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Julio-Diciembre 2015
Vol. 5 No. 2
Octubre-diciembre 2024
Vol. 14 No. 3
Interacción y Perspectiva. Revista de Trabajo Social Vol. 14 N
o
3 / octubre-diciembre, 2024
839
Interacción y Perspectiva Dep. Legal pp 201002Z43506
Revista de Trabajo Social ISSN 2244-808X
Vol. 14 N
o
3 839-854 pp. Copyright © 2024
Octubre-diciembre
ARTÍCULO DE INVESTIGACIÓN
Interpretación de significados en la imagen del mundo de representantes
de diferentes culturas desde el punto de vista psicolingüístico
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11205730
Tetyana Khomenko*, Tetyana Tokaryeva**, Olena Habelko***, Mariia Foka**** y
Tetiana Taranukha*****
Resumen
El objetivo de nuestra investigación es identificar fragmentos específicos y significativos
para la sociedad de la capa cultural y semántica de la cosmovisión de los representantes
de las culturas ucraniana y alemana y su interpretación desde el punto de vista de la
psicolingüística. En la investigación se utilizaron los siguientes métodos: método
descriptivo: para describir la capa semántica, imágenes del mundo reflejadas en las
culturas de los pueblos antiguos y sus seguidores modernos; se aplica el método lógico
abstracto y sus técnicas para generalizar el material teórico; se utilizó el análisis
etimológico para revelar el significado original de conceptos culturalmente definidos; las
características cuantitativas de fragmentos de invariantes de la cosmovisión antigua se
determinaron mediante el método de muestreo continuo; El experimento asociativo se
utilizó para identificar fragmentos de sistemas de significados objetivos y verbales que
son significativos para la sociedad moderna. Un experimento asociativo con escolares
alemanes y ucranianos demostró que los estudiantes ucranianos tienen más significados
sociales en áreas importantes para la sociedad moderna que los estudiantes alemanes
como representantes de su sociedad. Al mismo tiempo, los escolares ucranianos
destacaron la forma en que la sociedad aborda los problemas que deben resolverse
dentro de la propia sociedad.
Palabras clave: cosmovisión, capa semántica, invariante de cosmovisión, sistema de
significados sociales, imagen del mundo.
Abstract
Interpretation of meanings of the world view by representatives of different
cultures from the standpoint of psycholinguistics
The objective of our study is to identify specific and significant for the society fragments
of the cultural and semantic layer of the world view among representatives of Ukrainian
and German cultures and to interpret them from the standpoint of psycholinguistics. The
following methods were used in the study: a descriptive method was used to describe
the semantic layer, the world pictures, reflected in the cultures of ancient peoples and
their modern followers; abstract-logical method and its methods was applied for the
Khomenko, Tokaryeva et all/ Interpretación de significados en la imagen del mundo de representantes de
diferentes culturas desde el punto de vista psicolingüístico
840
synthesis of theoretical material; etymological analysis was used to reveal the original
meaning of culturally defined concepts; continuous sampling method was used to
establish quantitative characteristics of fragments of ancient invariants of the world
view; associative experiment was applied to identify fragments of systems of object and
verbal meanings that are significant for modern society. An associative experiment with
German and Ukrainian schoolchildren showed that Ukrainian pupils have more social
meanings in the important for modern society spheres than German pupils as
representatives of their societies. At the same time, Ukrainian pupils highlighted society's
appealing to problems which should be solved within the society itself.
Keywords: the worldview, semantic layer, invariant of the worldview, system of social
meanings, the world picture.
