Old Church Slavic (Slavic 2100) - Fall 2000-2001

Instructor: Oscar Swan    Course Meets: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:30-3:45 in 136 CL

Office Hours: Tuesday-Thursday and Wednesdays 1:00-2:00 or by appointment:

            624-5707 or <swan+@pitt.edu>

Required Materials:              Swan, O., Outline of OCS Morphology (from Book Center)

                                    OCS Reader and Glossary (from instructor)

                                    Schenker, A., The Dawn of Slavic, from Book Center

Overview: A solid knowledge of OCS is indispensable for doing further work in Russian linguistics, whether historical or synchronic; and for approaching Old Russian language and culture. This course comprises a thorough treatment of Old Church Slav(on)ic declension, conjugation, and morphophonemics, with two general aims: first, to prepare the participant for translation and textual commentary on the basis of texts read in the second half of the course; second, to provide an example of the rigorous morphological description of a Slavic language, producing techniques which may be applied to the description of languages other than OCS. The study of OCS is placed in its cultural context with readings in Schenker's The Dawn of Slavic.

Order of Presentation of Material: Topics will be covered in approximately the same order they are presented in Outline of OCS Morphology: first declension of nouns, second declension, third declension, fourth and special declensions, adjectival pronouns, adjectives, present tense, imperative, imperfect, aorist, participles. Beginning in October, or as soon as we cover the present tense of verbs, we will begin reading texts. Further handouts will summarize assignments and material for which you are responsible as of particular dates.

Student Presentations: Beginning in the second week, each participant will summarize for the class  (in 10-15 minutes) one of the weekly Schenker reading assignments. Class Project: Toward the end of the course each participant will be assigned a section of a longer text to transcribe and to present to the class with commentary.

Grading: Examinations will test the ability to master OCS inflection and textology. Readings in Schenker will be tested primarily via short-identification tests. There will be a Midterm and a Final Examination. Expect quizzes at the beginning the class period on Thursdays. The grade will be based 1/5 on Midterm, 2/5 on Final, 2/5 on quizzes. Conscientious completion of the class reports and the class project are  prerequisites for taking the final examination.

Keeping up: This is one course in which it is almost impossible to get behind and expect to catch up later. At least, no one has ever succeeded in doing this yet. Try to keep ahead of the schedule, to get a jump on the material, and to review the material constantly before class, as though preparing for a comprehensive quiz. Make lists of questions you have and bring them to class and ask them. Make sure these questions are answered to your satisfaction.

Group Study: Students often find it useful to get together for communal study sessions, and such cooperation is encouraged. However, your work on quizzes, examinations, and presentations must be yours alone. Review sheets are not allowed on tests and quizzes.

Class Reports: Based on Schenker:

            1. The Roots of the Slavs, pp. 1-26

            2. The Cyrillo-Methodian Mission, pp. 26-42

            3. Historical Setting after Cyril and Methodius, pp. 42-60

            4. The Slavic Languages in the Indo-European context, pp. 61-104

            5. Slavic Palaeography, 165-188

            6. OCS literary canon, types of writings pp. 189-238.

Tentative schedule of assignments. The class transcription and textological commentary project, which will run through the second half of the course, will be centered around Glagolita Clozianus (on reserve in the library).

            weeks              Tuesday                                                Thursday