Rome, Italy

Last week, I visited Rome on a school trip organised by the Latin department. It was an incredible experience as I learnt a lot about not only the Latin language and Roman culture, but also I had the experience to learn and use some Italian.

Over the next few days I am going to write posts about the following:

·         Diary of days 1-4

·         Latin Language

·         Italian Language 

Day 1

Museo Nazionale Romano – This museum was built and opened in the 19^th century and includes antiques from between the 5^th century BC and the 3^rd century AD. On the ground floor is a collection of statues from the late Roman Republic, for example, the famous Via Labicana Augustus. This statue is significant because it demonstrated that Augustus was not only the head of the republic, but also closely related to the church. On the first floor is a collection of mosaics and wall paintings, including some from the villa of Livia (Augustus' wife). In my opinion, the most impressive of these was a vast painting of a garden, which extended on all four walls. The painting has been preserved incredibly well and it includes vivid trees and flying birds, showing their wealth.

Coliseum (Flavian Amphitheatre) - Construction began under the emperor Vespasian in 70AD and was finished within 10 years by Emperor Titus. There are 80 archways leading into the centre: many would have been used by the public to find their seats, a few by the gladiators and one larger arch dedicated to the emperor. The emperor also had his own seating with places for family members and close friends. The gladiators and nights would have been seated near the bottom, with the public sat above them. The common women would have been seated near to the top.

Actors, grave diggers and former gladiators were not allowed to go to the coliseum at all. Although generally speaking, slaves would have been banished from the coliseum, some slaves were present to operate the awning system. We can see where the awnings would have been secured in square holes in the stone at the top of the building and the awning would have covered the majority of the seating, making it much cooler.

The arena itself was 83 by 48m. Its name came from the Latin for sand (arena) as sand would have been applied to the floor often in order to soak up sweat and blood from the floor. Underneath the arena is the hypogeum, which consists of a maze of tunnels, used to store the animals. Many different events were held at the coliseum including gladiator shows, animal hunts and the arena was flooded for mock sea battles.

Roman Forum – the forum would have been a central part of Roman life as it was the venue for markets, public speeches and criminal trials. The forum is situated very close to the coliseum, between the Palatine and Capitoline hills. There are many fabulous remains in the forum, including the Arch of Septimius Severus.

The Arch of Septimius Severus is 23m high and has three arched passageways. The arch was built in 203AD to commemorate the emperor and his two sons, Caracalla and Geta. The central scene shows the concordia between them and other family members. However, after the death of Severus, his two sons became joint emperors, until Caracalla had his brother assassinated. After this he ensured that all mention of Geta was eradicated, including in the arch. This can be seen especially in the inscription, which only talks about Caracalla:

IMP (eratori) CAES(ari) LUCIO SEPTIMIO M(arci) FIL(io) SEVERO PIO PERTINACI AUG(usto) PATRI PATRIAE PARTHICO ARABICO ET / PARTHICO ADIABENICO PONTIFIC(i) MAXIMO TRIBUNIC(ia) POTEST(ate) XI IMP(eratori) XI CO(n)S(uli) III PROCO(n)S(uli) ET / IMP(eratori) CAES(ari) M(arco) AURELIO L(ucii) FIL(io) ANTONINO AUG(usto) PIO FELICI TRIBUNIC(ia) POTEST(ate) VI CO(n)S(uli) PROCO(n)S(uli) [P(atri) P(atriae) / OPTIMIS FORTISSIMISQUE PRINCIPIBUS / OB REM PUBLICAM RESTITUTAM IMPERIUMQUE POPULI ROMANI PROPAGATUM / INSIGNIBUS VIRTUTIBUS EORUM DOMI FORISQUE S(enatus) P(opulus)Q(ue) R(omanus)

To the Imperator Caesar Lucius Septimius, son of Marcus, Severus Pius Pertinax Augustus, father of his country, conqueror of the Parthians in Arabia and Assyria, Pontifex Maximus, with Tribunician powers 11 times, triumphing general 11 times, consul 3 times, and proconsul; and to the Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius, son of Lucius, Antoninus Augustus Pius Felix [=Caracalla], with tribunician powers 6 times, consul, proconsul, father of his country—**the best and bravest of princes**—on account of the republic restored and the empire of the Roman people increased by their outstanding virtues at home and abroad, the Senate and the Roman people dedicate this arch.

