Svitlana Martinek

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EVERYDAYEXPERIENCEIN WORDMEANING:How IT ISREVEALEDVIA AN

ASSOCIATIVEEXPERIMENT

SVITLANAMARTINEK

Abstract.Thecognitiveapproachtostudyinglanguagescreatesnewopportunitiesforinvestigatingconceptualstructures

ofhumanconsciousnessviatheirlanguagemanifestations.Untilrecently,mostoftheassumptionswithinthefieldhavebeenbased onthelinguisticintrospectionand/orintuition ofthe

researcher.Althoughthese"phenomenologicalmethods"arequiteinformative,nowadaysmanyproponentsofCognitiveLinguisticsdesire toexpandtheirinvestigativerepertoryincorporatingempiricalmethods.Inparticular, thepsychologicalrelevanceofthelingu

isticanalysesmaybesupported bytheapplicationoftheassociativeexperimentmethodasresponsesevokedby acertainstimuluscanbeseenasthereflectionofcorrespondingconceptualstructures.Thischapterdesc

ribestheresults ofanassociativeexperimentthatwasconductedwithUkrainiannativespeakers.Theresponsesevoked bythederivativesrepresented bytheUkrainianwordssiryjADJ'grey',sirist N'grey-ness',sirityVIMPERF 'togrowgrey', andposirity VPERF'to

becomegrey'whichconceptualisecoloursensation asanattribute,anabstractentityandaprocessrespectively,discoverspecificdomainsandrevealdistinctiveprototypicalreferencepointsforeachofthestim

uli.Thesesemanticmodificationsaccompanyingthechanges ingrammaticalconceptualization ofthegreycolour intheformof anadjective,noun,andverbsofdifferentaspectscanbeexplainedashavingderivedtheiroriginfromoureverydayexperience,namel

yfromtheknowledge ofspecificityofthesignifiedcoloursensations.

Introduction

Thecognitivetrend inlinguistics hasopened newperspectives instudyinglinguisticphenomenaand hasenabledsolvingproblemswhichcould notbeexplainedexhaustively withinthetraditionalapproaches. As it isin the •paradigmof

CognitiveLinguistics thatmechanismsoflanguagefunctioning areresearchedin a waycloselyinterconnected withthe

principlesofcognitiveorganization, thisapproachmakes itpossibletopenetratepeculiarities ofconceptualcategoriesingrainedin humanconsciousness viatheirlanguagemanifestations.

Sincethe "setofgrammaticallyspecifiedconceptsprovidesthe basicschematicframeworkforconceptualorganization withinthecognitivesystem oflanguage"(Talmy2003: 21),it isnecessaryto bear inmind thedemand ofpsychologicalrelevance

whilestudyingthespecificgrammaticalorganization oflanguage.Howevermost oftheassumptions withinthe fieldofCognitiveLinguistics havebeen sofar basedonlinguisticintrospection.Though itis apowerfulform ofempiricalsupport,"thefindingsresultingfromintrospection mustbecorrelatedwith thoseresultingfrom othermethodologies"(Talmy2003: 5)includingtheanalysisofintrospect

ivereports byothers,theanalysisofdiscourseandcorpora,cross-linguisticanddiachronicanalysis,theassessmentof contextand ofculturalstructure,theobservational andexperimentaltechniquesofpsycholinguistics,etc.

Moreover, meaningisconsideredinCognitiveLinguistics asreflectingouroverallbiological, culturaland socialexperienceas humanbeings.But"[mjembersof thesame

discoursecommunityall havedifferentbiographies and lifeexperiences, theymay differin age,gender, orethnicity,they mayhavedifferentpoliticalopinions"and thuscultureis, inprinciple,heterogeneous(Kramsch1998: 9—10).Therefore,theresultsobtainedviaintrospection andintuitionof asingleperson,eventhoughs/he is agoodexpert inthe field,are notrepresentativeenough.1

Neverthelessempiricalmethods

are farfrom beingwidelyexploitedyet byresearchers due to acertainbiasagainsttheacceptanceofempiricalmethodology. In thisregardGeeraertsandCuyckens(2007: 18)point outthat"[t]hereseems toexist atension...between abroadmethodologicaltendencyinCognitiveLinguistics thatconsidersintrospection themost orperhapsthe onlyappropriate methodforstudyingmeaningand amarginalbutincreasing

tendencyto applyempiricalmethodsthat arecustomaryin theothercognitivesciences".

Thisarticlepurportsto showthat thedataobtainedvia anassociativeexperiment(AE),which meettherequirements ofpsychologicalrelevance,allow usto revealconceptualcontent ofgrammaticalstructuresthatcannot beexplainedexclusively based onlinguisticgroundsbut ismostprobablymotivatedby oureverydayexperience.

1 SeeItkonen(2009) foradiscussionof thedifferencebetweenintrospection,which issubjectiveand intuition,which isintersubjective inbeing aform of"conventionalizedempathy".

