormoreofthe

    population(Morris,2008:116).

    Statisticsabouturbanpopulationsaside,thepopulationseemedtobelargelyrural.

    Asaresultofthedistortedviewgivenbyancientauthorsandthemodernattention

    centeringlargelyontowns,itwaspreviouslythoughtthatfromtheClassicalperiodthe

    populationwasconcentratedintowns,orinsurroundingvillagescloselyconnectedto

    towns.Itnowappearsthatthereweremanycountryhousesandfarmsteads(Adkins&

    Adkins,1997:212).ThefirstcharacterintroducedinAthenazesnarrativeisDikaiopolis

  • 49

    ,whoappropriatelyenoughisafarmerlivingintheAthenianhinterland(1990:3).26

    JACTmakesnomentionoffarmersnoristhewordglossedintheTotalVocabulary

    section(GVE:337ff.).

    Ofcourse,bothAthenazeandJACTtaketheapproachofpresentingAthensand,

    therefore,theAtticdialectasprominentfortworeasons,bothunstated.Thefirstisthat

    AncientGreekwaspolycentric(Adkins&Adkins,1997:238).Theotheristhatavery

    largeandimportantchunkoftheextantliteratureiswritteninAtticGreek.Many

    prominentauthorsdidnotwriteinAtticGreek.Forexample,Herodotuswrotethe

    HistoriesintheIoniandialect(Steadman,2012:viii)andSapphowroteherpoetryinthe

    Aeolicdialect(Annis,2005).Thefactremainsthatmanymajorauthors,particularly

    Plato(GVE,1992:309),aswellaslaterAtticizingwriters,likeLucian(Hadavas,2014:

    viii),wroteintheAtticdialect.SotonotteachtheAtticdialectdoesaseriousdisservice

    towouldbestudentsofAncientGreek.AnAtticGreekonlyapproachhasonemajor

    advantage.GiventheproblemsofseconddialectacquisitionnotedbySiegel(2008:

    197210),itmightbeafoolserrandtoattempttoteachadifferentdialect. The27

    drawbackisthatdialectsusedbyauthorswerenotnecessarilytheirnativetongueorthat

    ofthecityinwhichtheywrote,butofthatofthegenre(Adkins&Adkins,1997:238).

    ThisistosaythatphilosophywaswritteninAttic.ChoralpoetrywaswritteninDoric.

    HistorywaswritteninIonic.Whateverproblemsseconddialectacquisitionpresents,the

    studentofAncientGreekwillhavetoconfrontthem.

    26NottobeconfusedwithJACTsDikaiopolis,whodoesnothaveanapparentoccupation.27Alltextbookseitherexplicitlyorimplicitlychooseonedialecttopresent.ThechoicesavailableareHomeric(forreadingtheIliadandtheOdyssey),Attic(ageneralcatchallfortheClassicalperiodinAthens)andKoine(mostlytostudytheNewTestament).

  • 50

    Eachofthebookstakesaslightlydifferentapproachtothepolycentricnatureof

    AncientGreek.AncientGreekAlivedoesthisbymakingexactlyzeromentionofthis

    fact.MentionsofHomer(1999,15253)orIonia(1999:5859)failtomentiontheir

    dialects.TheonlydiscussionofdialectisasitpertainstotheKoinedialectoftheNew

    Testament,andeventherethedifferenceissetupasadiachronicdifferencethatresultsin

    adialectthatisveryclosetoAtticGreekbutitssyntacticalstructuresaresimpler

    (1999:85).ItisasifAncientGreekhasbeenarelativelyuniformentityinantiquitythat

    experiencedonlythechangesovertimethatalllanguagesexperience,whichwasmost

    certainlywasnotthecase.

    Athenaze,byandlarge,sidestepstheissuebyexplicitlyadaptingnonAttic

    writerstotheAtticdialect(1990:206),thoughtherearecarefullyselectedquotesfrom

    nonAtticsources(1990:189,191,204).JACTtakestheoppositeapproach.NonAttic

    sourcesarepresentedwithoutmodification,butratherstudentsaregivensupporting

    informationsufficienttoreadthepassagespresented(Text,1992:156,168GVE1992:

    24547,255258).

    4.4Cultureineachbooksnarrative

    Iwanttofocusontwoparticulargroupsfortherepresentationofculturewithin

    thenarrativeportionsofJACTandAthenaze:slavesandwomen.Therearetworeasons

    forthis.OneisthatbothofthesegroupsmadeupdailylifeinancientGreece.Theother

    isthattheirappearancesarerelativelyeasytoisolateinthenarratives.

