CODIFICATION OF THE ORTHOEPIC NORMS OF THE GERMAN LANGUAGE: HISTORY AND CURRENT SITUATION

Abstract

The article discusses the development of the lexicographic codification of pronunciation norms of German. It gives an overview of the orthoepic norm, its varieties and inherent features, relations between the norm and standard of pronunciation. Pronouncing dictionaries since the end of the 19th century have been studied as primary sources, some phonetic phenomena are also illustrated with the explanatory dictionaries of earlier periods. The lexicographic codification of the pronunciation norms in historical retrospect is briefly analyzed: from exaggerated articulation of actors in Germany to actual sound phenomena using in the pronunciation of professional radio and television announcers, which includes the pronouncing features of authentic oral media communication. Special attention is paid to the problem of codification of the orthoepic standard in different types of dictionaries in light of the pluricentricity of German, due to lack of empirical analyses. The article also represents the current orthoepic dictionaries, which include information about the sounds of three standards of German in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Study of their structure and content features made it possible to identify some advantages and disadvantages. As a result of the study, the author concludes with changing approaches to the codification of pronunciation norms, such as transformation of the metalanguage, expansion of the empirical base, use of contemporary sociophonetic methods in its analysis, some structural and content changes in the dictionaries. These modifications are shown to be connected with the change of the lexicographic paradigm and the turn from monocentricity to pluricentricity due to sociocultural and sociolinguistic factors. Refs 24.