McMahon, 'Greek for Reading', Bryn Mawr Classical Review 9505
URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/bmcr/bmcr-9505-mcmahon-greek

@@@@95.5.4, Seligson, Greek for Reading

Gerda M. Seligson, <i>Greek for Reading</i>. Ann Arbor: The
University of Michigan Press, 1994. Pp. xxx, 325. $27.95. ISBN
0-472-08266-3. 
     Reviewed by John M. McMahon -- Le Moyne College
     mcmahon@lemoyne.edu

     Designed as a companion volume to <i>Latin for Reading</i>
(Knudsvig, Seligson, Craig; Ann Arbor: 1986), <i>Greek for
Reading</i> is intended for the undergraduate or advanced
high-school audience. While the author's original intent was "to
revise J. T. Allen's <i>The First Year of Greek</i> according to
the principles found productive in Latin for Reading" (p. vii),
in the end that proved logistically unfeasible. The result,
however, is a visually pleasing and organizationally lucid volume
that retains a selection of the readings from the older text,
included as review passages at the end of the volume, but
balances the traditional concentration on morphology and
vocabulary with an emphasis on syntax and semantics (p. xv). Thus
its role as an elementary text is to emphasize the sentence as
the basic sense group and to prompt the student to use syntax and
semantics to arrive at meaning.  

     The book is carefully organized, with clearly demarcated
sections that facilitate both classroom discussion and
self-learning, and the Introduction, directed to the instructor,
outlines the approach to the material as a whole and to the
individual elements. The first of these, the "Pre-view" (pp.
xviii-xxviii), is primarily meant for reference during the actual
instructional program. In addition to the basics of the Greek
alphabet and pronunciation, it includes clear explanations of
those elements of Greek which often require repeated emphasis:
punctuation, diacritical marks and accentuation, contraction,
syllabification, enclitics and proclitics, and orthographical
changes. Exercises on the topics in "Pre-view" are included.  

     Following the preview section is a concise "Glossary"
defining essential terms (pp. xxix-xxx). This is designed as an
easily accessible resource to accompany the more complete
explanations in the Lessons proper. The terms themselves (e.g.
"kernel", "gap", "sames") reflect the semantic and syntactical
approach of the text, with special emphasis placed on the concept
of "expectations." These latter, ranging from the fundamental to
the complex, enable to reader to determine meaning through an
understanding of morphology, syntax, semantics, and practical
contextual information.  

     The next section, "Speech Acts" (pp. 1-3), presents those
linguistic notions "basic to language and to this course" (p.
xvi). Its purpose is to familiarize the student with the scope of
spoken expression before the study of Greek proper begins.
Explained in simple, non-threatening language, the concepts of
the statement, question, command, exhortation, wish, and
deliberative question provide a foundation for understanding.
Examples and exercises in English introduce the further
refinements of sentence completeness, subject, predicate, and
complement. Finally, the contrast of word order and morphology as
indicators of sentence meaning leads to the definitions of
analytic and synthetic languages and the concepts of case and
paradigm.  

     The body of <i>Greek for Reading</i> consists of twenty-six
lessons, the whole divided into five units each followed by a
comprehensive review consisting of practice sentences, vocabulary
lists, an overview of terminology, and answer keys to lesson
exercises. The first unit (Lessons 1-5; pp. 4-59) concentrates on
the Greek sentence as the most basic carrier of linguistic
meaning, "the unit for the initial processing of words" (p. 4).
Seligson's approach is to introduce the concepts and terminology
associated with the sentence and to apply structural linguistic
methodology in order "to determine meaning by observing form" (p.
5). Lesson One begins with analyses of simple Greek sentences and
their English equivalents and concentrates on nouns, verbs and
articles with the morphological basis of Greek forming the bulk
of the chapter. The technique of metaphrasing Greek sentences is
explained, and exercises afford practice. A fairly extensive
vocabulary (including present, future, and aorist principal parts
of given verbs and nouns of all declensions) concludes the
lesson. Lesson Two focuses on connection between sentence kernels
and the three ways it is accomplished: with coordinating
conjunctions, punctuation, and the presence of a gap (/) where
one or more items are left out. First declension nouns in -A are
also introduced. Questions are the topic of Lesson Three along
with interrogative and indefinite pronouns, an important semantic
distinction being made in this regard between the animate and the
non-animate aspects of nouns (p. 29). Adverbial modification and
prepositional syntax make up Lesson Four, and the discussion of
the former is continued into the next lesson. Lesson Five treats
gender and the syntax of adjectival modification, outlining the
paradigms of adjectives of all declensions, and introduces neuter
nouns of all three declensions as well. Nominalization in the
form of the articular adjective and adverbial expressions of time
concludes the lesson and the unit. 

