The Department of Russian Language and General Linguistics is the oldest educational, scientific, and methodological unit of Kalmyk State University, providing training for philology specialists. The department was established in 1965.
The first head of the department was Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor P.M. Mikitenko. Over the years, the department was headed by Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor A.Ya. Medvedeva; Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor V.F. Zhitnikov; Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor N.U. Bakbusheva; Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor M.N. Shabalin; Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor L.B. Olyadykova. Since 1997, the head of the department has been Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor T.S. Yesenova.
The Department of Russian and Foreign Literature has existed since 1964. The first head of this department was Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor P.M. Mikitenko. Since 1966, the Department of Russian and Foreign Literature became an independent educational, scientific, and methodological unit of the Philological Faculty at Kalmyk State University. Over the years, it was headed by Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor N.N. Polyakov; Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor V.G. Chebotaryova; Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor V.I. Kharchevnikov; Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor G.K. Kiriy; Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor G.G. Glinin; Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor V.M. Golovko; Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor N.B. Pyurveeva; Acting Head Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor N.Ts. Bitkeev; Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor R.M. Khaninova.
Main research areas
- Russian language in a non-Russian environment
- National-territorial aspects of speech culture
- Textology
- Phonetics and prosody of Russian conversational speech
- Ethnocultural conceptology
- Russian literature
- Literature and folklore studies
- Non-Russian ties of Russian literature
- Literature of the peoples of Russia
Currently, the department staff are engaged in grants from the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation and the Russian Humanitarian Scientific Foundation (scientific supervisors – Prof. T.S. Yesenova, Prof. D.A. Suseeva, S.M. Trofimova), publish monographs, participate in scientific conferences, develop educational and teaching aids, programs, improve their scientific and methodological qualifications, and collaborate with other educational institutions in scientific projects.
The department participates in the following research topics: Russian language in conditions of multilingualism and national-cultural aspects of speech communication, national-territorial aspects of speech communication, Russian language in Kalmykia, Kalmyk language of the 18th century, letters of Khan Ayuki and his contemporaries (1714–1724). The department maintains a card index of Kalmyk conversational Russian speech collected over 30 years. Currently, this material is being digitized.
In recent years, the department staff have worked on several projects supported by Russian foundations:
- Federal Target Program “Russian Language” 2001, topic “Russian language in multilingual conditions and issues of speech culture (using Kalmykia as an example)”;
- RHSF grant, 2002: “Material and spiritual foundations of Kalmyk statehood”, “Comparative grammar of Russian and Kalmyk languages”;
- Ministry of Defense RF grant, 2002, topic “Grammatical categories of the Kalmyk language: general and specific”;
- RHSF grant 2002–2003, topic “National-territorial aspects of speech culture (using Kalmykia as an example)”;
- RHSF grant, 2003, topic “Kalmyk language of the 18th century: system and functioning”;
- Scientific program of the Ministry of Defense RF “Federal-regional policy in science and education” 2003–2004, topic “Russian language on national television”;
- RHSF grant 2005–2006, topic: “Russian language in Kalmykia: sociolinguistic portraits and linguocultural types”;
- RHSF grant, 2006–2007, topic “Issues of Kalmyk grammar”;
- RHSF grant 2007–2010 “Kalmyk and Russian linguocultural concepts”;
- International RHSF-Mongolia grant 2007–2010 “Russian language in Mongolia”;
- International RHSF-Mongolia grant 2010–2012 “Ethnocultural specifics of the consciousness of Russians, Mongols and Kalmyks”;
- Project “Ethnocultural concepts in the consciousness of modern Russians” of the Analytical Departmental Target Program “Development of scientific potential of higher education” (2009–2010);
- “David Kugultinov as a phenomenon of Russian culture” (2007–2009);
- “Vsevolod Ivanov: a new reading” (2007–2008);
- RFBR grant 2016–2018 “Gender aspect of the worldview of Kalmyks and Mongols”.
Kalmyk State University Grants
- “The Great Patriotic War and deportation in the history of the Kalmyk people (comparative aspect in Russian-Kalmyk prose and poetry of the 20th century)” (2014); “Linguistic situation in Kalmykia: history and modernity” (2018)
Scientific collaborations
The department maintains scientific relations with institutions in Russia and abroad (Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, Gorky Institute of World Literature RAS, Vinogradov Institute of Russian Language RAS, Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, International Academy of Pedagogical Education Sciences, state universities of Astrakhan, Volgograd, Stavropol, Rostov-on-Don, Saint Petersburg).
Within the framework of a cooperation agreement between Kalmyk State University and the Vinogradov Institute of Russian Language RAS, the Institute’s Days are held annually at Kalmyk State University. During these days, leading scientists from the institute deliver lectures, conduct masterclasses on the use of the National Corpus of the Russian Language information resources in teaching and research, provide consultations for students and young teachers, hold round tables on current issues of Russian studies involving Russian language teachers from the Republic of Kalmykia, etc.
Each year, leading Russian studies scholars from other countries lecture at Kalmyk State University under cooperation agreements: in 2017, Prof. I. Onhaizer (Austria), Lai Yin Chuan (Taiwan), Luvsan-Endon Erdenetuya (Mongolia), Marek Prichoda (Czech Republic), and others.
The department’s staff participate in international academic exchanges — delivering lectures at foreign universities: Austria (Prof. D.A. Suseeva), Uzbekistan (T.S. Yesenova), Mongolia (S.M. Trofimova), etc. Department professors conduct professional development courses abroad (2018 Prof. T.S. Yesenova in Uzbekistan; Senior Lecturer N.S. Kugultinova in Vietnam), and organize Russian language olympiads (Senior Lecturer N.S. Kugultinova in Vietnam).
Department and the region
The department actively participates in regional Russian language projects: annually conducts professional development courses for Russian language and literature teachers of the republic, webinars, olympiads, contests, flash mobs, quizzes in Russian for schoolchildren, students, and the general population; also publishes scientific and methodological literature addressing current problems of Russian language functioning in a national republic.
Graduates
Over the years, the department has trained more than 1,000 philologists and teachers of Russian language and literature, who work in educational, scientific, state institutions, mass media in Russia, as well as in countries near and far abroad. The department is proud of its graduates, which include citizens of Vietnam, China, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and other countries.