English language and grammar, Greco-Roman heritage, and a culture of literacy

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English language and grammar, Greco-Roman heritage, and a culture of literacy

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1proximity1
Edited: May 8, 2018, 3:44 am



"Scuola di Atene" (The School of Athens) circa 1511 by Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino || fresco
Source/Photographer : Wikipedia Commons; Musei Vaticani, Roma.
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I chose to place this thread in Pro & Con for greater visibility. The thread is an attempt to discuss a certain set of topics as they relate to each other both in the present and in the past. These include the Greco-Roman cultural aspects of the heritage of English-speaking people in particular and, more generally, what some refer to as Western European culture; the development of the English language with influences from Anglo-Saxon, Latin, Greek, Frankish and Norman languages and cultures; the development of a culture of literacy and what that has meant in the past and present within these interwoven threads of history, and how we use or ignore all this in contemporary life.

________________

Some texts relevant to this thread are:

Dieter Hillert (Editor) / Language Evolution: On the Origin of Lexical and Syntactic Structures, The Journal of Neurolinguistics, Volume 43, Part B, Pages 75-274
(August 2017)
with : Daniel L. Everett, Grammar came later: Triality of patterning and the gradual
evolution of language
|| ( Pages 133-165)
(a .pdf file)
The paper is also at this link:
https://daneverettbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Grammar-Came-Later.pdf

Antonio Damasio / The Strange Order of Things: Life, Feeling, and the Making of Cultures,
New York, Pantheon Books (2018)


Robert C. Berwick, Noam Chomsky / Why only us : language and evolution, Cambridge, Massachusetts : MIT Press, (2016)

Charles Taylor / A Secular Age
(The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (2007))

Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges / La cité antique Paris, Hachette, 1957

English translation : The Ancient City: A Study on the Religion, Laws and Institutions of Greece and Rome, (Boston, Lee & Shepard; New York, Charles T. Dillingham, (1877))
(available in digital format online:
(English) https://archive.org/stream/cu31924100532054#page/n5/mode/2up
(French) (.pdf file) http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/fustel_de_coulanges/cite_antique/fustel_la_...
Paris, Hachette, 1957

Larry Siedentop / Inventing the Individual: The Origins Of Western Liberalism, (Penguin UK (2015) )

William A. Johnson ( ed.) / Ancient literacies : the culture of reading in Greece and Rome (Oxford : Oxford university press ; 2009)

Nancy Glazener / Literature in the making : a history of U.S. literary culture in the long nineteenth century (New York, Oxford university press, 2016)

Elizabeth Eisenstein / The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe
(Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2000)

James W. Binns / Intellectual Culture in Elizabethan and Jacobean England. The Latin Writings of the Age
(Leeds, UK, Francis Cairns Publications, 1990)

Kathy Hall (Ed.) / International Handbook of Research on Children's Literacy, Learning and Culture (Wiley-Blackwell (2016))

Bernard Williams / Shame and Necessity (Berkeley,CA.. Univ. of Calif. Press (1993))

Bill Readings / The University in Ruins (Cambridge, MA., Harvard Univ. Press (1996))
____________________________________

In this thread I want to address some aspects of language, especially English language, its use and abuse past and present how and why it evloves and what this does, has and might mean for a broader culture of which language is a symbiotic participant phenomenon--language and culture and, where it exists, literacy, in a mutually-influencing evolution of rise, decline or termporary stasis.

Language is the breath of culture, its very medium and the cords on which cultures' chords are played, the means by which they are transmitted from age to age. History is both the vault and record exposing the stories and the languages of the cord's passage. To break this vault, to abandon its care, is to squander the treasure of the experience of others before our time and to defy one's own capacity to recreate for ourselves meanings and purposes from the materials these others bequeathed to us.

____________________________________

To start, some excerpts from Bill Readings' The University in Ruins :



p. 2 “It is no longer clear what the place of the university is within society nor what the exact nature of that society is, and the changing institutional form of the University is something that intellectuals cannot afford to ignore.

