Naidesh O. Symbolic Properties of Initial Consonants Clusters in Modern German

Psycholinguistic, structural and quantitative research methods employed, the thesis offers, for the first time, complex analysis of symbolic meanings of the German initial consonants clusters in speech and their symbolic functions in text. Objective symbolic properties of the phonestemic vocabulary clusters are studied in frequency, morphological, stylistic and semantic subclasses. Subjective symbolic meanings of the clusters are studied with the help of psycholinguistic experimental data obtained from German language informants. The suggested minor-major grouping of literary works helps reveal certain regularities in the use of corresponding phonestemic sequences in this or that motif which stipulate the tone of a text.