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Justification of the associative experiment method

It is generally accepted that language data are aunique source of information for the reconstruction ofdeeper conceptual structures. Fauconnier (1997: 1)claims that visible language is only "the tip of theiceberg of invisible meaning construction". Thereforea need for "a theory of semantics that can takeconceptual organization into account" (Sweetser 1996:6) makes obvious the necessity of accumulatingevidences from the experimental methods.

The chapter describes the results obtained via an AEconducted with Ukrainian native speakers and presentedin the Ukrainian Associative Thesaurus (Martinek2007). The traditional way to conduct such anexperiment is to show or say a word (stimulus) torespondents, and then ask them to say what other word(response) comes first to their minds after receivingthe stimulus. With respect to the goal of theinvestigation, which is to reveal the peculiarities ofgrammatically specified concepts, the list of stimuliincluded the Ukrainian words sir-yj ADJ 'grey', sir'-ist' N'grey-ness', sir-ityV IMPERF 'to grow grey', and po-sir-ity VPERF 'to become grey', which conceptualise coloursensation as an attribute, an abstract entity and aprocess, respectively. These stimuli were presented to200 persons aged between 18 and 60, representing bothgenders in equal numbers.

The working hypothesis is that the associativenetwork is not arbitrary but to a large extent ismotivated as a reflection of hierarchical conceptualstructures in the consciousness of speakers. As "thereare relatively well-entrenched mental routinesconsisting of conventional pairing of form andmeaning" (Evans 2007: 16), after a lexical sign isperceived, an appropriate fragment of the complicatedconceptual structure with its specific features andassociated emotions and evaluations becomes fully orpartially activated. Thus, the responses evoked by acertain stimulus can be seen as the externalmanifestation of corresponding conceptual structures

and their specific traits. In addition, since"predication typically invokes multiple domains, whichcharacterize different aspects of the profiled entity"(Langacker 2002: 62), the AE allows us not only toreveal pertinent cognitive domains, but also to rankthem according to their relative prominence for thespeakers.

However, despite the fact that the method of AEconforms to the requirement of psychological relevanceand gives a secure and reliable foundation for thetheoretical assumptions of the investigators, it wouldbe a mistake to surmise that we can completely avoidthe use of "phenomenological methods". What we aredealing with is in fact that we

Svitlana Martinek

take turns using the experimental method to verify theresults obtained via introspection and thenundertaking new acts of introspection employing alsoempathy and intuition to interpret the data collectedvia experiment.

Siryj 'grey'

Starting from the explanations proposed in Berlin andKay (1969), and further in the earliest works of Rosch(Heider 1972; Rosch 1973), colour terms served as theground for prototypical research. Conducting the fieldexperiments, Rosch confirmed the fact that theborderline between different colours is fuzzy.Prototypicality as such is the result of thephysiological structure of the perceptual apparatuswhich causes particular colours to be perceived asfocal, because the human eye is more sensitive tocertain light frequencies. But this explanation isprobably fairly limited (see Geeraerts 2006: 28), inparticular, because it is hard to imagine howinformation of this kind can be used inlexicographical definitions of colour terms.

Language dictionaries usually give colour termsostensive definitions enumerating the objects of acertain colour. Let us consider the followingdefinitions given in a comprehensive Ukrainiandictionary for the colour term siryj 'grey' (Busel 2004:1130): 1) "colour between black and white; colour ofash"; "pale, with a shade of such colour (about aface; about a person with such a face)"; "with furwhich has a colour of ash (about animals)"; "an animalof grey colour (about an ox, a horse, a wolf, a hareetc.)"; "with grey hair (about hair)"; "not bright,dim"; 2) "cloudy, gloomy (about weather, morning, dayetc.)".

First of all, we should pay attention to the factthat grey is a mixture of colours. Wierzbicka (1990)notes that in the case of mixed colours one of thecomponents is more powerful, and as such grey is feltto be a version of black instead of white.2 As grey isa colour of black mixed with white, it should has some

properties in common with the above-mentioned colours.On the one hand, Wierzbicka notes (1990) that thesemantic structures of black and white reflect theirinterconnection with the concepts of 'dark' and'light', and on the other hand, if there are standardsof 'darkness' or 'lightness', it is necessary tosearch for them in the darkness of the night or in thedaylight. Therefore, Wierzbicka claims that there is aclose interconnection between 'black' and 'dark', andalso between 'white' and 'light'. It does not meanthat people think of a day as "something white", andof night as "something black", but potential

In this regard, Tokarski (2004: 57) says that grey is ablackness that is less black.

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conceptual coherence is supposed. The associativeconnection between black and night is more obvious andtransparent than between white and day (because it ispossible to see many different colours in daytime),but interrelation between white and good visibilityintuitively seems conclusive.

In this regard, Tokarski distinguishes qualitativeand quantitative aspects for black and white: thisdifference is less important for black because its bothreference points are connected with night, but is moreimportant for white, whose qualitative aspect is basedon the colour of snow and quantitative aspect isconnected with day. Further, Tokarski (2004: 59) drawsthe conclusion that this quantitative aspect of whiteunderstood as an amount of light is very important forgrey, and as such, grey is a colour between the blackness ofthe night and the whiteness of the day.