    4.4.1Slaves

    Alargelaborforceofslavesexisted,aswellasfreelabor,whichattimeswas

  • 51

    poorlypaidandwastosomeextentindistinguishablefromtheslaves(Adkins&Adkins,

    1997:412).Appropriatelyenough,Athenazeintroducesaslavecharacter,Xanthias,in

    chapter2andfollowshisintroductionwithatwopagediscussionofslaveryinancient

    Greece(1990:1314).Heisdescribedasrathmos(lazy)inmultipleplaces(19,21)andis

    admonishedmephlyarei(donttalknonsense)(27).Despitethesedescriptions,heislater

    depictedhodedoulosedeageitousbousprostonagron(theslaveisalreadydrivingthe

    oxentothefield)inthefollowingchapter(31).Xanthiasisthestockcharacterofthelazy

    slavewhenthemasterneedstoexpressanger.TheslaveworkshardwhenDikaiopoliss

    wifeisrousinghimfrombed.Inanycase,Xanthiasdoesnotseemtohaveapersonality

    beyondthedemandsofthenarrative,whichinasensemakeshimnotonlyaslaveto

    Dikaiopolisbutalsotothenarrative.

    AnamelessslavecharacterisalsoseeninJACT,thoughhedoesnotmakean

    appearanceuntilsection4B.Theslavespeakstwentywordsandisreferencedonsixlines

    oftextandnotheardfromagain(Text:25).

    Whyminimizetheappearanceoftheslaveinthetext?TheNewComedyperiod

    ofancientGreektheaterfeaturedstockcharacterslikethedefiantslave(Coury,1982:

    vii).SinceJACTbasesitsnarrativewhollyinthetextofancientwriters,itcertainlycould

    haveusedslavecharacterswithinthenarrative,particularlyintheadaptationsofcomic

    playsevenallowingthatNewComedyfallsoutsideofJACTslaserlikefocuson

    fifthcenturyBCEAthens.AthenazenotesthatAristophanes,whoisoneofJACTs

    primarysources,depictsslavesaslivelyandcheekycharacters(1990:14).Soweare

    stuckwiththeproblemofasocietythatisbasedonslavelaborandhowtopresentit.

  • 52

    JACTneatlysidestepstheissuebyminimizingtheappearanceofslaves,whichdoesnot

    createanaccuratepictureofthetotalityofancientGreeksocietyatanyperiod,even

    thoughauthorsdepictingslaveryarepartofthebookssourcematerial.

    InJACT,theslaveisaddressedtwice,andbothofthosetimeheiscalledpai

    (vocativeforchild),whichisanappropriatethingtocallaslaveinancientGreece.Here

    arethetwolinesaddressedtotheslave.

    (4.1) ,.,,.idou, pyra. deur elthe o pai tacheos.look pyre here comeIMP o child quicklyLook,afuneralpyre.Comehere,boy,fast.

    (4.2) ,,.age nun o pai epiballe ton nekron epi cmonIMP now o child throw.onIMP the corpseonto

    ten pyran tautenthe pyre thisCmonnow,boy,throwthecorpsehereontothefuneralpyre.

    Aswecansee,theslavesmasterusesimperativeswiththeslaveineachofthe

    linesdirectedathim.InAthenaze,DikaiopolisaddressesXanthiasthesameway.

    (4.3) ,,.speude o xanthia kai fere moi to

    arotronhurryIMP o Xanthias and carryIMP to.me the plowHurryup,Xanthias,andbringtheplowtome.

    (4.4) ,.

    elthe deuro o kataratecomeIMP here o cursed.creatureComehere,youabomination.

    InAthenazetoo,themasteraddressestheslaveinimperatives,butinsteadofpai

    (child)DikaiopoliscallsXanthiasin4.4amuchharshername.Ifnothingelse,

  • 53

    DikaiopolissattitudetowardXanthiasisconsistentthroughthebook.

    (4.5) .ho xanthias amelei ouden poieithe Xanthias certainly nothing is.doingXanthiasis,nodoubt,doingnothing.

    ThepictureJACTandAthenazebothpaintisthatofslavesasnotjustbeing

    inferiorinsocialstatus,butalsoinferiorincharacter.In4.4and4.5,Xanthiasis

    portrayedaslazyandawful.WhileJACTdoesnotgiveawayanyattitudestowardslaves

    beyondcallingtheslavepais(child),itcertainlyminimizestheirroleinthenarrative.

