The Ancient Greek Dependency Treebank: Linguistic Annotation in a Teaching Environment

This chapter argues that manual linguistic annotation of Ancient Greek texts can be effectively employed to teach of Greek literature and languages. Under the supervision of a teacher, students can be engaged into the ongoing creation of the Ancient Greek Dependency Treebank. With the help of one example from Sophocles (Tr. 962–3), we will illustrate how the collective work of treebanking in a class environment provides an ideal occasion to discuss the methods of Classical Philology and the history of interpretation of a given passage; more importantly, while producing a treebank annotation, students can learn how to read a complex text in its literary and communicative context following the methods of textual criticism. New and old research questions emerge from the work; at the same time, through the final annotation the students will produce a tangible contribution to a crucial initiative that is likely to change the way Greek grammar will be studied in the future.