It is possible to verify the theoreticalassumptions of these investigators and theirconclusions on the basis of linguistic introspectionusing the data obtained via the AE.

The responses evoked by the stimulus grey reveal itsconnection with black and dark (la) as well as with white(lb), which is stronger in the case of black and dark:

(la) chornyj 'black' 4%, temnyj 'dark' 2% (lb) bilyj 'white' 3%

Other responses that are metonymical in naturereveal day (obviously cloudy) as a reference point forgrey (2a), but also periods of time between day and night(2b). Grey is also associated with clouds, fog or skythat is overcast with clouds (3a,b).

(2a) den' 'day' 27%, nepohanyj den' 'not a bad day' 1%28%

(2b) ranok 'morning' 5%, vechir 'evening' 2% 7%(3a) tuman 'fog' 5%, doshch 'rain' 2%, khmara 'cloud' 1%, 10%

pohana pohoda 'bad weather' \%,pokhmuryj 'gloomy' 1%(3b) nebo 'sky' 2%, nebokraj 'skyline' 1% 3%

Another important reference point is revealed bythe responses (4) listing different animals:

(4) vovk 'wolf 31%, zajets' 'hare' 10%, kit 'cat' 6%, kotyk 'cat 61% (diminutive)' 1%, mysha 'mouse' 3%,mysh 'mouse' 2%, myshka 'mouse (diminutive)' 2%, pes

'dog' 2%, kazhan 'bat' 1%, krolyk 'rabbit' 1%, slon 'elephant' 1%, zhuravel' 'crane' 1%

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In her earliest work (Heider 1972), Rosch confirmedexperimentally the fact that the borderline betweendifferent colours is fuzzy. Thus, the list of greyanimals could be continued. In this regard, we shouldpay attention to the frequencies of the obtainedresponses. The frequencies mentioned here arefrequencies of occurrence of words, evoked by acertain stimulus. As Geeraerts says (2006: 41), such"[fjrequency of linguistic occurrence may be aheuristic tool in the pinpointing of prototypes, butit is not the source of prototypicality as meant inthe statistical hypothesis".

So, there are two prototypical reference points forthe Ukrainian siryj 'grey'. The first one, which isquantitative grey in Tokarski's terminology, isconnected with tuman 'fog', doshch 'rain', khmara'cloud', etc., as well as with den' 'day', ranok'morning', and vechir 'evening', in other words withcircumstances that cause complicated visualperception.

The second one, which is qualitative grey inTokarski's terminology, are revealed by the responsesdenoting the animals covered with grey fur, but amongthem we did not come across either ox or horse, which areproposed as reference points in the above-mentioneddictionary definition. The most frequent responses arevovk 'wolf, then zajets' 'hare', kit 'cat', and mysha'mouse'. The respondents who had given those responsesreceived coloured photos of a wolf, a hare, domesticcat and a mouse after the experiment. They had toanswer the question of what colour those animals were.Though the animals in the photos were strictlyspeaking many-coloured, the respondents answered thatthose animals were of grey colour.

In this case, we are dealing with the conventionalepithet originating from fairy tales. As Geeraerts(2006: 47) notes, "[tjaking the cognitive,experiential, encyclopedic nature of linguistic signsseriously should not imply looking only for strictlyconceptual explanations. Language is not just content:it is also form, and its formal side has anexpressivity of its own, which does seem to createlexical configurations that can hardly be explained ifwe only take into account the conceptual expressivityof language". As we can guess, this "folk" greyretains traces of the old colour system, which wasless differentiated.3 It also sounds plausible that theusage of siryj 'grey' for signifying a barely definedcolour is coherent with its connection with

complicated visibility.

3 The Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language(Melnychuk 2006: 256) establishes a connection betweenUkrainian siryj 'grey' and Indo-European *ќoi-ro 'dark,grey, brown'.

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Natural (5) as well as artificial objects (6) canalso be of grey colour, but due to the low frequencyof these responses none of them in an obvious wayreveals any prototype of the category siryj 'grey'.

(5) zeml'a 'earth, ground' 1%, kamin' 'stone' 1%, Us 'forest' 6%1%, more 'sea' 1%

(6) od'ah 'clothes' 3%, olivets' 'pencil' 2%, asfal't 'asphalt' 16%1%, chobit 'boot' 1%, doroha 'road' 1%, hlechyk 'jug'1%, dim 'house' 1%, khlib 'bread' 1%,kost'um 'suit' 1%, pidzhak 'coat, jacket'1%, pistolet 'pistol' 1%, platt'a 'a dress'1%, trotuar 'sidewalk' 1%

The sense 'pale, with a shade of such colour (abouta face; about a person with such a face)' was revealedby the response in (7) and indirectly by the responsesin (8).

