LANGUAGE AND COGNITION: REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE

The psycholinguistic study is aimed at investigating the impact of culture and language on the images of socially important concepts in linguistic consciousness. The study is based on the data obtained in the massive associative research implemented in Tatarstan and Sakha (Yakutia), which involved sample groups of Russians, bilingual Yakutians and bilingual Tatarians. It employs the conceptual framework of linguistic consciousness developed by Russian psycholinguists and associated with the notions of speech act, consciousness and culture. Linguistic consciousness reflects speech acts in relation to cognitive processes and the transformation of these acts into communication. The sample was obtained by a free associative experiment which registered the first reply. The study presents the obtained results as Karaulov’s model of “associated gestalt“, modified to meet the requirements of the study. The model is divided into semantic zones and subzones which are further compared in different samples. The paper demonstrates that the associative meanings of lexemes-stimuli contain components clearly dependent on the differences between not only the ethnic language structures, but also between the Russian, Yakutian and Tatarian cultures and their mutual influences in the course of intercultural communication and interaction in vitally important areas.