Faculty of Philology

Dean - Prof. Marina L. Remnyova

The meaning of the word ?philology? is ?love for word?. This is love that unites teachers and researchers of modern and Classical languages and literature, interpreters and diplomats, journalists and publishers, writers and poets.

Philological disciplines have been taught at Moscow University virtually from the day of its establishment. Among Moscow University alumni we count famous Russian writers and philosophers: D.I. Fonvizin, I.I. Novikov, A.S. Griboyedov, P.Y. Chaadaev, F.I. Tyutchev, M.Yu. Lermontov, V.G. Belinsky, I.S. Turgenev, N.V. Stankevich, A.I. Gerzen, N.P. Ogaryov, I.A. Goncharov, A.A. Fet, V.V. Rozanov, V.Y. Bryusov, V.F. Khodasevich, B.L. Pasternak, A.T. Tvardovsky.

At different periods of time the faculty has counted among its members such prominent scholars as F.I. Buslaev, N.S. Tikhonravov, A.N. Veselovsky, M.N. Speransky, F.F. Fortunatov, V.V. Vinogradov, N.K. Gudzy, G.N. Pospelov, B.V. Mikhailovsky, R.I. Avanesov, O.S. Ahmanova, N.I. Tolstoy.

Nowadays the Faculty of Philology is the leading institution of higher education training philologists in Russia. Our courses in various philological disciplines, our manuals, textbooks and study guides have been used both in Russia and abroad.

We train linguists, interpreters/translators, and literary critics who have a good command of several modern languages together with classical and some ancient languages (Latin, Greek, Old Slavonic, Sanskrit, Gothic). Their computer skills allow them to use all types of word processors and means of computer-aided translation. Our graduates have thorough knowledge of Russian, European and American literature, Russian and European cultures. Their profound knowledge of philology and other Liberal Arts allows them to continue their education at post-graduate school or to master new professional skills in some related areas.

We offer full-time 5-year Specialist?s Degree programs in various fields of philology and part-time 6-year Specialist?s Degree program in Russian philology.

Our graduates are highly demanded in various spheres of scholarly research and education, in the mass media, in civil service at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in archives, libraries, museums, in travel agencies, as well as Russian and international companies.

The faculty has international links with over 50 world?s leading universities and centers of philological studies, among them the University of Athens, the Department of the Russian Language and Literature of Seoul National University, the Institute of Russian Language and Culture in Rome, Italy, the University of Padua, Ivan Duichev Centre for Slavic-Byzantium Studies, Saint Clement of Ohrid University in Sofia. We collaborate with Eberhard Karls Universitat, Tubingen, Philipps-Universitat , Marburg , Universitat Rostok, Ruhr-Universitat , Bochum , Humboldt-Universitat in Germany, Italian universities in Florence and Trieste, Yale and SUNY in the USA, the University of Lisbon in Portugal, the universities in Barcelona, Madrid, Granada, Valencia in Spain, Paris IV-Sorbonne in France, the University of Geneva in Switzerland. We are also taking part in the European program TEMPUS.

a href="/images/depts/philol/philol03.JPG" target="_blank">Thanks to our well-established international ties, classes in all 25 modern languages taught at the Faculty are given by lecturers who are native speakers of these languages. Every year over 200 Faculty academics, post-graduate and undergraduate students take part in academic exchange programs, our undergraduates having internships at universities abroad.

The faculty includes 20 Departments, a few laboratories and research centers. Among 350 members of our academic staff we count over 100 Doctors of Philology, 240 Candidates of Philology, members of Russian and foreign academies.

Our core curriculum within all the divisions includes courses of Russian and European languages and literature, courses of Linguistics and Theory of Literature for students to familiarize themselves with various schools and trends of Russian and foreign philology.

The core curriculum also includes a number of Liberal Arts courses (Philosophy, History, Psychology, Pedagogy), as well as courses of basic mathematics and computer studies, and optional courses of science and the Humanities.

The Department of Theory of Literature and the Department of General and Comparative Linguistics teach a vast number of core courses to junior students, both offering major courses to senior students in all the divisions of the faculty.

The Department of Theory of Literature teaches literature as a type of art, focusing on the genesis, structure, classification, and functioning of literary works, on stylistics and versification, as well as on the methodology of literary criticism, a number of major courses being offered in these specialist areas.