There are also responses denoting not only skin butalso eyes (9) or hair (10), although in the Ukrainianlanguage there is a special word syvyj for grey hairwhich is more common; thus, in this sense both siryj andsyvij can be considered synonyms.

mertvyj 'dead' 1%, vmyraju '(I am) dying' 1% ochi 'eyes' 2%, moji ochi 'my eyes' 1% voloss'a 'hair' 1%

Another set of the responses allows us to revealsecondary meanings of siryj 'grey' described in (Busel2004: 1130) as "nothing remarkable, inexpressive;deprived of novelty; monotonous" (11) and "deprived ofexpressiveness, brightness, originality" (12). Thissecondary meaning seems to be motivated by thementioned connection between grey colour and bad,complicated visibility as well as with associatedemotions and evaluations (13).

(11) budennyj 'everyday' 2%, buden' 'week-day' 1%, 5%shchodennyj 'daily' 1 %, zvychajnyj 'usual, ordinary' 1%

(12) nepomitnyj 'unnoticeable, imperceptible' 3%, nijakyj 'any, 6%not good at all, characterless' 2%, nevyraznyj'inexpressive, indistinct' 1%

(13) nudnyj 'dull, boring' 2%, sumnyj 'sad' 2%, beznadija 11%'hopelessness' 1%, nastrij 'mood, spirits' 1%, nedobryj'not good, unkind' 1%, nepryjemnyj'unpleasant' 1%, pokhmuryj 'gloomy' 1%,skuka 'boredom' 1%, zlo 'the evil' 1%

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(7)(8)(9

Svitlana Martinek

Another secondary meanings, motivated by the above-mentioned senses of the word siryj 'grey', are describedin the dictionary (Busel 2004: ИЗО) in the followingway: "the one who doesn't belong to an exclusiveclass, a privileged social group"; "uneducated,lacking culture" (see responses in 14a,b).

(14a) bomzh 'homeless person' 1% 1%(14b) cholovik 'man, person' 2%, puste misce

literally 'empty 4% place' (about a person) 1%, typ 'fellow, character' 1%

As Tokarski (2004: 57-58) notes in this respect,grey is the most colourless colour and that is why greyand colourless can be synonyms, and also can signify alack of vivid intellectual or emotional qualities in aperson or phenomenon; thus, Tokarski underscores:"Grey person is a synonym to an absolute mediocrity,absence of any prominent traits" (my translation. -S.M.).

Sirist' 'greyness'

Now let us consider the derivatives of the word grey.The Ukrainian dictionary describes the noun sirist''greyness' (Busel 2004: 1130) as "the abstract nounfor grey" in all its meanings. Nevertheless theresponses evoked by the stimulus sirist' 'greyness'demonstrate that the salience of the phenomenaassociated with sirist' 'greyness' differ from thoseassociated with siryj 'grey'.

Part of the obtained responses reveals itsinterconnection with other colours. Surprisingly, theresponses white, whiteness (15a,b) are more frequent thanthe responses black, blackness, which could be explained bythe fact that these responses are based on contrast(see also 16).

(15a) bilist"whiteness' 1,4%, bilyj 'white' 0,9% 2,3%(15b) chorne 'black' 0,5%, chornist' 'blackness' 0,5%1%(16) jaskravist' 'brightness' 0,5%, kontrast 'contrast'0,5% 1%

A significant part of the evoked responsesenumerates atmospheric phenomena (17a,b), which on theone hand are perceived as being grey and on the otherhand interferes with visual perception (17c), as wellas other accompanying occurrences (18). The responsesalso directly or indirectly reveal a connectionbetween sirist' 'greyness' and darkness (19a,b).

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The amount of the responses listing natural objectsother than clouds and so on (20a), animals (20b), aswell as artificial objects (20c), is significantlydecreasing (compare to 4-6).

(17a) tuman 'mist, fog' 4,1%, mr'aka 'fog, drizzle' 0,9%, pohana 9,3% pohoda 'bad weather'0,9%, tumannist' 'mist, fog' 0,9%, dym 'smoke' 0,5%, imla 'haze, mist' 0,5%, khmary 'clouds' 0,5%, mr'achnist' 'fog, drizzle' 0,5%, tumanna 'misty, foggy' 0,5%

(17b) nebo 'sky' 0,5% 0,5%(17c) neprohl'adna 'impenetrable' 0,5% 0,5%(18) doshch 'rain' 4,6%, syrist' 'dampness' 0,9%, mokro '(it is) 11,2% wet, wetly' 0,9%, mokrota'wetness' 0,9%, voloha 'moisture' 0,9%, boloto 'marsh, bog; backwater' 0,5%, doshchovyj ranok 'rainy morning' 0,5%, osin' 'autumn' 0,5%, vohkist' 'humidity' 0,5%, vohko 'humidly, it is damp' 0,5%; kholodno 'coldly; it is cold' 0,5%, voda 'water' 0,5% (19a) pidval 'basement, cellar' 0,9%, temnota 'darkness' 0,9%,2,3%

t'm'anist' 'dimness' 0,5%(19b) vechir 'evening' 0,9% 0,9%(20a) zeml 'a 'earth, ground' 1,4% 1,4%(20b) myshka 'mouse (diminutive)' 0,5%, sirko 'dog' 0,5% 1%(20c) asfal't 'asphalt' 0,5%, pidloha 'floor'

