EJJPS ISSN: 2751-1715
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UNDERSTANDING ASSOCIATIVE PORTRAITS IN LINGUISTICS: CONCEPT AND CORE
PRINCIPLES
D. Lutfullaeva
Doctor of Philology, Professor, Institute of Uzbek Language, Literature and Folklore of the Uzbekistan
Academy of Sciences, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
AB O U T AR T I CL E
Key words:
A
ssociative portrait, association,
manifestation of the external world in language,
associative approach to language, associative
experience, associative somatological portrait,
lexical reserve.
Received:
31.05.2024
Accepted
: 05.06.2024
Published
: 10.06.2024
Abstract:
In recent years, one of the most pressing
issues in linguistics has been the determination of
the linguistic landscape image of the external
world as perceived by language speakers. This
endeavour is primarily pursued through
associative experiments conducted collectively
among speakers of a language. Such experiments
aim to uncover how individuals mentally map and
interpret the world around them through
language. A crucial aspect of this research involves
creating associative portraits of notable
individuals within society. These portraits help in
understanding how famous people are collectively
perceived and represented linguistically by
different groups of speakers.
In this context, the current article delves into the
problem of studying associative portraits within
the field of linguistics. It explores the
methodologies used in these associative
experiments, discusses the importance of these
portraits in capturing societal perceptions, and
elucidates the underlying linguistic principles that
define the concept of the associative portrait. By
doing so, the article aims to reveal the linguistic
essence of associative portraits, offering insights
into how language shapes and reflects our
understanding of prominent figures in society.
INTRODUCTION
VOLUME04 ISSUE06
https://doi.org/10.55640/eijps-04-06-02
Pages: 6-10
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In recent years, as a result of paying attention to the large-scale study of the issue of the
human factor in language in world linguistics, new aspects of this problem are being opened. Within
this problem, it has become one of the urgent tasks to reveal the nature of associations that reflect the
external world in language in human imagination, to determine the factors and causality that motivate
their emergence, to illuminate the linguistic characteristics of such units, and the functional
characteristics of speech in various forms. After all, every change that occurs in society, every reality
finds its expression in human associations and comes to the surface through language. In this regard,
the study of human associations is important in the study of the problem of the external world's
manifestation in language.
In linguistics, since the last quarter of the last century, the interest in the study of language in the
associative aspect has increased. The study of language units in the associative aspect has become
important in determining the conceptual nature of the world reflected in language. The associative
approach to language opened the way to the study of connections between language and linguistic
consciousness, language and linguistic memory, human imagination, and lexical reserve.
In recent years, on the basis of collective associative experiments conducted on the speakers of the
language, special attention has been paid to the determination of the linguistic landscape-image of the
outside world in the mind of the speakers of the language. In this direction, the problem of creating an
associative portrait of a specific representative of society, especially famous people such as writers,
politicians, artists, national heroes, or a nation, is especially relevant. Such associative portraits, while
revealing the associative nature of language units, served to describe the image of society members in
people's imaginations, to generalize the ideas about them.
The Main Findings and Results
The term associative portrait was first used in psycholinguistic research to describe a portrait of a
person based on psychological imagination, and later in associative linguistics.
The term portrait, which is the basic unit of this term, comes from the French word “portrait”, which
means “image of something”. This term was originally used to refer to t
he image of any object, but today
it is used in many fields of science to refer to the image of a person. In particular, in fine arts, the term
portrait is used for the image of the external appearance aimed at revealing the inner world and psyche
of a person or a group of people[1]. In this field of science, portrait is a term that represents an
independent genre, reflecting the goal of visual description of the model. Such a portrait reflects the real
appearance of a specific person [2].
In psychology, the term portrait is used to create a psychological portrait of different types of people,
and such a portrait means “a set of certain characteristics of a person” [3].
The term literary portrait is found in fiction. This term is used in literature to descri
be the character’s
appearance and image, and it serves to reveal the aspects of the character’s character that the writer
considers the most important [4].
In linguistics, in particular, in psycholinguistics and associative linguistics, the term associative portrait
is used. For example, M.R. Bedretdinova clarified the concept of associative somatological portrait on
the example of the Tatar language using the term associative portrait in her candidate’s thesis [5]. As
he notes, “a somatological portrait i
s considered a specific starting point of an account that allows us to
distinguish the self from others and provides details that are consistent with the self and others” [6].
It is understood that the scientist used the term associative somatological portrait in relation to the
linguistic portrait describing the structure of the human div. Earlier, M.R. Kurbangalieva used the term
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somatological portrait in relation to the linguistic description of the structure of the human div in his
article [7].
It is known that in linguistics, the word associative, used in the term associative portrait, is used to refer
to “remembering and restoring in memory of language units”. Therefore, an associative portrait is “a
representation in the linguistic mind of the imag
e of people restored in human memory.” In order to
distinguish this term from the term associative portrait used in literature, visual arts, the term verbal
associative portrait or linguistic associative portrait can be used in associative linguistics. In this case,
the term verbal (linguistic) has the meaning of “reflecting the external world by means of language”,
and the term linguistic associative portrait means “image of people restored in human memory by
means of language”. At this point, it is import
ant for us to define the essence of the term linguistic
associative portrait and describe it.
Linguistic associative portrait is a linguistic image based on associations of speakers about a person or
a nation. Such a portrait is formed on the basis of materials of associative experience conducted on
native speakers. Therefore, this portrait is a verbal, that is, an image based on language materials.