     The second unit consists of three lessons (Lessons 6-8; pp.
60-87) and introduces essential elements of the verb. Lesson Six
concentrates on the middle and passive voices and develops the
attendant concepts of the deponent verb and noun agency. In
connection with these, semantic categories (manner,
accompaniment, etc.) are outlined according to case, and the most
common prepositional usages are presented. Transformation
exercises afford substantial practice. The relatively brief
Lesson Seven focuses on nominal, adjectival and verbal number and
agreement. intransitive kernel, and the future tense. Lesson
Eight presents the specialized uses of the dative case: in
intransitive sentence kernels (with verbs that take the dative)
and in non-kernel uses (means, cause, indirect object, etc.). The
lesson concludes with the introduction of future tense. 

     The third unit (Lessons 9-15; 88-163) is the longest in the
book, and it covers a great deal of material. Lesson Nine
introduces the genitive case with the intransitive kernel and its
other uses, i.e., possession, partitive genitive. Introduced as
well are the morphology of the aorist in -A (active and middle)
and the paradigm of PA=S, PA=SA, PA=N. There are two main foci of
Lesson Ten: the concept of the linking kernel (EI)MI/, GI/GNETAI,
etc.) and the predicative position; and the concept of the
factitive kernel, i.e., verbs taking an object and an object
complement (KALEI=N, POIEI=N, etc.). The paradigms and syntax of
the demonstrative pronouns conclude the lesson. The next two
lessons (Lessons 11-12) introduce the student to clauses. The
former concentrates on dependent clauses as adverbial modifiers
and outlines their various semantic functions (time, cause,
concession, etc.) with the appropriate Greek word markers. Lesson
Twelve is concerned with relative clauses in both their
adjectival and nominal semantic functions. The paradigms of the
relative pronouns as clause markers are introduced, and close
attention is paid to the concepts of definiteness and
indefiniteness in this connection. The next two lessons (13-14)
constitute a concentrated presentation of verb structure. Lesson
Thirteen introduces the grammatical categories of aspect and
time, and aspects stems (progressive, aorist, perfective) and
their associated principal parts are carefully explained at the
outset; then the contrast between verbal aspect and verbal time
(past, present, future) is specifically treated. The linguistic
phenomena of augment and reduplication as tense/aspect markers
lead into the presentation of the morphology of the active voice
verb: the progressive: present, future, and the past (imperfect);
the first and second aorist, both sigmatic and asigmatic; and the
perfect (present and past). In conjunction with these forms, the
student is also introduced to the technique of synopsis. The
lesson vocabulary consists exclusively of verbs given with all
principal parts. Lesson Fourteen continues this concentrated
study of the verb. The first section of the lesson is devoted to
the present and future active forms of athematic verbs (DI/DWMI,
I(/STHMI, TI/QHMI). The remainder is devoted to middle and
passive voice forms for the progressive, aorist, and perfect
stems of both thematic and athematic verbs. Thus by the end of
the lesson the complete morphology of verbal finite forms has
been introduced. Lesson Fifteen deals exclusively with the
participle. A brief discussion of the difference between the
English and Greek participle leads immediately to the morphology
of active and middle/passive participle. The second part of this
lesson is devoted to the participle as modifier and includes the
important concepts of attributive and predicative position, the
participle in clauses, and the articular participle. As might be
expected for such a comprehensive and lengthy unit, in terms of
vocabulary the review itself is extensive. 

     Unit Four (Lessons 16-20; pp. 162-207) is considerably
shorter than the preceding and examines a variety of grammatical
and syntactical topics. Lesson Sixteen is devoted exclusively to
the comparison of adjectives and adverbs, both regular and
irregular; a brief section discusses correlative comparison.
Lesson Seventeen introduces the morphology of the infinitive and
its chief syntactical uses: complementary and articular. The most
frequently encountered irregular forms of the defective verb
OI)=DA are presented as well. Noun clauses and indirect
perception are the primary subjects of Lesson Eighteen and
Nineteen. The former examines non-finite noun clauses: indirect
command and indirect statement, each presented according to the
ideas of the kernel structure introduced earlier. It also
introduces the irregular verb FHMI/. The latter concentrates on
finite noun clauses (indirect question and the finite variants of
indirect perception, indirect statement, and indirect command)
and the introductory words for each. A short section on adverbial
modification (accusative of respect) and the morphology of the
verb EI)=MI completes the lesson. The very brief Lesson Twenty
deals exclusively with the genitive absolute and, in keeping with
previous lessons, classifies it as a non-finite adverbial clause.
As in the previous unit the vocabulary heavily emphasizes the
verb.