… In this book I will focus on a certain Western notion of the University, which has been widely exported and whose current mutation seems likely to continue to frame the terms of transnational discussion. If I also pay particular attention to the changes currently occurring in the North American University, this is because the process of 'Americanization' cannot be understood as simply the expansion of U.S. cultural hegemony. In fact, I shall argue, 'Americanization' in its current form is a synonym for globalization, a synonym that recognizes that globalization is not a neutral process in which Washington (D.C.) and Dakar participate equally.”

p. 3 … (T)he university...is no longer linked to the destiny of the nation-state by virtue of its role as producer, protector and inculcator of an idea of national culture. The process of economic globalization brings with it the relative decline of the nation-state as the prime instance of the reproduction of capital around the world. For its part, the University is becoming a transnational bureaucratic corporation, either tied to transnational instances of government such as the European Union or functioning independently, by analogy with a transnational corporation.

p. 4 … “Just as this book will focus on a certain 'Americanization' that moves the University further away from direct ties to the nation-state, it will also tend to privilege the humanities in its attempt to understand what is going on in the contemporary University. This emphasis likewise needs a few words of preliminary explanation. In choosing to focus on the notion of 'culture' as I do, I may give the impression that the humanities are the essence of the University, the place where the University's sociopolitical mission is accomplished. This would be unfortunate for at least two important reasons. First, I do not believe the natural sciences to be positivist projects for the neutral accumulation of knowledge, which are therefore in principle sheltered from sociopolitical troubles. As I shall argue, the decline of the nation-state—and I do believe that despite resurgent nationalisms the nation-state is declining—and the end of the Cold War are having a significant effect on the funding and organization of the natural sciences. Secondly, the separation between the humanities and the sciences is not as absolute as the University's own disciplinary walls may lead one to believe. The natural sciences take their own often extremely powerful place in the University by analogy with the humanities.”

p. 5 … “The University, I will claim, no longer participates in the historical project for humanity that was the legacy of the Englightenment: the historical project of culture. Such a claim also raises some significant questions of its own: Is this a new age dawning for the University as a project, or does it mark the twilight of the University's critical and social function? And if it is the twilight, then what does that mean?

p. 12 … “University mission-statements, like their publicity brochures, share two distinctive features nowadays. On the one hand, they all claim that theirs is a unique educational instituion. On the other hand, they all go on to describe this uniqueness in exactly the same way. The preeminent signs under which this transformation is taking place are the appeals to the notion of 'excellence' that now drop from the lips of University administrators at every turn. To understand the contemporary University, we must ask what excellence means (or does not mean.)

“And in that respect, on the surface this book makes a rather simple argument. It claims that since the nation-state is no longer the primary instance of the reproduction of global capitals, 'cutlure'—as the symbolic and political counterpart to the project of integration pursued by the nation-state—has lost its purchase. The nation-state and the modern notion of culture arose together, and they are, I argue, ceasing to be essential to an increasingly transnational global economy. This shift has mjor implications for the University.

p. 13 … “The University no longer has to safeguard and propagate national culture, because the nation-state is no longer the site at which capital reproduces itself. Hence, the idea of a national culture no longer functions as an external referent toward which all the efforts of research and teaching are dedicated. The idea of a national culture no longer provides an overarching ideological meaning for what goes on in the University, and as a result, what exactly get taught or produced as knowledge matters less and less. ...(I)t would be anachronistic to think of it as an 'ideology of excellence', since excellence is precisely non-ideological. What gets taught or researched matters less than the fact that it be excellently taught or researched. … 'Excellence' is like the cash-nexus in that it has no content; it is hence neither true nor false, neither ignorant nor self-conscious.”

3proximity1
Edited: Mar 27, 2018, 12:38 pm

If you are reading along and have read the excerpts above from Bill Readings' The University in Ruins, wherein he directly treats numerous aspects of what we call 'culture,' then I want to go on and pose some questions for reflection :

To what, 'au juste,' does the term 'culture' refer?

Is it—or ought it be—very important?

If so, why is it—or ought it be—important?

Some might ask or wonder, "If culture is so important, how come I don't know what it is or what it does? How's it happen that I've gotten along this far without ever even bothering to wonder about it?"

