АSSOCIATES OF THE WORD-STIMULUS WUT: SEMANTIC ASPECT (CASE STUDY OF THE DIRECTED ASSOCIATIVE EXPERIMENT)

Abstract

The article analyzes the features of the semantics of the associates of the word-stimulus WUT “RAGE”, obtained experimentally. A working definition of emotion rage through the prism of a directed associative experiment is proposed, the concept Wut is revealed on the basis of definitions of the most authoritative lexicographical sources – explanatory dictionary of German (WAHRIG, 2012) and synonymous-antonymous dictionary of E. Bulitta & H. Bulitta (1991), weight coefficients W of synonyms and antonyms, the term “associate” is specified. The focus of the associative experiment is limited thematically. The term of the directed associative experiment is February–April 2012, informants are the autochthonous population of different parts of Germany (Berlin, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Leipzig, Mainz, and Munich), the age of informants is 20–50 years old, gender – female and male, higher education in the humanities. The network of associative connections of the word-stimulus WUT is established, the types of associations are revealed: typical, transitional and atypical. Typical associations represent stereotypical thinking; the nature of transitional and atypical associations is potentially open, dynamic and variable. The basic and additional associative-semantic relations between the received associates and the word-stimulus are clarified. The main associative-semantic relations correspond to the theoretically possible ones – paradigmatic and syntagmatic, additional ones go beyond the theoretically possible ones and are realized in the form of reaction-syntagm and reaction-refusal. The semantic content of the associations is generalized and classified by thematic feature. Negative, positive and neutral meanings are singled out. Negative and neutral meanings are characteristic of typical, transitional and atypical associations, positive meaning occurs only in atypical associations. Among the thematic groups “Man”, “Red color”, “Genesis” the semantics of the thematic group “Genesis” is the least transparent.