Phonetische Transkription als folklinguistische Zeichen-Praxis im öffentlichen Raum

Abstract

Summary. This paper is a first exploration of folk-linguistic forms of phonetic transcrip­tion in the public space. This concerns patterns of use where the semiotic repertoire of phonetic transcription – including the use of phonetic symbols and bracketing, but also syllabic word division and lexicographic text structure – is transposed into a non-tech­nical context of digital or physical public space, and where the intended purpose differs from linguistic traditions of visually representing speech sounds. To elucidate this practi­ce, a corpus of 27 pictures was assembled in an ethnographic approach and analyzed from a semiotic and sociolinguistic perspective. A broad spectrum of semiotic pheno­mena was found, ranging from highly complex and quasi-professional transcriptions to minimalistic approaches. On this basis, a range of socio-stylistic factors that influence this variation (degree of professionalization, amount of planning, correctness) is propo­sed. Four categories of social meaning are distinguished (metalinguistic reflexivity, agen­da setting, staged orality, deviance) that can be used for self-positioning in the use of folk-linguistic transcriptions in public spaces.