    4.4.2Women

    Womenareperhapstrickiertowriteaboutthanslaveswithinthecontextof

    ancientGreeksociety,becauseinthehomewomenwerekeptsegregatedintheirown

    quarters(gynaikonitisorgynaikeion)andwerevirtuallyunseen[inpublic](Adkins&

    Adkins,1997:408).Thissortoflivingarrangementwillmakeitverydifficulttoinclude

    womeninthenarratives,unlessthosenarrativesaredeliberatelydomestic.

    ThewritersofJACTdidnottaketherouteofdomesticnarrative,andsowomen

    aremostlyconspicuousbytheirabsence.Thereasonfortheirabsenceiseasytoexplain.

    Althoughmenwerepartofboththepolis[publicsphere]andoikos[thehome],women

    hadaroleonlyintheoikos(Adkins&Adkins,1997:408).Sincemostoftheactionin

    JACTisinpublic,thebookaccuratelydoesnotportraywomenforthebulkofthetext.

    TheAmazons,atribeofwomenwarriorswhoarenotGreek,arementionedinsection6G

    (Text,1992:5253),thoughnonearenamedasindividuals.Thislackofnaming

    accuratelyreflectsthesourcematerialdrawnfromHerodotussHistories.Thenext

  • 54

    appearanceofawomaninthetextissection9(Text,1992:8088),whichisan

    adaptationofthecomicplayLysistrata.WhenpartfourofJACT,WomeninAthenian

    Society,rollsaround,theauthorsexplainthedifficultyoflearninganythingabout

    womenslivesinAtheniansociety(Text:95).Thispartofthebookislargelydrawnfrom

    alegalspeechentitledKataNeairas(Athensvs.Neaira).Whiledirectinformationabout

    theauthorsviewsrarelyshows,theyprefacetheAncientGreeknarrativethisway,You

    mustcontinuallyaskyourselfthequestionWhatdoApollodoros[thespeakers]words

    tellusabouttheaverageAthenianmalesattitudetothesubjectunderdiscussion?

    (Text:96).Whileaskingthesesortsofquestionsisgoodpracticewhenreadinganything,

    theauthorsofJACTfeltitnecessarytoremindthestudentsofitwhenpresentingthis

    topic.

    SinceKataNeairasisalegalspeechonbehalfoftheprosecution,thelanguageof

    theprosecutionshouldbedamagingtoNeaira.Anditis.Sheisdescribedasxene

    (nonAthenianfemale),doule(slave)andhetaira(courtesan)(Text,1992:106).Since

    thesedescriptionsaremeanttopersuadethejuryagainstNeaira(Text,1992:98),it

    shouldbesafetosurmisethatproperAthenianwomenwerenotsupposedtobeslavesor

    courtesans.Infact,ingivingcontexttothestudentsbeforereadingsection11Ftwo

    oppositewordsweregiven.Xene(nonAthenianfemale)istheoneappliedtoNeaira,but

    aste(femaleAtheniancitizen)isonethatwouldcometomindimmediatelyifwehad

    beeninthejury.ThusJACTsuppliesitforustogiveusthepropercontextfor

    understandingxene.Beforemovingon,itisimportanttopointoutthatcitizenshipin

    ancientGreecewasmorethanapoliticalaffair,itwasalsoaclassmarker.Underthelaw

  • 55

    ofPericles,amancouldnothavepoliteia(citizenship)unlesshehadafatherandmother

    withpoliteia(Cancik&Schneider,2005:vol.11,474).JACTsintroductionoftheterm

    astedoesnotmakethesocialaspectsofcitizenshipclear,whichcouldhinderstudents

    fullunderstandingofthecontextofthepassage.

