THE COLOR OF PLANT WORLD IN THE MIRROR OF ASSOCIATIVE EXPERIMENT

Abstract

In 2025, the publishing house of Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno (Republic of Belarus, Grodno) published “The Associative Dictionary of Color. The World of Flora” (540 pages). Its author, Tatyana Viktorovna Sivova, candidate of philological sciences, associate professor, associate professor of the journalism department, has been conducting a polydiscursive study for many years, dedicated to the reconstruction of the color conceptual sphere of the floristic space of the Russian language. The material for her research is the texts of various discourses, which allows to create a comprehensive understanding of the specifics of color perception and visualization of plants. T.V. Sivova turns to the study of texts belonging to lexicographic discourse, fiction, and advertising, and studies the everyday linguistic consciousness of Russian speakers using a directed associative experiment. The result of a series of associative experiments conducted by T.V. Sivova is “The Associative Dictionary of Color. The World of Flora”, which reflects a segment of the color conceptual sphere of the floristic space of the Russian language.

“The Associative Dictionary of Color. The World of Flora” consists of three parts. Part 1 “From Plant Name to Color Term” contains 160 dictionary entries, titled with plant names, and demonstrates the respondents' idea of ​​the color of a particular plant. The article provides statistics for the query: total color reactions to the phytonym stimulus; different color reactions to the phytonym stimulus; single color reactions to the phytonym stimulus; number of refusals to respond. The dictionary entry contains relevant quotations from authoritative associative dictionaries representing the linguistic and cultural components. Part 2 “From Phytonym to Color Term. Gender Representation of Color Associations” contains data that characterize the gender correlation of color reactions to a phytonym stimulus. Statistics are provided for the request: total color reactions to the stimulus; female color reactions to the stimulus; male color reactions to the stimulus. Part 3 “From Color Term to Phytonym” (reverse dictionary) includes 1208 entries titled with color terms and contains register of plants coloristic descriptions.

 Thus, T.V. Sivova's “The Associative Dictionary of Color. The World of Flora” captures the stereotype of plant color perception; reflects respondents' gender preferences, which may or may not coincide; and explicates the diversity of ways to verbalize color impressions.

The data presented in “The Associative Dictionary of Color. The World of Flora” is of scientific interest to specialists working in lexicography, text linguistics, linguistics of color, ethnolinguistics, and psycholinguistics. It may also be useful for specialists working in advertising, branding, and, more broadly, information and communications.