The image of Russia in the minds of native speakers of the national Syrian version of the Arabic language

Abstract

The present study is devoted to the reconstruction of the image of Russia in the minds of native speakers of the national Syrian version of the Arabic language on the basis of data from a free associative experiment with a word روسيا ‘ Russia’. The purpose of the article is a semantic analysis of associative-verbal networks of the associative field روسيا ‘ Russia’ and the identification of frequency, collective characteristics of the image of Russia, as well as the analysis of individual representations of respondents based on the material of individual associates. The conducted free associative experiment made it possible not only to reconstruct a significant fragment of the Syrians' linguistic picture of the world – the image of modern Russia, but also to identify common, average representations of speakers of Syrian linguistic culture due to the following extralinguistic factors: military-political, cultural, scientific and educational contacts between Russia and Syria in the last few years. The main research method was a free associative experiment conducted using the Google Forms resource. 116 Syrian citizens, aged 18 to 60, who are receiving or have received higher education, were interviewed. The respondents were asked to write 3 first reactions to the stimulus روسيا ‘ Russia’. An analysis of the data obtained showed that, first of all, in the minds of speakers of the Syrian linguistic culture, Russia is a cold but beautiful country that is a reliable friend and ally of Syria. It should be noted that among the 319 reactions obtained, only 3 differ in a pronounced pejorative value. For Syrians, Russia is a country with a rich history, diverse culture and vibrant traditions, a country that provides an opportunity for personal development, including higher education. It was also found that for Syrians, the image of Russia is strongly associated with its capital, Moscow. In general, it can be argued that an exceptionally positive image of a strong and independent Russia has developed in the minds of speakers of the Syrian linguistic culture. The prospect of the study is to conduct an associative experiment with Russian-speaking respondents to reconstruct the image of Syria in the minds of native speakers of Russian linguistic culture and compare the results with those given in this article.