Phonoesthetics of German speech in the perception of Russian speaking recipients

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to study the aesthetic side of sounding German speech perceived by native speakers of the Russian language, as well as to determine the linguistic mechanisms that determine the nature of their assessment. Current changes in Russian-speaking recipients’ perception of the sounding German speech are revealed. The posts in the Internet forums are analyzed, and negative stereotypes are identified which determine the assessment of the aesthetics of German pronunciation, and it origin, with a special role played by feature films about the war against Nazi Germany and documentary chronicles with the speeches of National Socialism leaders. The conclusion is made about the excessive emotionality and aggressiveness of such speeches, however, this manner of speaking is a “stage language” (Bühnensprache) which is not typical of everyday German communication. This aggressively stylized sounding of the German language is used today in popular culture often to create a feeling of rudeness among foreign-language recipients. At the segment level, the negative assessment of sounding German speech by Russianspeaking recipients is associated with the pronunciation of the uvular trembling consonant [ʀ] and the voiced uvular spirant [ʁ]. Aspirates and glottal stops in the German language foster the participants of the experiment and the authors of the posts on the Internet to characterize German speech as clear, but in terms of its melody − as torn or “barking”. Due to the aspiration of voiceless plosives, as well as voiceless palatal spirant [ç], Russian-speaking recipients characterize German speech as hissing and whistling. At the suprasegmental level, greater tension in the pronunciation of sounds, along with a rising tone in neutral communication, make Russian-speaking recipients qualify German speech as rough and aggressive.