The Department of General and Comparative Linguistics, along with a number of core courses, offers the following major electives: General and Comparative Linguistics, Business Language, Rhetoric, Language Policy, Computational Linguistics and Computer-aided Translation.

The Division of the Russian Language and Literature unites the Department of the Russian Language, the Department of Russian Literature, the Department of Russian Literature of XX century, and the Department of Russian Folklore. The core curriculum includes courses in the history of Russian literature (from Kievan Rus times to the present) and folklore, modern Russian , Old Slavonic, the history of the Russian language and Russian dialectology, etc.

Besides, students take an obligatory course of the history of European literature (from the Classics to modern writers) and an optional course of the history of Slavic literature.

The Department of the Russian Language offers major courses in the history of Russian and in the literature of Ancient Rus, in Russian dialects, stage speech, poetry, the language of the mass media.

The Department of Russian Literature trains specialists in the field of Old Russian literature, literature of XVII ? XIX centuries, source study and text linguistics.

The Department of Russian Literature of XX century offers courses in Russian literature (from 1890s to the present), including works of Russian emigrants abroad and non?Russian writers in Russia proper.

The Department of Russian Folk Art trains specialists in folklore.

The core curriculum at the Division of Russian as a Foreign Language is similar to the one of the Division of the Russian Language and Literature, with additional stress laid on foreign languages, the theory and methods of teaching Russian as a foreign language, and area studies.

The Division of Romance and Germanic Philology unites the Department of the History of European and American Literature, the Departments of English, French, and German Linguistics, the Department of Germanic Linguistics , the Department of Romance Linguistics , the Department of Iberian Romance Linguistics.

The core curriculum includes at least two foreign languages; a two-year theoretical course of the major foreign language (its history and dialects) is underpinned by practical language classes. Besides, Latin, Gothic, ancient languages, the comparative grammar of Romance or Germanic languages, the history of European from ancient to modern times, the history of Russian literature of XI ? XX centuries, modern Russian are among compulsory subjects. Graduates are awarded Specialist?s degree in Philology and qualification ?Instructor in English (or/ French/ German etc.) and European Literature?.

The departments within the Division of Romance and Germanic Philology offer a number of major courses for students to choose from.

The Department of the History of Foreign Literature trains specialists in European, American, Australian literature.

The Departments of English, French, German Linguistics teach theoretical and practical courses of these languages.

The Department of Germanic Linguistics trains specialists in the field of comparative Germanic linguistics, modern Scandinavian languages (Danish, Norwegian, Swedish). The Centre of Celtic culture at the department fosters Irish language teaching.

The Department of Romance Linguistics teaches Italian, Romanian, Portugese, Spanish, French languages together with courses in speech etiquette, language and style of official documents, as well as courses in sociolinguistic situation in Romance countries, intercultural communication, language and culture studies, area studies.

The Department of Iberian Romance Linguistics teaches Spanish, Portugal, Catalan and Galician languages.

The Division of Translation Studies trains professional translators and interpreters with a command of two foreign languages (English being major), majoring in translation or interpreting. The curriculum of the Division is similar to the one at the Division of Romance and Germanic Philology added with theoretical and practical courses of interpreting and translation(including computer-aided translation), cultural studies, etc.

The curriculum of the Division of Classical Philology covers courses in the cultural heritage of the Ancient World civilizations ? Hellenic and Latin ? from XV-XI B.C. to V-VI A.D. Knowledge of material culture, art, history, geography of Ancient World is an essential part of philological education. Courses within the curriculum focus on various aspects of classical languages and culture, seeing through the eyes of the contemporaries, medieval scholars, modern and the latest researchers. The Ancient World is also studied from the point of view of linguistics, philosophy, anthropology, etc. German and Italian languages are the core subjects.

The Division of Byzantine and Modern Greek Philology teaches the language, literature and culture of Byzantine Empire that formed after the split of the Roman Empire; the curriculum includes the Greek language and literature from the time of the Fall of Constantinople (1453) to the present.