Recibido: 29/03/2024 Aceptado: 29/04/2024
*Volodymyr Vynnychenko Central Ukrainian State University Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine. E-mail:
tat04jana24@gmail.com ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7871-1940
**Volodymyr Vynnychenko Central Ukrainian State University Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine. E-mail:
tokareva.tatyana29@gmail.com . ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6898-821X
***Volodymyr Vynnychenko Central Ukrainian State University Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine. E-mail:
lena_gabelko@i.ua ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3769-3616
**** Volodymyr Vynnychenko Central Ukrainian State University Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine. E-mail:
glamourousmail11@gmail.com ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9172-4642
***** Volodymyr Vynnychenko Central Ukrainian State University Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine. E-mail:
t.v.taranukha@cuspu.edu.ua ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8144-6359
1. Introduction
In the psychological science, A. Leontiev was the first who considered the category
of "the world view" in the 70's of the twentieth century. At that time he developed the
theory of activity (Leontiev, 1979). Since then, this concept has been constantly updated
and interpreted from different points of view. In the 80’s of the twentieth century the
issue of the world view was studied by V.P. Zinchenko (Zinchenko, 1983), A.N. Leontiev
(Leontiev, 1983), V.V. Petukhov (Petukhov, 1984), S.D. Smirnov (Smirnov, 1981); in
the 90’s – E.Yu. Artemyeva (Artemyeva, 1999), in the 2000's – V.E. Klochko, E.V.
Halazhynskyi (Klochko, Halazhynskyi, 2009), Yu.K. Strelkov (Strelkov, 2000) and
others. The scientists have studied the structure of the world image and its determinism.
Numerous foreign researchers deal with different aspects of world view (Koltko-
Rivera, 2006; Paulhus, Carey, 2011; Rousseau, Billingham, 2018; Stetsenko, 2016).
They established a theoretical foundation for the psychology of world views and studyed
a personality along with the world view.
Recent publications by N.K. Akymenko (Akymenko, 2018), D.S. Lyukshina
(Lyukshina, 2019), L.K. Spyrydonova (Spyrydonova, 2015), L.M. Terentiy (Terentiy,
2018), I.S. Sharapa (Sharapa, 2008), E.I. Shuleva (Shuleva, 2018) highlight theoretical
issues in the development of the category of "the world view", as well as the practical
results of studies of the formation of the world view in various social, ethnic, age and
professional groups of population.
In addition, the concept of the world view has been borrowed by the related
scientific spheres such as psycholinguistics (Chernyshova, 2014), ethno-
psycholinguistics (Kurganova, 2009, 2010), ethno-psychology (Belousova, Tushnova,
2011), psychosemantics (Petrenko, 2005).
Introducing the concept of "the world view" in psycholinguistics, A.A. Leontiev
defined the subject of psycholinguistics as the correlation of personality with the
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structure and functioning of speech activity, on the one hand, and language as the main
factor in shaping the view of the human world, on the other hand (Leontiev, 1997: 19).
He wrote that through one of its basic concepts – the concept of meaning –
psycholinguistics is directly related to the problem of mental reflection, namely, the
concept of the world view (Leontiev, 1997: 21).
Science distinguishes the invariant of the world view and the variant of the world
view. Its invariant functions through socially produced bases, with the meanings above
all. For society, ethnicity, and socio-cultural groups, the invariant is unique and has
common features in the vision of the world (Leontiev, 1999: 272). A variant of the world
view is a view of the world of an individual, filling it with personal meanings (Leontiev,
1993: 19). A.A. Leontiev also pointed to the obvious continuity of object meaning with
verbal meaning (Leontiev, 1997: 271). Further, we will refer to the meanings that reflect
the subject and verbal structures in the variant view of the world as personal meanings,
and the meanings that function in society as an invariant of the world view as social
meanings. Of course, the invariant and variant of the world view do not exist in isolation.
They intersect in the segment of human perception and acceptance of social meanings,
or when the society perceives, does not deny the expansion of personal meanings into
socially significant spheres (a known phenomenon of authorial neologism).