0,5%, forma 2% (vijs'kova) 'uniform (service)' 0,5%,stina 'wall' 0,5%

A considerable part of the responses reveals somehuman characteristics. It can be the colour of eyes orskin (21a) but also moral, intellectual and othertraits (21b). Moreover, if the former signify greycolour of the objects, the latter are used in asecondary meaning and are motivated by theindistinctness or imperceptibleness of sirist''greyness' as revealed by the responses in (22).

(21a) ochej 'of eyes' 0,9%, blidist' 'paleness' 0,5%, blidyj 'pale' 1,9%

0,5% (21b) dusha 'soul' 0,5%, dushi 'of (a) soul' 0,5%, ja T 0,5%, 3,5%

I'udyna 'human being' 0,5%, nyzist' 'baseness, meanness'0,5%, skromnist' 'modesty' 0,5%, tykhist' 'quietness,gentleness' 0,5% (22) nevyraznist'

'indistinctness' 1,4%, nepomitnist' 2,9%'imperceptibleness', literally

'unnoticeableness'0,5%,nevyraznyj 'expressionless,indistinct'0,5%,obrazu'of(an

)image' 0,5%

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SvitlanaMartinek

Some oftheresponses(23a,b)reveal aconnectionbetweensirist''greyness'and'ignorance','uncertainty'.AsWierzbicka(1990)notes, thenotion ofvision isthekeytothesemanticsofthewordsdarkandlight,

and so far their prototypical use is connected withthe environment. Taylor (2003: 33) claims that"much - perhaps most - of our knowledge of theoutside world (for sighted people!) comes fromvision".

Thus, we can assume that these responses arestrongly motivated due to the fact that siryj 'grey' andconsequently sirist' 'greyness' is strongly associatedwith complicated visual perception (see also Martinek2008).

(23a) neznann'a 'ignorance, absence of knowledge' 0,9%, 3,4% nejasnist' 'unclearness,ambiguity' 0,5%, nevyznachenist' 'uncertainty, indefiniteness' 0,5%, neutstvo 'ignorance' 0,5%, poserednist' 'mediocrity' 0,5%, prymityv 'primitive' 0,5%

(23b) hopy (ce taky I'udy) 'hopypi4 (there are such people)' 0,5%, 1% hopnyky 'hopnykypl

3' 0,5%

Another important property of greyness is itsmonotony (24). Thus, a significant number of theresponses reveal the secondary meaning of sirist''greyness' motivated by these properties (25).

(24) odnomanitnist' 'monotony' 0,9%, monotonnist' 'monotony' 1,4%0,5%

(25) budennist' 'everyday dullness, routine' 8,3%, budenna 15,1%'everyday' 1,9%, budni 'weekdays' 1,4%, budenshchyny'of everyday dullness' 0,5%, ofroutine', butt'a 'existence/of existence'0,5%, moyi budni 'my week days' 0,5%,odnomanitne zhytt'a 'monotonous life' 0,5%,zavtra bude v mene 'tomorrow I will have'0,5%, v spilkuvanni 'in communication'0,5%, zhytt'a 'life /of life' 0,5%

The responses also reveal a connection between sirist''greyness' and feelings (mostly negative) (26), illness(27), as well as old age (28).

In addition, sirist' 'greyness' is associated with awhole set of negatively evaluated notions (29). Partof the responses directly shows a negative attitudetowards sirist' 'greyness', most probably in its secondarymeanings (30).

1 Rather intellectually primitive young hooligans and robbers who have their own dress code ☺.

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153

(26) sum 'grief, sadness, sorrow' 3,2%, smutok 'grief, sadness' 12,1%1,4%, nudota 'nausea; boredom' 0,9%, pohanyj nastrij 'badmood' 0,9%, bajduzhist' 'indifference' 0,9%, pokhmurist''gloominess' 0,9%, ml'avist' 'languidness' 0,9%,motoroshnist' 'ghastliness, horribleness' 0,5%, nud'ha'boredom' 0,5%, spokij 'calmness' 0,5%, tuha 'anguish'0,5%, uzhas 'horror' 0,5%, zlist' 'malice, fury' 0,5%

(27) sukhota 'consumption' 0,5% 0,5%(28) starist' 'old age' 1,4% 1,4%(29) nepryjemnist' 'unpleasantness' 1,9%, bidnist'

'poverty' 5,8%0,9%, bida 'misfortune' 0,5%, dol'a 'fate' 0,5%, neschast'a'unhappiness' 0,5%, nevdacha 'failure' 0,5%, ubohist''poverty, mediocrity, ^wretchedness' 0,5%, zlo 'the evil'0,5%

(30) nepryjemno 'unpleasant' 0,9%, krasche vmerty '(it is)better 2,4%to die' 0,5%, nekomfortno 'uncomfortably' 0,5%, pohano'badly, it is bad' 0,5%

Sirity 'to grow grey' and posirity 'to become grey'

As for the imperfective verb sirity 'to grow grey', theUkrainian dictionary (Busel 2004: 1130) gives thefollowing definitions: "to become, to turn grey, or tobecome more grey", "to be distinguished with greycolour; to be seen (about something grey)", "to lose thenatural colour of the face, to turn pale fromexcitement, weariness, anger etc.", "to dawn".

