Τα Αρχαία Ελληνικά επαναπρογραμματίζουν τον εγκέφαλο! Reprogramming the Brain by Learning Ancient Greek!

According to a theory by British classicist Professor Eric A. Havelock, which is based on the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, the ancient Greek alphabet caused many abstract concepts to be conceived in the ancient Greek world, due to the unique brain activation of its users. The theory is presented along with many other conclusions by top foreign scientists, philologists and linguists in the 400-page volume “The Alphabet and the Brain: The Lateralization of Writing,” which was published in 1988 by Springer.

Τη συστηματική διδασκαλία της αρχαίας Ελληνικής γλώσσας προτείνουν ξένοι καθηγητές, σαν θεραπεία σε δυσλεκτικά παιδιά. Σύμφωνα με την θεωρία, του Καθηγητού της Φιλολογίας Eric Havelock, η οποία στηρίζεται στον Πλάτωνα, το αρχαίο Ελληνικό αλφάβητο προκάλεσε πακτωλό αφηρημένων εννοιών στον Αρχαίο Ελληνικό κόσμο, λόγω ενεργοποίησης του εγκεφάλου των χρηστών του.

Στον συνεδριακό τόμο των τετρακοσίων σελίδων «Alphabet and the Brain, έκδοση Springer του 1988» παρουσιάζονται τα συμπεράσματα πλήθους κορυφαίων επιστημόνων φιλολόγων, γλωσσολόγων και άλλων ειδικοτήτων, πλην Ελλήνων αντιστοίχων ειδικοτήτων.

Επιμελητές της έκδοσης ήταν ο Καθηγητής της Ιατρικής Charles Lumsden του Πανεπιστημίου του Τορόντο και ο Διευθυντής του Κέντρου Θεωρίας της Επικοινωνίας “Marchal McLuhan” Derrick De Kerckhove.

The scientific results that contribute to the theory of Havelock include: 1. The ‘Broca’s area’ in the left -usually- hemisphere of the human brain, which is linked to speech production, was activated more than usual due to the Greek alphabet, which for the first time had successfully employed vowels for writing. 2. The human brain was radically redesigned. 3. The above mentioned change in brain function caused a substantial change in the attitude of the ancient Greek alphabet’s users, for which the need of communication with other citizens through the art of theater appeared.

Tα επιστημονικά αποτελέσματα τα οποία υποστηρίζουν την θεωρία του Havelock είναι τα εξής:

1. Η περιοχή Broca, που βρίσκεται στην αριστερή πλευρά του εγκεφάλου, ενεργοποιήθηκε λίγο περισσότερο, λόγω του Ελληνικού αλφαβήτου διότι χρησιμοποιήθηκαν επιτυχώς φωνήεντα σε γραφή για πρώτη φορά.

2. Ο ανθρώπινος εγκέφαλος επαναπρογραμματίστηκε ριζικώς.

3. Η πιο πάνω αναφερθείσα συγκλονιστική μεταβολή στην λειτουργία του εγκεφάλου προκάλεσε μία ουσιώδη αλλαγή στην ψυχολογία των χρηστών του αλφαβήτου από την οποία προέκυψε η ανάγκη επικοινωνίας των πολιτών δια της λειτουργίας του θεάτρου.

Οι δημοσιευμένες έρευνες της επιστημονικής ομάδας του Ιωάννη Τσέγκου παρουσιάζονται στο βιβλίο «Η ΕΚΔΙΚΗΣΗ ΤΩΝ ΤΟΝΩΝ».

Σε αυτές, αλλά και σε νεώτερες έρευνες 1999-2010, απέδειξαν ότι οι μετρήσιμοι δείκτες της Λεκτικής Νοημοσύνης και της Αφαιρετικής Σκέψης με αποδεκτές τεχνικές επιταχύνθηκαν σε ομάδα 25 μη-δυσλεξικών παιδιών.

Another published scientific research by the team of Greek psychiatrist Ioannis Tsegos, showed that the measurable indicators of verbal intelligence and deductive thinking were accelerated across a group of 25 non-dyslexic children, who were taught Ancient Greek through accepted methods for two hours per week, between the ages of 8 and 12. In another equal group of children that weren’t taught Ancient Greek, the study revealed that the respective indicators were decelerated. Both groups were taught similar lessons. Australian university researcher Kate Chanock, however, took Tsegos’ study a step further in her work “Help for a dyslexic learner from an unlikely source: the study of Ancient Greek” (2006: Literacy), the Australian researcher describes how she cured an English-speaking person from dyslexia by using Ancient Greek.

Η διδασκαλία στα παιδιά αυτά καθώς και οι μετρήσεις των δεικτών άρχισαν από την ηλικία των 8 ετών και συνεχίστηκαν μέχρι και τα 12 χρόνια τους. Οι ίδιοι δείκτες επιβραδύνθηκαν στην ισάριθμη ομάδα μη-δυσλεξικών παιδιών τα οποία δεν διδάχθηκαν εβδομαδιαίως και εξωσχολικώς επί δίωρο την Αρχαία Γλώσσα.

Ας σημειωθεί ότι οι δύο ομάδες διδάχθηκαν τα ίδια προγραμματισμένα μαθήματα στο κανονικό ωράριο η δε στατιστική ανάλυση των αποτελεσμάτων έγινε με γενικώς αποδεκτό πρότυπο.

Ωστόσο, η Αυστραλή Πανεπιστημιακή ερευνήτρια Kate Chanock έκανε ένα βήμα παράλληλο ως προς τον Ιωάννη Τσέγκο διότι στο έργο της «Help for a dyslexic learner from an unlikely source: the study of Ancient Greek, Literacy 2006» περιγράφει πως κατέστησε ένα αγγλομαθή δυσλεξικό σε μη-δυσλεξικό με τα Αρχαία Ελληνικά!