The principle of unity of consciousness and activity, as well as the provisions on
the transformation of different forms of experience into mental structures, make it
possible to reconstruct the world view as a system (Serkin, 2017). E.Yu. Artemyeva calls
the semantic layer of the world view (between superficial, perceptual and basic
structures) "the world picture" (Artemyeva, 1999: 20). E.F. Tarasov notes that the
concept of the world picture has been borrowed from other sciences (for example,
linguistics, lingual-cultural studies) as formed by the derivatives "linguistic picture of the
world", "national picture of the world" (Tarasov, 2008). Usually the linguistic picture of
the world consists of the following segments: the model of the universe; a human being,
people, the people; marriage, family; nature; time; space; size (Levytskyi, 2008: 405-
444). Thus, the linguistic picture of the world gives access to the invariant of the world
view, the system of social meanings.
In addition, psycholinguists A.A. Leontiev, R.M. Frumkina pointed out the
inseparable connection of denotations and meanings with a particular type of culture.
A.A. Leontiev wrote about a certain cultural "core", one for all members of a social group,
which is fixed in the notion of meaning (Leontiev, 1997). R.M. Frumkina stated that
meanings were determined by culture (Frumkina, 2003).
The objective of our study is to identify specific and significant for the society
fragments of the cultural and semantic layer of the world view among representatives
of Ukrainian and German cultures and to interpret them from the standpoint of
psycholinguistics.
The tasks of the study are: 1) to analyze the determinant of the invariant of the
world view in the culture of ancient Germans and ancient Ukrainians by factors of their
lives; 2) to identify cultural meanings of the world picture that are determined by main
activities of ancient Germans and ancient Ukrainians; 3) to investigate special cases of
application of the system of social meanings in the spheres important for modern society
Khomenko, Tokaryeva et all/ Interpretación de significados en la imagen del mundo de representantes de
diferentes culturas desde el punto de vista psicolingüístico
842
(people, motherland, war, peace, Ukraine, Germany); 4) to identify possible inheritance
and continuity of the world view in these cultures.
2. Research methods
The following methods were used in the study: a descriptive method was used to
describe the semantic layer, the world pictures, reflected in the cultures of ancient
peoples and their modern followers (Ukrainian and German cultures); abstract-logical
method and its methods (analysis, ascent from concrete to abstract, hypothetical
prediction) was applied for the synthesis of theoretical material; etymological analysis
was used to reveal the original meaning of culturally defined concepts; continuous
sampling method was used to establish quantitative characteristics of fragments of
ancient invariants of the world view; associative experiment was applied to identify
fragments of systems of object and verbal meanings that are significant for modern
society
3. Research results and discussions
Researchers determine the world view through society and culture (Leontiev,
1986), ethnos (Obukhov, 2003), way of thinking and peculiarities of the environment
(Gachev, 2015), the way of life (Serkin, 2017; Klochko, Halazhynskyi, 2009).
The way of life of ancient Germans is described in great details by ancient authors
Julius Caesar (50 BC), Cornelius Tacitus (1st century AD), Plutarch (46-127 AD). During
their history, Germans waged constant wars. All spheres of their economy served
military activity. Even in marital relations there was a military attribute: the bridegroom
gave the bride a weapon at the wedding. Military affairs gradually became the most
prestigious activity (Caesar; Tacitus).
It was the god of war who was the supreme deity of the Germans, first - Tiv (Tiu,
Tsio) and then Odin. As V.V. Levytskyi (Levytskyi, 2010) showed, Germ. *tiwaz originated
from Indo-European *deįeu- that originates from Indo-European *deį-/di- "shine". Thus,
the supreme deity of the Indo-Europeans was the god of sky and light (the Sun). The
Germans turned this supreme deity into a god of war.
Also anthroponyms and ethnonyms show great interest of the Germans in military
activity. They had a few words to denote the terms "man, people, the people": Volk in
German means "people": Ancient High German folc "military detachment, crowd" <
German *fulka- "crowd, squad"; herr "army, people", in Ancient English and Ancient
Frisian here, in Ancient High German hari, heri (Levytskyi, 2010). E.V. Rosen writes that
the very word "Germany" is of Latin origin, but it is based on the ethnonym der Germane
of Celtic origin: ger (Ancient High German Gêr, in German gaizza) is an ancient German
weapon. (Rosen, 1991: 8). There were aggressive names of the tribes: garuda in
Sanskrit garuda means "the one who devours, swallows", the Eburones from eber "boar",
the Saxons from sahs "short sword", viking from German *wih-/*wig means "to fight",
the Irminones and Hermunduris were named after the god of war. Vandali is genetically
linked to the root *wand-/*wind- and meant "spear" (Levytskyi, 2010).
