Moscow Linguistic Circle Discussion group founded by Jakobson, Roman for the purpose of investigating the poetic function of language which, together with the St Petersburg-based Opoyaz, formed the core of Russian Formalism. Its membership included such key figures as Shklovsky, Viktor and Yuri Tynyanov, who would both also play a major part in advancing the theoretical development of Russian Formalism. The group sought to connect poetics and linguistics to show you could not properly understand one in the absence of the other. Further Reading: T. Bennett Formalism and Marxism (1979). V. Erlich Russian Formalism: History---Doctrine (1955).