    Athenazetooktherouteofusingadomesticsetting,thefarmandfamilyof

    Dikaiopolis,toprovidefortheappearanceofwomeninthenarrative.Inthemiddleofthe

    book,chapter8Aand8B,weseethefamilyonajourneytoAthens.Ichosethischapter

    sinceitdoesincludewomenandmentogetherinthenarrative.Sincethewholefamilyis

    onthetrip,allofthecentralcharactersareinthenarrative:Dikaiopolis,Myrrine(his

    wife),Phillipos(hisson)andMelitta(hisdaughter).Inthischapter,menarenamed10

    timesandwomenarenamed11times.Menaregivennonspecificnames6timesin5

    roles,whicharepater(father),pappos(grandpa),pappas(daddy),doulos(slave)and

    aner(man/husband).Womenaregivennonspecificnamesthreetimesinthreeroles,

    whicharegyne(woman/wife),thugater(daughter)andmeter(mother).Tworoles,which

    arenotnecessarilysexspecific,anthropos(person)andpais(child)weregiventhree

    times.Theinterestingthingaboutthenonspecificrolesisthat,exceptfordoulos,allof

    therolesarefamilialroles. Whilewomenarecalledoutfewertimesinfewerroles,that28

    doesnottakeawayfromthefactthattheserolesmaleandfemalearestrictly

    domestic.

    4.4.3Whatsthealternativetotheseproblems?

    AncientGreekAliveneatlysidestepstheproblemofhowtoportraysocietyin

    28ImusingfamilyinamorebiologicalthansocialsensethantheGreekswouldhaveunderstoodit.Thefamilywouldhavedefinitelyincludedtheslaveinantiquity.

  • 56

    antiquitybynotportrayingitineithermadeupnarrativessetinancientGreeceorin

    adaptationsofancientGreekliterature.Allofthisnarrativeissetwhilehavingthe

    languagethrustfrontandcenterandindeedusingapedagogicalmethodremember,

    AesopusedanimalstoriesforteachingfamiliartoancientGreekculture,whichmisses

    animportantpoint.OvertGreekcultureisnotpresentedinthenarrativeportionsatall.

    ThereisnopictureofancientGreecepresentedwithintheL2narrativeofAncientGreek

    Alive.

    Cultureoutsideofeachbooksnarrative

    Inadditiontothenarrativeselectionsofeachbook,theyalsopresentbitsabout

    Greekcultureoutsideofthenarrativeselections.Thefollowingtablegivesthetitlesof

    shortessaysthatgiveinsightintoAncientGreekculture.

  • 57

    JACT Athenaze AncientGreekAlive

    Interleavedwiththereadingsasheadingsforsectionsandshortexplanatorynotesbeforebroaderdivisionsofthebook. Thesedivisions29are:AthensatseaMoraldecay?AthensthroughthecomicpoetseyesWomeninAtheniansocietyAthenianviewsofjusticeGods,fateandmanHomericheroandheroine

    TheAthenianFarmer(6)Slavery(13)TheDemeandthePolis(24)Women(35)GodsandMen(46)Myth(59)Homer(74)Athens:AHistoricalOutline(86)TheCityofAthens(102)Festivals(114)GreekMedicine(130)TradeandTravel(143)TheRiseofPersia(156)TheRiseofAthens(173)TheAthenianEmpire(198)

    Greekwritingandliteracy(7)Greekmedicine(20)ThewisdomofNasrudinandSocrates(39)TwoIonianphilosophers(58)TheNewTestament(85)TurtleTales(101)TheBrideofDeath(115)Diogenes(132)ThePersonalMuse(152)TheHumanCity(178)ThreeMedicalSymbols(213)

    Figure4.11:Culturalreadingtopicsoutsideofthenarratives

    JACTstreatmentofcultureiseitherwithinthenarrativeitselforincludedas

    notesthatleadintovarioustopics.Thenarrativesthemselvesarearrangedtomirrorsome

    ofthemainthemesofAncientGreekliterature.Thefirsttopic,Athensatsea,picksup

    thethreadofhistory,ontheonehandasitrelatestothePersianinvasionsoffifthand

    sixthcenturiesBCEandontheotherhandasthenarrativeissetduringthePeloponnesian

    WarofthelatefifthcenturyBCE.Thepictureitbuilds,whileverythoroughandliterary,

    hastheflawsandstrengthsnotedintheprevioussectionabouthowGreeksocietyis

    presentedinthenarratives.

    AthenazeandAncientGreekAlivetackletheprobleminarelatedfashionwhile

    29Muchthewaythatthisintroductorynoteisinfrontofthedivisionsofthebook,soalsoaretheculturalnotesinJACT

  • 58

    remainingdistinctintheauthorschoicesoftopic.BothbooksuseessaysinEnglishto

    impartculturalknowledge.Athenazedescribesculturalconcernsaboutthedailylifeof

    ancientGreeks(slavery,festivalsandtradeandtravel)andtheirhistory(TheRiseof

    PersiaandTheRiseofAthens),whereasAncientGreekAliveisdecidedlymoreliterary

    andphilosophicalinitsessays(TwoIonianPhilosophers,thePersonalMuseanda

    politicalessayonTheHumanCity).Whileneithersetofessaysprovidesaninaccurate

    viewwithintheessays,bothhavetheirbiases.

