THE PHONOSEMANTIC FEATURES OF PUBLICISTIC TEXTS (ON THE BASIS OF SPEECHES OF GERMAN-SPEAKING POLITICIANS)

Abstract

The research is based on the analysis of phonemic combinations – the study of initial consonant combinations in German with a single method taking into account all the basic parameters of phonosemantics. The language sounds are connected to the non-sound imagery. The consciousness of speakers reflects the objectively existing patterns in a sound system of the language. Not only the reflections but also the facts of the speakers’ consciousness are significant for the research. The paper is dedicated to the research of the German phonemic word combinations (e.g. phonesthemes [bl-], [br-], [dr-], [fl-], [fr-], [gl-], [gn-]…, the total number is 29 units), and the material of the research is speeches of German politicians (Angela Merkel and Joachim Gauck) and Austrian politicians (Alexander Van der Bellen and Heinz Fischer). For the research, a sample of  30 speeches of each politician, which embraced different topics, was conducted. The total number of the word usage was determined in every speech. The speeches bring up such subjects, which make an average citizen anxious, as “war”, “economics”, “culture” and “politics”. The detected phonemic vocabulary was initially processed in separate speeches, and then this same phonemic vocabulary was processed in accordance with the topic to which a certain speech belongs. Then, speeches according to their subject, idea, and influence on a listener were grouped in relation to their emotional and connotative perception on the scale of "evaluation". They were divided into positive, negative and neutral. In the study, it was discovered which exactly the phonetic vocabulary is considered to be either positive or negative, and how it affects the perception of speech in general. It was also determined which phonesthemes are more commonly used in publicistic texts.