In the associative verbal portrait, the knowledge and imagination of the speakers about a certain person
or group, nation is realized through the means of language. This knowledge is often of a subjective
nature and is manifested through the positive or negative assessment of the linguistic image object, i.e.,
a person or an entire nation.
Various factors influence the subjective nature of verbal associations formed by language owners in
relation to the object of a specific linguistic image. These are:
1. Negative (such as personal enmity, disagreement, dislike) or positive attitude (such as liking, positive
feelings, support) of the speakers of the language towards the object of the linguistic image.
2. The knowledge that the language owners have read about the object of the linguistic image, heard
from others, and their perceptions based on this knowledge.
3. The character of social, political, cultural, legal, religious relations of language owners with the object
of linguistic representation (mutual cooperation based on various relations).
4. Neighborly, fraternal relationship of language owners with the object of linguistic image. (e.g. living
next door, friendship).
5. Owners of the language have common aspects with the object of the linguistic image (similarity of
interests, occupation, views, etc.).
These external factors have a direct impact on the negative or positive nature of the language speakers'
perceptions of the object of the linguistic image. These factors can be seen, for example, in the ethnic
portrait of a person or nation formed on the basis of verbal associations.
At this point, it can be said that the associative verbal image formed by the associative experiences of
the people, the nation, and the image of the nation may be consistent or sometimes inconsistent with
each other. Such compatibility or inconsistency, the question of their interrelationship, the question of
determining the external factors that affect the authenticity of images-portraits reflected in verbal
associations is considered one of the urgent problems of linguistics today.
In the associative verbal portrait based on associations of language owners of certain people, the nation,
the use of somatic units is noticeable in the main cases. It's not for nothing, of course. When a person
imagines the image of a person, first of all, the div structure of this person is restored before his eyes.
The div structure of a person allows to describe his associative verbal portrait as a whole. In this
regard, somatological units are given a special place in the associative portrait. According to Yu.A.
Sorokin, “somatics allow a person to express himself, to see his vital and mental world as a whole” [8].
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In fact, somatological units are the basic units that form the associative verbal portrait of a person. But
they can provide information not only about the div structure of a person, but also about ethnic
identity, age, gender. In such ethnic portraits, generalized ideas about the nation or its representatives
are reflected. Because somatological units are ethnically determined, they are important in creating
national associative verbal portraits.
Linguistics refers to the materials of associative experience when creating an associative verbal portrait
of a specific person or a nation. It is effective to use the method of focused associative experience in
describing the associative verbal portrait of a particular person.
Of course, the materials of associative experience are important in creating an associative verbal
portrait of a particular person or nation. Based on them, it will be possible to restore the image of a
person or a nation from the minds of the language owners. Materials of associative experience provide
information collected in the linguistic consciousness of language speakers about the image of a certain
person or nation, and thereby prove the views about the existence of linguistic consciousness and its
functioning.
Materials of associative experience provide an opportunity to obtain materials of a holistic ethnic
portrait of a specific person or nation, which is considered the object of a linguistic image, from language
speakers.
In fact, the mind behind the language, the formation of the image of the external world, the image of the
world landscape in different cultures, the ethnic image of each nation, the mechanism of human
linguistic memory and thinking through practical experiments is one of the methods of associative
experience.
Based on the nature of associative verbal portrait, it is possible to conduct an associative experiment
focused on famous people, a nation, or a literary character. When creating an associative verbal portrait
of a nation, it is desirable to conduct associative experiments focused not only on speakers of this
language, but also on representatives of other nations.
Directed associative experiments of this type conducted on Uzbek speakers serve to create associative
portraits in the context of “Uzbek in the
eyes of an Uzbek”, and the materials of associative experiments
conducted on representatives of foreign nationalities serve to create associative portraits in the content
“Uzbek in the eyes of foreigners”.
Associative experiments of a somatological nature are also oriented, in which each subject performs a
special task. This task can be structured according to the content:
1.
Presentation of responses reflecting the div structure of a particular person. For example, in
order to create an associative verbal portrait of the poet Abdulla Oripov, the national hero of
Uzbekistan, based on the div structure, the test takers are asked to record associations that reflect the
image of the poet restored in their imaginations. To perform this task, the following task is given:
As soon as you hear the name “Abdulla Oripov”, write down in the questionnaire the reactions that
reflect the structure of the poet's div restored in your memory within 1 minute, associations can be
written in an unlimited number.
2.
To present responses that reflect the general div structure of a particular nation. For example,
the following questionnaire can be used to describe a somatic verbal portrait of an Uzbek, Russian,
Kyrgyz, Kazakh or other nation:
When you hear the word “Uzbek” (o
r another nation), write down in the questionnaire the reactions
that reflect the structure of the div of Uzbeks restored in your memory within 1 minute.
A directed associative experience task can also be structured as follows:
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“Before the name of the giv
en div parts, write the first determiner that comes to mind that reflects the
div structure of the Uzbek people: head, hair, neck, forehead, eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, lips, teeth,
tongue, face, cheeks, chin, ears, legs, hands, fingers, belly, chest, s
houlders, nails”.
It seems that this type of experiment is a directed associative experiment, in which the subjects are
required to perform a specific task.
CONCLUSION
Based on the results of associative experience, “Associative description of the Uzbek people”,
“Description of the div structure of the Uzbek people” is formed. Such associative experiences play an
important role in creating the image of Uzbeks of a certain period, in obtaining information about their
social, cultural, political life, interests, and religion.
So, somatological units play an important role in forming an associative verbal portrait of a nation.
When creating such an associative portrait, it is based on associative verbal portraits of representatives
of many nationalities. Associative portraits generally serve to reflect the image of the nation.
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