The Königsberger Express: Linguistic Portrait of a Russian-German Newspaper
Csaba FöldesThis article presents multiple perspectives on the Königsberger Express, a German-language newspaper published since 1993 in Kaliningrad, Russia. The article especially focuses on the language and communication structures and thereby systematically outlines the media linguistic portrait of the newspaper regarding its central traits. The study ascertains that theKönigsberger Express demonstrates a rather precise, unspectacular, and conservative language that rarely uses word play or other pragmatic effects. The variety of rubrics does not coincide with a variety of genres, as the journalistic forms of presentation remain within a relatively narrow frame. Despite the creditable achievements of the investigated newspaper, especially when considering the modest circumstances of production, the article establishes that the Königsberger Express cannot be fully seen as a highly professional German-speaking press release and that the Russian language and in particular the Russian culture influence the journalistic articles. While contact-induced linguistic features are a small factor, they are by no means a determining one. The texts only occasionally show that they are the products of translation. Their unique characteristic lies in the specific area of tension between the Russian and German language on one hand (i.e., as translated and repeatedly redacted collaborative texts), and within the Russian culture in a former German cultural region on the other hand. The Königsberger Express is a trans-created culturally asymmetrical newspaper in two ways: It linguistically operates between Russian and German, and its language of publication is German, while its cultural environment is Russian. Therefore, the German texts frequently gain a Russian perspectivation.
Der Königsberger Express: Linguistisches Porträt einer „russisch-deutschen“ Zeitung
Csaba FöldesDer vorliegende Aufsatz stellt ein seit 1993 in Kaliningrad/Russland erscheinendes deutschsprachiges Presseorgan mehrperspektivisch vor, fokussiert dabei besonders auf seine Sprach- und Kommunikationsstrukturen und arbeitet das medienlinguistische Porträt dieser Zeitung in seinen zentralen Zügen systematisch heraus. Es zeigt sich, dass das Blatt eine recht präzise, unspektakuläre und eher konservative Sprache aufweist, die zudem kaum Wortspiele oder sonstige pragmatische Effekte nutzt. Die Vielfalt der Ressorts geht nicht mit einer Vielfalt der Textsorten einher: Die journalistischen Darstellungsformen bewegen sich in einem relativ engen Rahmen. Aufgrund der Befundlage ist zu konstatieren, dass die analysierte Zeitung trotz ihrer anerkennenswerten Leistungen – infolge der bescheidenen Produktionsbedingungen – nicht wirklich ein hochprofessionelles deutschsprachiges Organ sein kann und die russische Sprache, aber vor allem die russische Kultur auf das Blatt abfärben. Sprachkontaktbedingten Besonderheiten kommt in der Zeitung ein gewisser, jedoch kein determinierender Stellenwert zu und den Texten kann man nur gelegentlich ansehen, dass sie eigentlich Übersetzungsprodukte sind. Ihr Alleinstellungsmerkmal dürfte in einem spezifischen Spannungsfeld von russischer und deutscher Sprache (als übersetzte und mehrfach bearbeitete kollaborative Texte) einerseits sowie russischer Kultur in einem einst deutschen Kulturraum andererseits bestehen. Somit lässt sie sich sogar in doppelter Hinsicht als (transkreierte) kulturasymmetrische Zeitung ansehen. Erstens, weil sie sprachlich zwischen Russisch und Deutsch operiert, zweitens, weil eine besondere Asymmetrie zutage tritt: Die Sprache ist deutsch, das kulturelle Umfeld hingegen russisch, sodass die deutschsprachigen Texte zumeist eine russische Perspektivierung enthalten.
This article presents multiple perspectives on the Königsberger Express, a German-language newspaper published since 1993 in the exclave of Kaliningrad in Russia. The article especially focuses on the newspaper’s language and communication structures, thereby systematically outlining the mediatic linguistic portrait of the newspaper with regard to its central traits. Of specific interest to this study is the fact that this newspaper exists in a Russian exclave in a former German territory within a media context shaped by multiculturality and interculturality, as well as by translation-based multilingualism. This article therefore analyzes communicative phenomena within the specific area of tension between Russian and German. In addition to the linguistic points of study, the culturally induced features resulting from the unique culturality within the production of the newspaper also appear as points of interest. The article’s analysis and interpretation are based on a descriptive research focus rooted in the fields of variationist linguistics and interculturality.
A unique characteristic of the newspaper lies within its production modalities. The paper is editorially created exclusively by Russian journalists in Kaliningrad, while the printing happens in Germany. Most articles are first conceived in Russian, and then translated into German by one Russian translator before being stylistically edited by a native German speaker from Germany (e.g., an intern).
The so-called salience concept serves as the main analytical tool of this investigation. This concept allows an analysis of various characteristic, linguistically communicative features on various levels (i.e., lexicon, formulaic, and figurative items, as well as expression, grammar, style, text, discourse, and graphemics). Regarding culturality, manifestations of the Russian cultural setting also find expression as culture-specific words and names, Russian perspectivation, Russian-centric framings, peculiarities regarding gendered language, and various content-cultural specifics.
In summary, the study found three main groups regarding the origin of linguistically unique features:
1. The areal language contact (i.e., transfer or imitation of elements, structures, and models of the contact language) is responsible for many features found in the text. One subgroup here involves overt or explicit language contact phenomena as a material transfer of signs (signifiers) from Russian as the contact language. Another subgroup involves the covert or implicit contact phenomena in which the concept is being transferred rather than the language material or a linguistic form. Overall, this study has found many patterns of the Russian language being expressed in German.
2. Some peculiarities involve simple alienation processes (e.g., shift of contrast or exaggeration of contrast that appear due to insecurities with German as a media language, such as in an overgeneralization of the language system).
3. Others originate inadvertently out of a breach of norms (i.e., careless mistakes that even occur for highly competent text producers).
This study ascertains that the Königsberger Express demonstrates a rather precise, unspectacular, straightforward, and conservative language that rarely uses word play, irony, or other pragmatic effects. The focus of the newspaper lies clearly in content-related reporting, with expressivity and stylistic excellence having lesser value. The variety of rubrics does not coincide with a variety in genres, as the journalistic forms of presentation remain within a relatively narrow frame.
Despite the creditable achievements of the investigated newspaper, especially when considering the modest circumstances of production, this article establishes that the Königsberger Express cannot fully be seen as a highly professional German-speaking press release and that the Russian language and Russian culture in particular influence the journalistic articles. Contact-induced linguistic features do appear, especially in the area of microphenomena, but they are by no means a determining factor. The texts show only occasionally that they are the products of translation.
The newspaper articles’ unique characteristic lies in the specific area of tension between the Russian and German language on the one hand (i.e., as translated and repeatedly redacted, collaborative texts), and within the Russian culture in a former German cultural region on the other hand. The Königsberger Express is a trans-created culturally asymmetrical newspaper, a species sui generis, in two ways: It operates in a contact network between Russian and German (most German-language contributions are translations from Russian) and in a particularly asymmetrical relationship due to the language being German, the cultural environment being Russian, and the German texts therefore frequently gaining a Russian perspectivation.
In these respects, the newspaper is an example of a unique media type and therefore a unique expression of German as a media language. Thanks to the journalistic and translational approach to elements, structures, models, and contents of a partly formerly East Prussian and mostly contemporary Russian provenience, the newspaper frequently exhibits a genuine Königsberg (Königsberg or Kaliningrad) aura in many ways.
