Published 2016-17 SGS Calendar for editing purposes only [exported July 28, 2016]

Slavic Languages and Literatures: Introduction

Faculty Affiliation

Arts and Science

Degree Programs

Slavic Languages and Literatures
MA / Fields:
Slavic Linguistics
Slavic Literatures
PhD / Fields:
Slavic Linguistics
Slavic Literatures

Collaborative Programs

The following collaborative programs are available to students in participating degree programs as listed below:
  1. Diaspora and Transnational Studies
  2. Slavic Languages and Literatures, MA, PhD
  3. Jewish Studies
  4. Slavic Languages and Literatures, MA, PhD

Overview

The Graduate Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures offers instruction leading to two degrees—Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy—in one of the broadest ranges of Slavic languages and literatures available in a North American university. Courses are offered in the following areas: Croatian and Serbian Languages and Literatures, Czech and Slovak Languages and Literatures, Polish Language and Literature, Russian Language and Literature, Slavic Linguistics, and Ukrainian Language and Literature.

Contact and Address

Web:
Email:
Telephone: (416) 926-2075
Fax: (416) 926-2076
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
University of Toronto
Room 431, 121 St. Joseph Street
Alumni Hall, St. Michael's College
Toronto, Ontario M5S 1J4
Canada

Slavic Languages and Literatures: Slavic Languages and Literatures MA

Master of Arts

Minimum Admission Requirements
  • Applicants are admitted under the General Regulations of the School of Graduate Studies. Applicants must also satisfy the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures' additional admission requirements stated below.
  • An appropriate bachelor's degree (preferably in a cognate area) with an overall standing equivalent to at least a University of Toronto mid-B in the final year.
  • A minimum A- average in all Slavic subjects taken in the final two years is recommended.
  • Applicants may be admitted either to the one-year MA or two-year option, depending on their level of preparation.
  • For admissions to the one-year program, proficiency in a Slavic language equivalent to at least three full years of language training, and broad familiarity with the literary and cultural history of the applicant's proposed disciplinary area(s) of interest (currently, Czech and Slovak, Polish, Russian, South Slavic, Slavic Linguistics, Ukrainian), as evidenced by undergraduate coursework at the 300 or 400 level, are required.
  • For admissions to the two-year program option, intermediate proficiency in a Slavic language, as evidenced by two full years of language training or equivalent, is required.
  • Note: All applicants complete the same application process. The department's admissions committee then determines each applicant's suitability for the one-year MA or two-year MA.
Program Requirements
  • Depending on their prior preparation, students complete the MA program in either one year or two years.
  • All MA students must complete 1.0 FCE as follows: SLA 1104H Introduction to Old Church Slavonic and SLA 1040H Methods of Teaching Slavic Languages. Students who provide evidence of satisfactory completion of equivalent courses may be exempted from these courses.
  • In addition, students who intend to major or minor in Slavic linguistics must take SLA 1109H Studies in Old Church Slavonic (0.5 FCE).
One-Year MA Program
  • Proficiency in language of major must be demonstrated during first week of the first session in the program. Additional language courses at the undergraduate level may be required. These courses will not count toward the total number of graduate courses required to complete the program. Successful completion of all coursework in the undergraduate language courses is part of a student's good progress in the MA program.
  • Students normally complete either:
  • coursework—4.0 full-course equivalents (FCEs) as follows:
  • SLA 1104H
  • SLA 1040H
  • as part of the remaining 3.0 FCEs, Slavic Linguistics students must complete SLA 1109H;
or
  • coursework (3.0 FCEs) plus research paper as follows:
  • SLA 1104H
  • SLA 1040H
  • as part of the remaining 2.0 FCEs, Slavic Linguistics students must complete SLA 1109H
  • a research paper written in English.
  • Normally, a student spends a year in residence.
Two-Year MA Program Option
  • Level of proficiency in language of major must be established no later than the first week of the first session in the program to determine required language courses.
  • Students normally complete 7.0 full-course equivalents (FCEs) as follows:
  • SLA1104H
  • SLA1040H
  • as part of the remaining 6.0 FCEs, Slavic Linguistics students must complete SLA 1109H.
  • Normally, a student spends two years in residence.
Program Length
2 sessions full-time 1-year program (typical registration sequence: F/W)
4 sessions full-time 2-year program option (typical registration sequence: F/W/F/W)
Time Limit
3 years full-time

