Workshop on historical and comparative grammar of Ancient Greek

This intensive workshop aims to provide students with a basic foundation of the historical grammar of Ancient Greek. The workshop is structured in five 2-hour seminars led by PhD students from the Universities of Edinburgh, Berlin (HU), and London (KCL). The first seminar (‘The Indo-European origins of Ancient Greek and elements of Greek Phonology’, cf. infra) is preparatory for the following seminars, therefore attendance is highly recommended. An intermediate knowledge of Ancient Greek grammar is necessary for all seminars.

The workshop is free, but those interested must send an email to Sebastiano Bertolini (sebastiano.bertolini@ed.ac.uk). Due to the size of the course facilities, no more than 25 places are available.  Places will be provided on a first come first served basis.

Discussed topics:

The Indo-European origins of Ancient Greek and elements of Greek Phonology

• Basic notions of Indo-European concept and language;
• Notions of Indo-European phonology;
• Greek phonetical system (vowels, semivowels, diphthongs, consonants, etc.);

The nominal system of Ancient Greek

• Notions of the Greek nominal system (the genre, the number etc.);
• Nominal formation;
• Nominal inflection;

The verbal system of Ancient Greek

• General features of the Greek verbal system (diathesis, mood, tense etc.);
• Verbal formation;
• Verbal inflection;
• Nominal forms of the Greek verb (participle, infinite, verbal adjectives); 

Further elements of Greek grammar (pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, numerals etc.)

An introduction to Ancient Greek dialects (mainly Ionic, Attic, Doric and Eolic)

Historical Grammar in practice: reading group of Hom. Il. 1.1-20

Program:

Friday 3 March 15.30-18.30

15.30-17.20: The Indo-European origins of Ancient Greek and elements of Greek Phonology

17.20-17.40: Coffee Break

17.40-18.30: The nominal system of Ancient Greek/1

Saturday 4 March 9.10-12.00/13.00-17.00

9.10-10.00: The nominal system of Ancient Greek/2

10.10-12.00: The verbal system of Ancient Greek

12.00-13.00: Lunch

13.00-14.50: Further grammatical elements of Ancient Greek (i.e. adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, numerals etc.)

15.10-17.00: An introduction to Ancient Greek dialects / Historical Grammar in practice

Organizers:

Sebastiano Bertolini, Alberto Esu, Claudia Baldassi, Flavia Licciardello, Antonio Genova