Linguistics and opposite conclusions

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Oct 29 05:59:04 EST 2002


At 10:41 PM +0300 10/27/02, Iver Larsen wrote:
>>
>And since you mention my occasional disagreement with Carl - and others - I
>want to clarify that we do agree on most things. What it is fun to discuss
>are those areas where there are still questions to be asked and things to
>disagree about. Often I am thinking aloud as I write, and my understanding
>develops as we discuss things. I am not a Greek scholar like Carl, just a
>descriptive linguist and Bible translator, who wants to understand Greek
>better than I do. Our occasional difference in perspectives are caused by a
>difference in approach and background.

I had thought originally to thank Iver off-list for this assessment, but
inasmuch as our "disagreements" have not only been apparent on the list but
also publicly noted by others, I feel I should say this publicly. It is
certainly very true that Iver and I agree on most matters and disagree
occasionally on matters that are theoretical (to the extent that the same
phenomena may be described or accounted for by alternative notions) or
matters of opinion based upon differing assumptions. I would never claim to
be a Greek scholar--I would reserve such a title for someone who has
published works deemed authoritative in the field--and I am much more
inclined to see myself exactly as Iver puts it in his phrase, one "who
wants to understand Greek better than I do." Long ago on this list I
expressed a dislike for Jonathan's distinction between "big Greek" and
"little Greek" on grounds that nobody is so competent in ancient Greek that
he or she cannot learn new things about it from others. We are all
students, even if some of us have been studying longer than others.
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad at ioa.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/



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