Slavic Languages and Literatures: Slavic Languages and Literatures PhD

Doctor of Philosophy

Minimum Admission Requirements
  • Applicants are admitted under the General Regulations of the School of Graduate Studies. Applicants must also satisfy the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures' additional admission requirements stated below.
  • An appropriate University of Toronto master's degree with a minimum A- average in graduate courses and demonstrated research competence.
Program Requirements
Students are normally required to:
  • Demonstrate proficiency in language of major during first week of session. Undergraduate language courses may be required. These are not tabulated as part of graduate program course requirements. Successful completion of all coursework in these remedial undergraduate courses is part of a student's good progress in the PhD program.
  • Complete a major and a minor program.
  • Complete 9.0 full-course equivalents (FCEs) with at least 0.5 FCE in Slavic linguistics. Advanced standing to a maximum of 3.0 FCEs may be available for work completed in the MA.
  • Minor programs should include 2.0 FCEs from any one of Croatian and Serbian Languages and Literatures, Czech and Slovak Languages and Literatures, Polish Language and Literature, Russian Language and Literature, Slavic Linguistics, and Ukrainian Language and Literature or, with departmental approval, from a cognate discipline (e.g., cinema studies, comparative literature, drama, history, philosophy).
  • Maintain a minimum annual average of A- to continue in the PhD program. Poor performance in one session (below a B average) may result in the termination of a student's PhD eligibility.
  • Demonstrate a reading knowledge of French or German.
  • After successful completion of coursework and the French or German language requirement, students must pass written comprehensive examinations in the major field and written and oral comprehensive examinations in the special field. The major field exam cannot be taken if students have any outstanding coursework.
  • By the time of their major field exam, students should have chosen their supervisor and the rest of their committee (in consultation with the supervisor).
  • Dissertation.
  • In Years 1 and 2, students must take courses and be on campus full-time to participate fully in the PhD program's activities.

Field: Slavic Linguistics

Within the PhD program requirements listed above, students studying Slavic linguistics should include:
  • At least 3.0 FCEs in Slavic linguistics, as well as 2.0 FCEs in theoretical linguistics from cognate disciplines (e.g., linguistics, anthropology). Linguistics students are also strongly advised to complete 1.0 FCE in the literature of their major language.
  • Complete at least one course in Slavic languages from each of the three groups: West Slavic, East Slavic, and South Slavic by the end of their third year.

Field: Slavic Literatures

Within the PhD program requirements listed above,​ students in the field of Slavic literatures must:
  • Acquire a working knowledge of a Slavic language other than their major language of study or complete at least two approved undergraduate courses in a Slavic language that is different than their major language of study by the end of their third year. A working knowledge is defined as proficiency equivalent to a second-year course. Students must also satisfy departmental requirements for their major language. Students who do not major in Russian most often choose it as their second Slavic language.
Program Length
4 years full-time (many students require 5 years to complete the program)
Time Limit
6 years full-time

Slavic Languages and Literatures: Slavic Languages and Literatures MA, PhD Courses

Not all courses are offered every year. Students should consult the departmental handbook for current course offerings.

Croatian and Serbian Literatures

​SLA 1507H / Modern Croatian Bards in Performance​
​SLA 1517H / Modern Serbian Bards
​SLA 1547H / South Slavic Folklore​

Czech and Slovak Literature

​SLA 1600Y / Introduction to Czech and Slovak Literatures​
​SLA 1602Y / Czech Style and Syntax
​SLA 1604Y / History of Czech Verbal Art from the Early Stages to Baroque​
​SLA 1606H / Public Places and Private Spaces in Czech Short Story
​SLA 1608H / On the Wave of the Avant-garde
​SLA 1609H / Karel Capek
​SLA 1610H / ​V. Havel: Thinker, Politician, Writer

