Psycholinguistic approach to the study of semantics of figurative speech

Research of perception of figurative lexical units by native speakers develops the academic concept of lexical figurativeness which is presented in works of lexicologists O.I.Blinova, Ye.A.Yurina and their students from Tomsk linguistic school. According to this theory, figurativeness is understood as a lexical semantic category which generalizes the structural-semantic property of a word with semantic duality and a metaphorical inner form. Figurative words designate a certain phenomenon of extra language reality in associative connection with another, non-identical phenomenon on the basis of their real or imaginary similarity by the use of the metaphorical inner form of a lexical unit. The indications of language consciousness of Russian literary language speakers are analyzed in this article. These indications were received during the psycholinguistic experiment; its aim was to identify the comprehension of figurativeness of a word. Elements of metatext actualizing the metaphorical side and motivation of a word are the indicators of realization of lexical figurativeness. The main aim of the experiment was to create such experimental conditions, which can make metalanguage consciousness highly explicated. 300 figurative words were used in the experimental research. About 20-40 metatexts were received for each figurative unit in the directed experiment and 20 lexical reactions for each motivation word in a free associative experiment. Thus, the research was based on 16 000 metatext indications of language consciousness of 600 Russian literary language speakers aged 17 to 35. There was developed a complex technique of experimental studying of lexical figurativeness, uniting the directed and free associative experiments. The directed experiment was carried out in the written form. In the questionnaire respondents needed to explain why the determined phenomenon was called with certain word. In the free experiment they needed to fix the first lexical reaction to the word in the questionnaire. Usage of different techniques at different stages enabled the complex approach and examination of comprehension of figurativeness by native speakers. The best way to present the results of the experimental research of figurativeness was to create ''The Associative and Figurative Dictionary'', based on a summary of indications of language consciousness showed by the literary language speakers. Such systematization of the received results allows us to introduce the collected material, through metatexts in the dictionary entry to further reveal the semantics of a figurative unit. The lexicographical presentation of an inner form and a figurative word meaning shows the semantics of studied lexical units in individual consciousness of native speakers.

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