Results of Cluster Analysis of Semantic Features “What is the Person’s Gender? and “What is the Person’s Appearance?” for the Stimulus “Flirting Person””

Abstract

The present work continues a series of studies concerning ludic competence/ playfulness by means of psycholinguistic instruments and is devoted to description of the behaviour pattern of the ludic position “Diplomat”, which corresponds to flirting as one of the components of playfulness. The key research method is psycholinguistic experiment whose main stage is the controlled association experiment (CAE) with the stimulus “flirting person”. The sample consisted of 215 young respondents (age 21-35). The instructions for the controlled association experiment was developed in the frame of the parametric concept of I.A. Sternin. 23 questions (semantic features) were formulated. They were recognized as relevant to communication for the stimulus “flirting person” and allowed to obtain the material for describing the behaviour pattern of ludic position Diplomat (“flirting person”) reflecting the reality of linguistic consciousness of native speakers. This study presents the results of cluster analysis of two association fields built for the following semantic features: “What is the person’s gender?” and “What is the person’s appearance?”. The results of cluster analysis of the association field built for the semantic feature “What is the person’s gender?” indicate that in the linguistic consciousness of the inhabitants of Ukraine, the overwhelming majority of respondents (93%) accept the binary concept of gender, for 3% of respondents gender does not matter, and only one respondent considers the transgender identity. The analysis of the association field built for the semantic feature “What is the person’s appearance?” allows us to assert that the absolute majority of respondents (78%) demonstrates an emotionally positive attitude towards “flirting person”.