** This phrase was substituted for one that probably read:  ET P(ublio) SEPTIMIO L(ucii) F(ilio) GETAE NOB(ilissimo) CAES(ari). The translation reads: “and to Publius Septimius, son of Lucius, Geta, most noble Caesar"

Text and transcription sourced from: http://archive1.village.virginia.edu/spw4s/RomanForum/GoogleEarth/AK_GE/AK_HTML/MA-020.html

David Crystal at Cheltenham Literature Festival 2013

I was incredibly lucky to get tickets to see Mr Crystal at both of his talks at this year’s literature festival – firstly on pronouncing Shakespeare and secondly about his new book ‘Wordsmiths and Warriors: The English-Language Tourist's Guide to Britain’.

The first talk was given by David and Ben Crystal. Ben, his son, is a leading actor at the Globe Theatre, most famous for encouraging people to use ‘original pronunciation (OP)’ when acting Shakespeare.

OP is the way in which we expect actors to have spoken in the theatres when Shakespeare was being performed. But how do we know what they would have sounded like?

1)      Rhyming

When many Shakespearean texts are spoken in modern Received Pronunciation, many of the rhymes do not work. This reduces the effect and therefore makes some people question his talent, but at the time, the vast majority of them would have worked. This allows linguists to compare a range of different words which were known to rhyme and find the most likely sound. For example, in sonnet 116:

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Although nowadays, ‘proved’ and ‘loved’ is a very tenuous half rhyme, when the sonnet was written, they would have rhymed perfectly. We can work out which pronunciation has changed, since  Ben Johnson wrote a grammar reference book at around the same time. In this, he stated that ‘o’ is pronounced short and he made a list of words for which this rule applied, including the words proved and loved. Therefore proved would have sounded like modern day ‘loved’.

This is Ben Crystal acting the sonnet in both Received Pronunciation and OP:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt7OynPUIY8

 

2)      Spelling

In Romeo and Juliet when Mercutio observes that Queen Mab’s whip has a ‘lash of film’. But the word ‘film’ is spelt ‘philome’ in the first folio and many other written documents. This allows us to conclude that the word must have had two-syllables, rather like in the modern Irish ‘filum’.

3)      Puns

David crystal used the example, ‘From forth the fatal lines of these two foes'. This takes on a whole new meaning when you understand that ‘lines’ and ‘loins’ were pronounced identically. Therefore, in many cases working out the two meanings of puns gives us a better idea of how the words were pronounced in order to make the joke work.

Using OP does not only affect the spectators, but also the actors. After they have finished the laborious task off learning the accent, their acting style is said to change completely. They are able to act as their characters would have, more earthy and fighty. In fact, the language difference made many actors, such as Bette Bourne change completely as she 'became a totally different woman'.

But there are more benefits, since our language derived from OP, all of the listeners are able to pick out their accent from it, making the theatre seem more intimate. An example was when David Crystal went up to a group of teenage boys and asked what they thought. They said ‘wicked’, and after asking why, a boy with a strong Cockney accent said ‘well, they’re talking like us’. Although clearly they weren’t talking in the London accent, the boys either picked out phonetic similarities or found it more accessible that the actors weren’t speaking ‘posh’ Received Pronunciation.

Therefore, using OP in Shakespeare’s productions not only is a great way to transport us back to how it may have been like, it allows us to understand and appreciate his work more and make Shakespeare more accessible.

 

‘Wordsmiths and Warriors: The English-Language Tourist's Guide to Britain’

If you are interested in science, you'll visit museums. If you are interested in art, you'll visit exhibitions. But where should we go, when we are interested in language? This is the question that David Crystal sets out to answer in his new book. He stated that there will be many places that changed or influenced the English language within 20km of where you live.

