Formal Linguistics and the Teaching of Latin

Reviews / Votes

"Formal linguistics is more explicit and more precise than other types of grammar. Since it has access to more sophisticated tools of grammatical analysis, it tends to achieve more explanatory results, which in turn leads to a deeper level of understanding on the part of the student. The 26 papers in this volume are arranged into three sections covering morphology and syntax (with emphasis on word order), semantics and pragmatics, and the history and theory of teaching. Various ways of bridging the gap between formal linguistics and more traditional approaches are discussed, and the potential applications of formal linguistics in the classroom are explored.The goals of this volume are as practically important as they are theoretically desirable. Latin teachers everywhere will greatly benefit from this presentation of recent theoretical ideas."- Andrew M. Devine, Professor of Classics, Stanford University, USA, Laurence D. Stephens, Adjunct Professor of Classics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA "This book presents a valuable contribution to the Linguistics of Latin not only in relation to Romance languages stemming from it, but also in relation to Classical Greek and other languages of Europe. Some articles connect their theoretical observations with a methodology for the formal teaching of Latin. The reflection on the grammatical structures of a language used to be one of the main, if not the most important tool to foreign language learning. Nowadays, however, this approach is generally abandoned in the teaching of modern languages. But it is still the center of classical language teaching, which however calls for an update on new theoretical approaches and the advances reached by recent studies. The greatest merit of this volume lies in its attempt to match theoretical reflections on the linguistic structures of Latin with methodological issues of teaching."- Lorenzo Renzi, Professor of Romance Philology, Universita degli Studi di Padova, Italy, Vice-President of the Societe de Linguistique Romane.'What deserves special attantion is the unseen compactness of this volume. It is not the fragmented anthology we often meet. [...] the central motive remains crystal clear in every moment [.]' Lucie Pultrova, 'Listy Filologicke, Folia Philologica', 135/2012/1-2., p. 193.''We have to be very grateful to the editors of the volume inviting us to reflect seriously on the need to innovate the teaching of Latin with the support of a non-normative grammar. The study of Latin cannot be separated from learning a "high" grammar, in the sense of a "scientific" grammar, elaborated as a theory of language in response to questions about nature and functions of language.''- Valeria Viparelli, 'Bollettino di Studi Latini', 47 (2012), 874-876''The volume Formal Linguistics and the Teaching of Latin appears to be very consistent and this is not only due to fact that the main theme of the volume is Latin. In fact, the authors of each study pay attention to the advantages of deriving new methods from theoretical and formal linguistics to improve the teaching of Latin.''- Anna Farkas, 'Acta Antiqua Hungarica', 52 (2012), 85-87.