Reasoning/Appetitive: Fragments from the Indo-European Studies Conference #1

One of the things that I noticed about the presenters at the Indo-European conference was their skilled pronunciation of words. Over the course of the conference, only one person mentioned that their pronunication was not perfect (and it only applied to his Sanskrit and not his Greek) and even those people with thick accents pronounced words impeccably. I was most impressed by the speaker who pronounced fabulous Latin although his own speech was layered with a thick Japanese accent.

This ability was one of the things that really impressed me about the eclectic people who spoke and attended such a conference. Gregory Nagy even displayed both Classical and Homeric Greek pronunciation.

This reminded me that although I was working with Vox Graeca, my pronunciation is not getting significantly better. I also realized that I cannot actually roll my r's. I can essentially do a half-trill with it but I cannot sustain that trill and it's not a real rolled r anyway. I decided I needed to learn because proper pronunciation of Greek requires this rolled r. I looked up a couple of tutorials online: wikihow and eHow. Propertius II warned me that it is possible that I might never be able to do it (lame!) but I will keep trying (although at the moment I sound like an idiot). If anyone has some hints, I would love to hear it.

More fragments from the conference coming over the next few days.

Appetitive: A Reading of Ovid

I was looking for something online the other day, I cannot even remember what it was when I stumbled across the podcast of a Dickinson Classics Professor, Christopher Francese, who reads poems in Latin. I listened to my first one this morning and I thought that it was thoroughly enjoyable. I listened to "The Art of Love (Ovid, Ars Amatoria 1.1-24)," Released: Jul 31, 2010. I can't link directly to the podcast, but it is the one called "The Art of Love" dated 07/30/10. He reads in his own translation and then reads in Latin:

"Siquis in hoc artem populo non novit amandi, Hoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet. Arte citae lecto carmine doctus amet. Arte citae veloque rates remoque moventur, Arte leves currus: arte regendus amor. Curribus Automedon lentisque erat aptus habenis, Tiphys in Haemonia puppe magister erat: Me Venus artificem tenero praefecit Amori; Tiphys et Automedon dicar Amoris ego. Ille quidem ferus est et qui mihi saepe puppe magister erat: Me Venus artificem tenero praefecit Amori; Tiphys et Automedon dicar Amoris ego. Ille quidem ferus est et qui mihi saepe repugnet: Sed puer est, aetas mollis et apta regi. 10 Phillyrides puerum cithara perfecit Achillem, Atque animos placida contudit arte feros. Qui totiens socios, totiens exterruit hostes, Creditur annosum pertimuisse senem. Quas Hector sensurus erat, poscente magistro erberibus iussas praebuit ille manus. Aeacidae Chiron, ego sumtotiens exterruit hostes, Creditur annosum pertimuisse senem. Quas Hector sensurus erat, poscente magistro Verberibus iussas praebuit ille manus. Aeacidae Chiron, ego sum praeceptor Amoris: Saevus uterque puer, natus uterque dea. Sed tamen et tauri cervix oneratur aratro, Frenaque magnanimi dente teruntur equi; Et mihi cedet Amor, quamvis mea vulneret arcu Pectora, iactatas excutiatque faces. Quo me fixit Amor, quo me violentius ussit, Hoc melior facti vulneris ultor ero" (Ovid, Ars Amatoria 1.1-24) [1].

I have no idea about the accuracy of his pronunciation, but I enjoyed listening to it.

Pronunciation in both Greek and Latin is one of my greatest weaknesses. When i was originally learning the languages, I decided that other aspects were more important to me. I always loved listening to my friends speak in classical languages, but I never spent any time on developing my own ability. I did not realize how embarrassed of my lack of skill I was until this last year, when I was in a class where I had to read in Greek a lot more than I had bargained for. I enlisted the help of a Propertius, who rivals silver-tongued Hermes in pronunciation abilities, and after an hour of his patient help I realized what an arduous process learning pronunciation was going to be.

On his recommendation, I acquired a copy of Vox Graeca, but I have not gotten around to flipping through it. I read the preface and the Phonetic Introduction today, and it looks like it will be a lot of work. I have hopes that the process will pay off.

  

I was also excited to learn today that there was a Vox Latina. I do not know anything about it but I assume that it would provide a similar service. Does anyone know if it is any good?

Endnotes

1. I am not at all sure how to make the poem display in couplets (as one can easily guess from my problematic formatting on my translation of Sulpicia.