1. modern linguistics as a change of paradigms

Lecture 10. Methods of conceptual analysis

1.Purpouse of conceptual analysis

2.Types of conceptual analysis
Conceptual analysis is considered to be the basic method of concept research. The goal of conceptual analysis is to trace the way of perceiving the meaning of the concept and record the results in the formalized semantic language. Study of the works of different authors in the field of conceptual analysis shows that it is not a certain kind of method of concepts research. It would be more appropriate to suggest that the corresponding works are related by some relatively common goal, and as to the ways of achieving this goal if they appear to be extremely diverse. According to Frumkina R.M. “different authors have different opinions concerning the set of procedures that should be regarded as conceptual analysis and they disagree in the aspects of the goal as well” [Frumkina 1995:96].The standpoint is that the study of separate concept or conceptual field goes through the analysis of the objectified results of the cognitive activity. The methods of the conceptual analysis depend on the understanding and possibility of the concept structurization. There are opposite viewpoints among the linguistics studying concepts structurization. Rjabsteva N.K. suggesting concept as a semantic invariant thinks that it has a distinct structure. Popova Z.D. and Sternin I.A. believe that concept has unclear structure. Thus, conceptual analysis is a certain method of concepts explication. In the study the conceptual analysis can be based on the analysis of the experimental data [free and directed associative experiments, experiments for subjective definitions, experiments using scaling method], as well as on the lexicographical data analysis. Associative glossaries of different languages are formed on the basis of experiment data. Discovery of universal and specific laws characteristic for the lexical association of different native speakers might result from comparison of the associative glossaries data. Many researchers of language demonstrate means of associative experiment as a method of study. The associative experiment helps to reveal not only the meaning of the word but also language stereotypes, specific features of mentality, that is an associative experiment is an effective method of access to man’s language awareness. Each word-stimulus corresponds to some certain associative field which is “a fragment of the world image of any ethnos reflected in the consciousness of an “average” carrier of any culture, his motivations, judgment, and hence his cultural stereotype [Ufimtseva 1996:140].There are several kinds of associative experiment that may be used for the concept content analysis and to show the cognitive features that form this concept. In free associative experiment the answer is expected as a result of the very first re-action to the word-stimulus. The subjects of the experiment are not restricted in the reactions. In directed associative experiment the expected answer is restricted by certain conditions, say, a certain part of speech. The subjects may be asked to give a certain amount of words of the given part of speech. An experiment on subjective definitions is carried out using the method of survey by questionnaire with questions like: “ how would you explain this to a foreigner and soon. In receptive experiment the answer to the phrase like: choose the synonyms to....., name opposite idea of ... etc. is expected. In all the varieties of associative experiment except for the free one, the associations following the first one may be subjected to the analysis of cognitive structures. These methods enable us to obtain abundant language material which is a set of cognitive features of the concept under study. It should be noted that the nature of associations is affected by age, geographical conditions and the profession of a person. Each person has his associative field according to the complement of names and the degree of relations between them. Most of the associations are conditioned by stock phrases. Besides, the associations also refer to different aspects of the subject’s native culture and text reminiscences. Evaluating associations containing emotional-estimating characteristics of the investigated concept indicate some elements of emotional experience or the attitude to the identified word. In Beljanin’s opinion the associative experiment enables us to make a semantic structure of the word, serves as a valuable material to study psychological equivalents of the semantic fields and exposes semantic connections of words objectively existing in the mentality of the native speaker[Beljanin1999:15]. Thus, the achieved reactions overall help to form a notion of what meanings or frames of which situations of the concept of study imply to the representative of a given culture. In order to describe the content of the concept under study, we may use general results achieved from the free and directed associative experiments, since the aggregated features have a vivid indicator which enables us to arrange them consistently in the total field model of the concept. In our work we have used the data of the free and directed associative experiments, also the data of the experiment on subjective definitions in order to describe the macro structure of the concept “money” in Russian and English language awareness. As a result of the analysis of concept structure we may conclude that representatives of different linguistic schools single out some similar basic components, like image, notion and additional features [value component [Karasick V.I., SlishkinG.G.], significance component [Vorkachev S.G.] cognitive and pragmatic implicational [Nikitin M.V.], interpretational field [Popova Z.D., Sternin I.A.], etc.].In this article we consider in detail the classification proposed by Popova Z.D. and Sternin I.A. They single out the image, information and interpretation components within the concept structure. According to Popova Z.D. and Sternin I.A. the presence of the image component in the concept is defined by the neurolinguistic nature of the universal object code itself: sense image encodes the concept and form of a unit of the universal subject code [Popova, Sternin 200:106]. In the sense image the authors single out perceptive and cognitive components. Perceptive image is formulated in the awareness of the native speaker as a result of the reflection of his surrounding reality by his organs of senses [tactile, taste, sound, olfactory images]. Cognitive image is formulated by metaphoric comprehension of an adequate object or phenomenon. Although the cognitive images, as a rule, are numerous, both components equally reflect the image characteristics of the conceptualized object or phenomenon. Informational content of the concept is similar to the glossary definition of the concept key word and it contains only the features differentiating the concept detonate but excludes accidental, not essential, estimating ones. The corps of the investigated paremiological material [paremiological field], linked with the concept “money” consists of more than 250 Russian and 200 English paremiis nominating different characteristics of money. We have analyzed the obtained paremies by means of cognitive interpretations of the meanings, that is the meaning of paremium was interpreted as a reflection of the cognitive feature, and the distinguished cognitive features were unified adjusting to a common metalanguage definition. The presence of many paremies in the consciousness of a contemporary native speaker is not an indisputable fact, since in our investigation we also carried out an experiment on verification of the paremiological meanings. Thus, we have made an attempt to verify the actuality of paremies for the native speaker and accordingly the meaning they imply. Paremiological meanings may as well be quite vivid and actual for the concept content but to claim that the paremiological meaning, is in the core or in the vicinity of the concept.. the procedure of paremiological meanings verification is required. [Popova, Sternin 200:212]. We agree with the authors and assert that the given procedure is particularly important, since cognitive features were being revealed only on the ground of the glossary material [in this case we have used the dictionaries of proverbs and sayings].It should be noted that simulation of macrostructure and field organization concept is a hypothetical model of the concept. As Popova and Sternin rightly pointed out, “concept is phenomenon of perception and in any case an explorer simulates a concept in accordance with indirect features of its manifestation. Any concept model is just a exploratory model”.

References:

1.Beljanin,V.P. A Text-bookof the course subject “Psycholinguistics” / V.P. Beljanin. –M. Natalia NesterovaNew Humanitarian University, 1999 –P. 37. 2.Popova, Z.D. CognitiveLinguistics / Z.D. Popova, I.A Sternin –M. :ACT: The East –The West, 2000–314p.
3.Frumkina,R.M. Has the Modern Linguistics its Epistemology?/ R.M. Frumkina // Language and Science atthe end of the 20 th century.–M; 1995. –PP. 74-117.
4.Ufimtseva,N.V. Russians: One more Self-knowledge Experience/ N.V. Ufimtseva // Ethno cultural specific Features of Language Awareness. Collection of Articles/Managing editor Ufimtseva N.V. –M,1996. –PP. 139–162.