Let us consider the responses evoked by thederivative sirity IMPERF 'to grow grey'. As in previouscases (la,b, 15a,b), this verb evokes responses thatreveal its connection with the notions of blackness andless prominent connection with white (31), darkness (theconnection with light was not revealed) (32) and lack ofsight (33) or bad visibility (34).

(31) chornity IMPERF 'to grow black' 0,9%, bility IMPERF

'to 1,4%grow white' 0,5%

(32) temnity IMPERF 'to grow (get) dark' 2,8%, temno '(it is) 4,2%dark' 0,9%, t'ma 'darkness' 0,5%

(33) slipota 'blindness' 0,5% 0,5%(34) vdalyni 'in the distance' 1,9%, horyzont 'horizon'

0,5%, 3,4%objekt vdalyni (daleko) 'object in the distance (far)' 0,5%;znykaty IMPERF postupovo to disappear gradually' 0,5%

Other responses reveal the connection between sirity 'togrow grey' and the time between day and night (35a,b) or aday (again I think it is

cloudy) (36). The amount of the former sufficientlyincreases (compare 2b and 19b) in contrast to thelatter (compare 2a). This fact can be explained by thedifference in the conceptualization of coloursensations as an attribute and as a process,respectively, based on the speakers' experience.

(35a) vechir 'evening' 12,3%, nich 'night' 1,9%, nadvechir17,2% 'towards the evening' 0,5%, osinnij vechir'autumn evening' 0,5%, sutinky 'twilight' 0,5%,vvecheri 'in the evening' 0,5%, vechorije literally'evening is coming on' 0,5%, vechority IMPERFliterally 'to be coming (about evening)' 0,5%

(35b) ranok 'morning' 5,2%, svitanok 'day-break, dawn'1,4%, 8,6% rano 'early, early in the morning' 0,5%, rozvydn'atys'a INF IMPERF literally 'day is breaking' 0,5%, svitaje literally '(it is) dawning'0,5%, vranci 'in the morning' 0,5%

(36) den' 'day' 2,4%, dnity IMPERF literally 'to day, togrow 2,9% day' 0,5%

The responses in (37) also reveal this connection between the stimulus sirity 'to grow grey' and the environment.

(37) nadvori 'outside' 0,5%, na vulyci 'in (the) street,outdoors' 0,5%, vulyc'a 'street' 0,5%, za viknom'outside the window' 0,5%2%

As in previous cases (3a,b, 17a,b, 18), the verb sirity'to grow grey' is also associated with the sky (38) andatmospheric phenomena.

(38) nebo 'sky' 3,8%, obrij 'skyline, overhead' 0,5%, vhori 4,8%'above, overhead' 0,5%

(39) tuman 'fog' 3,3%, dosch 'rain' 2,4%, bude dosch '(it)'s 6,7%going to rain' 0,5%, hroza 'thunderstorm' 0,5%, khmara'cloud' 0,5%, khmary 'clouds' 0,5%, osin' 'autumn' 0,5%,pohana pohoda 'bad weather' 0,5%, pohoda 'weather'0,5%, pryroda 'nature' 0,5%; syrity IMPERF 'to becomedamp, wet' 0,5%, imla 'haze, mist' 0,5%, mr'aka 'drizzle'0,5%

Only a few responses evoked by the stimulus sirity 'togrow grey' list natural objects, animals, and artefacts(40a,b,c). The amount of these responses sufficientlydecreases (compare to compare to 4-6, 20a,b,c). Again,this fact can be explained by the differentconceptualizations of colour sensations as an attribute,an abstract entity and as a process based on the

speakers' experience.

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(40a) zeml'a 'earth, ground' 0,9%, popil 'ash' 0,5%1,4%

(40b) vovk 'wolf 1,4%, zajec' 'hare' 0,9%, jak zajec' 'asa hare' 4,3%

0,5%, kit 'cat' 0,5%, mysha 'mouse' 0,5%, myshi 'mice'0,5%

(40c) parkan 'fence' 0,5% 0,5%

A comparatively large number of the responsesdirectly or indirectly (41a,b) reveals the above-mentioned meaning 'to lose the natural colour of aface, to turn pale from excitement, weariness, angeretc' of the word sirity 'to grow grey' (see 7 and 21a) bysignifying emotions which can cause these changes.

