ELEMENTARY LATIN COURSE SYLLABUS

[SUMMER-FALL 2021]

DESCRIPT ION Tradi'onally,aliberalartseduca'oninWesternciviliza'onhasincluded the study of three arts (or intellectual disciplines)whichare fundamental to thedevelopmentof clear thoughtandcommunica'on.Theseartsareknownasthetrivium(Lt.,‘three crossroads’), consis'ng of: logic, or the art of correctthinking; grammar, or the art of inven'ng and combiningmeaningful linguis'c symbols; and rhetoric, or the art ofpersuasive communica'on. A natural aid to learning theseliberalartsisthestudyofaforeignlanguage,suchasLa'n.

Besidestheself-evidentintellectualvirtueoflearninganotherlanguage,thestudyofLa'nhasseveralcentralbenefits.First,suchstudyenablesonetoreadandtranslatethesizablebodyof La'n wri'ngs, which spans over two millennia. Second,La'n is a language of fundamental importance to thedevelopment of Western civiliza'on; familiarity with La'nenablesoneboth to studyother languagesand to recognizeLa'n’s cultural, societal, andhistorical influencewithgreaterfacility.Third,studyofLa'nhelpsastudenttolearn,intermsofthetrivium,thegeneralprinciplesofgrammarandrhetoric.

LEARNING OUTCOMES Thiscoursewill introducethebasicelementsoftheLa'nlanguage.Emphasisisplacedonlearningthedeclensionsofnouns,pronouns,andadjec1ves,aswellasthebasicconjuga1onofindica1veverbs.Sotoo, the fundamentalsof La1ngrammarand syntaxanda sizableamountofelementaryvocabularywill be learned. All these elements will be presented and reinforced though weekly prac'ce inpronuncia'on,reading,andtransla'on. WhilespeakingLa'nisacrucialskill,thiscoursewillfocusprimarilyonreadingandtransla1onofLa'n;itisdirectedtowardsthegoalofenablingstudentstoeventuallygainreadingfluencyforLa'ntexts.Thecourse is designed to build a strong founda'on for con'nued La'n study, including the Lyceum’sIntermediateLa'ncourse,whichinvolvesmorecomplexgramma'calstructures.

Assuch,theprimarycourseoutcomesforElementaryLa'narethefollowing:

-Topronounce,read,andtranslatematerialsinLa'n(i.e.,Chapters1-18ofFamiliaRomanaand accompanyingexercises)withreasonablecomprehensionthroughmasteryofvocabulary,

morphologicalforms,andgramma'calstructure.

-Toreview,reinforce,andincreaseone’sknowledgeofEnglishgrammarandvocabularythrough thestudyofLa'ngrammarandvocabulary.

READING AND RECORDINGS Thetextsusedinthisseminarareallavailableonline,providedviaTeams.WeshalluseHansØrberg’sLinguaLa1na:PerSe Illustrata (LLPSI) series.Ourprimarytext isFamiliaRomana,which includes thereadings for our class sessions. Other texts from the series provide addi'onal readings (ColloquiaPersonarum, Fabellae La1nae, and Fabulae Syrae), gramma'cal exercises (Exercita La1na), andgramma'caloverviews(Gramma1caLa1naandLa1neDisco).Audiorecordingsoftheweeklyreadingsareuploadedtohelppar'cipantsprac'cetheirLa'npronuncia'on.

Addi'onalsupplementalmaterialsarealsoprovidedviaTeams.

METHOD OF COURSE: WEEKLY CLASS, DAILY PRACTICE, AND OTHER RESOURCES

Core to the course is aUendanceof theweekly class session, heldThursdays at 6:00-7:00pmET. Thecourse consists of 18 class sessions; there will be a recess aVer the ninth session, and there is thepossibilityofarescheduledclasssessionortwoinlightofholidaysorunforeseencomplica'ons.

Class centers on reading and accurate transla1on of a chapter from Familia Romana. The classprocedureissimple:apar'cipantreadsandtranslatesapassage(usuallyaroundfiVeenlinesofLa'n);thisisfollowedby'mefortheinstructortoofferbriefremarks,answerques'ons,andclarifydifficul'esthathavearisenduringweeklyprac'ce;anotherpar'cipant takesup thenextpassage,andsoon.Tofacilitate a'mely andorderly class session, par'cipants areexpected tohave readboth the assignedreading(atleastonce)andtheaccompanyinggrammarnotesprovidedbytheinstructor.

Itisunderstandablethatthedemandsoflifemayforceapar'cipanttomissaclasssession,arrivelateorleaveearly, and soon.That said, It ishopedandexpected thatall par'cipants in the seminarwill bepreparedtoreadandtranslatetheweeklymaterial,eveniftheycannotaUendeveryclasssessioninfull.A strength of this course is the aspect of agroup language study: par'cipants can keep one anotheraccountable about their shared daily study, as well as work collabora'vely to beUer understand thecoursematerial.Successismoredifficultifonetriestogoitalone.