     The final unit of the book comprises of five relatively
brief lessons and concentrates on additional speech-acts and the
subjunctive and optative moods (Lessons 21-25; pp. 208-240). The
imperative mood, the vocative case, and the concept of the
command as a speech act make up the entire content of Lesson
Twenty-One. Lesson Twenty-Two introduces three more speech acts:
exhortation, negative command, and deliberative question and with
them the morphology and syntax of the subjunctive mood. On the
same model Lesson Twenty-Three presents the morphology of the
optative mood and the syntax of expressing wishes: the "hopeful"
wish by the optative; the "hopeless" by the indicative. Building
on this foundation, Lessons Twenty-Four and Twenty-Five
concentrate on the particle A)/N and its use in various speech
acts. The former introduces the concepts of potential and
contrary-to-fact statements and questions, and an important and
useful feature of this lesson is the chart (p. 227) which
summarizes all speech acts, their corresponding Greek moods, the
appropriate negative particles, and simple examples in Greek with
equivalent English translations. The latter lesson presents
conditional sentences, individually treating the syntax of the
indicative, optative and subjunctive moods and contains a useful
listing of the most important clause markers that combine with
the particle A)/N and introduce general clauses with the
subjunctive mood. Lesson Twenty-Five also features the first of
the readings drawn from Allen's text, Euclid's explanation of
triangles. After the unit review, one additional lesson remains:
Lesson Twenty-Six (pp. 241-244) systematizes the numerous uses of
the particle W(S, conveniently outlining its many syntactical
possibilities. 

     A "Re-view" concludes the pedagogical section of the text.
This relatively brief section (pp. 245-249) is not, however, a
review of Greek per se but rather an overview of the essential
grammatical, syntactical, semantic and linguistic concepts,
common to language in general, upon which the approach of text is
based. Such familiar elements as parts of speech, word order,
inflection, and agreement are defined and compared and contrasted
to English. Similarly, those linguistic concepts introduced and
applied to understanding Greek in the body of the text (e.g.
kernel, sames, and so on) are neatly summarized. One paragraph is
devoted to the concept of sense, "the kind of meaning associated
with words and sentences by the language system, and not the
individual speaker's meaning" (p. 249), and introduces the
student to the field of pragmatics, the meaning derived from an
awareness of the context in which the sentence, the basic unit of
meaning, is situated. 

     Following the "Re-view" are eight pages of annotated but
unaltered readings taken from Allen, in all a little more than
one hundred twenty lines. The exemplary basic sentences, numbered
as they appear in the main text from each lesson, are repeated in
a section following the readings (pp. 259-263), presumably to
serve as a review of the concepts from each lesson. The
morphology section (pp. 264-286) is the standard arrangement of
forms for reference, while the listing of principal parts
includes the most common regular and irregular verbs each form
arranged neatly under headings to facilitate comparison. These
principal parts are also listed in a separate section called
"Verb Roots" (pp. 293-294), rearranged according to final
consonant (labial, palatal, etc.), final vowel (contract verbs),
and the like. Lastly there is appended a "Stem List" designed to
facilitate vocabulary building and word recognition (pp.
295-303). A typical elementary Greek-English and a (very limited)
English-Greek vocabulary are included for use in the lesson
exercises. 

     As a classroom text <i>Greek for Reading</i> has many things
to recommend it. It is an attractive book to work from, and the
highly legible text is neatly arranged on the page in a way that
can only be described as inviting. For example, the combination
of an ample amount of white on the page and the clear print type
insures a uncongested appearance; this is especially appreciated
in the reference section on morphology. Bold-print is effectively
used for emphasis. The book is very well organized overall, and
the division of the text into twenty-six individual lessons lends
itself to systematic coverage. Each lesson presents material in a
consistent and predictable manner, with a regularity that
benefits both instructional presentation and student
understanding; and the progression from simple linguistic
concepts to the more complex and then on to their semantic and
syntactical applications forms the reliable and steady framework
of each lesson. The quotations from ancient authors are a
valuable contribution to the general theme of each lesson, and
the basic (i.e., introductory) sentences, exercises, readings,
and practice sentences are specifically designed to reinforce
each lesson's target concepts. This variety of approaches
(synopses, recognition drills, etc.) achieves that objective, and
the appended verbal information, especially the "Stem List", is
quite helpful. 

     On the other hand, several features of the book may limit
its overall utility for every pedagogical situation. The text
seems best suited for an intensive approach to learning, one
where daily, concentrated exposure to the language presupposes
rapid progress by motivated individuals. For example, the student
is often referred to the morphology in the back matter of the
text for further information. The number of exercises and other
practice resources, despite their variety, are limited to
reinforcing only the learning of the sentence kernel, the
author's intent to be sure; but in order to better reinforce the
large number of vocabulary entries accompanying each lesson in a
future edition these might be incorporated into more sentences
for practice. Furthermore, while Seligson's linguistic approach
to instruction is carefully and lucidly crafted and flawlessly
integrated throughout the text, the amount of material covered
per lesson and per unit is somewhat uneven. (See above on Unit
Three.) To remedy this and to make the text more useable in a
standard three or four credit course schedule, a series of
readings like those in Allen's text (which, admittedly, the
author has regretted not being able to incorporate into this
edition), ought to be included to encourage the student's sense
of accomplishment, and to contextualize vocabulary when possible.
Nonetheless, despite these shortcomings and even without
substantial editorial changes, for the instructor wishing to
approach Ancient Greek from a different perspective, Seligson's
<i>Greek for Reading</i>, because of its structure, organization,
and unified approach, can be used with profit in the Elementary
Greek classroom.