This is true for the audience of the lecture, as taking Cheltenham as his starting point, he directed us down south to North Nibley in Southern Gloucestershire. This is the place where William Tyndale, one of the first bible translators into English, was born. Translating the bible was strictly prohibited in Tyndale’s time and therefore his books were burned, with only two remaining. However, you will have heard the phrase ‘the sign of the times’, which although was in the King James Bible, these words were taken directly from Tyndale’s edition. On the top of a hill stands a monument dedicated to Tyndale, with an inscription saying ‘in grateful remembrance of William Tyndale, translator of the English bible, who first caused the new testament to be printed in the mother tongue of his countrymen, born near this spot he suffered’. Although this recognition is not as much as he deserves, Crystal was very happy to see his work appreciated.

There are many other fascinating places that have shaped the language that we speak today, which may be located near you. Therefore, if you are interested in language (and why would you be reading this if you weren’t), this book is for you.

Language development in the brain

A new breakthrough has been made concerning language development in children. Researchers at King’s College London and Brown University took brain scans of over 100 children to identify the levels of myelin in their brain.

Myelin is an insulating material that forms a sheath around the axon of neurons. The material increases the speed of impulses in the brain and the spinal cord. The increase of myelin is part of the maturation and development of language. In theory, the more sheath, the messages are sent more rapidly and therefore children have more language abilities.

A link between language and the frontal left cortex has been established for many years. As part of my EPQ, I conducted a dichotic listening experiment to investigate this further and concluded that over 80% of my subject has specialisations in their left hemisphere. Due to this link, scientists expected to find more myelin in the frontal left hemisphere. As hypothesised, they did discover that the levels of myelin were asymmetric as the left hemisphere has a denser amount of myelin. However, the study shows that the levels of myelin increased at the same rate in both hemispheres from the age of 1 – showing that the increased amount of myelin was already there. This shows that the amount of myelin may not account for the increased language ability in children, but shows the importance of the child’s environment.

The scientists also found that the myelin had a stronger influence on language until they were 4 years old and that after the 4 year old marker, the levels of myelin remained mostly constant. This explains how children learn their first language so quickly and how children are more able to become fluent in a second language than an adult. This suggests that there is a ‘critical period’ (Chomsky) for language. This also sheds a new light on Piaget’s theory of the different developmental stages that children go through. The first two are:

·         Up to 2 years old - sensory motor stage

·         2-7 years old - preoperational from stage

Piaget specified that the first stage depends greatly on social environment and exposure to language so the brain begins to become asymmetrical. If a child is in the right environment, the frontal lobes increase in size greatly. During the next stage, both Wernicke’s and Broca’s area are said to develop most, however the brain growth slows down after half way through this stage.

These hypotheses are reinforced to a certain extent by this new research, showing that the environment that children grow up in are very important, that the brain develops (as the levels of myelin increase) and that the critical period for language is about four years old.

As quoted from Dr Sean Deoni from Brown University:

"This work is important as it is the first to investigate the relationship between brain structure and language across early childhood and demonstrate how this relationship changes with age." 

To read more visit: http://news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2013/10/language

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24446292

 

"Learn 1,000 words in a new language urges campaign"

This headline was publicised on the BBC website earlier today due to new concerns that a lack of linguistic skill in England is contributing to “a worrying divide”, separating England from Europe. This divide may be preventing England from doing trading internationally and could minimise the amount of jobs available to British people.

The figure of 1,000 words is an estimate for the minimum amount for someone to be able to sustain a simple conversation. Although it varies a lot, the native speaker tends to use 2,000 words in their everyday lexicon. This is a lot larger than the number recommended by the BBC, showing that in order to make a big difference, people need not know everything. The most important aspect of language for a novice to learn is basic grammar and simple but specialised vocabulary for the situation that the language will be required.

As quoted from their website:

“We are not expecting instant fluency. Yet if everyone were capable of at least 1,000 words in a new language, social attitudes and economic prospects would be significantly enhanced”

In 2004, the Labour government made it no longer compulsory to study a language at GCSE. Although initially there was a decline of students choosing to study languages, this pattern has now reversed.  For example the amount of GCSE entries of modern languages has increased by 16.9% since last year. But do students learn 1,000 words in a language GCSE? 60% of the examinations are in coursework form. This includes both the writing and speaking aspects, where pupils have to write a draft and then simply memorise it – showing no skill of using the language spontaneously or any real knowledge of what they are saying! For preparing for the listening/ reading exam, students learn a lot of vocabulary. However, this is a genuine question from a past paper, showing the foundation tier of GCSE Spanish:

You are going on an exchange to Barcelona. This is Ana, the person you are going to stay with.