Inaddi'ontoclassaUendance,itisexpectedthatallpar'cipantsareengagedindailystudy—atleastan hour of study, advisably in two or three smaller sessions. As a bareminimum, one ought reviewvocabulary daily. Since our study of La'n outside of the weekly class session is largely self-directed,par'cipantsareadvisedtofindascheduleofdailyprac'cethatgenuinelyworksforthem:onethat isrigorousenoughtopromotesuccessfulstudy,yetflexibleenoughtoaccommodatetheirdailyschedulesandavoidburnout.

Toaiddailystudy,par'cipantsareencouragedtomakeuseofthefollowingresources:

First,par'cipantsoughtmakeuseofthechapteroverviewsandpowerpointslideswithaudioprovidedbytheinstructor.Theseresourcesaredesignedtoclarifysomeofthekeyand/orpar'cularlychallengingconcepts introduced ineachchapterofour reader.Addi'onalnotes, suchasmorphologicaloverviewsandlistsforvocabularyandprincipalparts,arealsoprovided.

Second,par'cipantsoughtmakeusenotonlyofthereviewmaterial(pensa)providedattheendofeachchapterinthereader,butalsotheothertextbooksandaudiorecordingsintheseries.TheseresourcesreinforcecomprehensionofLa'npronuncia'on,vocabulary,andgrammar.

Third, par'cipants ought try to aUend ourweekly reading prac@ces as 'me permits. In addi'on toproviding'me to prac'ce La'npronuncia'on, these sessions are a good'me to raise ques'ons andseekclarifica'onsfromtheinstructorpriortotheweeklyclasssession.

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SESS ION SCHEDULE

July

15

Capitulum I (Chapter 1)

Keyconcepts:Introduc'ontocourse;basicsofLa'n

Readings:• [Primary]FamiliaRomana(FR)ch.1

• [Secondary]ColloquiaPersonarum(CP)ch.1,ExercitaLa1na(EL)ch.1

July

22

Capitulum II

Keyconcepts:Declension(nouns,adjec'ves,andpronouns);geni'vecase

Readings:• [Primary]FRch.2

• [Secondary]CPch.2,ELch.2

July29

Capitulum III

Keyconcepts:Verbs(subject/verbandsubject/objectrela'ons)

Readings:• [Primary]FRch.3

• [Secondary]CPch.3,ELch.3

August 5

Capitulum IV

Keyconcepts:Verbs(moodandconjuga'on);adjec'ves(possessive)

Readings:• [Primary]FRch.4

• [Secondary]CPch.4,ELch.4

August

12

Capitulum V

Keyconcepts:Verbs(impera'vemood);nouns(accusa'vecase)

Readings:• [Primary]FRch.5

• [Secondary]CPch.5,ELch.5

August

19

Capitulum VI

Keyconcepts:Verbs(passivevoice);nouns(placeconstruc'ons,abla'vecase)

Readings:• [Primary]FRch.6

• [Secondary]CPch.6,ELch.6

August

26

Capitulum VII

Keyconcepts:Da'vecase

Readings:• [Primary]FRch.7

• [Secondary]CPch.7,ELch.7

September

2

Capitulum VIII

Keyconcepts:Adjec'ves(interroga've);pronouns(demonstra've)

Readings:• [Primary]FRch.8

• [Secondary]CPch.8,ELch.8

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September

9

Capitulum IX

Keyconcepts:Nouns(3rddeclension);pronouns(demonstra've,cont.)

Readings:• [Primary]FRch.9

• [Secondary]CPch.9,ELch.9

September16

Scheduled Recess (keep up the good work— continue your practice!)

September23

Capitulum X

Keyconcepts:Verbs(infini'ves);indirectstatement

Readings:• [Primary]FRch.10

• [Secondary]CPch.10,ELch.10

September

30

Capitulum XI

Keyconcepts:Indirectstatement(cont.)

Readings:• [Primary]FRch.11

• [Secondary]CPch.11,ELch.11

October

7

Capitulum XII

Keyconcepts:Nouns(4thdeclension);adjec'ves(3rddeclension)

Readings:• [Primary]FRch.12

• [Secondary]CPch.12,ELch.12

October

14

Capitulum XIII

Keyconcepts:Nouns(5thdeclension);adjec'ves(numerals,comparisonofadjec'ves)

Readings:• [Primary]FRch.13

• [Secondary]CPch.13,ELch.13

October

21

Capitulum XIV

Keyconcepts:Verbs(par'ciples,presentac've)

Readings:• [Primary]FRch.14

• [Secondary]CPch.14,ELch.14

October

28

Capitulum XV

Keyconcepts:Verbs(personalendings,impersonalVerbs)

Readings:• [Primary]FRch.15

• [Secondary]CPch.15,ELch.15

November

4

Capitulum XVI

Keyconcepts:Deponentverbs;abla'veabsolute

Readings:• [Primary]FRch.16

• [Secondary]CPch.16,ELch.16

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November

11

Capitulum XVII

Keyconcepts:Verbs(passivevoice);numerals(cont.)

Readings:• [Primary]FRch.17

• [Secondary]CPch.17,ELch.17

November

18

Capitulum XVIII

Keyconcepts:Pronouns(demonstra've,interroga've);adverbs(comparison)

Readings:• [Primary]FRch.18

• [Secondary]CPch.18,ELch.18

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