Annotated Syllabus

Megan Sweeney

The Development of Language in Rome:

February 10, Introduction to Rome and Latin:
Habinek, Thomas N. Why Was Latin Literature Invented? In The Politics of Latin
Literature: writing, identity, and empire in ancient Rome. 34-68.Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1998.
Habinek begins this chapter with a defense against a Hellenocentric reading of the
development of Latin language (34). He argues that Romes establishing of the Latin
language was due to transformation from city state to empire and the identity anxieties
that followed suit (35). While the Latin language is said to have been developed in the
late third century BCE, Habinek argues that Rome was a literary society prior to this
moment through oral traditions (36-37). He also argues here that literature played a
social and political role in Rome (39-44).
Considering the thesis of this chapter, I introduce this text early so that students might
better understand the solidification and establishment of the Latin language. While the
chapter does consider the Greek influence, this text stands as one in defense against
overestimating Hellenization. I also like this as an introductory text because it gets at the
scope of the class in its consideration not only of the development of the language but
also the importance of the way the language is used.
For the first day of class I intend to get a sense of the students perception of Rome
and language in Rome. While this conversation should include all Romes across all times,
it should lead into a more concentrated discussion of the reading which is grounded in the
ancient world.
February 17, Strictly Roman...Or Not?:
Wallace-Hadrill, A,. TO BE ROMAN, GO GREEK: THOUGHTS ON
HELLENIZATION AT ROME, Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 42
(1998): 79-91.
This article deals with the balance in the influences of Hellenization and
Romanization in ancient Rome. It begins with the insistence that the ancient Roman
world certainly was founded with some Greek influence. It argues for the importance of
language in this identity struggle. Wallace-Hadrill mentions the concept of the
relationship and interaction of languages as opposed to the idea of assimilation (84). It is
suggested here that the choice to engage in Greek culture and language in Rome would
have often been for the sake of effectiveness in establishing empire (81 and 85). This
desire as well as fascination with the exotic must be resolved with the pressure to solidify
a uniquely Roman identity (86). The article also examines the relationship in the images
of ancient Greece and Rome in this balance of influences. There is simultaneously a use
of Greek story and style in Roman art and a Roman opposition to some of these Greek
themes.
While the theme of the relationship between cultures in various media is valuable, the
section specifically on languages role in this is most centrally related to the course. This
article is important for developing the conversation on the role of Hellenization in Rome
and the conflicting values of each as a Roman identity is developed.
The students should come to class prepared to work two groups considering this
reading and the previous one: one will develop a list of the ways in which Greek was

used and why it mattered in Rome, the other will look at the development of Latin and
when/why it is used for identity and status.
February 24, Into the Romance Languages:
Italian Language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_language
Romance Languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_languages
These pages provide broad and overarching descriptions of the developments of
language out of Latin. The first text looks specifically at Italian as it came to be the
national language for Italy. The second looks at all of the Romance Languages which all
share their origin in Latin.
This day is important for getting the students to recognize the progression of language
away from Latin and as something that has changed drastically over time and sparked
new languages.
In class we will be looking at some diagrams of the relationships between languages.
We will look at trends in the progression of single words across time and place. This day
will serve as a day to get our minds wrapped around the development of language within
geographical Rome as well as Romes significance as a sort of birthplace of Romance
languages.

Language as Text Spoken and Written:

