Abstract:

Philological competence is basic to understanding the relationships between the modern philology and the humanities, as it comprises the necessary knowledge of the structure of the native and foreign languages, the ability to interpret complex linguistic phenomena in the native and foreign languages.

A student of the master’s programme “Philology” has to master the basics of rhetoric and methodology of scientific cognition when studying texts and communications of different types to have a clear idea about the literature and culture of their native and target language countries, to be able to apply the knowledge about the language system and structure, functional styles in the course of teaching and communicating, to improve and develop their intellectual level and adaptive skills under changing conditions of the professional activity and to carry out a research work on this basis.

The article deals with the content of philological competence, the development of which is connected with studying of core subjects of the master’s programme “Philology” which is realised at the department of Linguistics and Translation of South Ural State University (Chelyabinsk). The main issues which are studied in the framework of this programme and contribute to the development of philological competence of master’s students are the following: language consistency interpreted from the perspective of different linguistic schools; category of the language norm as a set of model conventional forms and constructions, as well as a set of rules for their use; problem of language variation as a sign of the language norm fluctuation and coexistence of various alternative forms in the language; rules of applying fundamental theoretical knowledge in the field of linguistic analysis of a literary text as an informative and figurative whole.

Keywords:

Philological competence, master’s programme “Philology”, language consistency, language norm, language variation, linguistic analysis of a literary text.