Authors

The article focuses on the integration of standard varieties of the German language, functioning on the territory of German-speaking countries in the teaching process. The author is aiming at analyzing briefly the main stages of German as a foreign language teachers’ interest in the mentioned issues. The major periods of the pluricentricity theory integration in the theory and practice of teaching German are discusses. The formation and the development of the DACH(L)-principle, the use of the concept of the German language variability in teaching languages and area studies, its integration into the process of language teaching on various levels of education are described. In addition, the problem of the diatopic functioning of the German language is analyzed in the framework of teaching translation. An overview of the literature, which codified the standards (dictionaries, grammar books, etc.), is also given. Special attention is paid to the review and analysis of textbooks and workbooks including phonetic, lexical, grammatical and pragmatic features of the German variety standards. The paper also raises the question of the relationship between the pluricentricity theory and the international German language tests. As a result of the study, the author comes to the conclusion regarding the major pedagogical potential of the pluricentricity theory of the German language.

The article focuses on the evolution, some principles and methods of pronunciation norm regulation in German-speaking countries. The author is aiming to analyze briefly the main features of the codification norm of the literary language in pronouncing dictionaries in historical retrospective. Special attention is paid to the fixation of exaggerated articulation, when the basis of the German pronounciation norm was the speech of actors in Germany (Bühnensprache ‘stage speech’); the systematization and codification of the pronunciation of professional radio and television announcers; the regularization of various forms functioning due to the convergence of the literary language and the oral speech. The macro- and microstructure of some pronouncing dictionaries of the 20th century and current ones, the representation of different sound units, specifics of native and of foreign word pronunciation, changes in the transcription and in the system of labels etc. are described. The paper also raises the problem of dictionary codification and the reflection of standard pronounciation variants in the German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria, etc.). As a result of the study, the author comes to the conclusion regarding the changes in the methodology of norm systematization and the dynamics of trends in the lexicographic codification of pronunciation norms of the German language.

The article is devoted to the analysis of communication strategies and tactics in the right-wing populist German discourse of today’s Germany when covering the problem of migration. The aim of the work is to identify the features of the communicative behavior of the representatives of this discourse at the tactical and strategic levels. The relevance of this study is conditioned, on the one hand, by the active development of the current political protest movement in German-speaking countries, as well as the formation of right-wing populist discourse and, on the other hand, by an insufficient degree of study of its communicative characteristics. The work reveals the concepts of communicative strategies and tactics, studies the specifics of the most characteristic strategies and tactics, lexical and grammatical categories. The attention is drawn to the expressiveness and predominantly pejorative connotation of speech means used in the implementation of the identified strategies and tactics, which are illustrated by examples from the texts of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. The authors come to the conclusion that the basic strategies of political discourse (self-presentation, struggle for power, retention of power and persuasion) are implemented in the framework of the migration crisis coverage, while only a limited number of tactics are used.

The syllabus of the discipline “Language situation and language policy in European countries” is an interdisciplinary review of key issues related to the problems of language policy in European countries and the current language situation in Europe. Classical methodological approaches to the study of these categories (sociolinguistic, legislative, institutional, medial, language teaching, etc.) as well as new ones (discursive, politically correct, pluricentric, economic, etc.) are analyzed. In addition, the course focuses on the specificity of language policy in some European countries, considering the variety of pluricentric European languages (e.g. the German language and German-speaking countries). The content of the program includes materials on the following topics: relationship between language and the state, language and society, language and power, definitions and typologies of language situations and language policies, language planning, language regime, minority languages, language rights, language contacts and conflicts. The course analyzes in detail the practices of language policies in European countries in various socio-discursive areas: legal regulation, language education, science, economics, media, applied terminology and others. The influence of the theory of political correctness on the development of language policies of European states is also discussed. The program is based on the author’s experience of lecturing at the Department of Linguistics and Intercultural Communication and the Translation Department of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Area Studies at Lomonosov Moscow State University.

The article discusses some issues of codification and semantization of language teaching terms in term-fixing texts (specialized dictionaries and reference books). It also describes other texts which involve the type of terms under consideration – term-creating and term-using texts. The paper outlines some key features of the language teaching terms, such as interdisciplinarity, social determinism, etc. The investigation reveals the requirements put forward for terminographic semantics, examines the parameters of the presentation of terms in articles of single and bilingual reference publications, and marks off the types of definitions in term-fixing texts. The research has included detailed analysis of the macro- and microstructure of a new German-Russian reference book of the Goethe-Institute’s innovative program for teachers “Learning to teach German” (German: Deutsch Lehren Lernen), published by the Moscow University Press in 2022. The contribution provides general information about the corpus of the reference book, the subject of codified terms and their formal features, characteristics of the structure and the content of dictionary entries, as well as the principles which were taken into account when describing the concept. Both verbal and nonverbal components are outlined as important terminographic definitional features. These parts of dictionary articles help users better understand the dictionary content of terms represented in the texts of the secondary sphere of use.