Military-related anthroponyms prevailed in quantitative terms. The continuous
sampling method showed that of 75 personal names in Snorri Sturlusson's work "The
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843
Earth’s Circle" (Sturlusson, 2012), the etymology of 40 names reflects military concepts.
In the Nibelung Song (Das Nibelungenlied, 2005) of 45 personal names, 24 names are
related to hostilities (Gurröðr (from gunnr/gurr – "battle, the name of Valkyrie", Indo-
European *Guhen means "to beat"; -röðr – from rödd, from Icelandic rödd, from Ancient
High German rarta - "voice"). Ragnhildr (rögn, regin means "gods, creators and rulers
of the world"; hildr means "battle, the name of Valkyrie")) (Levytskyi , 2010).
The words that reflected the concepts related to hostilities, danger, death
functioned in each fragment of the world picture (agriculture, everyday life: Messer
"knife" Ancient High German mezzisach (Ancient English Mete-seax "sword for food");
nature: Bär "bear" björn – bear in Proto-Germanic *Bernu, in Ancient English beorn –
"warrior, chieftain"; time: kveld (Norwegian) "Evening", in Ancient Icelandic Kveld
(<*kwaliđa-) "evening", "end of day", "death of the day", in Ancient English cwield
"death, destruction").
Thus, the world view of the Germans is a view of the world of a warrior whose
main activity is art of war. He recognizes himself as part of a nation-military structure,
his way of life subordinates to military actions and preparation for them.
And the Slavs were interested in the issues of the world order. This is proved by
the fact that since the times of Trypillia culture the world image tree has come to us as
a symbol of cosmology and an orderly world. Its cupola (crown) symbolized the kingdom
of heaven (the world of the gods), the trunk was associated with the earth (the world of
man and animal), and the roots of the tree represented the "underground kingdom as
the world of underground deities and dead ancestors" (Sharmanova, 2015: 12). As N.M.
Sharmanova states, the very mythological image of the tree served as the embodiment
of the universal concept of the universe in the representations of ancient Slavs
(Sharmanova, 2015: 63; Tkach, 2008: 133).
Ukrainians used common Slavic nomenclature to mark the sides of the world.
Since ancient times, people have been oriented in the space by the sun, so it influenced
the names of such directions of the world as "sunrise", "sunset" (west, as "decline, fall"),
"north" "(Midnight)," south"(noon). In addition, in the ancient literary language there
were names "east", which is Old Slavic, "siver" – "north", "ug" ("yug") – "south". It
should be noted that the dialect word "north" was used in the sense of "north wind" and
"ug" meant "south wind". The terms "summer east" (sunrise) and "winter east" were
also used to refer to the sides of the world, specifying the direction, given that the sun
does not rise from one point during the year (Ukrainian Sky, 2014: 179). V.V. Levytskyi
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diferentes culturas desde el punto de vista psicolingüístico
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deduces the origin of the word "west" as follows: lat. vesper "evening", lithuanian
vãkaras, ukr. evening; <* ṷesperos/ṷekeros Indo-European *auə-/ṷes-. He assumes
that *west-“west” can be reduced to Indo-European *aṷə-/uē- "to blow, wind", while
asserting that often the names of the sides of the world, such as "Latin Favōnius (German
> Föhn) is "the west warm wind that brings thaw", aquilo is "the north, the north wind
that darkens the sky" (Levytskyi, 2010).
In human consciousness and in the perception of the world, space is of great
importance as one of the basic categories. According to V.M. Bohutskyi, "the
isomorphism of the basic spatial models for many languages of the world, the structure
of which is determined by the antonymic subframes "front/back", "top/bottom",
"left/right", "far/close", is explained by their formation in the practical activity of man in
the earliest stages of the development of human culture, so man used… his own body
and a horizontally oriented geographical space (that is, the surface of the earth) ”
(Bohutskyi: 16).
