Faculty of Philology

Chair of Germanic philology

• The research work of the chair
• Education
• International cooperation
• Personnel of the chair

The Chair of Germanic Philology was established in July 1992 by the decision of the University Council on the basis of the Faculty of Philology and the Chair Foreign Languages.

At the early stage of the department formation the "Russian language, English language and Literature" speciality was started. However, only a year later, in 1993/94 academic year, a new speciality "Russian language, German language and Literature" was introduced. In 1996 the University Council came to a decision to start one more speciality "Russian language, Swedish language and Literature", and two years later a new Chair of Scandinavian languages was founded on its basis.

Two branches of the chair (English and German) number about 100 students.

At present 22 specialists work at the department: 1 Professor of Linguistics, 14 Associate Professors and Senior Lecturers (9 of them hold degrees of Kandidat Nauk in Linguistics, equivalent to PhD), 5 instructors.

Besides, visiting faculty from other countries come to work at the chair every year, namely from the USA ("Fullbright" and "Tempus" programs), Germany (college named after Goethe), Sweden (Swedish University), Denmark (program of the Council of Ministers of Northern countries). The long-term plan of the chair and the University is to introduce the Centre for nowel methods of teaching English and German (post-college education).

The research work of the chair

The research work of the Germanic Philology Chair is determined by the type of its specialization - teaching foreign languages to Russian students.

In the research work of the department efforts are focused on the grammatical system of modern languages (research of the Associate Professor of German V.T.Dvinskaya) and on the questions of vocabulary and lexicography (Associate Professors of English M.I.Rumyantseva and I.P.Ustinova, Senior Lecture T.S.Davydova.)

A new interesting trend in the research work of the department is compativistics in the broad sense of the word - a comparative study of linguistic phenomena in sociolinguistics (Associate Professor of English M.I.Rumjantseva - influence of the Russian language on the religious terminology in American English), comparative linguistic and extralinquistic analysis (semantic field "Education", USA and Russia - Associate Professor I.P.Ustinova).

Research in the field of literary criticizm is presented with the works of Professor Malchukov, devoted to the new methodology of the analysis of the 20th century German Literature (monograph "Dialogism as a principle of Henry Mann's and Thomas Mann's poetics" published in 1996 and others) and with the works of Senior Lecture M.Yu.Oshukov whose scientific interests lie in the sphere of American romantism (the Ph.D. thesises defended on the theme of G.Toro's creative work in St.Petersburg University in 1998), as well as modern English poetry.

In perspective the Department has the following themes to be worked out: Political Correctness and its influence on American English (Associate Professor of English M.I.Rumjantseva); Comparative-typological study of literary processes at the turn of the century (Professor of Linguistics L.Malchukov); Typology of the linguistic phenomena - comparision of Russian, English and Scandinavian languages (Associate Professor, Swedish - A.M.Pautkin).

Education

Within the past five years the chair has been engaged in educational methodological experiment of combining two curriculums (both Russian and foreigh philology) within the framework of one major.

In 1998 the chair has returned to the more traditional classical model of teaching based on detailed studying of foreign languages accompanied by extended learning of translating and interpreting.

Dual areas of concentration: Russian and Foreign Philology characterizes the uniqueness of training at the Department. Effective command of written and spoken foreign languages, strongly emphasized throughout the cirriculum is accompanied by fundamental theoretical courses in different aspects of Linguistics and Literature. By comprehensive analysing of the isolated structural units of a language and the rules for their combination as well as by studying thoroughly the World Literature Masterpieces students of the Department learn to perceive the "Spirit and Sense" of Russian and Foreign Culture imprinted in the Word and in the Text, acquiring the methodology of comparative analysis of national cultures, the mechanisms of their development and interaction.

Senior students will choose their majors from Linquistics and Literary Criticizm (both Russian and foreign).

The core curriculum offers also the courses in the Second Foreign Language, the choice comprising Danish and Norwegian along with English, German and Swedish. Upon the successful completion of the curriculum a graduate is qualified as a "Philologist. Teacher of Russian and Foreign language and Literature. Translator and Interpreter". The range of the positions the graduates might apply for includy "Translator and Interpreter" (broad spectrum), Scholar, Editor, School Teacher and University Instructor.

Acording to the demands of the educational market the chair works on implementing new majors. The number of students paying for their education increases. There has been developed a program on Translation and Interpretation for the paying students studuing humanities (Associate Professor T.S.Davydova), and the similar programme for the students of otjer majors is under development.

The chair holds post graduate studies in Literature of the peoples of Europe, America and Australia (10.01.05) under the supervision of Professor of Linguistics L. Malchukov since 1996.

Within the past years the chair has gained the experience in organising and holding various conferences.

1997 - XIII inter-college conference for specialists in Scandinavian studies;
1997 - inter-college conference devoted to H.Heine's 200-th anniversary;
1998 - international seminar on the problems of studying German language;
1999 - conference devoted to Goethe's 250-th anniversary.

International cooperation сотрудничество

During last years the Department of Germanic Philology has established proffessional contacts with the Departments of Linguistics and Literature of the Universities in the sister - cities: Tubingen (Germany), Umeo (Sweden), Minnesota and Vermont (the USA), UNBC (Canada).

The students and the faculty participate in exchanges for teaching, lecturing and research purposes. In 1993-1996 the following faculty members participoted in teaching in the Western Universities: M.Rumjantseva, M.Oshukov, I.Ustinova, L.Avetisova. T.Davydova and A. Pautkin did research in Bohum (Germany) and Umeo (Sweden) respectively. The following members of the faculty participated in the International Conferences: I.Ustinova (USA), M.Rumjantseva (Canada), V.Dvinskaya and L.Malchukov (Germany). Currently several students of the Department study in the Universities of the USA, Canada, Sweden and Germany.

Their activities include development of students and faculty members exchanges, providing of new teaching materials, assistance in editing and publication of the students' and scholars' research materials. The following faculty members are coordinating the professianal relationship development with the Western High Schools:

Germany - V.Dvinskaya, Associate Professor
the USA and Canada - M. Oshukov, Associate Professor and M.Posnova, Associate Professor

Personnel of the chair:

1. Davydova Tatyana Sergeevna – Ph.D. in Phililogy, Associate Professor
2. Malchukov Lev Ivanovich – Doctor of Phililogy, Full Professor
3. Oshukov Mihail Yurievich – Ph.D. in Phililogy, Associate Professor
4. Posnova Marina Viktorovna – Ph.D. in Phililogy, Associate Professor
5. Dyachenko Irina Alekseevna – Ph.D. in Phililogy, Associate Professor
6. Mikhailov Nikita Aleksandrovich – senior instructor
7. Vasilieva Svetlana Vladimirovna – senior instructor
8. Vorotilina Yelena Nikolayevna – Ph.D. in Phililogy, senior instructor
9. Pivojeva Maria Vasilievna – instructor
10. Yakimov Aleksandr Yurevich – senior instructor
11. Mikhailova Tatyana Yurievna – instructor
12. Mineev Vladimir Nikolaevich – instructor
13. Smirnova Valeria Andreevna – instructor
14. Shleikina Galina Yurievna – Ph.D. in Phililogy, senior instructor
15. Gavryushkina Margarita Yurievna – instructor
16. Lvova Irina Villievna – Ph.D. in Phililogy, senior instructor
17. Fedorova Irina Vladimirovna – senior instructor
18. Nikolaeva Olga Olegovna Олеговна – senior instructor
19. Mehnina Tayana Yevgenievna - instructor
20. Semionova Marina Nikolaievna – Specialist, II category