OVERVIEW

The course of  Slavic Philology I (code 72627, 6 credits, prof. Nataliya Kardanova; Bachelor of Arts in Modern Languages and Cultures -  L-11 R) is borrowed from the course of Slavic Philology LM (code 72627, 6 credits, prof. Nataliya Kardanova; Master's Degree in Modern Languages and Literatures for teaching, publishing and digital media - LM-37 R).

The corse is structured with three different profiles, depending on studied languages and previous knowledge of Slavic Philology:  

Profile A (Slavic Philology I, code 72868) 

Studentes of BA.

Profile B (Slavic Philology LM, code 72627) 

Students who had taken Slavic Philology I  (or equivalent course, at least 6 credits) during BA. 

Profile C (Slavic Philology LM, code 72627)

Students who had not taken Slavic Philology I (or equivalent course, at least 6 credits) during BA, will follow a special program of Slavic Philology LM (code 72627)  which also summarizes the contents of Slavic Philology I. 

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The goal of the discipline is providing the students the tools for tackling the texts of the Old Church Slavonic Corpus (and eventually those in Old Russian, etc.) and for approaching in a structured way the study of Slavic languages, both at synchronic and diachronic levels.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Profile A (Slavic Philology I, code 72868) 

The course is aimed at providing basic knowledge about the linguistic and cultural development of the Slavic peoples, from Proto-Slavic to contemporary Slavic languages and cultures. In view of this, the course offers an introduction to Old Church Slavonic, as well as an overview of the culture(s) of the Slavs in the early stages of their spread across Eastern and Central Europe.

At the end of the course the student will be able to:

• define the main lines of historical and linguistic development of the Slavic world;
• make a morphological analysis of short excerpts of Old Slavonic texts (using dictionaries and grammars), correctly identify parts of speech and morphological features, highlight phonetic changes in single words;
• relate the structure and the lexicon of the Slavic language s/he studies to Old Slavonic, providing diachrony-based explanations for facts about the structure of the language and for specific phenomena.

Profile B (Slavic Philology LM, code 72627, for students who had taken Slavic Philology during their BA) 

Students who had taken Slavic Philology I  (or equivalent course, at least 6 credits taken during BA) during BA. 

The Profile B of the course of Slavic Philology LM is aimed at providing basic knowledge of the linguistic and cultural evolution of the Slavic world, starting with the formation of the Slavic states, focusing on the unifying characteristics and differences of the Slavic languages, as well as the main periods in the history of the Russian language.

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

• describe the main lines of the historical and linguistic evolution of the Slavic world;
• define the phonological, morphological and syntactic characteristics of various Slavic languages ​​and compare them;
• describe the main periods in the historical evolution of the Russian phonetic, morphological, and syntactic system;
• conduct a morphological analysis of short texts that represent the history of the Russian language, correctly identifying parts of speech and morphological features and highlighting phenomena of phonetic change;
• describe the role of Church Slavonic (phonetics, morphology, syntax) in the history of the Russian language, including through text analysis.

Profile C (Slavic Philology LM, code 72627, for students who had not taken Slavic Philology during their BA)

The Profile C of the course of Slavic Philology LM is the same as Profile B of Slavic Philology LM, with particular attention also to the basic contents of the course of Slavic Philology I.

PREREQUISITES

Profile A (Slavic Philology I, code 72868) 

Knowledge of a Slavic language at least at the level required for passing the first-year exam of BA.

Profile B (Slavic Philology LM, code 72627, for students who had taken Slavic Philology during their MA) and Profile C (Slavic Philology LM, code 72627, for students who had not taken Slavic Philology during their MA)

Knowledge of a Slavic language at least at the level required for passing the first-year exam of MA. 

TEACHING METHODS

Profile A (Slavic Philology I, code 72868) 

Classroom lectures (36 hours, 3 hours per week) in the first semester  with the support of Aulaweb (code 72868) and Teams (code 72868). Exercises in linguistic analysis and linguistic comment on short Old Slavonic texts. Personal and group reviews, group work as well as monitoring of the homework of attending students. Flipped classroom.

Attendance is free, but highly recommended.

Profile B (Slavic Philology LM, code 72627, for students who had taken Slavic Philology during their BA) 

Classroom lectures (36 hours, 3 hours per week) in the first semester with the support of Aulaweb (code 72627) and Teams (code 72627). 

Exercises in linguistic analysis and linguistic comment on short texts illustrating the history of the Russian language. Personal and group reviews, group work as well as monitoring of the homework of attending students. Flipped classroom. Independent preparation based on assigned readings. Seminars on specific topics may be organized based on availability and interests.

Attendance is free, but highly recommended.

Profile C (Slavic Philology LM, code 72627, for students who had not taken Slavic Philology during their BA)

Classroom lectures (36 hours, 3 hours per week) in the first semester with the support of Aulaweb (code 72627) and Teams (code 72627).

