Ancient Greek Ideas on Speech, Language, and Civilization

by Gera, Deborah Levine

• ISBN13: 9780199256167
• ISBN10: 0199256160
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-12-11
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The source and nature of earliest speech and civilization are puzzles which have intrigued people for many centuries. This study explores ancient Greek views on the source and nature of the world's first society and first language. Two of the book's chapters are based on close readings ofpassages in Homer and Herodotus, while the remaining chapters are broader surveys of a variety of Greek literary texts. Topics covered include the nature of the language used both by men and animals in the idyllic golden age, accounts of humans' ascent to civilized life and their acquisition oflanguage, and exotic creatures and peoples who have only limited linguistic capacities. Discussions of Enlightenment thinkers and modern theories of glottogenesis and language acquisition set Greek assumptions in a wider perspective.

Author Biography

Deborah Levine Gera is Senior Lecturer and Chair of the Classics Department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	xiii
1. Polyphemus the Linguist	1	(17)
1. Languages in Homer	1	(3)
2. The Cyclopes' Society	4	(4)
3. Language, Diet, and Laws	8	(3)
4. Communicating with Animals	11	(7)
2. Language in the Golden Age	18	(50)
1. The Nature of Language in the Golden Age	18	(18)
2. Early Languages	36	(10)
3. Hesiod, Homer, and the Golden Age	46	(11)
4. Animals in the Golden Age	57	(11)
3. Psammetichus' Children	68	(44)
1. The Experiment and its Background	68	(15)
2. First Words and First Gestures	83	(9)
3. Later Variations on Psammetichus' Trial	92	(15)
4. Ancient Reactions to the Experiment	107	(5)
4. The Invention of Language	112	(70)
1. Gods as Inventors of Language	113	(9)
2. Culture Heroes and First Men: Palamedes, Theuth, and Phoroneus	122	(5)
3. The Great Myth of the Protagoras	127	(20)
4. Fire and Language	147	(11)
5. Men Invent Language Together	158	(24)
5. Between Language and Speech	182	(31)
1. Introduction: Language, Speech, and Communication	182	(2)
2. The Languages of Primitive Peoples	184	(11)
3. Gestures and Mute Voices	195	(12)
4. Speaking Animals	207	(6)
Bibliography	213	(14)
Index Locorum	227	(16)
General Index	243