intuitive labels for verb conjugations

[Benjamin Rifkin]

I agree with Jerry Ervin:  the naming should not in any way imply a
hierarchy and the scholars who use the system do not, I believe, intend to
imply the existence of such a hierarchy.  The use of terms such as "-ish'"
and "-esh'" is not only intuitive, but transparent.  Students, asked if a
verb belongs to the first or second conjugation system, may respond
correctly or incorrectly without truly understanding the nature of the
conjugation in question.  If they are asked if the verb is of the "-ish'" or
"-esh'" type, their response is much more likely to correspond to their true
understanding of the conjugation of the verb (and demonstrate to the
instructor whether that understanding is accurate or not.)  Note that
Alexander Lipson in his textbook,  _A Russian Course_ (Slavica, 1980, I
believe), introduced (again, I believe he introduced this, but it could have
appeared earlier), the notion of "-it" and "-et" verbs, rather than first
and second conjugations.  This textbook is based on the one-stem system, by
the way.

Ben Rifkin



At 03:36 PM 4/1/99 EST, you wrote:
>Katya writes,
>
>"...in my mind the "first" translates
>rather as "encountered first" than "first in importance."  Will students
>learn them easier if we start calling them "-esh" and "-ish" verbs?  I
>often do, but I doubt that it makes any difference."
>
>My concern about "first" vs. "second" has little to do with any implied
>hierarchy, and I'm sorry if I implied otherwise.  Rather, it has to do with
>non-intuitive naming in general.  "First" and "second" have no more
>relationship to the conjugation pattern of the verb than do "A" and "B" or
>"Grape" and "Tutti-frutti."
>
>I guess my feeling is that if an intuitive name (or at least a label that
>points students in the right direction) is available or can be devised, why
>not use it (in virtually any learning situation, be that biology or history
>or math or whatever)?
>
>Jerry
>
        +++++++++++++++
Benjamin Rifkin, Assoc. Prof. of Slavic Languages, UW-Madison
Coordinator of Russian-Language Instruction
1432 Van Hise Hall, 1220 Linden Dr., Madison, WI  53706
voice:  608/262-1623; fax:  608/265-2814
        +++++++++++++++