Course Description

Greek 102 continues to gives students a basic overview of the Attic dialect of the ancient Greek language, including high frequency vocabulary and fundamental grammar. Students will not only read and write but also listen and speak in Attic Greek: the course focuses on using Greek to achieve goals and complete tasks, rather than memorizing tables and charts.

Language Skills Objectives

Morphology

Adjectives

• Comparative and Superlative Degrees, regular and irregular

Adverbs

• Comparative and Superlative Degrees, regular and irregular

Verbs

• Voice: Active, Middle, and Passive
• Aspect: Simple, Continuous, and Perfect
• Tense: Past, Present, and Future
• Specific Tense-Aspect Combinations:
  • Continuous
    • Present Finite ("Present Tense")
    • Past Finite ("Imperfect Tense")
    • Imperative
    • Subjunctive and Optative
    • Infinitive
    • Participle
  •  Simple
    • Future Finite ("Future Tense")
    • Future Participle for Purpose with Verbs of Motion
    • Past Finite ("Aorist Tense")
    • Aorist Imperative
    • Aorist Infinitive
    • Aorist Participle
  • Perfect
    • Present Finite ("Perfect Tense")
    • Infinitive
    • Participle

Syntax

• Comparison
• Location
• Purpose
• Conditionals (general/future more vivid)
• Potential Optative

Vocabulary

Learn basic ancient Greek vocabulary, based on the top 50% vocabulary (the most common words that make up 50% of the existing ancient Greek corpus) and supplemented with less common vocabulary useful for discussing the daily life of a modern student in the Pacific Northwest.

Active Language Use

Ancient Greek is a language, like French or Spanish. The fact that ancient Greek is an older language does not make it a code or logic puzzle instead of a language: it is still a language, and you should approach learning it as you would any other language. You wouldn't try to learn Spanish by reading some grammar instructions, memorizing a list of vocabulary, and taking a quiz—you learn Spanish by using the language to get increasingly more complex points across to another human being. The same applies to Greek: the more you use the language to express your thoughts, both in speech and writing, the better you will get at it.

Class Meetings

Greek 102 meets every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in the winter quarter, from Wednesday, January 4, until Friday, March 10, from 11:30 AM to 12:50 PM in Miller Hall 115 (first floor).

Instructor

Miller Krause ( miller.krause@wwu.edu )

Office: Miller Hall 122D

Office Hours:

• Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays: 1:00–2:00 PM
• Tuesdays and Thursdays: 2:30–3:00 PM

Required and Recommended Course Materials

There is no textbook to purchase for the class; you will be provided with chapters, both on paper and in PDF form, from a textbook being developed for active Attic Greek.

I have recommended some dictionaries and a reference grammar on the Resources page; all of them are available online for free in searchable forms as well as on paper for $20 or $30. None of them are necessary, though.

Academic Honesty

Western has a policy on academic honesty and a statement on integrity.  Unusually, and quite Platonically, Western does not focus on the negative consequences of cheating or plagiarism, but on the positive results of honesty and integrity.  There are many forms that dishonest academic behavior might take, from plagiarism to having another write your papers for you to cheating on a test: honesty, though, has but one form, namely putting in the required work, and one consequence, namely learning.

Course Requirements and Grading

Grading Scale

Course Requirements

συνουσία καὶ μετάληψις (Attendance and Participation; 20%)

Classes will give you time to interact with other students in Greek, and this will be the primary way that you learn ancient Greek. You need the practice in interpersonal communication, including listening and speaking, that class provides, so you need to come to class. I understand that sometimes problems do arise, so Canvas will automatically excuse three absences.

If you plan to miss class to undertake military service, observe religious holidays, or travel for sports or other University-sponsored activities, let me know in writing during the first two weeks of class, so that I can excuse your absences and work with you to change due dates for your assignments.

μελετήματα καθ' ἡμέραν (Daily Assignments; 30%)

There will be short, daily assignments to turn in, some written and some spoken, to give you individual practice.

Turn in written assignments on paper in class. You wrote assignments by hand the first quarter; you might want to try typing them now, but feel free to continue writing by hand. These assignments will give you a chance to practice reading and short-form writing on your own. It is much faster and easier for me to review, comment on, and grade Greek assignments on paper than on Canvas.

Record and submit spoken assignments using Canvas. There will be fewer of these, but they give me a good opportunity to check on individual students' pronunciation. Illustrated instructions and a video are available at https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Student-Guide/How-do-I-record-media-using-the-Rich-Content-Editor-as-a-student/ta-p/379 .

συγγράμματα ἑβδομαδικά (Weekly Compositions; 20%)

Each weekend, you will have a writing prompt for compositions, relating to the subject matter we covered that week. Write your συγγράμματα in the ἐγχειρίδιον that you received your first year. Work on writing longer, more complex material, and feel free to use lsj.gr or other resources to aid you. You should be able to judge your own progression in using the language by looking back at what you have done.

You are not obligated to tell the truth in your συγγράμματα—I don't really care what you like to do after class or what you did during the summer, and you don't have to tell me your secrets. In fact, lying may be better, because it lets you adapt your response to your own proficiency and comfort zone.

ἐξετάσεις (Tests; 20%)

Each unit will have at an ἐξέτασις (quiz/test/assessment). It is possible to finish these by oneself, but they are meant to be collaborative tasks: you may talk to each other during the tests and about the tests, so long as you speak only in ancient Greek.

ἡ ἐσχάτη ἐξέτασις (Final Examination; 10%)

There will be a final examination, to be taken in class on paper. The final exam will be collaborative like the regular tests: you may talk to each other during the exam and about the exam, so long as you speak only in ancient Greek. The final examination will be administered according to the Registrar's schedule for final examinations:

• March 13, 2023, 3:30–5:30 PM