Connotative Proper Names of the Post-Soviet Period in Linguistic Consciousness of the Russian Language Speakers (Experimental Study)

The article presents the results of an associative experiment, the purpose of which is to identify the variability of the linguistic consciousness of native speakers of the Russian language in the perception of the proper names, which have changed or acquired special con-notative meanings due to the political and sociocultural transformations over the last 30 years. In order to identify the dynamics of linguistic consciousness of the respondents we take into account the age criterion (three relatively proportional groups of respondents interviewed: at the age of 18 to 29 years old; at the age of 30 to 50 years old and older than 50 years old). To identify the prevalence of the precedent names in Russia we apply the territorial criterion (the experiment conducted simultaneously in two cities located at a considerable distance from each other: 100 respondents in Volgograd and 100 respondents in Tyumen participated in the survey). The results of a free associative experiment allow us to come to the following conclusions: 1) the heterogeneous representation of connotative names in the linguistic consciousness of native speakers of the Russian language identify: a) a group of names with integral representations of a single image, both in a denotative and emotionally evaluative way; b) a group of names with diffuse representations denoting a set of heterogeneous features, on the basis of which the ambiguity of the connotative name formed; 2) the names that make up the core of collective linguistic consciousness, which are equally understood and evaluated by respondents of different ages in different regions; and the names located on the periphery, the perception of which is marked by time and space differences. Age differences show the mobility of the linguistic consciousness of native speakers of the Russian language, the loss of connotations in connection with the withdrawal of the use of certain names, and territorial differences demonstrate the importance of the proximity or remoteness of a geographical object or the cultural and historical significance of a person for a given region. The results obtained are relevant and promising in terms of lexicographic description of connotative proper names of the post-Soviet period.

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