Žodžio žodis asociacijų laukas lietuvių kalbos pasaulėvaizdyje
The Field of Associations of Word žodis ‘word’ in Lithuanian World-View

Summary/Abstract: In the present paper the associations of the word žodis ‘word’ in Lithuanian world-view are analysed. The material is based on the results of experiment in which 292 students (from 19 to 30 years old) from Šiauliai and Vilnius universities took part. While analysing the field of associations of the word žodis ‘word’ it was hoped to obtain more information about the naive world-view registered in language user‘s sense as well as to learn how people, who have the minimum of knowledge in linguistics, perceive what is žodis ‘word’ and what features are ascribed to it. In the association field of the word žodis ‘word’ the syntagmatic associations dominate; there is a quarter of them more than paradigmatic. While analysing the syntagmatic reactions to the stimulus žodis ‘word’ according to sex aspect it was noted that the associations presented by men are a bit more diverse. All participants of experiment presented such reactions which illustrate attributive word combinations of žodis ‘word’. The majority of descriptions of the word žodis ‘word’, which were presented by the respondents, is associated with positive assessment of this abstract phenomenon. The motive dominates between žodis ‘word’ power and close connection with language user. Only men respondents presented such reactions which reveal attributive dependence relations. The paradigmatic reactions presented by both sexes are partially similar.The respondents to the stimulus word reacted by means of particular words, which are not possible to relate neither with syntagnatic, nor with paradigmatic relationships of the word žodis ‘word’. The majority reactions of this group name moral values, positively assessed emotional states, and, in general, nice things. The conclusion was drawn that the associations of the word žodis ‘word’ are not very miscellaneous. The larger part of respondents was not from philology field but the students studying other subjects, thus it is possible to state that the results of association experiment approximately reveal in a Lithuanian speaker’s sense the formed žodis ‘word’ concept: how this word is perceived, what features it is ascribed with, what functions a language user ascribes to the word and how he / she assesses this partially abstract phenomenon having material (written and oral) expression.

• Details
• Contents