Sprachkontrastive Lokalisierung in Audioguides = Contrastive Analysis of Localization in Audio Guides

This study conducts a contrastive linguistic analysis of strategies for the spatial orientation of audioguide users in building complexes. The empirical case study, examining four audioguides in the German–Italian language pair (two originals and two translations), focuses on macro- and micro-orientation, revealing clear tendencies. The two German audioguides more frequently exhibit deictic expressions and a higher information density concerning accumulations of localising elements and secondary localisation. Conversely, the two Italian audioguides prefer more explicit, less dense localisations and dynamic verbs. Spatial logic (Raumlogik) and the intrinsic reference frame predominate across all four audioguides, with the absolute and relative reference frames also playing a significant role. Listeners more frequently function as the figure in the spatial schema in the two original audioguides. Orientation by means of imaginary wandering is primarily evidenced in the Italian original audioguide. Future research should, among other aspects, analyse language-specific means, and investigate actual listener reception.