Application of Computer Methods for Acoustic Analysis of the West-Middle German Dialect

Abstract

AbstractThis article is devoted to the problem of linguistic research of small-format texts, determining their language features. Such texts include a recipe. The linguistic significance of the research is due to the problem of preserving Russian Germans’ linguistic culture. Numerous works and a long history of research into German dialects leave many questions unexplored. Despite the fact that the dialect is being lost, assimilation processes are irreversible, culinary traditions have proved to be one of the most stable elements of Russian Germans’ culture. Recipes are unique sources that can be used to determine the phonetic and prosodic features of German dialects. The article aims to consider the phonetic and prosodic features of Russian Germans’ recipes (in the West-middle German dialect) in comparison with the standard German language. The paper deals with the use of PC phonetic software for instrumental acoustic analysis of recorded speech. The study has been carried out using the computer programs Speech Analyzer and Praat. The scientific methods used in writing this paper were experimental phonetic method, audit analysis with the involvement of informants (native speakers of the literary norm of the German language), a method of mathematical-statistical processing of experimental data, a method of linguistic interpretation of prosodic information, an oppositional analysis method. The research material was audio texts of culinary recipes of Russian Germans and recipes of the same dishes pronounced by literary language speakers. #CSOC1120KeywordsCooking recipeStandard languageDialectRussian GermansPhonetic and prosodic characteristicsFrequencyIntensityDuration