According to V.V.Levytskyi, the concept of "right" in the Indo-European languages is
associated with the root *deks- (Levytskyi, 2010). Investigating the spatial
representations of the Slavs, V.M. Bohutskyi considers "positive connotation of spatial
orientations right, to the right and, accordingly, the negative axiology of spatial
orientations left, to the left", which is conditioned by the "universality of the structure
and physiological functions of the human body" (Bohutskyi:17).
The history of Slavic terms of cognation was studied by O.M. Trubachov. The
nomens of cognation in the Ukrainian language were studied by A.A. Buryachok, M.V.
Hrymych, V.S. Tarasunko and others (Nakhapetova, 2014).
According to V.V. Levytskyi, the notion of "father" comes from Indo-European
*pəter "father" (Greek ater, Latin pater; Ancient Indo-European pitár). The researcher
studied the origin of Indo-European concept of mother *mātér from which the Ancient
Indo-European mātár originates, Latin māter, Ukrainian мати (< Late Slavonic *mati).
The concept of "son" as one of the terms of cognation in the Indo-European
languages, V.V. Levytskyi relates to the root *seṷ-/su-/sū- "to give birth", therefore
“born”: Ancient Indo-European sūtē “gives birth” sūh "father", sūnuh "son", Lithuanian
sūnus, Ukrainian син (<*synъ) < Indo-European *sūnus “born”)” (Levytskyi, 2010).
With regard to the origin of the concept of "daughter" in the Indo-European languages,
the researcher provides the following data: Ancient Indo-European duhitár-, Ukrainian
дочка, Ancient Slavonic dъšti, Late Slavonic *dъkti; < Indo-European *dhug [h] ətēr.
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According to N.M. Sharmanova, the word mother is "the most sacred unit"
because "the image of the mother has long been deeply revered by Ukrainians"
(Sharmanova, 2015: 63). Modifications of this word are characterized by a significant
emotional and expressive meaning, such as: mother, mummy, mammy, dear
(Kononenko, 1999: 12), mother, mammy, little mother, dear mother, dearest mother
(Nahapetova, 2014). V.V. Zhaivoronok states that the "the lexical unit daddy (father) as
a man in relation to his children" in the Ukrainian linguistic consciousness has a number
of affectionate respectful names - father, daddy, dad, dear father, papa (Zhayvoronok,
2007: 16-17). "This is due to the fact that since ancient times the father acts as the
head of the kinship, its spiritual leader. In the family cult that held the family together,
parents have always been the basis of it” (Sharmanova, 2015: 64). Researchers have
argued that the introvert character of ancient Ukrainians is manifested in their
peacefulness.
Therefore, the world view of ancient Ukrainians is a view of the world of people
who value their family, above all their parents, and hard work and love for nature are
integral signs of ethnicity.
The interpretation of meanings is included in the tasks of psycholinguistics. For the
purpose of interpreting the culturally significant meanings of modern society, we
conducted associative experiments with the students of Kropyvnytskyi secondary school
No 25 and the real school in Saterland (Germany). 28 Ukrainian teenagers (11-12 years
old) and 31 German teenagers (13-16 years old) participated in the experiment. The
choice of the age group of respondents was conditioned by the fact that at this age the
mental processes and functions were already formed, but the children had not yet had
enough life experience. Therefore, there is a strong likelihood that students operate
social meanings that have not yet made the transition to personal meanings.
All words which are responses to stimuli, we divided into 5 groups: 1) personal
meanings (close meanings for a student in his personal experience – self-identification
of student, family, parents, friends, education; words "I", "we", "my", "our"); 2)
conditionally-personal meanings (student's experience of social processes, but in limited
personal experience. Here we have included non-standard associations, as well as
combinations with the words "people", "native"); 3) social meanings A (far from the
student's experience meanings, that is standard concepts: symbols, language cliches,
conventional verbal formulas, common word combinations); 4) social meanings B
Khomenko, Tokaryeva et all/ Interpretación de significados en la imagen del mundo de representantes de
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846
(meanings that are strange to the society, often with a negative connotation); 5)
incomprehensive meanings.