The article is an analytical review of some problems of dictionary codification of Luxembourg German Standard. The relevance of the study lies in the fact that the Luxembourg variety of German Standard, which differs in a number of distinctive features from other national varieties of the German language, is still poorly studied. Some aspects of the study of the German language in Luxembourg, the criteria of the standard in general and the features of the Luxembourg standard of the German language in particular are briefly described. The main part of the study is the analysis of current lexicographic sources that codify the specific features of the pronunciation, grammar, lexical and semantic norms of the Luxembourg Standard. The results of the analysis of lexicographic sources, which are descriptive codifiers of the German Standard in Luxembourg, are presented: a pronunciation dictionary of the Standard High German language, the project “Regional Variation in the Grammar of Standard German”, dictionaries of varieties of the German language. The structure and content of the dictionary of the Luxembourg standard for the German language [Sieburg, 2022] are considered in detail. This includes general information about the mega-, macro- and microstructure of the dictionary, the subject and variable characteristics of the codified vocabulary, the features of the structure and content of dictionary entries. As a result of the analysis, a conclusion is made about the development of the normalizing activity of the Lu­xembourg German Standard and about the recognizing of this standard, which has specific features at different levels of the language system.

The article briefly describes the milestones of the life and scientific work of Vladimir Vladimirovich Zakharov (09/13/1953–12/05/2023) — head of the Department of German Language and Culture at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Regional Studies (Lomonosov Moscow State University), Academician of the Academy of Military Sciences of the Russian Federation, Professor, Doctor of Historical Sciences. Various aspects of his activities are considered: as a military interpreter and translator, a historian and an archivist, an organizer, and a teacher. Some key works of the scientist in various fields of military historical science are briefly analyzed: Soviet-German military, political, cultural etc. relations in the 20th century, economic aspects of the Second World War, the history of Russian and German intelligence agencies, issues of restitution of cultural and artistic values, etc. An important place in the article is given to the coverage of V.V. Zakharov’s works devoted to the activities of the Office of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SWAG) and the military intelligence. The article highlights V.V. Zakharov’s significant contribution to the introduction into scientific circulation of a large number of previously unknown archival documents on various aspects of military historical science. The author also draws attention to V.V. Zakharov’s pedagogical and organizational activities in higher educational and scientific institutions in Russia, as well as his educational and methodological works

The article is devoted to the period of the origin of Russian textbook studies in foreign languages, a significant contribution to the formation of which was made by Professor of Imperial Moscow University Ivan Andreevich Нeim (1759–1821), an encyclopedic scholar, teacher, and public figure. The article provides a brief description of the professional scientific and pedagogical biography of I.A. Нeim, who was at different periods of his academic activity not only a professor, but also the first Dean of the Faculty of Philology and the Rector of the University. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the structural and substantive characteristics of the first edition of the textbook by I.A. Heim “Russian Grammar for Germans” in 1789 (German: “Russische Sprachlehre für Deutsche”). Variant features of the metalanguage of the book in the field of translation of terms, as well as units at the graphical, orthographic, morphological and lexical levels are revealed. The content of the book, on the one hand, includes a theoretical description of the structure of the Russian language (in German), on the other hand, it is practical in nature, which is manifested in the absence of a large number of definitions, the presence of sections on teaching phonetics, a mini-dictionary and bilingual dialogues on everyday topics. The analysis of the textbook provides us with insights into the formation of textbook studies at the end of the 18th century and enables us to discuss the creation and development of prototypes of a modern tutorial book and phrase book of foreign languages.

The article is devoted to the current problems of changing language norms under the influence of information and communication technologies. Some theoretical provisions on the specifics of linguistic norms in functional (i.e. norms widely used in speech) and codification aspects (i.e. norms fixed in normative legal acts, dictionaries, reference books, textbooks and grammars) are considered. Some distinctive parameters of the linguistic norms are described as a heterogeneous category characterized, on the one hand, by conservatism, stability, commitment, exemplary, directive and other constant features, on the other hand, by dynamism, instability and variability. The last ones often lead to linguistic deviations. Transformations of linguistic norms in the Internet give an impetus to the emergence of new concepts and the formation of new terms such as “Russian digital literary language” (A.V. Kozulyaev), “criticism of the Internet language” (K. Durscheid), “grammar nazi” and others. The article contains some examples of violations and changes of the norms of the Russian and German languages in the electronic communication. Two areas of criticism of the Internet language are considered: writing (or written texts) and communicative behavior in the Web. Deviations of linguistic norms at different levels (graphic, spelling, lexical, syntactic) in Russian-language online communication are revealed. There are also some prospects for research in this area.

The article examines the pedagogical grammar of the German language, “German Grammar” (“Nimetskaya Grammatika”), created by Professor I.A. Heym — a scholar, encyclopedist, public figure, and educator who taught at Moscow Imperial University in the late 18th and early 19th centuries — for students of Russian Imperial gymnasiums and the Free Noble Boarding School. Th e study aims to identify the distinctive features of the book’s structure and content, uncover the language teaching principles reflected within, and analyze the usage of grammatical terms and definitions in both Russian and German. It has been established that I.A. Heym’s work applies several general and specific didactic principles typical of grammar textbooks from that period: systematic presentation of grammatical material, clarity, consideration of the learners’ native language, and an intercultural approach to learning. The abundance of grammatical terms and their definitions is recognized as a significant characteristic of pedagogical grammar as an academic textbook. The article provides examples of terminologization and examines terms whose meanings and forms differ from modern grammatical terminology, highlighting its dynamic nature. The author’s emphasis on clear explanations of grammatical phenomena is evident through the use of various types of definitions (generic-specific, enumerative, non-specific, etc.). Examples of unsystematic definitions and variability in the translations of grammatical terms are viewed as natural indicators of the formation and development of the conceptual and terminological framework of Russian and German grammars, as well as the emergence of early 19th century prototypes of academic textbooks.