Polish Literature

​SLA 1304H / Staging God, Man, and History: Polish Drama​
​SLA 1308H / Critical Paradigms in Polish Culture
​SLA 1312Y / Modernism and Post-Modernism in Polish Literature​
​SLA 1315H / Intellectual Traditions, Culture, and Literature: Trajectories in Poland

Russian Literature

​SLA 1202H / Gulag Literature​
​SLA 1203H / ​The Self and Other in Russian Prose​
​SLA 1204H / ​Contemporary Russian Literature
​SLA 1207H / The Imaginary Jew​
​SLA 1210H / ​Studies in Medieval Russian Literature
​SLA 1211Y / ​Studies in the Russian Drama: Eighteenth to Twentieth Century
​SLA 1215H / ​Studies in Russian Literature and Criticism in the Eighteenth Century
​SLA 1216H / ​From English to Russian Literature and Back
​SLA 1220H / ​Nineteenth Century Russian Thinkers
SLA 1222Y / ​Russian Poetry and Poetics​
​SLA 1226H / ​Dostoevsky in Literary Theory and Criticism
​SLA 1228H / ​Themes in Russian Realism
​SLA 1231H / ​Russian Modernism
​SLA 1233H / ​Studies in Modern Russian Poets
​SLA 1234H / ​Dostoevsky
​​SLA 1238H / ​Chekhov
​SLA 1239H / ​Vladimir Nabokov
​SLA 1240H / ​Tolstoy
​SLA 1241H / ​Narrative and History
​SLA 1410H / ​Gogol
​SLA 1411H / ​Experiments in Art in the Late Russian Empire—Early Soviet Union
​SLA 1900H / ​Russian Nineteenth-Century Poetry (mandatory for MA students)

Slavic Linguistics

​SLA 1040H / ​Methods of Teaching Slavic Languages
​SLA 1041Y / Advanced Training in Slavic Languages I​
​SLA 1042Y / ​Advanced Training in Slavic Languages II
​SLA 1043H / ​Advanced Training in Slavic Languages I
​SLA 1044H / ​Advanced Training in Slavic Languages II
​SLA 1102Y / Advanced Russian Language Skills
​SLA 1104H / Introduction to Old Church Slavonic​
​SLA 1105H / ​Russian Phonetics, Phonology, and Derivational Morphology
​SLA 1109H / ​Studies in Old Church Slavonic
​SLA 1114H / ​Russian Inflectional Morphology, Stress, Lexicon, Aspect
​SLA 1141H / ​History of the Ukrainian Language
​SLA 1142H / ​Style and Structure of Ukrainian
​SLA 1150H / ​Russian Since the Revolution

Russian Language

​SLA 1101Y​ / History of the Russian Language​
​SLA ​1102Y / ​Advanced Russian Language Skills

Ukrainian Literature/Language

​SLA 1141H / History of Ukrainian Language​
​SLA 1142H / ​Style and Structure of Ukrainian
​SLA 1402Y / ​Studies in Ukrainian Modernism
​SLA 1403Y / ​Contemporary Ukrainian Literature
​SLA 1404Y / ​Studies in Ukrainian Poets
​SLA 1406Y / ​Studies in Ukrainian Literary Criticism
​SLA 1407H / Aspects of Literary Translation of Ukrainian​
​SLA 1412Y / ​Literature of the Ukrainian Diaspora

General Slavic

​SLA 1037H / Theatre and Cinema in Extremis: Staging Twentieth Century Aesthetics and Politics
​SLA 1039H / ​Kyiv-Kiev-Kijow: A City through Cultures and Centuries
​SLA 1040H / ​Methods of Teaching Slavic Languages
​SLA 1207H / ​The Imaginary Jew
​SLA 1310H / ​Theatre in the Twentieth Century
​SLA 1421H / ​Women in East European Fiction
​SLA 1521H / ​Post-Modernity and the Mythopoetic Legacy of Mitteleuropa
​SLA 2000Y / Reading and Research​
​SLA 2001H / One Term Reading and Research​​
​COL 5012Y / ​Readings in Czech/Russian Literary Theory
​COL 5037H / ​Magic Prague: Question of Literary Cityscapes