    AsoneauthorofAncientGreekAlivestatesinherintroductiontostudents,

    Beingapurist,IwasunwillingtowaterdownorotherwisedistortGreekmaterial

    (AGA,1999:xv).Betweentheauthorsclaimsofpurismandthelistofculturaltopics

    coveredinthebook,aliterarypurposebehindthebookinthelistofculturaltopics

    presentedsnapsclearlyintoview.

    DotheseculturalessayspresentanaccuratepictureofancientGreeksociety?In

    anearliersection,Dialectineachbooksnarrative,AncientGreekAlivepresentsa

    limitedpictureoftherealityofAncientGreekpolycentrism.Thesameisalsotrueofthe

    culturalessays.Plato,amajorauthorinancientGreekphilosophyismentionedinhisrole

    asSocratessstudent(1999:40)andasbeinginfluencedbyotherphilosophers(1999:

    59).Socrates,whodidnotwriteasingleword,hasanessaydevotedtoacomparisonof

    himandMullahNasrudin(1999:3940).XenophanesandHeraclitus,philosophers,get

    anentireculturalessaydevotedtothem(1999:5859).Thesetwofiguresarerelatively

    minorcomparedtoPlato.TheyhaveauthorednovolumesintheLoebClassicalLibrary

    comparedtoPlatostwelvevolumes(2014).Admittedly,extantliteraturedoesnotequate

  • 59

    toimportance, butIwouldarguethatpeopledonotcometothestudyofAncientGreek30

    becauseofminorauthors.Whilefragmentaryauthorsaredoubtlessfascinating(andthe

    essayisinteresting)andtheessaydoessupplyimportantinformationaboutphilosophical

    andliteraryinfluences,italsofailstogiveanaccuratepictureoftherelativeimportance

    ofvariouswritersinthelimitedspaceavailableforculturalessays.

    Onthetopicofwomen,theclosestSaffireandFriesgettotalkingaboutthelives

    ofwomenisintheessaytitledTheBrideofDeath(1999:115116).Whileitis

    understandablethattheirliterarybentintheculturalessaysminimizestheroleofwomen,

    itisalsosurprisinggiventhatbothoftheauthorsarethemselveswomen.Theonly

    mentiontheymakeofwomenisinthediscussionofawomanstombstone.They

    concludewithTombstones,suchasthisone,giveusapoignantglimpseintothefamily

    lifeoftheGreeksand,inparticular,thelivesofwomen(AGA,1999:116).Theessayon

    ThePersonalMusementionsSappho,thoughmakesnomentionofthepeculiarityof

    hersituation:theonlynamedwomanpoetfromancientGreece(AGA,1999:153).And

    again,theydiscusscitizenshipintheessayTheHumanCitywhichspendsthebulkof

    thepassagetalkingaboutcitizenshipbutonlymentionsthelackofcitizenshipforwomen

    inthelastpassage(AGA,1999:178).Ifindithighlyanomalousthattwowomenwriting

    atextbookaboutancientGreeceanditslanguagewouldnotgivemoretimetotheroleof

    womeninthatsocietyespeciallywhentheminimizedpublicroleofwomeninancient

    GreeceisatopicdealtwithmorefullyinJACTandAthenaze.

    ForAthenaze,Iknowlessabouttheauthorsattitudesaboutthepurismtowardthe

    30Socratescomesimmediatelytomind.HisphilosophyisrecordedbyhisstudentsXenophonandPlato.

  • 60

    literature.Idoknowthatoneoftheauthors,Balme,wroteAthenazeinreactiontoboth

    thegrammartranslationmethodfoundinmanyVictoriantexts aswellastheoverly31

    grammarlight,narrativedrivenearlyeditionoftheCambridgeLatinCourse.Further,he

    waswritingatatimethatheperceivedasprecariousforthestudyofclassicallanguages

    (TheTelegraph,2012).Hislistofculturaltopics,asaresult,looksmorelikealistof

    greatesthitsofAncientGreekliterature.Thechoicesoftopicmakesenseinlightof

    perceptionsofstudydecliningtothepointofnonexistence.