March 2, Latinitas Why Using Latin Matters :
Bloomer, W. Martin. "The Contested Ground of Latinitas." In Latinity and Literary
Society at Rome. 1-17. Philadelphia, PA: U of Pennsylvania, 1997.
This chapter specifically considers the social conceptualization of Latinitas. Bloomer
discusses the power a strong grasp on the Latin language imbued one with. While being
fluent in Latin did not make one a citizen, garnered respect and imbued one with
authority. However interestingly there is a sense that there is a proper Latin and tht it is
a grasp of this that garners respect (3). Understanding the Latin language as so powerful
meant that there was also some anxiety about its education and use. This chapter
considers the factors at hand in a Rome where language is very much tied to Roman
identity and status.
This chapter is essential to the kinds of questions I am hoping to have my students
work through. We are looking at the ways literature and linguistics play a role in an
understanding of identity in Rome as well as status. The kinds of questions this chapter
raises will serve as helpful ways to approach all of our texts from here forward.
Students will be expected to arrive at class prepared with their understanding of the
term Latinitas written out in one or two sentences. They should also come with 3 reasons
why Latinitas was an important concern for ancient Romans. The class will be broken up
into groups of four to compare definitions and concerns. By the end of class we will put
together a full definition and collective list of reasons Latinitas matters. These will be
valuable in approaching future texts.
March 9, The Church, Community, and Change:
Herman, Jozsef. Spoken and written Latin in the last centuries of the Roman
Empire: a contribution to the linguistic history of the Western Provinces. In Latin

and the Romance Languages in the Middle Ages, edited by Roger Wright, 29-43,
Pennsylvania: Penn State Press, 1996.
Herman here discusses trends in the Latin language at the very end of the empire. He
begins by prefacing the role of Christianity in the dissemination of language and
literature and notes his use of Christian texts and writers. He stresses how influential the
Chruchs choices in how language will be read or uttered, which texts, and to whom were
on the Latin language (31). He looks at the differences between the grammatically trained
in the church and their ways of communicating with a public lacking official linguistic
education. While the source material is biased, it seems that the general public could
understand the language so long as composition was not long or grammatically complex
(37f). He goes on to discuss Vulgar Latin in an analysis of inscriptions by a less trained
public (40). By the end Herman raises the question of whether this growing
differentiation in the Latin language was in fact a first step into the Romance languages
(41f).
This whole article represents a key moment in the analysis of language in Rome and
its social implications. Hermans research provides key linguistic analysis for the
development of the Latin language as it was on the cusp of developing into the Romance
languages. This moment is key in moving my research out of the ancient world. It is also
essential here for the class to consider the relationship between language as a power
resource and the Church as an authority in Rome.
This class period will be spent largely in guided class conversation. At the beginning
of the class, students will work with their peers next to them to discuss the reading and
pull out some key themes. They will put together two important details and one question
for further investigation and we will come back together. As a class we will share our 3
things and work with these together to get a grasp of the text and how it matters in our
conversation. The class needs to be able to walk away with a strong grasp on this text
both for the specific historical moment as well as the broader theme presented. I want my
students to be able to use our discussion of the Churchs role in the development of Latin
as well as the significance of its use and apply it to other moments in Rome. At any given
moment with any given language there are varied authoritative voices giving value to
difference uses of language.
March 16, Dialects:
Pratt, Kenneth J.. 1966.
The Dialect of Rome. Italica 43 (1966). American Association of Teachers of
Italian: 16779.
This text opens up with a distinction between what is considered formal Italian and
the varied dialects of regions of Italy. The dialect of Rome is referred to as Romanesco
and is distinct from Tuscan Italian. According to Pratt, while a formal Italian is taught in
schools, there is generally no shame in using Romanesco (167). He asserts that the
continued use of this dialect is a strong element of Roman self-pride (167). While the
majority of the essay looks at Romanesco poetry, he discusses briefly the everyday use of
the dialect and the significance of slang in its continuation and development (169).
Romanesco, according to Pratt, embodies the essence of everyday life in Rome and the
genuine speech of its people (170).
This text provides important insights on contemporary moments in Rome. While
much of our conversations on the development of language in Rome revolve around