When Readings appears to lament, (p. 17)

... " 'culture' no longer has a specific content. Everything, given a chance, can be or become culture. Cultural Studies thus arrives on the scene along with a certain exhaustion. The very fecundity and multiplicity of work in Cultural Studies is enabled by the fact that culture no longer functions as a specific referent to any one thing or set of things—which is why Cultural Studies can be so popular while refusing general theoretical definition." ... "Everything is culturally determined, as it were, and culture ceases to mean anything as such."


is he right about that? is his an apt view of the matter?

Doesn't 'culture' simply 'take care of itself'? and hasn't this always been the case? Ought we somehow 'take a hand' in this thing or these things? Or are we already doing that?

Suppose that you noted the very first thing that pops into your mind on reading the following terms—what are they—when you read the phrase

'French culture'

'Italian culture'

'Chinese culture'

'Russian culture'

'Japanese culture'

'Danish culture'

'American culture'

'Canadian culture'

or these--

'Latin culture', 'classical Latin culture,'

'Greek culture', classical Greek culture,'

'Cuban culture'

'Aztec culture,

'Mayan culture' ?

At which did something vivid spring instantly to mind—and what sprang up?

And at which did nothing much spring immediately to mind and only after a moment of reflection did something come to associate itself with the phrase?

It's a fairly safe bet that, whatever came most quickly to mind at the mention of any of the above was in fact something properly regarded as a feature of 'culture.' It might have been a place, a sight, a sound, a song, a distinctive smell from a recalled experience, a food, an article of clothing, a person, a gesture, mannerisms, a way of doing something. It might have been recalled from a book, a film, a visit to a place, a story told. It might resemble a 'cliché', something that 'everybbody associates with 'X' ' and so, something which springs to many people's minds--depending on when they were born.

Nearly everyone of a certain age today will instantly recall a mental image which is more or less the same upon hearing or reading the words, "Here's lookin' at you, kid."

For others, those words don't evoke anything in particular. They leave a blank impression.

______________________

Checking in with 'Wikipedia's' pages, we find to no surprise that there's an extensive treatment of the social concept of 'culture' (as opposed to the scientific denotation). And if you examine the Wilkipedia "Talk" file which is associated with this long and developed article, you'll find that it occasioned some dispute about terms and how they ought to be used and defined and understood.

I want to point out from the "Talk" page associated with "culture" that someone asserted with some evident feeling behind the words,



"Culture gives us directions on how we are supposed to carry ourselves. Each person has his culture which should be respected. No culture is superior to the other." (13) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Malha10 (talk • contribs) 14:55, 26 December 2017 (UTC)

(emphasis added)



That view, expressed in many different ways but intending essentially the same thing, is, I argue, one of the notions which pervades contemporary opinion in much of the U.S. and Europe. It's central to the 'ethos' of our time. It's what we're 'supposed to believe' if we're thinking 'correctly.'

"No culture is superior to the other," says the author. And I think we're invited to be shocked at the idea that someone might think otherwise.

4MMcM
Edited: Mar 28, 2018, 8:31 am

There seems to be topic drift already in the edit of the opening message after some weeks.

But maybe we could try to clarify what timeline we are talking about. Unless this is just, Ætas parentum, pejor avis, tulit nos nequiores.

everyone of a certain age today ... those words don't evoke anything in particular

Surely not people who saw the first run seventy-five years go, who are, I imagine, older than the core demographic of this site. Let alone those who recognized it from Eddie Cantor ten years before then. Maybe younger boomers, who make up a significant portion here. We saw it in theaters. What about those who grew up with VHS? Or DVD? Or did it only get lost with the YouTubes and the NetFlixes?

no longer clear what the place of the university is within society

As of when? Half a century ago, it was clear that the aim of the Ivy League or the Russell Group was research and that the potential benefit for young people was as much social as educational.

5proximity1
Edited: Mar 28, 2018, 10:27 am

>4 MMcM:

What may look to you like 'topic drift' is due to my own thoughts as they develop while I continue to read around a theme which contains various related aspects. I'm not presenting finished course-notes here; I thinking over things and, as I study them and read from sources which, though 'dated', are none the less 'new' to me, I add to or qualify what has already been posted.