    Itisworthnotingthateachculturalessayistiedtothereadinginatopical

    fashion.Forexample,whentheadaptedstoryofOdysseusblindingthecyclops(Odyssey,

    book9)istoldinchapter7ofAthenaze(HoCyclops),AthenazediscussesHomer,the

    Odysseysauthor.

    TheculturalessaysinAthenazearebalanced.Theessayaboutwomenslivesin

    chapter4(3536)coversthesameinformationthatwascoveredaboutwomenslivesin

    theprevioussection.Itfurthergoesontofindtheplacesintheliteraturewherewomen

    areeitheraddressed(XenophonsOikonomikos)orarecharactersindrama(Euripidess

    Electra).BalmeandLawallfurtherelaborateonhowwomenleftthehometoattend

    religiousfestivalsand,then,finishwithaquotefromthepoet,Semonides:Thegods

    madeherofhoney,andblessedisthemanwhogetsher(1990:36).

    4.4.4Havingitbothways

    Ultimatelyitispossibletohavebothahighinterestnarrativeandapictureof

    societythatismorecomplete.Atriskofdigressing,IpointtoHansrbergsLingua

    31ThoughIhastentopointoutthatRousesGreekBoyatHomeappearedjustafterthistimeperiod,soBalmewasnottheonlyonewiththisconcern.http://bit.ly/1DcgSE0

  • 61

    LatinaperSeIllustrata.Tobesure,thestoryinthebookcentersitselfonapatrician

    Romanfamily,butinadditiontothenearlywhollymaleworldspresentedinJACT,we

    seewomen,childrenandslavesdepictedassomethingotherthanbackgroundcharacters.

    Thechildrenofthefamilytakecenterstageinchapter3.Theslavemasterrelationshipis

    portrayedfarmorefullythaninAthenazeinchapter4.Therelationshipsamongthe

    children,theirmotherandthehouseholdslavesisshowninchapter5.Theadventuresof

    arunawayslaveandhisgirlfriendareshowninchapter8(Oerberg,2003).Icouldgoon,

    butmypointshouldbeclear.Itispossibletobroadenthesocietalperspectivepresented

    andneithercompromisethepedagogynorpresentlopsidedviewsoftheculture.

    Additionally,thetextofLinguaLatinaperSeIllustrataneveroncebreaksintoamodern

    languagetoexplainRomanculturalnorms.

    4.5Talkingaboutthelanguageitself

    OneofthelastthingsIwanttolookatissomeofthegrammartalkwithinthe

    lessonsthemselves.Whilethisiscertainlynotthemainpointofthisstudy,itisworth

    takingalookatthewaysthattheauthorspresentthegrammarportionsoftheirbooks.

    AncientGreekAlivedirectsstudentstomakeuseoftranslationeseatseveral

    pointsinthebook.Thisnotionisintroducedanddescribedasanartificiallanguagethat

    isextremelyusefulinlearningGreek(AGA,1999:66).Theideaisnottocreatean

    idiomaticallybeautifultranslation,butonethatlaysthegrammaticalstructureofAncient

    Greekbare.Hereistheauthorsexampleofhowtodoit:

  • 62

    (4.6) normalEnglish:Ithinkthischildisfoolish.translationese:Iconsiderthisherechildtobefoolish.(AGA,1999:66)

    Ascanbeseen,translationeseliesatapointsomewherebetweenidiomatic

    Englishthirdlineandthesecondlineofatypicallinguisticthreelinetranscription.

    (4.7) nomizo tonde ton paida einai moronthinkI thisACChere detACC childACC beINF foolishACCIthinkthischildisfoolish.

    WhileIwouldhesitatetocalltranslationeseinterlanguage,therearedefinitely

    somesimilarities.Inthetranslationese,insteadofmakinganEnglishlikeAncientGreek,

    whichwouldbemoretypicalofaninterlanguage,theideaistomakean

    AncientGreeklikeEnglish.WhileSLAtheoriesgenerallydonotaddressthe

    targettonativelanguagedirection,itisthetraditionaldirectionofbuildingan

    understandingofthetargetlanguageinclassicallanguages. AGAisbothconformingto32

    theconventionofAmericanclassicallanguageclassroominusingEnglishtocreatean

    understandingofAncientGreekandprovidingstudentswithausefultechniquetobuild

    thatunderstandingwithinthecontextofatypicalclassroom.