The quantitative division of associations into groups is given in Tables 1 and 2.
Frequency use of social meanings is shown in Tables 3 and 4.
Table 1.
Quantitative characteristics of associations of German students
Stimulus
words
Personal meanings
Conditionally
personal
meanings
far from
experience
meanings
Strange
meanings
Incomprehens
ive meanings
examples
qty
examples
qty
examples
qty
examples
qty
examples
people
origin/
faith/
Germany
35
all
together
language
/
persons
108
population/
citizens/
community
5
refugees/
Jews/
war
0
motherland
place of birth/
ancestors
10
rigid/
flowers/
animals
72
Multinational
/
eagle/coat of
arms
0
0
peace
family/
love/
children
19
Everyone
can do
somethin
g
118
protection/
no violence/
progress
0
0
war
Germany
11
people/
bad/not
needed
141
pain/
bombs/
evil
4
Syria/
Arabs/
Afghanista
n
0
Ukraine
Daryna (a
teacher from
Ukraine)
5
upset/
nice
people/
beautiful
women
114
Eastern
Europe/
breadbasket/
independenc
e
0
Germany
motherland/
at home/
family
11
taxes/
dear/
rigid
114
democracy/
innovations/
large
3
refugees
0
(author's development)
Table № 2.
Quantitative characteristics of associations of Ukrainian students
Stimulus
words
Personal
meanings
Conditionally
personal
meanings
far from
experience
meanings
Strange
meanings
Incomprehe
nsive
meanings
qty
examples
qty
examples
qty
examples
qty
examples
qty
examples
people
7
we/
our/
our country
36
people/
all are
relatives,
but some
88
open/
bread-salt/
one whole
0
0
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847
are
cunning
motherlan
d
49
Place of birth/
Our people/
Kropyvnytskyi
15
native
land/
native
language
64
soldiers/
wheat/
joy
0
0
peace
5
I+Katya+
motherland/
love/
birds’ singing
20
Good
relations/
happy
people
97
safety/
support/
bird of
peace
0
2
piggy/
kingdom
(of
Heaven?)
war
0
7
rigid/
badly/
offences
125
tragedy/
grenades/
defeat of
the country
4
Enemy
countries/
intruders
1
emptines
s
(without
people?)
Ukraine
20
home/
our/
utility
services
(payment)
12
nice
people/
dear
102
united/
yellow-and-
blue flag
0
2
cat/
dog
Germany
23
German
class/
Inna
Mykhailivna
(a teacher)
7
Nice
people/
beautiful
country
89
well-
organized/
punctuality/
a lot of beer
16
nuclear
weapon/
Hitler
1
green
colour
(nature?)
(author's development)
Table 3.
Frequency of use of social meanings by German students.
