The Associative Field of the Lexeme Instagram in the Representation of Russian and German Native Speakers

Abstract

The article introduces a comparative analysis of the images of language consciousness that arise in native speakers of German and Russian as reactions to the lexeme Instagram. The vocabulary associated with this social net remains understudied in Russian linguistics. The research was based on a free associative experiment and compared verbal reactions of German and Russian native speakers aged 20–25. The core of the associative field Instagram appeared to be similar for both linguacultures. For Russian respondents, the core of the associative field of Instagram involved such frequent reactions as video, advertising , stories, photos, blogger, animals, business, food, subscribers, etc.; for German participants – Werbung (advertising), Bilder (pictures), Fotos (photos), Informationen (information), Videos (video), Essen (food), Fake (fake), Filter (filter), Posten (posts). The main difference was that the former saw Instagram as a means of earning (money, business, business platform, self-promotion, shop, etc.), while the latter used it for communication (Messenger (messenger), Kommentieren (comment), Freunde (friends). The obtained results can be explained by the global nature of the network, similar interests of its users, and linguistic globalization.

Keywords

• free associative experiment
• lexical stimulus
• associations
• neutral responses
• positive responses
• negative reactions