RUSsian ResEARch Lab
CSLC 134 / RUSN 334 is a combined course with a single syllabus and regular twice-weekly meetings. The course alternates between lecture-discussion and lab, and meets in the Varelas Innovation Lab, a multimedia enhanced instructional space with projection screens and wireless collaboration technology. Students registered for the 100-level introductory course in the Department of Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture are not expected to know Russian, but features of the language, such as grammar, phonology, and alphabet, figure prominently in the curriculum and research. Consistent with the learning goals of the Department, they learn through description how language figures as a constituent element of culture.
Students with a basic proficiency in the Russian language were eligible to register for a 5-unit version of "Exploding Tongues," RUSN 334, which met for an additional weekly instructional hour for language related learning activities. The purpose of this course variant is to deepen students' comprehension of written Russian through active decoding of authentic foreign language content in a research context. The unique qualities of the course material present both challenges and opportunities for "content-based" language learning. In-depth treatment of zaum, or invented "trans-sense" language (to use the term of its creators) in poetry, prose and drama, for example, does not serve as an efficient vehicle for developing everyday communicative proficiencies. The systematic abstraction of sounds from meanings by native speakers in a cultural context, however, presents students with unusual access to the language, and highlights subtle distinctions between orality and literacy. As a combined course, students in CSLC 134 and RUSN 334 comprised a multi-talented research team. In Russian section, students of RUSN 334 confronted significant obstacles of decoding written documents with intentionally irregular and messy handwriting.
Listen to voice recordings of poetry, including Roman Jakobson's 1959 recording. Memorize and declaim Khlebnikov's Zakliatie smekhom (Incantation by Laughter), read and compare Khlebnikov's own 1918 manuscript
Tango with Cows
