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I'm often having to defend my position about macrons. I was commenting that a book from Bolchazy-Carducci, Pilosus Naso, only had macrons on the infinitives of 2nd conjugation verbs. (Sheesh!) This, to me, is utterly useless. Anyway, this is someone's comment about macrons on Latinteach and my reply:
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You have to understand, I don't necessarily want macrons on the tests. I want macrons on NEW material, material that's never been met. One assumes if one is taking the AP Vergil test that one has mastered a certain amount of Vergilian vocabulary. You SHOULD be able to scan a line (eventually) without the aid of macrons--BECAUSE YOU KNOW THE WORDS.
I know the word dominus has all short vowels--NOT because I memorized whether it had long or short marks, but because I can hear the word in my head. All the vowels are short when I hear it. I *hear* the long A of mAter; I *hear* the short a of pater. So if I'm reading a line of Vergil, which presumably I have read before in class and learned all the vocabulary, I *hear* that line when I read it and can mark the scansion without a problem.
It's all about HOW THE WORDS SOUNDED. When I learn new vocabulary, I say the word outloud. I hear it, I taste it. I try to pick up meaning from context, rereading the passage multiple times if necessary (thanks, Dexter!) before I reach for the dictionary. I want to READ, I don't want to look up every darn thing.
So if I'm reading something for the 1st time, I truly want macrons--and not for the endings! I don't need them for the morphology, I need and want them for the vocabulary.
If a text isn't going to have macrons in the passage itself, it must have it in facing vocabulary, where it is convenient. If it's all at the back of the book in the glossary, then I have slowed down and virtually stopped just to learn a new word. And that's not how it should be. IMHO. :)
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| > For years NLE had no macrons--I know it has changed > now. Same with AP. > > I have been trying to use them for the students. I > however have not noticed whether or not they help the > students. It seems they either "get" the word and its > meaning in the context of the sentence or they don't. > Anyone else have that experience? |
You have to understand, I don't necessarily want macrons on the tests. I want macrons on NEW material, material that's never been met. One assumes if one is taking the AP Vergil test that one has mastered a certain amount of Vergilian vocabulary. You SHOULD be able to scan a line (eventually) without the aid of macrons--BECAUSE YOU KNOW THE WORDS.
I know the word dominus has all short vowels--NOT because I memorized whether it had long or short marks, but because I can hear the word in my head. All the vowels are short when I hear it. I *hear* the long A of mAter; I *hear* the short a of pater. So if I'm reading a line of Vergil, which presumably I have read before in class and learned all the vocabulary, I *hear* that line when I read it and can mark the scansion without a problem.
It's all about HOW THE WORDS SOUNDED. When I learn new vocabulary, I say the word outloud. I hear it, I taste it. I try to pick up meaning from context, rereading the passage multiple times if necessary (thanks, Dexter!) before I reach for the dictionary. I want to READ, I don't want to look up every darn thing.
So if I'm reading something for the 1st time, I truly want macrons--and not for the endings! I don't need them for the morphology, I need and want them for the vocabulary.
If a text isn't going to have macrons in the passage itself, it must have it in facing vocabulary, where it is convenient. If it's all at the back of the book in the glossary, then I have slowed down and virtually stopped just to learn a new word. And that's not how it should be. IMHO. :)
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