Notice
As part of Phase 3 of our return to campus plan, most units will now run tutorials, seminars and other small group learning activities on campus for the second half-year, while keeping an online version available for those students unable to return or those who choose to continue their studies online.
To check the availability of face to face activities for your unit, please go to timetable viewer. To check detailed information on unit assessments visit your unit's iLearn space or consult your unit convenor.
Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Malcolm Choat
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Credit points |
Credit points
10
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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Unit description |
Unit description
This unit is an introduction to Coptic, the final stage of the Egyptian script and language. An understanding of Coptic is necessary for advanced study of late antique and Christian Egypt, and is of great benefit to those studying earlier phases of the Egyptian language. This unit focuses on the Sahidic ('Upper Egyptian')dialect, the first Coptic dialect into which biblical texts were translated in the third century. Sahidic became a pan-Egyptian written dialect in the fourth and following centuries,and boasts a rich literature, both original and translated.
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Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
Assessment tasks are compulsory and must be submitted on time. All assessment will be submitted via iLearn, including grammar tests, which will be completed on iLearn.
As a general rule, extensions will not be granted without a valid and documented reason (e.g. medical certificate). All requests for extensions should go via ask.mq.edu.au and should be supported by appropriate documentation.
Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, (a) a penalty for lateness will apply – two (2) marks out of 100* will be deducted per day for assignments submitted after the due date – and (b) no assignment will be accepted more than seven (7) days (incl. weekends) after the original submission deadline. No late submissions will be accepted for timed assessments – e.g. quizzes, online tests.
*"100" is to be understood as 100% of the marks for that task, not the entire unit.
In order to complete this unit satisfactorily students must gain a mark of 50% or more, and undertake all assessment tasks.
Name | Weighting | Hurdle | Due |
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End of Session test | 30% | No | Weeks 6, 9, & 12 |
Grammar Quiz | 25% | No | Every two weeks from Week 4 to Week 12 |
Assignments | 45% | No | End of Session Exam period |
Assessment Type 1: Quiz/Test
Indicative Time on Task 2: 21 hours
Due: Weeks 6, 9, & 12
Weighting: 30%
The end of session online test brings together everything studied in the course to demonstrate an understanding of Coptic vocabulary and grammar.
Assessment Type 1: Quiz/Test
Indicative Time on Task 2: 15 hours
Due: Every two weeks from Week 4 to Week 12
Weighting: 25%
A fortnightly short-answer test of 10 points of grammar taken from the previous lessons.
Assessment Type 1: Quiz/Test
Indicative Time on Task 2: 30 hours
Due: End of Session Exam period
Weighting: 45%
Three assignments which consolidate the grammar and vocabulary learned to the time when each assignment is set.
1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:
2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation
The course consists of a two-hour lecture, the audio of which will be recorded, with accompanying notes. In lieu of the tutorial (which cannot be recorded), a weekly discussion forum will allow students to ask questions about that week's exercises.
The unit has an iLearn page which can be accessed at https://ilearn.mq.edu.au/login/index.php. PC and internet access are therefore required. Basic computer skills (e.g., internet browsing) and skills in word processing are also a requirement. Content, readings, and discussions for this unit will be delivered via the unit iLearn page. The lectures for this unit will be recorded and the audio recordings and accompanying notes will be available on the Echo 360 system. Any extra readings required will be made available on the unit iLearn page, as will the 3 assignments
Note: iLearn should be regularly consulted for updates, learning tools, and for participation in the discussion forum.
Coptic fonts
For the purposes of this course it is essential that you learn to type words in Coptic (or Greek). Most ancient language fonts – even if they are of the same language – have a different distribution of characters on the keyboard. So if members of the group use different fonts, this will lead to misunderstandings. We will use unicode fonts which (theoretically) display the same on all systems. I suggest therefore that you download the public domain Unicode font “New Athena Unicode”, which contains Coptic and Greek characters.
New Athena Unicode is available for both PC and Macintosh computers on the following website:
http://apagreekkeys.org/NAUdownload.html
(See the link to "DOWNLOAD New Athena Unicode version 5.007 in ttf format" under "Latest Version")
For Coptic Unicode input (that is, keyboard layout), follow the directions provided at:
http://ucbclassics.dreamhosters.com/djm/coptic.html
This contains instructions for installing the Keyboard layouts in Windows or Mac systems, and general guidance on entering Coptic on both systems.
If you have any problems using this font, please contact the lecturer.
Textbook
The textbook we will use is Lambdin, T. O., Introduction to Sahidic Coptic, Macon 1983 (2nd edition 1992), a copy of which all students must purchase.
Grammars
As scholarly focus since the late 19th century has primarily been on Sahidic, there is a large body of teaching aids available for this dialect. The following list is not exhaustive, but lists the most important grammars. If students wish to purchase a comprehensive grammar, I recommend that of Layton, below, but this is not required.
Layton, B., A Coptic Grammar. Wiesbaden 2000 (2nd ed. Wiesbaden 2004).
Mallon, A., Grammaire copte: bibliographie, chrestomathie et vocabulaire, 4 éd. revue par Michel Malinine, Beyrouth 1956.
Plisch, U.-K., Einführung in die koptische Sprache (sahidischer Dialekt). Wiesbaden 1999.
Polotsky, H. J., Études de syntaxe copte, Cairo 1944.
Reintges, C., Coptic Egyptian (Sahidic Dialect). A Learner's Grammar. Köln 2004.
Shisha-Halevy, A., Coptic Grammatical Categories. Structural Studies in the Syntax of Shenoutean Sahidic. Roma, 1986.
Stern, L., Koptische Grammatik, Leipzig 1880.
Till, W., Koptische Grammatik, Leipzig 1961.
Till, W., Koptische Dialektgrammatik, München 1961.
Torallas Tovar, S., Gramática de Copto Sahidico. Madrid 2001.
Dictionaries
At this point of learning Coptic it is not necessary to purchase one of the dictionaries listed below, although access to a dictionary will be necessary for the advanced study of Coptic. For the purposes of this unit, the dictionary given in Lambdin, Introduction to Sahidic Coptic, is quite sufficient. The most important dictionary of those listed below is Crum, W.E. Coptic Dictionary.
There is now a Coptic Dictionary online (edited by the Koptische/Coptic Electronic Language and Literature International Alliance [KELLIA]) online at https://coptic-dictionary.org/ which contains both Coptic and Greek words. For guidance on using this dictionary see https://coptic-dictionary.org/help.cgi
Černý, J., Coptic Etymological Dictionary, Cambridge 1976.
Crum, W. E., Coptic Dictionary, Oxford 1939 (various reprints since, including Oxford 1999 and Wipf & Stock Publishers 2005).
Kasser, R., Compléments au Dictionnaire copte de Crum, Cairo 1964.
Smith, R., A Concise Coptic-English Lexicon, Grand Rapids 1983.
Westendorf, W., Koptisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg 1965-77.
Each week, there will be a 2-hour lecture, and a 1-hour tutorial. The course material will be presented in the lecture; the tutorial will consist of exercises that will reinforce the information learned in the lecture. Listening to the lecture and attending tutorials are compulsory for students who wish to learn the language properly and thus do well in the unit. For a week-by-week overview of the content we will cover, see the unit iLearn site.
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