Associative Meaning of the Word Life in the Udmurt, Tatar, and Bashkir Languages: An Interlanguage Comparative Study

The research featured experimental material obtained from Udmurt, Bashkir, and Tatar respondents as part of a psycholinguistic approach to the study of lexical meaning by its associative field. This approach is connected with the knowledge representation in the linguistic consciousness of native speakers and the specifics of ethnic stereotypes. The study owes its scientific novelty to the fact that it is a first of its kind comparative psycholinguistic study of the word semantics that involves the speakers of Udmurt, Bashkir, and Tatar. The study identified the semantic content and structure of the associative fields of the lexeme life in the abovementioned languages. It relied on the associative reactions received from the native speakers of Udmurt, Bashkir, and Tatar. The results of the psycholinguistic associative experiments served as the basic linguistic material for further cross-cultural research. The associative fields included the correlates of the lexeme life in the three languages: ulon (Udmurt), gumer (Bashkir), and gomer (Tatar). The quantitative and qualitative parameters allowed the author to identify universal and distinctive components in the content of the associative structures. The responses of Bashkir and Tatar speakers were mostly stereotypical in the core of the associative field. Paradigmatic reactions prevailed over syntagmatic ones in all associative fields. The qualitative interpretation of cognitive strategies appeared to be universal for the Udmurts, Bashkirs, and Tatars. The identification process was based on a specific mental image of a subject or object, as well as on emotionally-colored and evaluative signs as part of a semanteme. Unlike the Udmurt speakers, the Bashkirs and Tatars gave lengthy and explanatory reactions to the stimulus. The results can be used in teaching these national languages or as an effective tool for the formation of a multilingual personality through the study of associative lexical fields. In linguistic theories of semantics, an associative field can be used as a structured model for analyzing semantic representations of a word. The obtained results contribute to solving a certain range of theoretical issues related to the problem of mental vocabulary and human speech activity.

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