Words with Value Semantics in the Language Consciousness of Generation «Y» Representatives

Abstract

The author analyzes the composition of the associative content and the semantic areas behind the signs that convey values in the linguistic consciousness of native 30-40 years old speakers of the Russian language. Responding to incentives of family, work, money etc. revealed the types of speech action in the situation of a free and directed associative experiment. The actualization of meanings in the process of responding to value-significant stimuli established the uniformity of cognitive mechanisms, the absence of complexity in the cognitive structure of associative fields, the prevalence of semantic areas representing socially and personally significant intangible objects - family, love, morality, ethics, a person that should be stored, developed, transmit. Most of the cases of directed association are associated with the unambiguous nature of the response, clear boundaries of the stereotype area, a low level of emotion and evaluation, the frequency of complex reactions (series of enumerations, for example, values - security, comfort, stability, family, one’s job, country). The concentration of stereotypical meanings (the area of frequency reactions of the core of associative fields) is higher when responding to stimuli What kind of work …, Work requires what …, What kind of family …. The remaining stimuli cause an approximate equality of stereotyped and individual ways of responding. The life experience of the respondents had a significant impact on the choice of the type of speech action and the method of response.

Keywords

• language consciousness
• generation y
• speech action
• free associative experiment
• directed associative experiment