(41a) blidnity IMPERF 'to turn, grow pale' 0,5%, blidnuty 1,5% IMPERF 'to turn, grow pale' 0,5%, bl'aknuty IMPERF 'to fade' 0,5%

(41b) vid zlosti 'with rage' 0,9%, nijakovity IMPERF 'tofeel 5,9% awkward, to be confused' 0,5%,perezhyvaty 'to endure, live through' 0,5%,pokhmurnity IMPERF 'to become gloomy' 0,5%,stradaty IMPERF 'to suffer' 0,5%,, vid kohos''from somebody' 0,5%, vid rozpachu 'fromdespair' 0,5%, vtrachaty IMPERF nastrij literally 'tolose (good) mood; to get blue' 0,5%, vtrachatyIMPERF shchos' 'to lose something' 0,5%, z hor'a'with grief 0,5%, zlytys' IMPERF 'to be angry'0,5%

Additionally, the stimulus sirity 'to grow grey' evokesa large quantity of responses that reveal the meaning'to lose the natural colour of a face, to turn palewith age, from unsatisfactory physical condition orprocess of disintegration, damage' (42a,b).

(42a) starity IMPERF 'to grow old' 2,4%, starist' 'old age' 0,9%, 4,7% vid starosti 'from old age' 0,9%, syvity IMPERF 'to grey (about hair)' 0,5%

(42b) vmyraty IMPERF 'to die' 1,4%, pomyraty IMPERF'to die' 6,2% 0,9%, vid kholodu 'from cold'0,9%, hnyty IMPERF 'to rot, to decay' 0,5%,sokhnuty IMPERF 'to (get) dry' 0,5%, tlity IMPERF'to smoulder, to decay' 0,5%, trup 'corpse,dead body' 0,5%, vid pohanoho samopochutt'a 'fromfeeling sick' 0,5%, zanepadaty IMPERF 'fallinto decay' 0,5 %

As with the previous stimuli (see 12, 22, 23a, 24,25), the verb sirity 'to grow grey' also evokes responses

that demonstrate its connection with monotony, routine(43a), something unnoticeable (43b), and mediocrity(43c), etc. but the amount of these responses iscomparatively lower.

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(43a) odnomanitnist' 'monotony' 0,5%, rutynnyj 'routine' 0,5% 1% (43b) nepomitnyj 'unnoticeable, imperceptible' 0,5%, nijakyj 'not 1%

good at all, characterless' 0,5% (43c) poserednist' 'mediocrity' 0,5%, rehresija 'regress' 0,5%, 1,5%

svidomist' 'consciousness' 0,5%

Besides, the obtained responses demonstrate theconnection between the stimulus sirity 'to grow grey' anda lack of individuality (44).

(44) masa 'mass' 0,5%, masa I'udej 'mass of people' 0,5%, 2% stavaty IMPERFposeredyni 'to stand in the middle' 0,5%, zmishuvatys' IMPERF iz natovpom literally 'to mix with the crowd' 0,5%

Let us now consider the responses evoked bystimulus po-sirity 'to become grey'. The dictionary ofthe Ukrainian language (Busel 2004: 892) gives theverb po-sirity PERF the following definition: "to becomegrey; to get a greyish shade, to brighten before adawn (about the sky)".

The responses evoked by stimulus po-sirity 'to becomegrey' also reveal its coherence with black and whitecolours (45a,b), as well as with darkness (45c) andbad visibility (45d). Although the dictionary ofUkrainian pinpoints the meaning "to brighten before adawn (about the sky)" responses demonstrate theconnection between po-sirity 'to become grey' and not onlythe morning (46a) but also the evening (46b) which isstronger for the latter than for the former.

(45a) chornist' 'blackness' 0,5%, chornyj 'black' 0,5%, 1,5%

pochornity PERF 'to become black' 0,5%(45b) pobility PERF 'to become white' 4,5% 4,5%(45c) temno '(it is) dark' 1,5%, potemnity PERF 'to become dark' 3%

0,5%, temr'ava 'darkness' 0,5%,, sutenity IMPERF 'tobegetting dark' 0,5%

(45d) znyknuty 'to disappear' 0,5% , 0,5%(46a) vechir 'evening' 1,5%, vvecheri 'in the evening'0,5% 2%(46b) rano 'early, early in the morning' 0,5%

0,5%

A significant part of the evoked responses show aconnection between po-sirity 'to become grey' and the sky(47a) or atmospheric phenomena

(47b).

(47a) nebo 'sky' 9,9% 9,9%

156 Chapter Ten: Everyday Experience in Word Meaning

(47b) khmary 'clouds' 1,5%, doshch 'rain' 1%, khmara'cloud' 7,5% 1%, osin' 'autumn' 1%, pohoda 'weather' \%,jak khmara 'like a cloud' 0,5%, jak osinn'e nebo 'like autumn sky' 0,5%, kholod 'cold' 0,5%, vid pohody 'from the weather' 0,5%

The amount of the responses listing natural objects(48a), animals (48b) as well as artificial objects(48c) is comparatively small (see 40a,b,c).