If you're unhappy with this, please see the bursar's office for the recovery of your paid fee.

_________________________

"Here's looking at you!" (A drinking toast) cited, anecdote from story published in The New York Herald, 12 March, 1871 (Pacal Tréguer cited at WordHistories.

_________________________

" Unless this is just, "

" Ætas parentum, pejor avis, tulit nos nequiores." *

( If you need any excuse to dismiss or denegrate what I'd like to do here, that should serve you as well as any. Then we don't have to bother with a correspondence. Thanks. )

_________________________________________

* See: Q. Horatius Flaccus (Horace) at

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/collection?collection=Perseus:collection:Gre...

_______________________

from Book 3, 6 : Carmina

Delicta maiorum inmeritus lues,
Romane, donec templa refeceris
aedisque labentis deorum et
foeda nigro simulacra fumo.

dis te minorem quod geris, imperas:
hinc omne principium, huc refer exitum:
di multa neglecti dederunt
Hesperiae mala luctuosae.

iam bis Monaeses et Pacori manus
inauspicatos contudit impetus
nostros et adiecisse praedam
torquibus exiguis renidet.

paene occupatam seditionibus
delevit urbem Dacus et Aethiops,
hic classe formidatus, ille
missilibus melior sagittis.

fecunda culpae saecula nuptias
primum inquinavere et genus et domos:
hoc fonte derivata clades
in patriam populumque fluxit.

motus doceri gaudet Ionicos
matura virgo et fingitur artibus
iam nunc et incestos amores
de tenero meditatur ungui.

mox iuniores quaerit adulteros
inter mariti vina neque eligit
cui donet inpermissa raptim
gaudia luminibus remotis,

sed iussa coram non sine conscio
surgit marito, seu vocat institor
seu navis Hispanae magister,
dedecorum pretiosus emptor.

non his iuventus orta parentibus
infecit aequor sanguine Punico
Pyrrhumque et ingentem cecidit
Antiochum Hannibalemque dirum,

sed rusticorum mascula militum
proles, Sabellis docta ligonibus
versare glaebas et severae
matris ad arbitrium recisos

portare fustis, sol ubi montium
mutaret umbras et iuga demeret
bubus fatigatis amicum
tempus agens abeunte curru.

damnosa quid non inminuit dies?
aetas parentum, peior avis, tulit
nos nequiores, mox daturos
progeniem vitiosiorem.


Horace. Horace, Odes and Epodes. Paul Shorey and Gordon J. Laing. Chicago. Benj. H. Sanborn & Co. 1919.

(an English version)

"Your fathers' guilt you still must pay,
Till, Roman, you restore each shrine,
Each temple, 'mouldering in decay,
And smoke-grimed statue, scarce divine.
Revering Heaven, you rule below;
Be that your base, your coping still;
'Tis Heaven neglected bids o'erflow
The measure of Italian ill.
Now Pacorus and Monaeses twice
Have given our unblest arms the foil;
Their necklaces, of mean device;
Smiling they deck with Roman spoil.
Our city, torn by faction's throes,
Dacian and Ethiop well-nigh razed,
These with their dreadful navy, those
For archer-prowess rather praised.
An evil age erewhile debased
The marriage-bed, the race, the home;
Thence rose the flood whose waters waste
The nation and the name of Rome.
Not such their birth, who stain'd for us
The sea with Punic carnage red,
Smote Pyrrhus, smote Antiochus,
And Hannibal, the Roman's dread.
Theirs was a hardy soldier-brood,
Inured all day the land to till
With Sabine spade, then shoulder wood
Hewn at a stern old mother's will,
When sunset lengthen'd from each height
The shadows, and unyoked the steer,
Restoring in its westward flight
The hour to toilworn travail dear.
What has not cankering Time made worse?
Viler than grandsires, sires beget
Ourselves, yet baser, soon to curse
The world with offspring baser yet.
"

Horace. The Odes and Carmen Saeculare of Horace. John Conington. trans. London. George Bell and Sons. 1882.