ZUHAUSE ASSOCIATES: LINGUISTIC ASPECT (ON THE MATERIAL OF THE DIRECTED ASSOCIATIVE EXPERIMENT)

Abstract

This article is devoted to the linguistic analysis of ZUHAUSE (“native home”) word-stimulus associates in modern German language. The urgency of the study is due to the need to identify the specifics of the national-linguistic image of the world of different peoples in order to overcome obstacles in the course of intercultural communication. The author considers that intercultural communication is not only a mechanism for exchanging information, but also an effective way of self-identification. The study was performed on the basis of a directed associative experiment “Emotions, feeling of man” [Emotionen, Gefühle des Menschen], which involved for six months (February–July 2012 year) in German universities and institutions of the humanitarian direct. 102 anonymous indigenous informants aged 18 to 59 females and males took part in the experiment. The corpus of the obtained associations or responses is 100%, its quality depends on the background knowledge and experience of the respondent. We have two types of associates: basic and derivative. The basic associates are identical to the lexical-grammatical class of the word-stimulus – noun or reaction-word-form, derivatives go beyond the lexical-grammatical class of the word-stimulus and appear as adjectives, verbs, proper names or reactions-phrases as adjectives + nouns, pronouns + nouns, syntagm, and as sentences. We have compared empirical material with language norm and have revealed a greater degree of deviation from language norm: New meanings of the native home focused on abstract concepts with positive, negative, neutral characteristics, the emergence of which is determined by extra linguistic and linguistic factors. Several classifications of associates are proposed, including by morphological structure, by genesis, by frequency of use, by spelling, by semantics, by lexical-semantic structure. There are two main types of language consciousness: typical and atypical, mediated by the transitional language consciousness. ZUHAUSE word-stimulus associates have been shown to be grouped around Geborgenheit “security, safety” and Familie “family”.