On the concepts of “Russian Germans” and “Volga Germans”: A psycholinguistic aspect (based on a free associative experiment)

Abstract

The article studies the psycholinguistic meanings of the concepts “the Russian Germans” and “the Volga Germans” in the linguistic consciousness of the Russian Germans and establishes the features of the linguistic self-presentation of this ethnic group. To study linguistic consciousness, a free associative experiment was conducted among the Russian Germans, in which informants were asked to record spontaneous associations to the stimulus “the Russian Germans” and “the Volga Germans”. As a result of the experiment, 171 reactions were received to the “Russian Germans” stimulus, 183 reactions to the “Volga Germans” stimulus. To determine the psycholinguistic meanings, the method of semantic interpretation of associations was used with the allocation of core and peripheral meanings. As a result of the study, we found that the psycholinguistic meanings of the concepts have similar meanings in the linguistic consciousness of the Russian Germans and are defined through lexemes indicating family ties (“family”, “ancestors”), people of the inner circle (“friends”) and compatriots (“countrymen”), as well as the tragic events in the history of the Russian Germans of the 20th century (“deportation”, “expatriation”, “exile”). In addition, psycholinguistic meanings have a pronounced positive connotation.