Exercises in linguistic analysis and linguistic comment on short Old Slavonic texts and on short texts illustrating the history of the Russian language. Personal and group reviews, group work as well as monitoring of the homework of attending students. Flipped classroom. Independent preparation based on assigned readings. Seminars on specific topics may be organized based on availability and interests.

Attendance is free, but highly recommended.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Profile A (Slavic Philology I, code 72868) 

1. The ethnogenesis of the Slavs: from the Indo-European unity to Early Slavic; the homeland of the Slavs and their expansion; migrations and subsequent ethnical and linguistic split.
2. Cyril and Methodius and their mission, the Christianization of the Slavs, the alphabets.
3. Old Church Slavonic: historical phonology and basic grammar (in comparison with modern Slavic languages).

The program for both attending and non-attending students is the same.

Profile B (Slavic Philology LM, code 72627, for students who had taken Slavic Philology during their MA) 

1. Slavs: Formation and History of the Slavic States. The Concepts of Orthodox Slavia and Latin Slavia.

2. Modern Slavic Languages: Unifying Characteristics and Differences.

3. Phonology, Morphology, and Historical Syntax of Russian.

4. History of the Russian Literary Language.

The program for both attending and non-attending students is the same.

Profile C (Slavic Philology LM, code 72627, for students who had not taken Slavic Philology during their MA)

The Profile C of the course of Slavic Philology LM is the same as Profile B of Slavic Philology LM, with particular attention also to the basic contents of the course of Slavic Philology I.

The program for both attending and non-attending students is the same.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Profile A (Slavic Philology I, code 72868) 

The formation of the Slavic culture and the christianization. Cyril and Methodius, Slavic peoples in the early centuries.

Toscano (2014) serves as a general introduction to the topics dealt with in this part of the course. Some chapters from Garzaniti et al. (2013) and/or Conte (2006) will be assigned as supplementary readings. Saronne & Alberti (2002) is recommended, too, as an overview of all the questions related to this part of the program.

• Conte, Francis. 2006. Gli slavi : le civiltà dell’Europa centrale e orientale. Torino: Einaudi.
• Garzaniti, Marcello, Alberto Alberti & Francesca Romoli. 2013. Gli Slavi : storia, culture e lingue dalle origini ai nostri giorni. Roma: Carocci.
• Saronne, Edgardo Tito & Alberto Alberti. 2002. Chi sono gli slavi? (Heuresis 26). Bologna: CLUEB.
• Toscano, Silvia. 2014. Introduzione alla Filologia Slava. Roma: Università La Sapienza. 

Any handbook on Old Church Slavonic among Bartula (2003), Ivanova (1977), Krivčik & Možejko (1985), Lunt (1955), Marcialis (2005), Moszyński (2006), Skomorochova Venturini (2000).  For the Indo-European>Proto-Slavic diachrony, see Andersen (1997).

• Andersen, Henning. 1997. Le lingue slave. In Anna Giacalone Ramat & Paolo Ramat (eds.), Le lingue indoeuropee, 441–479. Nuova ed. (Strumenti Linguistica e critica letteraria). Bologna: Il Mulino.
• Bartula,Czesław. 2003. Podstawowe wiadomości z gramatyki staro-cerkiewno-słowiańskiej na tle porónawczym. wyd. 6, dodruk. Warszawa: Wydawn. Naukowe PWN.
• Ivanova, Tatʹjana Apollonovna. 1977. Staroslavjanskij jazyk. Moskva: Vysšaja škola.
• Krivčik, Varvara Fedorovna & Nadežda Semenovna Možejko. 1985. Staroslavjanskij jazyk : učebnoe posobie dlja filologičeskich fakul’tetov vysšych učebnych zavedenij. Minsk: Vyšejšaja škola [disponibile in accesso libero a http://en.booksee.org/book/353302]
• Lunt, Horace Gray. 1955. Old church Slavonic grammar. (Slavistische Drukken En Herdrukken 3). The Hague: Mouton.
• Marcialis, Nicoletta. 2005. Introduzione alla lingua paleoslava. (Biblioteca di Studi slavistici / Associazione italiana degli slavisti). Firenze : Firenze University Press. [disponibile con prestito digitale su MLOL-Unige: https://unige.medialibrary.it/media/scheda.aspx?id=150266413]
• Moszyński, Leszek. 2006. Wstęp do filologii słowiańskiej. 2. Wydanie zmienione. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
• Skomorochova Venturini, Lilia. 2000. Corso di lingua paleoslava: grammatica. Pisa: ETS.

Profile B (Slavic Philology LM, code 72627, for students who had taken Slavic Philology during their BA) 

The exam program is based on the texts:

• Garzaniti, Marcello, Gli slavi: storia, culture e lingue dalle origini ai nostri giorni, a cura di Francesca Romoli. Nuova ed. Roma : Carocci, 2019
• Francesca Fici , Le lingue slave moderne. Padova : Unipress, 2001
• Uspenskij B. Storia della lingua letteraria russa. Bologna, 1993.

