The Teaching of Greek AccentsSource: The Classical Journal, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Jan., 1908), p. 89Published by: The Classical Association of the Middle West and SouthStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3286973 .

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From a photograph by Ewzing, Cambridge, Mass.

MINTON WARREN, 1850-1907

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THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL

VOLUME III JANUARY 19o8 NUMBER 3

obitot'ial THE TEACHING OF GREEK ACCENTS

"Another great relief to the learner would be to omit the accents in his own compositions, and to pay no attention to their rules." These words are cited from an article by U. von Wilamowitz-Mi5llen- dorf in the Classical Review (1907, p. 4). Despite the reputation of Wilamowitz, the view here expressed will probably be given little attention by American teachers, yet those who have been brought up under the system he advocates and who have also had painful experience of the futility of attempts to get even the fundamental laws of accent into some heads, will recognize the value of the sug- gestion. The proposition to omit the dual in elementary books has been received with some favor, though the early place that Homer has in the curriculum makes the advisability of its omission in first- year work very doubtful, and experience shows that the beginner has very little trouble with it. He learns it more easily than many more important facts of grammar, and is less bothered by it than by one such rule of accent as that monosyllables of the third declension are accented on the case-ending in the genitive and dative. It can be stated with the utmost confidence that ignorance of accents will not in any degree lessen the student's ability to read correctly. The few cases in which confusion might arise will be easily learned, and, as a matter of fact, the boy who knows these few necessary facts will be more likely to have his attention attracted when the necessity occurs, than his companion who has spent much time in acquiring and applying the rules. The necessity of having our budding Greek professors properly equipped in all things that contribute to accurate scholarship may be met by requiring the accents to be learned by those who go in for honors or a first-class standing. The rank and file, in writing their compositions, might surely be allowed to follow the example of the Greeks of the classical period.

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