Phonetic and Prosodic Characteristics of the German Dialects in comparison to the Standard German Language (Based on the Cooking Recipes of Russian Germans)

Abstract

This article is devoted to the study of the linguo-culture of Russian Germans. The urgency and relevance of the topic motivated by modern realia and language problems at the present stage are shown. The linguistic significance of the study is due to the issue of preserving the linguo-culture, traditions and national identity by Russian Germans. Assimilation processes take on an irreversible character, and continuity in generations is lost. This is reflected in the loss of traditional culture elements and the language of the Germans as well as the perception of the culture- and languagerelated character / specificity of a foreign language environment. Despite the fact that the dialect has been lost by the younger generation, culinary traditions have proven to be one of the most stable elements of the culture of Russian Germans. Cooking recipes are a unique source for studying the phonetic and prosodic features of German dialects. The paper concentrates on the phonetic and prosodic characteristics of the German dialects in comparison to the standard German language (based on the cooking recipes of Russian Germans). For this reason, special attention is paid to the results of the electro-acoustic analysis. The authors calculated and analyzed average values for the basic prosodic characteristics. The material of the study was audio recording of the cooking recipes read by dialect and native speakers. The study of the dialects made it possible to detect deviations from the norm of the standard German language at the phonetic and prosodic levels: shift of vowel and consonant sounds, verb reduction, increased duration of the utterance, comparatively high intensity, relatively smooth movement of the pitch frequency with a decrease toward the end of the phrase. The analysis allowed us to determine key prosodic features of the German dialects (based on the cooking recipes) and map out aspects of their future studying.

Keywords: cooking recipe, standard language, dialect, Russian Germans, phonetic and prosodic characteristics, pitch frequency, intensity, duration