STATICS AND DYNAMICS OF FOLKLORE STEREOTYPE: RESULTS OF ASSOCIATIVE EXPERIMENT

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of ethnic stereotype as a carrier of mental information formed in folk songs. The aim of the scientific publication is to study the folklore stereotype of the Ukrainian girl, to trace the stability and dynamics of the studied image in the imagination of the modern speaker. Psycholinguistic research methods have allowed to obtain and analyze a unique factual material, expressed by means of language, which reveals the mental mechanisms of stereotype functioning. The identification of linguistic units representing stereotypical images, the establishment of their semantic structure was performed on the basis of descriptive method and semantic analysis. The method of purposeful associative experiment used in the research by way of questioning has provided an opportunity to get linguistic reactions to folklore images that generalize the stereotype of the Ukrainian girl. The results of the study of verbal manifestations of associations in the linguistic consciousness of modern communicators confirm the stability and temporal gravity of folklore images that construct the stereotype of the Ukrainian girl. Substantive and figurative components of the folklore stereotype are indicated by conservatism, integrity of reproduction, presence of emotional-evaluative component, which is reflected in a large number of typical, positive reactions of the respondents. Dynamic processes in the perception of the girl’s folklore stereotype attest to a new, unconventional semantic filling of folklore, or to the general incomprehension of the folklore image. The associative experiment made it possible to trace the mechanism of modification of stereotypes when traditional folklore images in the perception of contemporary speakers change their connotation, semantic and stylistic content. It is envisaged that the study of ethno-national stereotypes at the interdisciplinary level allows to study the dynamic processes of mental information, to determine the factors of stereotype formation.