EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF THE CONCEPT SPARSAMKEIT

The article presents the results of the association and receptive experiments conducted among the representatives of the German linguistic culture. The study object is the concept Sparsamkeit ‘economy, thriftiness.' The interrogation of informants revealed an up-to-date information on the association area of the concept and its coherence with other concepts within the German conceptual domain. The conceptual characteristics that are relevant for present-day German native speakers were also revealed. The informants were requested to give their associations for the concept's name or its synonyms, to give their own definition of the Sparsamkeit, to name the objects of economy, and to give examples of proverbs, sayings and set expressions connected with the concept under study. 75 native speakers of German took part in the experiment. The analysis of phraseological units that are currently important in the German linguistic culture was a part of our experimental studies. The study revealed that the concept Sparsamkeit is an essential part of the German conceptual domain. It is proved by numerous words and expressions given by the informants as a reaction to the stimulus word ‘Sparsamkeit,' their vividness and variability, and the prominence of the value component of the concept. The experiment has allowed to find out that the most essential conceptual characteristics, in the opinion of the informants, are ‘planning' and ‘positive feature of a person.' It is doubtless that the concept ‘Sparsamkeit' in the informants' perception is connected with Germany, and is treated by them as a right and obligatory attitude to life. The analysis of all data of the experiment showed what resources, as informants think, should be saved and used sparingly: money, energy supply, and time. The informants' reactions speak clearly for a great role of the environmental awareness and environmental friendliness in their lives. Along with the predominantly positive reactions for the stimulus ‘Sparsamkeit,' significant are the reactions that reflect the negative view of an exaggerated thriftiness and association of Sparsamkeit with a specific German concept ‘Angst.' These negative associations indicate that the value-based attitude to the concept under study may be changed throughout the history of the German cultural community.