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THE SYMBOLIC MEANING OF THE WORDS "GHOST" AND "SPIRIT" FOR RUSSIAN SPEAKERS | ||
| Journal of Language Studies | ||
| Volume 9, Issue 4, Part 1, December 2025, Pages 448-462 PDF (719.51 K) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| Author | ||
| Ali Hussein Hadi | ||
| Ph.Ds. in Philology, lecturer, University of Baghdad, General Secretariat of the Central | ||
| Abstract | ||
| This study analyzes the symbolic meaning of the lexemes "ghost" (prizrak) and "spirit" (dukh) in the consciousness of Russian language speakers. The research examines how cultural-historical context and religious traditions influence the perception of these concepts in contemporary Russian. Despite their apparent synonymy, these words possess distinct connotative and symbolic characteristics. The research methodology includes a psycholinguistic experiment involving 156 respondents aged 18 to 65, residing in various regions of Russia. Participants were asked to complete associative tasks, evaluate the emotional coloring of the words using semantic differential scales, and describe the visual images that emerge when perceiving these lexemes. The survey was conducted remotely via the Google Forms online platform, which enabled the inclusion of respondents from different Russian cities under conditions of limited mobility. Results demonstrated that the word "spirit" (dukh) is predominantly associated with religious, elevated, and positive content, whereas "ghost" (prizrak) evokes persistent negative associations related to fear, death, and unrealization. Gender and age differences in the perception of these concepts were also identified. The study contributes to understanding the cognitive mechanisms of categorizing the supernatural in Russian linguoculture and demonstrates the importance of considering the symbolic dimension of words in cross-cultural communication and translation. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| symbolism; lexeme; psycholinguistics | ||
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