stimul
us
words
words-
associat
ions
num
ber
of
uses
words-
associat
ions
num
ber
of
uses
words-
associat
ions
num
ber
of
uses
words-
associat
ions
num
ber
of
uses
people
nation
4
communi
ty
4
traditions
4
customs
3
culture
3
populati
on
3
governm
ent
3
citizens
2
democrac
y
2
residents
2
country
2
city
2
Khomenko, Tokaryeva et all/ Interpretación de significados en la imagen del mundo de representantes de
diferentes culturas desde el punto de vista psicolingüístico
848
crowd
2
polite
2
freedom
2
mother
land
large
5
protectio
n
5
peace
4
beautiful
3
connecte
dness
3
safety
2
ready to
help
2
Europe
2
roots
2
order
2
job
2
peace
2
peace
peace
7
safety
5
well-
being
5
happines
s
5
merrines
s
4
pigeon
4
friendshi
p
3
future
3
world
3
freedom
3
the Sun
3
war
2
harmony
2
ready to
help
2
satisfacti
on
2
Nature
protectio
n
2
safety
2
keeping
2
understa
nding
2
equality
2
fairness
2
silence
2
tolerance
2
getting
together
2
war
death
19
weapons
11
blood
10
fear
8
destructi
on
4
poverty
3
bombs
3
killing
3
loss
3
sadness
3
grief
2
pain
2
Hitler
2
sorrow
2
angry/wa
r
2
destroy
2
plane
2
violence
2
unprotec
ted
2
hate
2
Syria
2
tears
2
argue
2
tanks
2
Ukraine
war
14
large
9
Klychko
8
poor
6
Kyiv
5
Russia
5
rich
4
poverty
4
beautiful
4
Crimea
4
infamous
4
the Black
sea
4
yellow-
and-blue
3
country
3
geograph
y
2
dear
2
Europe
2
Poroshe
nko
2
argues
2
East
2
TV
2
Germany
beer
6
large
4
Merkel
4
freedom
4
rich
3
refugees
3
money
3
wealth
2
bureaucr
acy
2
merrines
s
2
Hitler
2
Europe
2
satisfacti
on
2
law
2
country
2
rules
2
attractive
2
football
2
(author's development)
Table 4.
Frequency of use of social meanings by Ukrainian students.
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849
Stimu
lus
words
words-
associat
ions
num
ber
of
uses
words-
associat
ions
num
ber
of
uses
words-
associat
ions
num
ber
of
uses
words-
associat
ions
num
ber
of
uses
people
friendshi
p
5
merry
4
kind
3
peace
3
angry
2
beautiful
2
president
2
clever
2
pigs
2
village
2
wonderfu
l
2
happines
s
2
motherl
and
land
4
arrow-
wood
3
beauty
3
peace
3
field
3
tank
2
peace
calmness
12
Kindness
10
happines
s
9
life
8
joy
6
pigeon
5
peaceful
sky
5
kindness
3
friendshi
p
3
no war
3
light
3
clear sky
3
land
2
sky
2
war
death
16
blood
9
weapons
7
evil
6
tanks
6
enemies
5
tears
5
horror
4
anger
4
loss
3
shooting
3
fear
3
aggresso
r
2
battle
2
hate
2
panic
2
parting
2
sorrow
2
killings
2
cold
arms
2
intruders
2
Ukraine
country
5
beauty
5
lard
5
borsch
4
dumplin
gs
4
arrow-
wood
4
flag
3
war
2
beautiful
2
anthem
2
life
2
song
2
field
2
president
2
Germany
cars
9
BMW
8
sausages
7
beer
6
Audi
5
Volkswag
en
5
Hitler
4
Mercedes
4
order
4
fascists
4
country
2
accuracy
2
peace
2
(author's development)
German students have the largest number of social meanings on the word stimulus
"Ukraine". It is clear from the students' answers that they know little about Ukraine.
Basically, this knowledge is limited to information from the media about the war. Syrian
refugees have also updated social meanings associated with war. That is why the
association area "war" ranks second in number. None of German students rated the war
positively. Some associations are related to nazism (Hitler, Nazi). The least number of
social meanings was caused by the word-stimulus "Motherland". Immediately there is
the greatest number of personal meanings. One Nazi and one racist association are
Khomenko, Tokaryeva et all/ Interpretación de significados en la imagen del mundo de representantes de
diferentes culturas desde el punto de vista psicolingüístico
850
represented in this area. There are no negative assessments of the motherland. The
largest number of negative associations was caused by the word stimulus "people" (17):
sheep, mass, citizens, cunning, stupid. Ukraine and Germany have 12 and 10 negative
associations, respectively. The first has "dirty", "no electricity", "homeless". The second
has "bureaucracy", "homelessness" that flourish, it is "unlovable." The word "Ukraine"
stimulates, first of all, the associations "war", "Klychko", then "yellow-blue flag".
