The sounds of “water” in German and Russian phonosemantic pictures of the world

The correlation of the concepts of the phonosphere, the sound picture of the world, the phonosemantic picture of the world is defined. The sounds of water as an integral part of the sound phonosemantic picture of the world are chosen. A comparative phonosemantic and quantitative analysis of German and Russian verbs nominating the sounds of water is presented. The types of water sounding on the basis of universal phonosemantic typology by S. V. Voronin are revealed. Some quantitative differences of onomotopes of water sounding from acoustic onomatopoeia studied by the author earlier on the materials of the German and Russian languages are noted as a whole. Analysis of this fragment of the phonosemantic picture of the world confirms the conclusion that universal features in onomatopoeia prevail over specific ones.

The concept "water" is studied from different points of view on the material of various languages, interpretation of the figurative component of the concept of water in the linguistic picture of the world on the basis of nominative and metaphorical fields of the Russian language [1]; representation of the concept "Wasser" in German artistic picture of the world in the diachronic and synchronic aspects [2]; the content of the concept "water" in the English language [3]; the concept "water" as a binary concept in relation to the concept "fire" in genetically non-cognate English and Tatar languages [4]; conceptualisation of water used by a linguistic personality of a generalized narrator of the heroic epics texts in the English, German and Russian languages [5]; the concept of water in everyday and public discourse [6]. The concept of water in all the studies mentioned above is presented as a fragment of the linguistic picture of the world. According to the T. I. Badmaeva, it is the basic one in the English language [3]. Currently, we have not found any studies of lexical units that nominate water sounding in the phonosemantic aspect.
The semantic group "Liquid" (water, rain, stream, as well as blood, tears, etc.) is a fragment of the phonosemantic sound picture of the world which is understood as a part of the linguistic picture of the world, explicated in a language by the phonic iconicity vocabulary [7][8][9][10][11].
It is necessary to explain here the correlation of the concepts of the phonosphere, the sound picture of the world, the phonosemantic picture of the world. Phonosphere is a kind of sound continuum, represented both at the material spatial and abstract levels, filled with different types of biological (often unrealized by man), in technical and cultural-semiotic (realized by man) sound systems [12]. The sound picture of the world is a part of the phonosphere realized by man and explicated in a language; a part of the linguistic picture of the world; a set of ideas about the world sounding reflected in a language; a way of conceptualizing the sound space. The phonosemantic picture of the world is a part of the linguistic picture of the world reflected in a language by means of phonosemantic units and categories. Within the framework of the phonosphere biological (natural) and social (artificial, anthropo-and culturally-oriented) phonospheres are distinguished. Within the framework of biophonosphere it is possible to distinguish: 1) Naturphonosphere -the sounds of nature in a natural phylosophysence (water, air, fire, earth) including phonosphere of precipitation, atmospheric conditions and other meteorological phenomena (rain, snow, movement of air and water, landslides, drifting of ice etc.): German gluck, cluck "sound of fluid motion", rutsch "sound of sliding"; Russ. svistet', vyt' "whistle, wail (of wind)"; 2) Phytophonospere -the sounds of plants (the sound of leaves, growth, withering, destruction, breaking, interaction and physical contacts, etc.): German knicks, Russ. krak "the sound of wood breaking"; 3) Zoophonosphere -screams (voices) and sounds of animals and birds while moving, eating, interacting: Germ. quak, Russ. kva-kva "croaking", Germ. sum, Russ. Zhzhzh "insect buzzing"; 4) Anthroponoosphere -sounds made by humans (except speech sounds) while moving, travelling, eating, interacting: Germ. ach, Russ. akh, okhat' "sigh", Germ. happs, Russ. Am, kham "the sound of biting, mouth griping", Germ. hatschi, Russ. apchkhi "the sound of sneezing". The sounds of water are an integral part of naturphonosphere.
Despite the fact the sound picture of the world has attracted the attention of many researchers, this part of the sound picture of the world hasn't reached the systematic description yet. This problem is solved partially in separate studies [12,13,14,15].
Naturally that onomatopoeia is the basic means of reflection in a language of the sound picture of the world. At the same time "simplicity" of onomatopes is "seeming simplicity. The meaning of this word is a complex and versatile formation" [16; p.29].
