Concepts of “Small Homeland” and “Big Homeland” in Linguistic Consciousness of Residents of Northeast Russia

This article presents the findings of a psycholinguistic study on the concepts of “Small Homeland” and “Big Homeland” within the linguistic consciousness of residents in Northeast Russia, specifically focusing on the regions of Yakutia and Chukotka. Utilizing a free associative experiment conducted as part of a large-scale sociological survey (N=1434), key semantic dominants and connotations associated with these concepts were identified. The analysis of the resulting associations allowed for the categorization of various levels of territorial identity among respondents, ranging from global to local. Special attention is given to the regional specificity of linguistic consciousness, as well as age and gender differences in the interpretation of the studied concepts. The results of the study reveal a complex, multi-layered structure of the notions “small homeland” and “big homeland,” which serve as markers of local, regional, and civic identity in the minds of residents in Northeast Russia. The findings contribute to the development of a psycholinguistic approach to the study of territorial identity and open avenues for further interdisciplinary research in this field.