Psychological Structure of Meaning and Problems of Text Perception

Abstract

The author considers the role of the psychological structure of word meaning in the comprehension of texts. This problem seems to be as insufficiently studied today. The given structure is understood following A.A. Leontiev as a complex associative structure. The author pays special attention to the archaic layers of consciousness that are relevant for a modern native speaker / culture representative, and to the connotative and emotive aspects of meaning. All this is intended to help clarify and expand the classical understanding of the psychological structure of meaning by more clearly identifying and describing these components. In this article, attention is focused specifically on the archaic layers of consciousness, which are derived and based on the analysis of data, primarily from etymological dictionaries and also taking into account other sources. The author proposes the basic principles of analysis, carried out considering the activity approach and involving the implementation of seven research steps: 1) identification of linguoculture units; 2) identification of basic oppositions, basic metaphors; 3) definition of the text keywords; 4) compiling “core” and “peripheral” lists of language units for the given text; 5) identifying the psychological structure of the meaning of these units; 6) analysis of various contexts containing these units to clarify the results obtained; 7) analysis of the text taking into account and based on the results obtained. The capabilities of this approach are partially demonstrated by analyzing the text by V.V. Egorov “Patriarshiye Prudy” (“Patriarch’s Ponds”). The proposed methodology allows draw conclusions about the emotionalsensory “background” of text perception, which is determined, among other things, by the psychological structure of the meaning of the most important text elements.