The following methods were used in the study: continuous sampling method, lexicalsemantic, etymological, comparative and descriptive methods, quantitative analysis, as well as the actual phonosemantic methods including the etymological phonosemantic analysis, and phonotype modeling.
The involuntary connection between sound and meaning is proved on the material of typologically diverse languages. Phonic iconicity words of different languages are comparable to each other at the phonotype level, that is the phoneme type depending on its acoustic-articulatory characteristics (occlusive, fricative, explosive, voiced, sonorous, etc.). Classification of the phonic iconicity system at the phonotype level is presented in the universal typology of S. V. Voronin [21] where a significant place is occupied by acoustic onomatopes. Acoustic onomatopes are the units reproducing non-articulatory acoustic sounds of external environment by means of phonemes: Germ. blubbern; Rus. bul'kat' "gurgle". On the basis of the universal phonosemantic typology made by S.V. Voronin 12 types of sounds of water have been revealed.
The articulatory onomatopes that nominate sound processes occurring in man's nose, mouth and throat cavities (German schlapp "the sound of gulping down, lapping", mummeln "chew"), can rarely be seen among lexical units, indicating the sounds of water movement. In German and Russian languages only one verb of this type has been found so far: Germ lecken "flow, leak," (lecken "lick"), Rus. lizat` "touch something, covering, smashing (about the wave, etc.)", Germ. Kleine Wellen lecken die Ufer hinauf, spülen über harten Sand und steuern ihren Teil zu dem Wellengewirr auf der Flussoberfläche Rus. Volny` lizhut podoshvy` ego torbasov, i hochetsya shagnut` navstrechu korablyu, samomu krasivomu korablyu, kotory`j kogda-libo videl Avaj [The waves lick the soles of his high fur boots and there is a desire to step towards the ship, the most beautiful ship Avaj has ever seen] (Yu Rytkhau).
Thus, the sound of water in German and Russian is expressed by 12 various types. Such a large number of models is determined, on the one hand, by the properties of the water movement, i.e. its speed, intensity, frequency, etc., on the other hand, by various phonic iconicity functions of phonemes. Table 1 shows the data of the comparative quantitative analysis of the water onomatopes composition in German and Russian.
In German, the pure blow (instants) and dissonant sounds (frequentatives) are the least frequently used only 7.5%. In the Russian language, these classes are slightly larger in number: the instants are 12.5%, the frequentatives are 15%. The tone sounds (continuants) are equally represented in German and Russian languages 17.5%. The most numerous sounds are tone-blow sounds (instants-continuants): in German their number is 32.5%, in Russian they comprise 30% and tone-blow dissonant sounds (frequentatives quasi-instantscontinuants): in German their number is 35%, in Russian language they comprise 25%. The comparative analysis data of water sounding onomatopes somewhat differ from those of acoustic onomatopoeia in general [10]. Table 2 shows the data of this analysis. Thus, the water sounds (40 units) comprise 22% of the total root number of acoustic onomatopes in German (178 units), and 18 % in Russian (220 units). The water sounds in German and Russian languages are mostly complex combined sounds: tone-blow and toneblow dissonant sounds (67, 5% in German, 55% in Russian). It should be noted that the number of instant-continuants in this study practically coincides with the data on the German acoustic onomatopoeia as a whole (German -32.5% and 31%), but significantly differs from those on the Russian acoustic onomatopoeia (Russian -30% and 20%). The number of frequentatives quasi-instants -continuants expressing water sounds considerably exceeds the data on acoustic onomatopoeia (German: 32.5% and 17%, Russian -25% and 17%). In Russian, instants and frequentatives slightly outnumber those in German (12,5% and 15% versus 7,5% and 7.5%) that is significantly different from the comparative data on the acoustic onomatopoeia (instants: German -20%, Russian -22%, frequentatives: German -21%, Russian -28%).
Thus, the sounds of water movement occupy a significant place in the German and Russian phonosemantic picture of the world. The phonosemantic and quantitative study of the verbs expressing water confirms the conclusion that the isomorphism features prevail over the allomorphism. The water sounds in German and Russian represent mainly a complex "composition": tone-blow (sonants and explosive) and tone-blow dissonant sounds (vibrants, sonants, a moderate sound is expressed by a fricative / affricate).