Latin, this text brings us all the way up to the present and provides us with a good way to
remind ourselves that Rome and language in Rome is a lived reality for people today.
In class students will work in groups to consider how issues surrounding language in
contemporary Rome and different dialects works in conversation with issues in earlier
historical moments as we have discussed so far. They will present the trends that we have
seen so far as well as the new issues that arise in this text that we have not seen prior to
this historical moment.
March 30, Then and Now Why Latin matters:
Farrell, Joseph. "The Nature of Latin Culture." In Latin Language and Latin
Culture: From Ancient to Modern times. 1-27. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2001.
Farrel, in this chapter, observes the role of language as a construct of power, in Rome
both in the ancient world and as it is studied today. He recognizes the ways language was
imbued with meaning in such a way that at certain moments other languages could be
used to represent chaos while Latin brought order and authority and rightness (4).
Because language was used thusly, its use was considered heavily when in a position of
making political statements. Moving into the contemporary world, Farrel considers how
Latin is still imbued with this power to grant a certain social status.
This moment is not so tied to Rome as a location as it is to Rome as an idea. It is
useful for this course though for its analysis of language as much more than a tool for
straightforward communication. On the contrary, it is a tool for communication on many
levels, not only communicating the content of the text. It also allows us to consider the
ways in which language out of Rome can live on as a signifier of status without being a
signifier of Roman identity.
This day in class will involve a lot of student work on the boards. At first I will
divide the room in half: half the class will cover the board in what they think of when
they think of Rome and the other half will do the same for Latin. Coming together
we will see if there are any similarities between the two boards and discuss why or why
not. Because Rome in this class is connected to a language that holds value outside of
Rome, we will solidify class understanding of what it means to talk about Rome as an
idea. We will also have a discussion about what can serve as a text and how we read nontraditional texts.

Case Studies: The Consequences of Language

April 6, Augustan Literary Culture:
Fantham, Elaine. "The Coming of the Principate: 'Augustan' Literary Culture."
In Roman Literary Culture: From Plautus to Microbius. 80-117. Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins UP, 2013.
This chapter is analyzing a specific moment in Roman literature. As the title notes,
Fantham here discusses the new kind of literature during the reign of Augustus. She
looks at Virgil as an example of the poetry book, a new kind of literature for Rome
(87). This was a time where books would have actually been written for a reading public
(88). Fantham considers the role of patrons in production of literature and what kind of
influence such literary material had on the literate in Rome and how literature could be
utilize to send cultural and political messages. She also looks at rhetoric in education and

performance (108-109). Both literacy and rhetoric play a role in power dynamics and
status.
This chapter emphasizes the multifaceted nature of the status influence of language
for Rome. Not only, as seen in several other sources, did the Latin language itself imbue
one with authority. Also, language as applied in storytelling plays a powerful role. I will
use this chapter as an example of the complex system of power and language at this time
in Rome. Boys were trained to use rhetoric for authority and were educated in literature
which had its own power implications itself.
As we enter into the case studies section of the class I want students coming to class
having read the texts with an eye for its connection to our central question of the role of
language in status and identity. Here they should engage in conversation with one another
about how this historical moment or subject works to display the value of language and
its uses in Rome.
April 13, Womens Voices:
Habinek, Thomas N. Roman Womens Useless Knowledge. In The Politics of Latin
Literature: writing, identity, and empire in ancient Rome. 122-136. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1998.
This chapter considers the position of women in ancient Roman literary tradition.
While there is evidence for a high number of literate women in ancient Rome, Habinek
notes, there is a distinct lack of literature produced by women. This could be due to loss
of such texts or such texts never having been produced (122-124). The chapter looks at a
lot of ancient poetry from Ovid and Propertius in discussions of the docta puella to
Sappho, a female author herself.
In a course and conversation on the uses of values of language, it would be negligent
not to consider the role of women in the language and literature of Rome. This text
considers the authors themselves whose identity is solidified in authorship.
Again class will be driven by student speculation on the relevance of this text to our
guiding questions. I will ask them to think about the various issues at hand in this case
studies and the different approaches working together to tackle this subject. In this case
they will recognize how our linguistic and literary approach works with a sex and gender
studies approach in order to better understand why we lack womens voices. As they start
to put all the case studies together they should start to recognize trends and less case
specific answers to our core question (which will help them in their final projects).
April 20, Friendship:
Williams, Craig A. "Introduction." In Reading Roman Friendship. 1-62. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2012.
For this book, I just want students to read the introduction as it is pretty significant
and covers the more general ideas valuable to our conversation. The theme of the chapter
is the argument for the importance of friendships to the ancient Romans as something
unique in the ancient world. Williams asserts that friendship is given precedence as the
highest of loves in Latin literature (16-17). After emphasizing the importance of
friendship, the chapter goes on to discuss the issues in defining this friendship (amicitia)
for the ancient Romans (17-26).
While the thesis of this text might seem distant from the aims of the course, there is
value to this example of linguistic study that says something about the use of language.
This chapter uses literature and labels using very specific language in order to understand