Profile C (Slavic Philology LM, code 72627, for students who had not taken Slavic Philology during their BA)

The exam program is based on the texts of Profile B with particular attention to some texts of the Profile A:

• Garzaniti, Marcello, Gli slavi: storia, culture e lingue dalle origini ai nostri giorni, a cura di Francesca Romoli. Nuova ed. Roma : Carocci, 2019
• Francesca Fici , Le lingue slave moderne. Padova : Unipress, 2001
• Uspenskij B. Storia della lingua letteraria russa. Bologna, 1993.
• Garzaniti, Marcello, Alberto Alberti & Francesca Romoli. 2013. Gli Slavi : storia, culture e lingue dalle origini ai nostri giorni. Roma: Carocci.
• vanova, Tatʹjana Apollonovna. 1977. Staroslavjanskij jazyk. Moskva: Vysšaja škola.
• Krivčik, Varvara Fedorovna & Nadežda Semenovna Možejko. 1985. Staroslavjanskij jazyk : učebnoe posobie dlja filologičeskich fakul’tetov vysšych učebnych zavedenij. Minsk: Vyšejšaja škola [disponibile in accesso libero a http://en.booksee.org/book/353302]
• Marcialis, Nicoletta. 2005. Introduzione alla lingua paleoslava. (Biblioteca di Studi slavistici / Associazione italiana degli slavisti). Firenze : Firenze University Press. [disponibile con prestito digitale su MLOL-Unige: https://unige.medialibrary.it/media/scheda.aspx?id=150266413]
• Skomorochova Venturini, Lilia. 2000. Corso di lingua paleoslava: grammatica. Pisa: ETS.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Profile A (Slavic Philology I, code 72868) 

First semester of the 2026-27 academic year: September.

Profile B (Slavic Philology LM, code 72627, for students who had taken Slavic Philology during their BA) and  

Profile C (Slavic Philology LM, code 72627, for students who had not taken Slavic Philology during their BA)

First semester of the 2026-27 academic year: September.  Incontri seminariali verranno concordati durante l'a.a. Seminar meetings will be organized upon during the academic year.  

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Profile A (Slavic Philology I, code 72868) 

The oral exam includes:

1. Reading, translation and phonetic, grammar and syntactic analysis of a short Old Slavonic text. Students have approximately 20 minutes to present their analysis. Dictionary consultation is permitted during the preparation.
2.  One questions on history and culture and one question on language (historical phonology and grammar, syntax). The list of questions will be available before the end of class.

Profile B (Slavic Philology LM, code 72627, for students who had taken Slavic Philology during their BA) 

The oral exam includes:​

1. Reading, translation and phonetic, grammar and syntactic analysis of a short text that represents
   the history of the Russian language. Students have approximately 20 minutes to present their analysis. Dictionary consultation is permitted during the preparation.
2.  One questions on history and culture and one question on language (historical phonology and grammar, syntax). The list of questions will be available before the end of class.

1. La lettura e l'analisi di un breve testo inerente alla storia della lingua russa (fonetica, morfologia, sintassi). Il candidato ha a disposizione circa 20 minuti di tempo prima di esporre la propria analisi alla docente. Durante la preparazione è consentito consultare il dizionario.
2. L’esposizione della teoria (storia, cultura, lingua: fonetica, morfologia, sintassi): domande sulla storia e cultura e sulla lingua. L’elenco delle domande sarà disponibile prima del termine delle lezioni.

Profile C (Slavic Philology LM, code 72627, for students who had not taken Slavic Philology during their BA)

The oral exam includes:​

1. Reading, translation and phonetic, grammar and syntactic analysis of a short text that represents
   the history of the Russian language, as well as analysisi a short text in Old Slavonic. Students have approximately 20 minutes to present their analysis. Dictionary consultation is permitted during the preparation.
2.  One questions on history and culture and one question on language (historical phonology and grammar, syntax). The list of questions will be available before the end of class.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Profile A (Slavic Philology I, code 72868) 

Oral exam aimed at verifying the student's familiarity with the topics taught in the classes, also in the analysis of Old Slavonic texts.  

Profile B (Slavic Philology LM, code 72627, for students who had taken Slavic Philology during their BA)

Oral exam aimed at verifying the student's familiarity with the topics taught in the classes, also in the analysis of texts representing the history of the Russian language.    

Profile C (Slavic Philology LM, code 72627, for students who had not taken Slavic Philology during their BA)

Oral exam aimed at verifying the student's familiarity with the topics taught in the classes (including the basic contents of the Profile A of Slavic Philology I), also in the analysis of texts representing the history of the Russian language, as well as in the analysis of an Old Slavonic text).    

FURTHER INFORMATION

Students who have valid certification of physical or learning disabilities on file with the University and who wish to discuss possible accommodations or other circumstances regarding lectures, coursework and exams, should speak both with Prof. Nataliya Kardanova and with Prof. Sara Dickinson (sara.dickinson@unige.it), the Department’s disability liaison.