    Whilethisattitudetowardthetargetlanguagemayseemoddtoteachersof

    modernlanguages,itishardlyuniquetoAncientGreektextbooks.JACTalsostates,this

    runninggrammariswrittentohelpstudentsunderstandGreekandtranslatefromGreek

    intoEnglish(originalemphasis,GVE,1992:10).ThebackcoverofAthenazeproclaims

    thatitsexercisesintranslationfromandintoGreekareintegratedthroughout(1990).

    32InmanyLatinandGreektextbooks,andcertainlytheclassroomsIwastaughtin,werarelybotheredwiththepossibilityofunderstandingtheselanguagesasthemselves.InthisrespectLatinpedagogyisstartingtochange.ImnotsureGreekisthere.Yet.

  • 63

    Theemphasisinclassicallanguageteachingtendsstronglytowardinterpretingthetarget

    languageviameansofthenativelanguage,evenifthebooksaysfluencyofreading

    (Athenaze,1990:vi).

    LaterinAncientGreekAlive,studentsaretoldtoalwayslookfortheverbsfirst

    whentranslating(AGA,1999:73).OnceagainthisadvicegoesagainstwhatSLA

    theoriesofL2acquisitiontellus.Butasmatterofpersonalanecdote IrecallmyLatin 33 34

    teachertellingmetodotheexactsamethingwhenLatinsentencesbecametricky.

    Workingfromtargetlanguagetonativelanguageis,broadlyspeaking,anormofthe

    classicsclassroom. 35

    4.6LanguageSocializationinAncientGreektextbooks

    Asoutlinedintheliteraturereviewsection,LanguageSocializationistrickywith

    AncientGreek,sinceitisgenerallynotspoken.AncientGreekAliveopenswithaseries

    ofninescriptsthataremeanttointroducethestudentstoAncientGreekinawaythat

    theyfindmostnaturalandleastintimidating(AGA,1999:xvii).Infact,theveryfirst

    (andlast)AncientGreekthatstudentsseeisthis.

    (4.8) ,,,(AGA,1999:xxiv,273)

    Sincethebookhasattemptedtopositionitselfasuserfriendlythroughout,the

    33Notthesingularofdata.34IcannotexpresshowtightlyAncientGreekistiedtoLatinwithoutbreakingintoalengthydigression.WhilenotallLatinistsareHelleniststoo,theyareattheveryleastawareofthemassiveliterarydebtclassicalLatinliteratureowestoAncientGreek.Thereverseisnotalwaystrue,asLatininfluenceonliteraryGreekwasmuch,muchweakerforreasonsofchronology.35ThoughthatnormischanginginLatinclassroomsintheUnitedStates.FindinganAncientGreekclassroomintheUnitedStatesistrickyatbest.

  • 64

    studentandteacherintroductorycommentswithwordslikelove,happilyandjoyforthe

    studentsandreassured,enhance,rewardedandenthusiasmfortheteachers(AGA,1999:

    xv,xvii),setsupawhollydifferenttonethanotherbooks.Giventhefriendlyand

    welcomingtones,whatwouldtheappropriatewordstobeginsuchabookbe?Whynot

    this:

    (4.9) chairete, o philoihello2.PL o friendsHello,friends.

    Thebookalsocloseswiththeexactsamewords,sincechairetecanmean

    goodbyeaswellashello.Itisaneattrickofputtingthestudentsintoasocialstateof

    mindfromtheveryoutset.Italsoallowsfortheteachertogreetstudentsappropriately

    accordingtogender,awayAncientGreekismuchmoreakintoSpanishthantoEnglish.

    Thusthestudentsaresetupforthesituatedlearningthatensuesoverthefollowingnine

    scripts.

    JACTandAthenazesituatethestudentsinwaysthataredifferentfromAncient

    GreekAliveyetaresimilarenoughtoeachotherthatIwillnotbothertoexploreboth.

    ThefollowingfiguresaresamplesfromthefirstAncientGreekpresentedinAthenaze

    thatisnotintendedfortheteachingofthealphabet.

  • 65

    Figure4.12ThefirstpageoflanguageinstructioninAthenaze(1990:1)

    Ascanbeseen,thereadingpassageisdefinitelygivencontext,particularlywith

  • 66

    theimageofthemancarryingthesheepinFigure4.10.Sincethestatueisanexampleof

    ancientGreekmaterialcultureandamplifiedwiththeAncie


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