This article takes a discourse pragmatic approach to the Latin text of the Tabula Lugdunensis. The speech by the emperor Claudius from 48 CE is known for its syntactical complexities. By explaining... Show moreThis article takes a discourse pragmatic approach to the Latin text of the Tabula Lugdunensis. The speech by the emperor Claudius from 48 CE is known for its syntactical complexities. By explaining Claudius’s Latin, I aim to illustrate that a discourse pragmatic approach is more fruitful than a strictly syntactical analysis. First, I discuss the outline of the speech, addressing the way in which both the organisation at the text level and Claudius’s actio may have helped his live public in processing the speech. Then, I use the concept of discourse act to approach Claudius’s actio and segmentation of his speech at the sentence level. I make a distinction between central, orientational, supporting and digressive discourse acts to analyse the nature of the sequences in Claudius’ brief biographies of Numa, Tarquinius Priscus and Servius Tullius. Show less
Schulz, V.; Adema, S.M.; Gils, L. van; Karten, S.; Baumann, H. 2023
Emotions make a story more than a list of events. While reading, readers assign emotions to characters, and this constitutes an important, if not crucial, aspect of understanding narrative texts.... Show moreEmotions make a story more than a list of events. While reading, readers assign emotions to characters, and this constitutes an important, if not crucial, aspect of understanding narrative texts. Information in the text enables this process of assigning emotions, but readers’ pre-existing knowledge and their previous (emotional) experiences also play a role. In this article, I aim to provide more insight into the interaction between reader and text, and present different types of information that play a role in understanding emotions in narratives. These types are based on research on text comprehension and reading processes and concepts from cognitive and affective narratology. Examples include knowledge about typical plot structures, types of characters and emotional scripts. I provide illustrations taken from the set texts of the 2023 Latin Dutch exam (Ovid’s Metamorphoses). Some passages in this corpus provide detailed descriptions of a character’s emotions, while others appeal more to the reader’s background knowledge. The collected texts contain many stories with a romantic plot line. We find gods with sudden feelings of desire, unrequited love, budding and forbidden relationships, long and happy marriages. Deception, misunderstanding and bad news (Fama) are obstacles to these relationships, creating strong emotions. Show less
Short Latin stories contain linguistic and narratological affordances to keep track of their underlying structure. Tense usage, narrative pace, and speech representation are examples of affordances... Show moreShort Latin stories contain linguistic and narratological affordances to keep track of their underlying structure. Tense usage, narrative pace, and speech representation are examples of affordances to recognize the rise and fall of narrative tension. An eye for these affordances takes students from “syntax to story.” It gives them insight into story structures and helps them to keep an overview of the text and to anticipate upcoming events. Show less
Empirical research on the learning and instruction of Latin is still scarce. In this article, relevant research is surveyed, along with publications that report experiences of classics teachers or... Show moreEmpirical research on the learning and instruction of Latin is still scarce. In this article, relevant research is surveyed, along with publications that report experiences of classics teachers or provide teaching suggestions. An overview is presented of where to find publications on the learning and instruction of Latin, as well as a brief introduction to several relevant research methods. The article is organized by reference to various research fields relevant to the learning and instruction of Latin. These fields are classics and Latin linguistics, second language acquisition, vocabulary acquisition and dictionary use, reading and text comprehension, translation research and pedagogy, child development and psychology. Show less
Students of Latin tend to focus on the word and sentence level. In this article, we propose to introduce concepts from text linguistic research to students. Knowledge of text types should help... Show moreStudents of Latin tend to focus on the word and sentence level. In this article, we propose to introduce concepts from text linguistic research to students. Knowledge of text types should help students of Latin at secondary schools in comprehending and translating Latin texts. We introduce four Discourse Modes, each with its own linguistic characteristics. These modes are applicable to texts of many genres, but in this article we focus on letters by Cicero and Pliny. Show less
