Envy as a Psychological and Cognitive Phenomenon in Ukrainian and Slovak Linguistic Consciousness (Based on the Associative Experiment)

Abstract

The complex psychological, sociocultural and semiotic phenomenon of ENVY is explored in the paper. It is regarded as a mental correlating factor of cultural signs and symbolic stereotypes, norms and values. Additionally, it serves as the element of cognitive and evaluative experience, ethical, and religious customs and beliefs, such as the naive model of the world in the magic texts, body and evaluative metaphors of up and down, the concepts of success, wealth, poverty, the domestic and the strange, etc. A linguistic-cognitive analysis of the conceptual sphere of ENVY has been conducted. It is based on the associative experiment on its stimuli reactions, their frequency as well as national and cultural specificity received from Ukrainian and Slovak respondents. The frame model of ENVY has been developed according to gender, associative imagery, evaluative and metaphoric features. The obtained results have been interpreted in cognitive, quantitative and qualitative terms, sustained by the proverbs and sayings actualizing the notion of ENVY. The empirical material has been modelled as corresponding subframes. Zones of their semantic interconnections with the concepts of HATRED, JEALOUSY and GREED have been identified.