Scholarly record

A SYSTEM OF PROSODIC BOUNDARY SIGNALS IN THE LITERARY LANGUAGE OF GERMANY, AUSTRIA AND SWITZERLAND

T. A. Gordeeva

Abstract

The study aims to reveal, describe and systematize boundary phenomena on the suprasegmental level in different regional variants of literary German on the boundaries of linguistic units. The paper reveals general and specific features related to the functioning of phonetic system in literary German on the level of auditory perception with regard to syntagmatic and positional factors. The author uses a set of experimental phonetic methods, which includes linguistic, phonological, perceptual, statistical, and acoustic analyses. The auditory analysis involved two groups: native speakers using regional variants of the German language, and Russian listeners. This helped determine general and specific tendencies in the character of the auditory identification of suprasegmental features as positive or negative boundary signals. The results of the study reveal how the system of boundary signals functions in regional variants of modern German with regard to various factors, including positional, syntagmatic, and regional factors. This is of major importance, since this helps develop the theory of typology, variantology, and delimitation devices not only for German-focused studies, but also for linguistics as a whole. The findings will encourage efforts to achieve purely practical goals related to the creation of systems for automatic speech recognition.

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