Transformation of the concept of MONEY in the everyday consciousness of the speakers of Russian linguoculture from the end of the XX to the first third of the XXI centuries.

Koltsova Nadezhda Viktorovna ORCID: 0000-0003-0854-3029 PhD in Philology Postgraduate student of the Department of Philology, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia 117198, Russia, Moscow region, Mokva, Miklukho-maklaya str., 6 navikoltsova@gmail.com Other publications by this author

Over the past 30 years, the inhabitants of Russia have experienced serious political transformations, a number of economic crises, and have been influenced by globalization — all of these factors have definitely influenced the value system of ordinary residents of the country and the "core of linguistic consciousness" ^{[1, p. 638]}.

In connection with the above, the purpose of this work is to identify changes in the structure and content of the concept of MONEY in the everyday consciousness of representatives of Russian linguoculture. Russian Russian linguoculture in this study, we mean any native speaker of the Russian language, regardless of his race.

The novelty of this study is that in order to get the most complete picture of the concept, we used the triangulation of the following methods: an associative experiment, a method of drawing associations and a sociological survey. Such a combination of methods excludes a one-sided representation of the subject of research, creates the most complete picture of it. Triangulation is "a compromise solution capable of maximizing the strengths and minimizing the weaknesses of each individual approach" ^{[2, p. 225]}. N.K. Denzin in the work "The research act: a theoretical introduction to sociological methods", called triangulation "a variety of research methods" ^{[3, p. 35]}, because that in this way "methods reveal various aspects of empirical reality" [Ibid.].

Russian Russian Associative Dictionary, edited by Yu. N. Karaulov, and more modern sources — the Russian Regional Dictionary-Thesaurus EVRAS, edited by Yu. N. Karaulov, and more modern sources - the Russian Regional Dictionary-Thesaurus EVRAS, edited by Yu. N. Karaulov. Cherkasova G. A., Ufimtseva N. V. and SIBAS — "Russian regional associative database" Ufimtseva N. V. and Shaposhnikova I. V.

The data of the "Russian Associative Dictionary" edited by Y. N. Karaulov were published in the period from 1994-1999, the collection of materials was carried out in the period from 1987-1997. The answers of respondents aged 16 to 34 years were selected for the analysis ^[4].

 The "Russian Regional Dictionary-Thesaurus EVRAS" was published in 2014, it presents associative data obtained from residents of different regions of our country ^[5].

The "Russian Regional Associative database" is being updated to the present time. The main experiment was conducted in 2008-2013 ^[6].

All the events taking place in socio-political life are reflected in the everyday language consciousness of ordinary speakers of linguoculture, and the analysis of verbal associations of respondents in different periods will help us to explicate them.

Linguistic consciousness is "the interrelationships of lexical units of the national language due to personal cognitive and communicative experience" ^{[7, p. 12]}. It partially reflects cognitive consciousness, which is formed as a result of cognition of reality, including in a sensory way.

Therefore, to obtain nonverbal data about the actual content of the concept of MONEY, we used the method of drawing associations. The participants of the experiment were asked to draw an association that arose directly when reading the stimulus.

The experiment took place in 2017 on the basis of the Faculty of Law of the Russian State University, 70 respondents aged 17-22 years took part in it.

A local sociological survey was also conducted in 2017. The respondents were 79 students of various humanities who studied at the RUDN, RSUH and MSPU. Age of participants: 17-25 years.

Transformation of the concept of MONEY in the everyday language consciousness of native speakers of Russian linguoculture over the past 30 years

We studied the data of each of the three associative dictionaries presented above, and based on the reactions of each dictionary, we reconstructed "semantic gestalts" ^{[8, pp. 193-194]}.

After that, the number of reactions in each of them was calculated, and the percentage ratio was determined in order to compare the data of the three dictionaries.

Next, we compare the semantic gestalts obtained from associative dictionaries of different periods.

 Based on the presented analysis, we see that the variety of reactions in SEABASS has significantly increased, the content of the concept has become much richer and more colorful. This suggests that money as a phenomenon has acquired a special significance in the everyday consciousness of the speakers of Russian linguoculture. According to a study by the Russian psycholinguist N.V. Ufimtseva, MONEY in the first third of the XXI century entered the core of linguistic consciousness: the 5th position according to EVRAS and the 4th according to SIBAS ^{[1, p. 638]}.

MONEY began to evoke a strong association with evil, the percentage of responses with a negative connotation increased by 5-6%.

