COVID EPIDEMIC PERCEPTION THROUGH UKRAINIAN-TURKISH СONTEXT (SOCIO-PSYCHOLINGUISTIC APPROACH)

The article depicts the perception of the concept of «coronavirus» in the linguistic consciousness of native speakers of Ukrainian and Turkish concerning the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on students in higher education. Using the methods of free association test, and SPSS handling of data 20 associative fields to the stimuli specifying the concept of coronavirus: «Coronavirus, Covid-19, pandemic, social distance, lockdown quarantine, mask, tests, self-isolation, vaccine» are obtained. The data provides the clear picture with what the coronavirus concept associates in the mentality of Ukrainian and Turkish students. The negative stimuli linked with danger, uncertainty, disaster and illness prevail in both samples.