Roman thought on friendship. Language in this case is used deliberately in order to

emphasize a particular unique Roman value.
Again students will be encouraged to read this text not for details, but for the ways in
which language matters in our understanding of this Roman ideal. They will look for the
kind of evidence presented. They should use the skills and questions developed
throughout the semester to consider why this text matters in our conversation.
April 27, Early Christian Influence:
Fantham, Elaine. "Classical Literary Culture and the Impact of Christianity."
In Roman Literary Culture: From Plautus to Microbius. 247-287. Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins UP, 2013.
This chapter looks at the historical moment in Rome under the rule of Septimius
Severus, the first African emperor (247). The focus of the chapter is the literature that is
produced from men both educated on Classical Roman literature like Virgil and Cicero as
well as influenced by Christianity. The kinds of literature discussed range from prose to
philosophy.
The value of this chapter for this course is that it, while still grounded in the ancient
world, it allows us to look at the influence of literary education in Rome. We see here at
this early phase the role literary studies had in the academic and social world of ancient
Rome.
This class and the next should connect for students in a subset of how language is
taught. This subset will serve as our final case study and during these two weeks students
should be using class conversation to think about their final projects and how each of
these case studies work to solidify our understanding of the kinds of questions and issues
posed in the first half of the semester.
May 4, Language Education in Contemporary Rome:
Cremona, Cristiana, and Elizabeth Bates. "The Development of Attitudes Toward
Dialect in Italian Children." Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 6 (1977): 223-32.
Leone here presents a sociolinguistic study on school children in Italy. The purpose
of the study is to observe the results of an effort to eradicate use of dialects in a move
towards standard Italian. The idea behind the study is that dialects have at times been
considered representative of lower socioeconomic status and thus use of standard
Italian can be beneficial to Italians for a number of reasons (224). Here specifically they
observe childrens own attitudes towards their dialect (224). Children in the schools
studied are encouraged to transition to a wholly standard Italian and to have negative
associations with dialect use. As students get older they display a higher tendency
towards standard Italian yet still do not entirely abandon their dialect (228).
This text transitions smoothly from last class as it again deals with language
education. However, we shift starkly into a contemporary moment. This will allow us to
think very blatantly about what changes and what stays the same in this discourse. It is
important also to think about the choices of these Italian schools in the decision that
standard Italian is better for students and that dialects ought to be eradicated.
In class students will work with this text in conversation with last weeks class. They
should come to class with three questions they used to understand the value of language
in this text. They should be considering the ways that different dialects, accents, and
inflections work as texts and are active in creating meaning with regard to status and
identity. Because this text deals with more than Rome and the Roman dialect, students

should be thinking carefully about the differences or similarities in conversation about

dialects between this text and The Dialect of Rome from March 16. In order to bring
us full circle I will ask the students to think about other kinds of non-literal texts we have
dealt with across the semester. The class will think about how at every moment, the
choices made in developing or using language serve as texts themselves which must be
translated and interpreted and this is precisely the work we have done across the
semester.
May 11 and 18, Presentations:

** possible additional class - Leone, Andrea R. "Ideologies of Personhood: A Citizen

Sociolinguistic Case Study of the Roman Dialect." Educational Linguistics 29.2
(2014): 81-105.