¡ Hola !

What does Ana say?

Therefore, I think that it’s very unlikely that anyone only studying a language GCSE will be able to even ‘hold a simple conversation.’ In order to produce a generation of linguists, they need to advance their skills to A-level.  According to the article, the number of students studying French and German at A-level are in a steady decline. This could be for a range of reasons, maybe some students aren’t encouraged enough or they may not know the benefits it would bring to their future career. It could also because fewer students manage to get high grades in languages in comparison to sciences and humanities. Only 6.9% of language students achieved an A* in summer 2013, where as 8.4% managed to achieve the same grade in the sciences. This possible shows that languages are harder A-levels than other subjects, which may put some prospective students off,  since grades are often more important than the subjects studied.

To conclude, in order to eradicate the stereotype that Brits do not learn languages and to make a noticeable change within society and business, we need to encourage students to continue their studies so that they are able to communicate efficiently.

The original webpage: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-24231822

'Lost for Words' by John Humphrys

I read ‘lost for words’ since I recognised Humphrys from Radio 4. On the ‘today’ programme, I enjoy how he is keen to give his own opinion and I thought this would enhance the book as his alternative interpretations would separate this book from others I have read.  However his opinion overrides everything, so much so that he includes very little content.

An example of one of his rigid opinion was when he said that the standard of the English language is decreasing. I agree to a certain extent that we should follow certain rules in language so that others do not see our English as ‘lazy’. But, unlike Humphrys, I understand that language is always changing and should change to suit requirements.

Since his opinion is so overpowering, he seldom uses relevant examples of language. He does however link all of his points back to politics, not adding to his linguistics enquiries. He also recalls many anecdotes, which instead of relating to the language he is discussing, only brags about the famous people he has met.

Despite my negative comments, Humphrys mentions right at the start that the book is only about his opinions and therefore if you keep this in mind, along with the fact that this is not an academic or reference book, this may be the book for you.

This quote from the Guardian website sums up this book for me:

‘The grumpiest man on radio stakes his claim to the title of grumpiest pedant on Grub St.’

 

Forensic Linguistics

This is an exciting new area of linguistics, allowing lawyers and police officers to use linguistics as evidence. Language is incredibly important while deciding fair prosecution and can be used in many different ways.

1)      Forensic stylists

This is generally used to prosecute people for plagiarism.  With today’s communication technology, plagiarism is a very common crime and has a range of different levels of criminality. Plagiarism is usually detected using computer software (seen on the 12^th of August – ‘computational linguistics’). Now, the statistics given by computer programmes and linguists can present their evidence to show how many words are the same and whether with the same order/ syntax.

2)      Language and communication analysis

There are many communication centres, such as GCHQ, scattered over the entire world. Although there are strict rules about intercepting conversations in the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979, it is legal for some organisations to track and record them. Many linguists are employed to translate and write transcripts of verbal conversations of others. This gives them the opportunity to predict and catch any illegal acts all over the world.

3)      Forensic phonetics

If the same person’s speech is monitored on a few separate occasions – linguists are able to decipher more than just the apparent meaning. We can also make links between language chosen by looking at the social and regional background of the speaker.

These techniques are essential for finding justice. There are many famous examples where these procedures were very important, such as in the prosecution of David Hodgson. Another example was in 2005 Simmerson murdered his girlfriend and afterwards he sent text messages from her phone. He pretended to be Turner as he texted her daughter to convince her that she was well and he texted his own phone to give himself an alibi. Investigators linked patterns in orthographies and punctuation to letters he had sent previously with the text messages. This was significant evidence and he was found guilty. Linguistics has been used in many similar situations and it is interesting to see the importance of language. It will also be intriguing to see how forensic linguistics develops in the future.