(48a) zeml 'a 'earth, ground' 0,5% 0,5%(48b) mysha 'mouse' 1%, zajec' 'hare' 1%, myshka 'mouse 3%

(diminutive)' 0,5%, kit 'cat' 0,5%(48c) stina 'wall' 1,5%, monitor 'monitor' 0,5% 2%

Although forposirity 'to become grey' the dictionarydoes not give the meaning "to lose the natural colourof a face, to turn pale from excitement, weariness,anger etc.", a great number of responses directly(49a) or indirectly (49b) reveal this meaning bysignifying negative emotions or other factors (49c),and the amount of this kind of responses is higher(see 41b).

(49a) shkira 'skin' 0,5%, lyce 'face' 0,5%, na nosi 'on(one's) 1,5% nose' 0,5%

(49b) vid zlosti 'from malice' 2%, strakh 'fear, fright'1,5%, vid 12,5% hor'a 'from grief 1,5%, hore'grief 1%, sorom 'shame' 1%, sum 'grief,sadness, sorrow' 1%, khvyl'uvaiys' IMPERF 'toworry, to be uneasy' 0,5%, nudno '(it is) dull,tiresome' 0,5%, vid hnivu 'from anger' 0,5%, vidsmutku 'from sadness' 0,5%, vidstydu 'from shame'0,5%, z hor'a 'with grief 0,5%, z zhakhu 'withhorror' 0,5%, zloba 'malice, spite' 0,5%,zl'akatys' 'to get scared' 0,5%

(49c) bida 'misfortune, trouble' 0,5%, pomylky 'mistakes' 0,5%, 3% vid navchann'a 'from studying' 0,5%, vid utomy 'from tiredness' 0,5%, vid vtomy 'from tiredness' 0,5%, vtomytys' PERF 'to get tired' 0,5%

Furthermore, the dictionary of Ukrainian does not

propose the meaning "to lose the natural colour of aface, to turn pale with age, from unsatisfactoryphysical condition or process of disintegration,damage" for the verb posirity PERF 'to become grey', butthe responses (50a,b,c) evoked by the given stimulusdemonstrate the importance of this meaning.

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(50a) posyvity PERF 'to have become grey (about hair)' 2%, 9% syvyna 'grey hair' 1,5%, vid starosti 'from old age' 1,5%, postarity 'to have become old' 1%, starist' 'old age' 1%, babe'a 'granny' 0,5%, syvyj did 'grey grandfather, old man' 0,5%, v starosti 'in old age' 0,5%, voloss'a 'hair' 0,5%

(50b) kholod 'hunger' 0,5%, vava 'sore (place)' 0,5%, vid kholodu 3% 'from cold' 0,5%, vid speky

'from heat' 0,5%, z holodu 'with hunger' 0,5%,zakhvority 'to fall ill' 0,5%

(50c) smert' 'death' 1%, pomerty PERF 'to have died' 0,5%, trup 2,5% 'corpse, dead body' 0,5%, vmerty PERF 'to have died' 0,5%

The amount of the responses that demonstrate theconnection of verb posirity PERF 'to become grey' withroutine (51a) or mediocrity (51b) is even lower thanin previous cases (see 43a,b,c).

(51 a) vid rutyny 'from routine' 0,5% (51b) v masi 'in mass' 0,5%

In addition, the responses evoked by the givenstimulus allow us to discover the meaning 'untidy,covered by dust or dirt' (52), which is not describedin the dictionary of Ukrainian.

(52) vid porokhu 'from dust, gunpowder' 1%, vid brudu 'from 2% dirt' 0,5%, vidpyl'uky 'from dust' 0,5%

Conclusions

As shown in this chapter, the semantic modificationsaccompanying the changes in grammaticalconceptualization cannot be explained exclusively onlinguistic ground, but most probably they originatefrom our everyday experience, including the knowledgeof the specificity of colour sensations. The responsesevoked by the Ukrainian words siryj 'grey', sir'is t' 'grey-ness', sirity IMPERF 'to grow grey', and posimty PERF 'tobecome grey', which conceptualise colour sensation as

an attribute, an abstract entity or a process, revealpartially distinctive prototypical reference pointsfor each of the stimuli. Moreover the frequency of theobtained responses allows us to rank them according totheir relative salience for speakers. Furthermore, as"cognition is structured, not chaotic - and theapparently disorderly domain of linguistic meaning canoften be shown to be structured around speakers'understanding of a given cognitive domain" (Sweetser1996: 12), the metaphorical use of siryj 'grey' and itsderivatives can be explained via the peculiarities oftheir conceptualization and analyzed as forming anentire system.

Chapter Ten: Everyday Experience in Word Meaning

Thus, the method of the associative experimentconforms to the requirement of psychological relevanceand may be employed to verify results obtained throughintrospection and intuition.

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