Admission requirements
Open to all students from the MA programme Russian and Eurasian Studies. Students from other MA programmes require a Russian language reading level of B1 according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, see CEFR.
Description
Old Church Slavic is considered the starting point for the historical comparative study of the Slavic language family. On the one hand, it is one of the most important sources for the reconstruction of Proto-Slavic, on the other hand it is the forerunner of regional writing traditions (e.g., Middle Bulgarian, Croatian-Glagolitic, Russian Church Slavic) which makes it an important component of the various modern Slavic written languages. This is definitely also true for Russian, in which the Church Slavic writing tradition has left deep marks in the modern standard language.
The course offers a high-pace introduction to the grammar and cultural history of Old Church Slavic. In broad outlines, the subjects covered in the course are successively: the cultural-historical context; periodization and source material; orthography; internal phonological developments; the present tense and Leskien’s classification of the verb; aorist, imperfect and other verb forms; nominal forms; pronominal forms and “mixed” declension; participles.
Much attention is paid to reading and analysing Old Church Slavic texts during the sessions. We start reading Luke 11: 1-13 ( the Our Father) according to the Codex Marianus (pp. 158-160 of the “Textproben” of the textbook; see below). Each week, students thoroughly prepare a number of verses and other texts which will be discussed in class.
Course objectives
The ultimate objective of this course is to be able to read Old Church Slavic texts with the help of a dictionary.
Timetable
See Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Course Load
Total course load is 10 EC, i.e. 280 hours:
Number of contact hours 26 hours
Examination 3 hours
Hours for weekly preparations for the seminar (three to four hours per seminar), i.e. 48 hours
Hours for preparing for the examination 90 hours
Hours for preparing the reading dossier (including feedback session): 113 hours
Assessment method
- In-class participation and weekly preparation of readings in Old Church Slavic.
- A written examination in which knowledge of Old Church Slavonic is tested using the texts read during the course of lectures. Central to the examination is not so much translation as is the ability to identify forms (aorist, imperative, u-stems, class V verbs, etc.). Questions on orthography, historical phonology and the cultural-historical context will also be posed
- A reading dossier in which Old Church Slavic texts are translated and linguistically annotated along the lines indicated above. The choice of texts is determined in consultation with the instructor.
Weighing
Participation 20%
Written exam 40%
Reading dossier 40%
The final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average.
Resit
One resit of assessment parts 2 and 3 is possible.
Exam review
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used for providing study materials.
Reading list
Although we will use a German textbook in class, no knowledge of German is required (summaries and additional materials in English are available). The textbook is: Jos Schaeken & Henrik Birnbaum, Die altkirchenslavische Schriftkultur: Geschichte – Laute und Schriftzeichen – Sprachdenkmäler (mit Textproben, Glossar und Flexionsmustern) (= Altkirchenslavische Studien II, Slavistische Beiträge 382). München: Sagner, 1999. See: http://www.schaeken.nl/lu/research/online/publications/akslstud/
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available on the website
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Registration Studeren à la carte
Contact
For questions about the content of the course, you can contact the teacher:
Dr. J. Kamphuis
Coordinator of Studies: mw. drs. T. Bouma
Administrations Office: van Wijkplaats
Remarks
Not applicable.