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.

By attending this course, students will:
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);
2) ability to read the hexameter and the Sapphic stanza;
3) knowledge of Italian;

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

The course will outline the historical development of the Greek language, with special consideration to the study of Greek epichoric dialects and literary languages. The main phonological and morphological features of archaic and classical Greek will be illustrated through texts. The course pivots around an anthology of texts:
1) Homer, Il. 18.478-617;
2) Alcman, Louvre Partheneion (fr. 1 PMGF);
3) Sappho, frr. 1 e 16 Voigt;
4) Pindar, Ol. 1;
5) An inscription written in the Doric dialect of Crete (decree for the scribe Spensitheos);
6) An inscription written in Easter Ionic (the Berezan letter).

These texts will be translated and commented upon during the course. Part of these texts will be assigned for individual study.

A) General introduction:

A. C. Cassio (ed), Storia delle lingue letterarie greche, Milano, Mondadori, 2016 (NB second edition):only chapters 1 (Stirpi, gruppi dialettali e lingue letterarie, pp. 3-31), 2 (La fonologia del greco e le sue radici indoeuropee, pp. 32-72), 4 (Alfabeti locali, testi arcaici, edizioni ellenistiche, pp. 107-129), 5 (L'epica, pp. 139-196; NB not the texts).

B) Texts:
Copies of the texts will be distributed during the course or will uploaded onto Moodle.

C) Suggested readings (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:
P. Chantraine, Morphologie historique du grec, Paris, Klincksieck, 1961;
D. Pieraccioni, Morfologia storica della lingua greca, Messina – Firenze, D'Anna, 1975 (terza edizione).

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 in two parts:
1) questions pertaining to the general introduction and the basics of historical phonology (10/30 of the final mark);
2) reading, translating, and commenting two of the texts from the selection (20/30 of the final mark). The ability to read the hexameter and the Sapphic stanza is compulsory.

If required, it will be possible to arrange for an in itinere test which will focus on point 1.

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

Italian

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