Along with negative reactions, they began to cause more reactions with intangible values: power (31), happiness (7), opportunities (4), rank (1), honor (1), success (1) (2.5% in RAS compared to 12% in EVRAS and 13% in SEABASS).  In SEABASS, a new semantic gestalt of associations with a positive connotation stands out — good (1), bliss (1), cool (1), solve (1), super (1). (see Table 1)

Table 1

 Thus, at the end of the last century, the attitude towards MONEY was more neutral, there were fewer evaluative reactions, and they are more negative than positive (trash (3), evil (3), garbage (3), leftists (2), this is evil (2)). "In studies conducted in the 70-under the leadership of V.A. Yadov, it was found that material well-being was not among the leading value orientations of the individual, and high demands and life with comfort were generally rejected. (Quoted by: ^{[9, p. 34]}).

In the first third of the XXI century, money has become much more important for respondents, but the attitude towards it is contradictory: on the one hand, MONEY is evil, and on the other, happiness, opportunities, and power. "The connection between power and money has significantly strengthened in the minds of Russians, in fact, this connection has come out on top, second only to the idea of power as a force" ^{[1, p. 636]}.

At the same time, it should be noted that respondents have an increased sense of economic stability. This is confirmed by the fact that the percentage of reactions with a lack and a small amount decreased from 8% in RAS to 2% and 4% in EVRAS and SEABASS, respectively.

The results of the survey by the method of drawing associations and social survey

To get the most complete picture of the content and structure of the concept of MONEY in the first third of the XXI century, we will analyze the nonverbal images presented by the respondents. We divided all the figures into thematically groups, and presented them quantitatively in the diagram (see Diagram 1).

Figure 1

The diagram shows that the largest share of associations is represented directly by the image of banknotes and monetary symbols (67%). Of these, only 24% have an image of the ruble currency by itself or in a number of others. "The long-term experience of sharp devaluations of the ruble, price spikes, and a reduction in real disposable incomes of the population has formed a special picture of the world for Russians, in which low inflation is in principle impossible" ^[10].

Doctor of Economics I. V. Andreeva investigated the status of the ruble currency at the turn of two millennia by the method of semantic differential: "the ruble is reflected as weak, as well as fluctuating, backward, fussy, insecure, dependent and anxious....and in the dollar profile there are only 2 negative values (hard, unfair)" ^{[11, p. 230]}. Thus, distrust of the domestic currency is stable.

7% of respondents depicted those material goods and conditions with which they could surround themselves at the expense of finance — cottages and cars. Here MONEY is presented as an instrumental value on the way to achieving certain goals. Also, 3% depicted basic necessities, such as clothes

Another 4% depicted the globe and accompanied it with the captions: "travel", "no borders", one of the respondents drew a destroyed wall.

4% of respondents associate MONEY with joy. They depicted smiling people with bills in their hands.

However, another 2% of money evokes associations with death, crime.

Comparing verbal associations with pictorial ones, we observe a more positive attitude towards money in the first experiment. This fact may be due to the fact that the drawing experiment was of a local nature. However, the antinomy of the relationship to money also finds expression.

It is worth noting that according to the conditions of the presented experiments, respondents had to write down and sketch the first and only association that came to mind after reading the stimulus word, and respondents were also limited in time to respond. That is, in essence, the experiments presented above are aimed at explicating the unconscious part of the content of the concept.

Further, in order to obtain additional information about the concept of MONEY, he will consider the answers of a sociological survey, where participants had to give their considered answer, revealing new facets of the concept of MONEY in the everyday consciousness of representatives of Russian linguoculture.

According to the results of the experiments presented above, the synonyms and images of money were among the most frequent, it can be assumed that money is a value and a goal in itself. To clarify this question, we asked respondents to rank values in order of their significance. The participants were offered the following list: material well-being, spiritual harmony, family, health, recreation, career, friendship and education, as well as a free answer option. 83% of respondents put material well-being in the last place, and 8% did not include it in the list of axiological priorities.

Conclusion

The content and structure of the concept of MONEY underwent significant changes in the period from the end of the XX to the first third of the XXI centuries. The content of the concept has expanded and become more diverse, which indicates the increased importance of MONEY in the everyday consciousness of representatives of the Russian linguistic culture. Their assessment changed from neutral-negative to contradictory: money began to represent both evil and good for man, at the beginning of the new millennium they also became a way of gaining power. In the 90s of the last century, no such connection was observed.

Despite the importance of financial resources in the modern world, a sociological survey showed that money does not surpass other universal values, such as family, friendship, education and spiritual harmony.

Also, the results of the experiments showed that in the second half of the second decade, people had an increased sense of economic stability in the absence of confidence in the ruble currency.

We see the prospect of further research in further monitoring of changes in the concept of MONEY, since under the influence of constantly changing events in the political arena and in the world as a whole, its structure and content may undergo changes. And also in the further improvement of the applied methodology.

The proposed methodology, the analysis and conclusions can be used in conducting other psycholinguistic research and be of interest to sociologists, economists.