When Negative Turns out to Be Positive: Exploring Changes in Word Associations in the Aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic
When Negative Turns out to Be Positive: Exploring Changes in Word Associations in the Aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Summary/Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on various aspects of society, including language and cognitive processes. This research investigates how the pandemic has influencedassociations related to health-related words among 1,454 Estonian native speakers. Datacollected between January and March 2023 were compared with a pre-pandemic dataset, theDictionary of Estonian Word Associations (DEWA), compiled from 2016 to 2018. The studyfocuses on fifteen health-related cue words. The results revealed that five terms experiencedsignificant changes in their association sequences concerning the COVID-19 crisis. Notably,among these 15 words, three stand out as the most significant cases where a change occurredin their primary responses: these typically exhibit the most robust and enduring associativelinks, making them less susceptible to change. This unveils shifts in the mental lexicon'srepresentations and the evolving perceptions of specific words and concepts amidst thepandemic backdrop. These findings illustrate how unforeseen external disruptions, such as theCOVID-19 crisis, can reconfigure the salience of certain concepts within language andcognition. This research contributes to our comprehension of the linguistic repercussions andpotential language adaptations triggered by a health crisis. It also enriches the relativelyunderstudied field of word association research, particularly in languages beyond thedominion of English.

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