出版社：Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS)
摘要：This essay explores the interrelationships of Latin and power over the history of the acquisition of the language and in the modern classroom. I argue firstly that a belief has persisted for two millennia that Latin possesses an intrinsic power. Françoise Waquet in Latin or the Empire of a Sign has demonstrated a close association between Latin and power from the Renaissance to the early twentieth century. This paper shows that such beliefs hold also for antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the contemporary world, so long as we focus not on elites but on groups excluded from the educational mainstream. Such people have tended to sense an intrinsic power in the language irrespective of the actual meaning of words. Their beliefs are reflected in the use of nonsense-Latin in spheres as diverse as medieval magical spells, Renaissance satire, and modern advertising. Secondly, I suggest ways in which teachers, rather than encouraging such mistaken beliefs, might draw on the long history of the language to empower their students. The use of texts that give voice to otherwise marginalized groups, such as colonial subjects, women, and pupils, serve to challenge the abusive power structures that have traditionally been associated with Latin. What is more, the vast temporal and cultural scope of Latin offers unparalleled opportunities for the enhancement of students’ communicative abilities, as they learn both to understand and adopt the perspectives of writers across an extraordinarily wide range of texts and genres
关键词：Latin; power; education; marginalized groups; magic; second language acquisition; ESL; benefits of Latin; motivations for learning Latin; communication; reading; writing; fluency
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