Speech Action as a Meaning-Forming Component of Communication: Psycholinguistic Parameters of Analysis

Abstract

The paper focuses on identifying the number of Overlapping Associates (O) and Overlapping Associate Strength (OSG), as well as on demonstrating the possibilities of using these indices in the analysis of a speech action. The associative fields bogatyj and bednyj presented in the Russian Associative Dictionary and rich and poor indicated in the associative norms of the University of South Florida are used as research material. It has been established that bogatyj – bednyj and rich – poor are the most frequent cue – target pairs. The power of predication in different pairs can vary significantly. The overlapping associates, which may be different in number, represent semantic features that form the similarity basis for the meanings of the studied words. It has been proved that the level of similarity largely depends not on the number of overlapping associates, but rather on the strength of their overlap. The data obtained indicate that the psychological meaning of the words bogatyj and bednyj in the Russian thesaurus is closer than rich and poor in the American one. It is also found that the index of Overlapping Associate Strength for the associate money is higher than for the associate dengi. This emphasizes its relevance for the Americans.

Keywords

• predication
• cue
• target
• speech action
• number of overlapping associates
• overlapping associate strength