[B-Greek] More on Funk's intro grammar
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Thu Dec 11 08:33:31 EST 2003
At 3:14 PM -0500 12/10/03, Trevor Peterson wrote:
>Remembering that this wasn't the first time I had seen Carl mention how highly
>he thinks of Funk's grammar, I went browsing through the archives and noticed
>some discussion from 1999 and 2002. Perry Stepp was apparently in touch (at
>one point) with the guy in charge of revising it. Does anyone have or can
>anyone get a status update on the project? Second question: If the revision
>project isn't going anywhere, what about Carl? He's retired now, with nothing
>else to do :-)
>
>Finally, I notice that the layout is similar to that in Mounce, with the
>nominal system and verbal system treated separately. Carl, at least, has
>expressed reservations about this feature in Mounce, but what about in Funk?
>Is it also a problem there? Is that something that could stand to be changed
>in the revision?
There's some confusion here; there are two very distinct items under
discussion here:
(1) Robert W. Funk's 3-volume paperback _A Beginning-Intermediate Grammar
of Hellenistic Greek_; my "second, corrected edition" was published by
Scholars Press in 1977; this is long since out of print and second-hand
copies are difficult to come by. It's true that this textbook takes the
Nominal and Verbal systems separately and in succession; it is evidently
true also that Funk himself used it with a workbook of readings which, to
my knowledge, has never been published but which would be essential for
using it as a textbook. Obviously I've never used it as a textbook (most of
my teaching of ancient Greek was of Classical Attic; I rarely taught
beginning Koine, more commonly read New Testament with students who'd
already had at least one year of Classical Attic). If I were to teach with
this textbook, I would certainly plan to use it in conjunction with
readings. The organization and instructional parts maximize the explanation
of English and Greek usage with regard to how they are alike and
different--and I think that is of major importance. Even if I were to be
teaching Hellenistic Greek using a different textbook, I would very much
want to have this three-volume set available for quick reference to every
student.
Let me cite something that to me seems the only intelligent perspective
upon learning to read Greek--I know that many will disagree, but that's
okay--from his Introduction, pp. 56-57: "Sections I (The Nominal System)
and II (The Verbal System) are designed to help the student grasp the
inflectional patterns of the Greek language. These patterns are to be
learned, in the sense of habituated, as part of the sight and sound of the
language. Learning to respond immediately and without deliberation to these
patterns will take place most effectively in the context of the word
cluster, in connection with other structure signaling items, e.g.
prepositions. Only a few things will require memorization by rote (without
context), but those which do must be mastered.
"The habituation of the patterns will require the 'reading' of a
considerable amount of Greek. Reading means practicing the sound patterns
of Greek. Sound patterns are, of course, intertwined with the grammatical
structure of phrases, clauses, and sentences. Reading will therefore lead
to the ability to seize the structure of word clusters, of longer and
shorter compass, in relation to inflectional patterns and other structure
signaling elements. Along the way, the reader will acquire major
vocabulary, and will come to understand the meanings of many words and word
clusters. One does not have to complete an extensive course in grammar to
be able to read Greek any more than one has to study the grammar of his own
language to be able to understand and speak it."
(2) An altogether different matter is the preparation of a new grammar of
Hellenistic Greek that was intended eventually to replace BDF. My
understanding is that this was sponsored/promoted by Funk and the Westar
Institute and that a committee to develop and produce it was initially
headed by Darryl Schmidt; one member of that committee was Micheal Palmer;
Micheal was once an active member of this list and still maintains the
"Greek Language and Linguistics Gateway" site at
http://www.greek-language.com/ Micheal has pulled his mail access from that
site but I am trying to reach him through another e-address to find out
what he can tell me about this project. I have the impression that it is
defunct or at least suspended; if so that's a pity, because BDF was
originally intended and is really useful primarily to those who a
diachronic perspective on Greek or at least some familiarity with Homeric
and Classical Attic Greek.
I hope that provides some perspective on the questions raised by Trevor. If
I were to be granted three wishes by some Fairy Godmother, I might spend
two of them on the re-issuing of the Funk textbook and the completion of
the Hellenistic Grammar project.
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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