The core curriculum includes ancient languages (Classical Greek, Latin, Old Slavonic), Modern Greek and Greek literature, the history of Ancient, Byzantine, and Modern Greek Art, the history of Ancient Greece, Byzantine history, New and Modern history of Greece, paleography, the history of Russian-Greek relations, the history of Greek literary language, etc. Modern languages offered are German, French, Italian, English, and one of the Balkan languages.

The Division of Slavic Philology trains specialists in Polish, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, Ukrainian, Belorussian.

Theoretical courses in the history, descriptive and comparative grammar of the languages are underpinned by practical language classes. Area studies include the history of Slavic countries and their culture, the history of literature and folklore of southern and western Slavs. Slavic Studies cover the courses of Old Slavonic, the historical grammar of Russian, Modern Russian, the history of Russian and European literature. Courses of Latin, Ancient Greek and modern European languages complement philological knowledge in the specialist area.

The curriculum of the Division of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics aims at giving students profound knowledge in the field of linguistic theory. The core courses include mathematics (mathematical language, probability models, mathematical statistics, information theory and coding, algebra, logic, mathematical theory of grammar) and linguistics (the theory of language structure, comparative linguistics, language typology, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics; applied linguistics including speech and text processing, quantitative linguistics, modern applied linguistics).

Students study modern European languages, Latin, Old Slavonic, as well as Japanese, Chinese and Basque, taught exclusively within the division. A special emphasis is put on computer programming for students to work in Internet design and programming for translation, to compile e-dictionaries.

Graduates are awarded Specialist?s degree in Linguistics.

The Division of Philological Research for Public Relations trains specialists for PR companies, advertising agencies, marketing departments of various companies. Our graduates are competent philologists able to create succinct, expressive, stylistically polished texts using their knowledge of language and culture, history, psychology, economics, finance and law.

The curriculum includes courses of major and minor foreign languages, the latter chosen from German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Norwegian. Traditional philological disciplines, such as courses of Russian, comparative linguistics, world literature, world folklore, etc. are complemented with courses in management, finance, marketing, the theory of economics, logic and the theory of argumentation, social and general psychology, neuro linguistic programming, rhetoric.

Practical classes on major disciplines integrate knowledge and skills essential in the field of PR. Our courses are taught by MSU academics as well as by experts in the field: heads of PR and marketing companies, journalists.

The Division of Forensic Linguistics trains specialists for forensic centers and phonoscope laboratories of law-enforcing organizations and courts. The curriculum includes courses in methods and techniques of phonoscopic analysis and state-of-the-art technologies.

The core curriculum, nevertheless, consists of traditional linguistic courses complemented with area-specific courses of applied linguistics. Students are taught three foreign languages: a major one ( English, French, or German), and two minor ones chosen among the Turkic and the Finno-Ugric languages.

Apart from traditional philological disciplines the core curriculum includes mathematical disciplines and modern programming languages. Specialist-area disciplines include the theory and practice of Forensic Linguistics, speech analysis in forensic expertise, software and instruments for phonoscopic expertise, etc. Practical courses are taught by leading experts in the field.

The curriculum of The Division of Philological Research for the Mass Media aims at developing professional skills in the sphere of the mass media. The focus is on the language of the printed media, radio, television, cinema, advertising and Internet.

The curriculum includes the analysis of language of the mass media in terms of linguistics, psychology, rhetoric, hermeneutics, pragmatics, sociology, culturology. The courses focus on the Russian literary language and variation of the standard in the media; foreign languages in the mass media; special skills: editing, annotating, translation of mass media texts, the mass media and Internet application for language teaching, advertising , etc..

The program is unique, as specialists from the Faculty of Philology, Journalism, Psychology, Philosophy, and professors from the Russian State Institute of Cinematography demonstrate interdisciplinary analysis of mass media language during their lectures and seminars. Our students acquire their practical skills during their internships at the editorial department of the faculty, working for newspapers, radio and television companies, PR agencies, etc.

We offer a number of additional Minor programs in various areas: Russian as a Foreign Language, translation/ interpretation, foreign language teaching for university and secondary/high school, comparative Indo-European linguistics, comparative literature, computer processing of language data, philological research for journalism, for publishing, for PR and advertising, etc. The number of additional Minors is constantly growing; for some extra payment students are also able to study those foreign languages that are not covered by the curriculum.