ASSIGNMENT FOR CLASSICS 520B: PROSEMINAR

Friday February 25: LINGUISTICS

If you have any questions, please contact me: .

TO PREPARE FOR THE CLASS

I. Read the following (to be found on the seminar room reserve shelf for this course):

a) B. Fortson, Indo-European Language and Culture, pp.1-15 (ignore the exercises)

b) C. Watkins, How to Kill a Dragon, pp.1-27.

II. I have grouped you (arbitrarily) into pairs for the purposes of this assignment. Each pair should read and prepare to discuss one the following articles. Your task is

a) present the *gist* of your article in class and

b) initiate a brief discussion of what you presented.

Please do *not* present the details of your article (your peers will have little time to think though them in class and many linguistic arguments are hard to follow orally). Instead, please focus only on the essence of the argument, the conclusion and the questions of methodology (i.e. what methods are used in the article under discussion, what are their advantages and limitations, what are their goals, and what are the results achieved).

Ideally I would like every presentation to be split between the two people responsible for it, with the first speaker presenting the summary of the article and the second speaker commenting on the methodology (is this linguistics? if so, what kind - synchronic, diachronic, comparative etc.? what are the methods used, do you find them useful and for what? what are the limitations of these methods?)

Presentations should be brief (about 10 minutes, which means you should shoot for 5—these things always take longer than you think). Be prepared to explain why and in what you agree or disagree with the arguments in your articles and what (if anything) they contribute to the field of Classics. One way to illustrate the point of the article without getting bogged down in details is to select one or two striking examples and explain what the author does with it/them.

1. Martin and Ella: C. Watkins, "Observations on the "Nestor's Cup" Inscription." HSCP 80 (1976) 25-40 (available on JSTOR)

2. Alberto and Bridget: A. Bonifazi, "KEINOΣ in Pindar: Between Grammar and Poetic Intention" CP 99 (2004) 283-299 (available on JSTOR)

3. Josh and Janice: Brent Vine, "An Umbrian -Latin correspondence." HSCP 90 (1986) 111-127 (available on JSTOR).

4. Brandon and Marie: G. Nagy, "Thunder and the birth of humankind." In Greek Mythology and Poetics. Cornell 1990 (two copies will be in the seminar room on the class shelf on Monday, Feb. 14)

III. The fun part: from Fortson, "Indo-European Language and Culture," read pages 222-273 (the chapters on Greek and Latin) and do the following exercises. Please note that we will not discuss the chapters themselves, though I will be happy to answer (or not) your questions. In other words, you may skim the chapters, try to do the exercises right away and read only as need arises, and otherwise do whatever you want to complete the exercises. You may find it helpful to refer to pages 48-66 (on Indo-European phonology). You are more than welcome to use any kind of additional literature (though none is necessary) or to collaborate with others. You may find this very easy or very tough. In the latter case, don't despair. If you can't quite figure it out, just record what you are thinking, what is the sticking point, and what questions you have.

a) 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 after the Greek chapter

b) 2, 5, 6, 7, 9 10 after the Latin chapter

IV. Read J. Katz, "What Linguistics are good for" Classical World 100 (2007) 99-112 (available on Project Muse). This one has entertainment value and nothing you need to memorize and/or figure out, so I hope this will be relaxing rather than taxing. And I am quite curious to hear how you react to it.

WHAT WE WILL DO IN CLASS:

1. We will start with a brief survey of the field of Classical Linguistics, talk about its methodologies, and discuss the texts assigned to you under I.

2. We will then look at some of these methodologies in action by having your presentations and discussing the group readings in II.

3. Finally, you will get a chance to practice your linguistic skills by doing the exercises assigned above in III.