Time Schedule:
James E. Augerot
RUSS 451
Seattle Campus
Descriptive analysis of contemporary standard Russian. Detailed phonetic transcription, discussion of major Great Russian dialects as well as variations in popular speech, examination of common roots and productive derivational elements in Russian words, and elementary principles of syntax. Prerequisite: either RUSS 303 or RUSS 350; LING 200. Offered: W.
Class description
We will examine the phonology and morphology of Standard Literary Russian from a descriptive perspective. There will be brief excursions into the Cyrillic Alphabet, major dialectal divisions, both geographical and social, and the sources, especially OCS, of modern Russian vocabulary.
Student learning goals
The major goal is to improve the student's familiarity with, and understanding of, the building blocks of Modern Standard Russian.
Our study of phonology with an excursion into the history of the alphabet should help the student more capable of predicting sounds from collocation of letters and spelling from the sounding out of words.
From a careful consideration of morphology we hope the student will be able to take words apart intelligently as well as to build words from the basic units of meaning.
General method of instruction
Lecture-discussion with some student presentations
Recommended preparation
Some knowledge of Russian, preferably including the equivalent of 3rd Year Russian, basic linguistic theory and especially terminology and familiarity with modern linguistic terminology and concepts
Class assignments and grading
Each student will prepare a report on some aspect of Russian and will deliver the results to the class.
There will be, in addition to grades for the report and its presentation in class, a midterm and final examination.