Meanwhile, children in elementary schools in Oxford, U.K., have been learning Ancient Greek since 2010 in addition to their other courses, while children of the same age in Greece aren’t learning ancient languages as they should, but instead are learning English.

Εν τούτοις, από φέτος, τα μεν παιδιά της Αγγλίας του Δημοτικού στην περιοχή της Οξφόρδης, με επιστημονική πρόταση, επιπροσθέτως των μαθημάτων τους θα μαθαίνουν Αρχαία Ελληνικά, τα δε αντίστοιχης ηλικίας Ελληνόπουλα, μόνον με πολιτική απόφαση, δεν θα διδάσκονται την Αρχαία Γλώσσα ενώ θα έπρεπε, αλλά Αγγλικά!!

Σταύρος Π. Παπαμαρινόπουλος, Καθηγητής Πανεπιστημίου Πατρών Μέλος του Εθνικού Συμβουλίου Έρευνας και Τεχνολογίας 2004-2010.

Links:

The Intelligent Person’s Guide To Greek by William Harris Prof. Em. Middlebury College.

So You Want to Learn Ancient Greek on Your Own? by Stephen M. Trzaskoma.

Ancient Greek Tutorials, by Donald J. Mastronarde with the assistance of the Berkeley Language Center of the University of California, Berkeley. There is a Unicode and GreekKeys version. This site is made available to all users by the courtesy of the University of California Press. Although much of it is based on a specific textbook for ancient Greek , the tutorials should be helpful to anyone learning ancient Greek from any textbook.

Greek Language and Linguistics - Their primary objective is to foster the application of research methods from the field of Linguistics to the study of Hellenic and Hellenistic Greek. In addition to tools to support learning Ancient Greek, we provide resources to encourage the study of various forms of Linguistics and their application to Ancient Greek. You can select options for Online and Print Resources for beginning Greek, Intermediate Greek and Advanced Studies. Links to blogs and other great resources can be found here as well.

Ancient Greek Online - The author Richard Welland Crowell says the site was designed to be a learning environment for students as well as a reading room for scholars. The large print Greek is easy on the eyes. The Internet has returned us to the scrolling method of reading texts, which lends itself particularly well to the project at hand. I like his polemical tone:”This is a time of crisis for the Humanities. In colleges and universities across the country, Classics departments are being dismantled or simply left to die of attrition as professors retire without being replaced. We are once again entering upon a Dark Age when classical learning is regarded as irrelevant to the poorly understood needs of an increasingly violent and irrational world. Like the Irish monks of the 8th and 9th centuries, we must go quietly about the task of preserving and disseminating the keystones of classical civilization before they are lost from consciousness.”

World Wide Ancient Greek - Learning Ancient Greek is the interactive, online complement to Cecelia Luschnig's An Introduction to Ancient Greek: A Literary Approach. This is a traditional beginner's text, written in a conversational tone, as though between equals of good will and common purpose. You can find Callias’ Alphabet song on this site. Oops sorry, forgot we are all learners here, Callias was an Athenian comic poet of the 5th c. This song by the chorus may have come from his comedy called the Alphabet Tragedy. 

Learn How to Write Ancient Greek Online - A no frills introduction. Over the course of the lesson, You are shown the various forms of writing Greek, andlearn how to write them yourself. You'll also learn how to write and pronounce words and phrases once you've mastered the basics of the alphabet. Then comes the link so you can learn and practice the Greek alphabet even more with their: Learn to Write Ancient Greek work book. Nevertheless, this website has videos, exercises and explanations about Greek writing. It's divided into the following sections:The Early Greek Alphabet (how to write uppercase Greek), The Later Uncial Script, The Greek Minuscule Script (how to write lowercase Greek), The Byzantine Minuscule Script, Harder Bits of Greek Pronunciation and an FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions about Ancient Greek Writing. A great resource for calligraphers.

Systematische Grammatik der griechischen Sprache - in German but it is bristling with many paradigm charts in Unicode. 

Aoidoi -  is classical Greek for "bards," like Homer, or just "poets." by William S. Annis. This site is dedicated to the study of ancient Greek poetry from the Epics to Anacreontics. Most of the work is directed at producing versions of Greek poems with vocabulary, grammar and dialect notes for beginners. William Annis is a professional computer geek who has been interested in classical languages his entire life. He has a wonderful introduction to Greek Meter, Greek Dialects and an interesting observation on The Error of Caragounis, a summary of some problems with C. Caragounis' notion that Ancient and Modern Greek are pronounced identically.

Woodhouse English-Greek Dictionary - A Vocabulary of the Attic Language by S. C. WOODHOUSE, M.A. Late Scholar of Christ Church, Oxford London George Routledge & Sons, Limited Broadway House, Ludgate Hill, E.C. 1910 . A wonderfully useful relic. 

The Lexicon of Greek Personal Names (LGPN) was established in 1972 as a Major Research Project of the British Academy, at the suggestion of Peter Marshall Fraser, Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford and a Fellow of the Academy. On acceptance of the proposal, Fraser was appointed Director of the project and Chairman of a supervisory committee. From the start, LGPN involved international collaboration, scholars from many countries being invited to contribute material and advice; but the Editors and central staff have always worked in Oxford. In October 1996, the project became part of Oxford University, under the aegis of the Faculty of Literae Humaniores, now the Faculty of Classics. It is a member of the group of Oxford Classics Research Projects. It draws  on the full range of written sources from the 8th century B.C. down to the late Roman Empire. Excellent.