“Conflictogenic Zones” of Language Consciousness in Intercultural Communication

Abstract

The term "conflictogenic zone" of language consciousness is associated with a complex of concepts denoting values of a particular culture expressed by means of the national language. When comparing the associative meanings of quasi-equivalent lexemes of the languages under study, there can be revealed a mismatch of the knowledge behind them, the latter leading to the conflicts of misunderstanding / incomplete understanding in the situation of intercultural communication. Thus, the spheres of national traditions, family and confessional relations and, in general, the sphere of ideas about oneself and about one's ethnic neighbours, are undoubtedly conflictogenic (i.e. dissimilar in content or completely lacunar). The results of an associative experiment conducted with native speakers of Russian and national languages in two regions of the Russian Federation (i.e. the Republic of Tatarstan and Sakha (Yakutia)) demonstrate the differences in the above-mentioned ideas depending on the region of living and national identification of the informants. The study was conducted in the native language of the informants, the latter being asked to write down a spontaneous word-reaction to ethnonymic stimuli. Then the semantic gestalt of each stimulus was simulated for each group of the informants, with the semantic zones "subject", "object", "characteristic", etc. being identified and statistically analysed. The analysis revealed certain differences; the results of the research can be used to optimize intercultural communication and prevent communicative and other conflicts.