HISTORY OF ANCIENT GREEK LANGUAGE

This lecture course is part of the Bachelor's Degree Programme in Literature (corso di laurea in Lettere, curriculum Scienze dell'antichità). It allows students to acquire a basic knowledge of the history of the Greek language and its dialects in their historical development. The first part of the course will provide an introduction to the history of the Greek language and its dialects, to the relationship between epichoric and literary dialects, to Greek historical phonology. The second part of the course will then focus on analysing a selection of exemplary texts for the study of Greek literary languages and epichoric dialects. At the end of this course, the student will acquire a basic knowledge of the historical development of the Greek language and will familiarize with the relevant tools and methodologies.

The expected outcome of this course is that the students acquire knowledge and understanding of theoretical, historical-linguistic, literary and methodological content etc. of the History of he Greek language; that they are able to deal with scientific texts and analyse new problems and concepts; that they are able to analyse the main aspects of the language of ancient Greek texts using what they have learnt about its linguistic evolution and the existence of different local and literary varieties; that they are able to argue their own thesis or analysis of a passage using the skills and tools of the discipline (phonological, morphological, literary analysis); that they are able to communicate their theses and critical hypotheses within a public and/or scientific context.
More specifically, the expected outcome is that students acquire
1) acquire a general knowledge of the historical evolution of Greek, from the 2nd millennium to the Classical age, in the light of historical and geographical factors, and with a particular focus on the relationship between literary languages and local dialects;
2) acquire a basic knowledge of the principale Greek literary languages;
3) make a first acquaintance with non-literary Greek texts;
4) familiarize with theoretical and methodological tools for the study of Greek historical linguistics;
5) identify and be able to use the main bibliographical and digital tools pertaining to the field of Greek linguistics.

Compulsory:
1) adequate knowledge of ancient Greek, certified (through high school diploma or university exams);

Desirable:
1) Students may wish to attend the lectures on Greek literature and Greek epigraphy first, although this is not a compulsory prerequisite.

The course outlines the development of the Greek language between the archaic and classical periods, with a focus on the constitution of local dialects and literary languages. After a first introductory part, devoted to local dialects and literary languages, the Greek alphabet, the main phenomena of phonetics and historical morphology, and the history of studies, the course will exemplify the problems of interpretation and the methodologies to be adopted in order to deal with them competently by means of a focus on the language of Attic tragedy. Selected passages from the works of the three main tragedians (no more than 400 verses) will be read and commented on in class. Particular attention will be paid to:
- the language of tragedy as evidence of the Attic dialect;
- the constituent linguistic layers of the language of tragedy;
- the relationship with the literary tradition, in particular with the epic language and the Doric of lyric poetry;
- some cases of linguistic mimesis in tragedy: the language of oracles, technical language.

*Students who may not be fluent in Italian may ask for a different reading list*
A) General introduction:

A. C. Cassio (a c. di), Storia delle lingue letterarie greche, Milano, Mondadori, 2016: chapter 2 (La fonologia del greco e le sue radici indoeuropee, pp. 32-72) and 4 (Alfabeti locali, testi arcaici, edizioni ellenistiche, pp. 107-129).
V. Garulli – C. Neri, Morfologia e storia del greco antico, Roma, Carocci, 2024 (chapters 1-5, pp. 21-104).

B) The language of tragedy
S. Kaczko, "La tragedia", in A. C. Cassio (a c. di), Storia delle lingue letterarie greche, Milano, Mondadori, 2016, pp. 307-319.

C) Copies of the texts will be distributed during the course or will uploaded onto Moodle.

D) Suggested reading (non-compulsory):

History of the Greek language:
A. Meillet, Lineamenti di storia della lingua greca, Torino, Einaudi, 1981 (seconda edizione italiana);
L. R. Palmer, The Greek Language, London, Faber, 1980;
O. Hoffmann – A. Debrunner – A. Scherer, Storia della lingua greca, Napoli, Macchiaroli, 1969.

Phonology:
M. Lejeune, Phonétique historique du mycénien et du grec ancien, Paris, Klincksieck, 1972.

Morphology:
V. Garulli – C. Neri, Morfologia e storia del greco antico, Roma, Carocci, 2024.

Historical linguistics:
H. Rix, Historische Grammatik des Griechischen. Laut- und Formenlehre, Darmstadt 1992 (seconda edizione);
O. Szemerényi, Introduzione alla linguistica indoeuropea. A cura di G. Boccali – V. Brugnatelli – M. Negri, Milano, Unicopli, 1985.

Greek dialectology:
Y. Duhoux, Introduzione alla dialettologia greca antica, Bari, Levante, 1986;
C. D. Buck, The Greek Dialects, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1955;
S. Colvin, A Historical Greek Reader, Oxford, OUP, 2007.

The exam will be divided into two parts:
1) questions about the general introduction and the basics of historical phonology;
2) reading (where required, also the metre) translating, and commenting on two of the texts from the selection.

oral

Assessment will be based on the level of knowledge of the topics of linguistic history and diachronic linguistics covered in the first part of the course, the ability to translate the texts on the syllabus and to provide a linguistic-literary commentary in the light of the topics covered in the lecture. Particular attention will be paid to the students' ability to self-assess their own analysis of linguistic phenomena and critically discuss any errors in analysis that emerge during the oral examination.
More specifically:
- The exam is considered sufficient (18-22/30) if the student is able to answer the questions on the general phenomena of linguistic history, possibly with the help of the lecturer, identifying the main aspects, with sufficient language property; to read metrically (where applicable), albeit with some hesitation, and translate the Greek texts with relatively few uncertainties; and is able to adequately answer some of the questions on the grammar of the texts under examination (meanings, paradigms, declensions) and the linguistic phenomena they contain.
- The exam is considered good (22-26/30) if the student is able to answer the questions on the general phenomena of linguistic history independently, without the need for help from the teacher, with an adequate command of language, identifying the main aspects, and providing a correct historical and structural description of the phenomena; to read metrical (where applicable) and translate Greek texts competently, answering correctly an adequate number of the questions on the grammar of the texts under examination (meanings, paradigms, declensions) and the linguistic phenomena they contain.
considers as excellent (27-30/30) the test in which the student is able to answer autonomously, without the need for help from the teacher, and with excellent language property, the questions on the general phenomena of linguistic history, identifying the main aspects, providing a correct historical and structural description of the phenomena, and proposing connections between different phenomena; to read metrical (where applicable) and translate Greek texts competently, answering correctly and without hesitation most of the questions on the grammar of the texts under examination (meanings, paradigms, declensions) and the linguistic phenomena they contain.
- The test is considered excellent (30/30 cum laude) if the student is able to respond brilliantly, in elegant Italian appropriate to the scientific context, to questions on the general phenomena of linguistic history, proposing comparisons with other phenomena and/or phases of the language, structuring the answer clearly and paying attention to logical or structural connections between the phenomena; to read in metrical order (where applicable) and to translate the Greek texts in an elegant manner and attentive to the stylistic and lexical nuances of the text; to answer without hesitation all questions on the grammar of the texts under examination (meanings, paradigms, declensions) and the linguistic phenomena they contain.

Lectures. First part of the course: introduction to the history of the Greek language, basics of historical phonology and morphology. Second part of the course: translation and linguistic commentary of the texts.