THE IMAGES OF AMERICA AND EUROPE IN THE LINGUISTIC CONSCIOUSNESS OF NATIVE ARABIC SPEAKERS*

Abstract

The article deals with the representations of the images of America and Europe in the linguistic consciousness of students from Arab countries. The relevance of the chosen topic is due to the current geopolitical factors and the economic prerequisites governing the modern society. The object of the present study is the linguistic consciousness of the native Arab speakers. The subject is the country images that are formed in the mind of Arab culture members. The results of the research are based on the material obtained in the course of the free associative experiment. An analysis of the constructed associative fields made it possible to divide the verbal reactions into contiguity and similarity associations; to select the most frequent responses to the presented stimuli; to evaluate the valueemotional component of the images and to see the similarities and differences in the perception of the countries by Arab students; to show the hierarchy of semantic links and fields in estimates of incentives. The results of the study show that linguistic consciousness is a dynamic phenomenon, the formation of which is influenced by the modern political, economic, and sociocultural changes and transformations.