"Germany" is associated first with beer (!!!) and Merkel, and then with the social heritage
(freedom, wealth, law).
As for Ukrainian students, the largest number of social meanings is the word "war".
This is understandable, because children escaped the horrors of war, did not survive
them personally. It should be noted that there is no positive association with this social
phenomenon. The word "motherland" has the lowest number of social meanings, with
the highest number of personal meanings. There are three war-related associations and
one negative characteristic (motherland is lazy).
There are most negative associations in the sphere of the people: people are
poor, people are greedy, people are crowds, people are bastards, people are flocks, etc.
In the sphere of peace, there are no negative associations. It is obvious that adolescents
perceive the world as a completely positive phenomenon. Regarding the stimulus words
"Ukraine" and "Germany", the priority should be given to the positive associations
associated with food (national dishes, borsch, bacon, dumplings/beer, Bavarian
sausages). Associations of Ukraine are national symbols (flag, blue-yellow colour,
anthem, coat of arms), and for Germany they are car brands (BMW, Audi, Volkswagen,
Mercedes). With the concept of "Germany" students also have foreign concepts and
associations, which are not in the realities of Ukraine (Hitler, fascists, rude language).
In the association area of "Germany" we observed the phenomenon that R.M. Frumkina
called a "semantic burnout syndrome" (Frumkina, 2003): one student wrote nothing but
machine brands, four students mentioned machine and fascist brands.
From the frequency tables, it is clear that, with approximately the same number
of associations (from 138 to 155 associations per word-stimulus), German students
(and, probably, society as a whole) operate with fewer social values than Ukrainian
students (and society as a whole). Of the total number of associations, the first provided
114 words with repetitions, and the second 80 words.
Moreover, such associations of German students as "people – race", "people –
Fuhrer", "motherland – the world" (cosmopolitanism?), "motherland – Europe",
"motherland – Nazi", "motherland – power (Macht)", "war – the Bundeswehr", "war –
the Nazi methods", "war – the thirst for power", "Ukraine – frightened", "Germany –
money", "Germany – frightened world (weltverscheut – scheuen "to scare"), etc. All the
facts make one think that in German society, albeit in implicit form and limited scope,
there are meanings that demonstrate a country's willingness to satisfy its interests
beyond its borders.
4. Conclusions
The lifestyle of ancient Germans and ancient Ukrainians has considerable
differences. The Germanic tribes practiced hostilities as their main activity and expanded
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851
into neighbouring territories in order to obtain material benefits. Military affairs were
prestigious and leading in their lives, which is reflected in the system of social meanings.
This is proved by their self-identification and the worldview: personal names of people,
the names of tribes and ethnic groups in general, the names and functions of the gods,
as well as a large array of social meanings related to military activity in the world picture.
The way of life of ancient Ukrainians was more peaceful. Thus, according to the
researchers, they were introverts. Their activity was aimed at transformation within their
society. The main value was the family, and the purpose was to get benefits for the
family.
The results of the associative experiment with German and Ukrainian students
showed that they possess invariants-meanings in the most important spheres for the
society: people, motherland, war, peace, Ukraine, Germany. It turned out that Ukrainian
school students, as representatives of the Ukrainian society have more social meanings
than German students as representatives of their own society. The number of repetitive
associations has shown that German students use more patterned social meanings.
It is interesting that both groups of representatives have shown almost the same
attitude towards their people, motherland, war and peace. Most associations were of
adequate character and did not carry additional "extreme" load. At the same time,
Ukrainian students showed the society's commitment to problems and their solutions
within the society itself, which was also characteristic of the life of ancient Ukrainians.
The same orientation was demonstrated by most German students, but the statements
such as "motherland – power (Macht)", "war – Bundeswehr" and functioning of meanings
in the society related to Nazism give reason to conclude that German society has retained
the traces of the world view of ancient Germans. Similar meanings function as strange
ones in the system of meanings of the Ukrainian society. In this regard, further research
would need to analyze other relevant spheres of social significance and personal
meanings of representatives of both cultures.
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