Sound vs noise: linguocognitive aspect

Changes occurring in the aural environment have become the reason for the increased interest in its study. Nowadays, the “sound direction” of scientific research is gaining popularity, which is caused by the development of technologies that expand the capabilities of sound. Each scientific direction focuses its attention on the study of different aspects of sound. Linguists work at the sound structure of a language, the patterns of their changes, the role of sound in the expression of meanings, methods of linguistic verbalization and analysis of the sound image of the world. This work aims to identify the semantic content of the concepts sound and noise in order to determine their common and differentiating features in Russian linguistic culture. The object of the study is the concepts sound and noise, and the subject is their common and differentiating features. To study the material the method of summarizing dictionary entries, compatibility analysis and contextual analysis are used. The results of the work showed that the aural environment, which we exist in, consists of sounds and noises and the difference between them in everyday use is determined by environmental conditions and cultural affiliation. Sound and noise are both terms and common vocabulary. They converge in such meanings as “physical phenomenon”, “minimal element of speech” but differentiate in the meanings of “sensation”, “minimal musical structural element” and “characteristic of human communication”. Analysis of collocations showed that sound and noise vary in information potential, and therefore are differently perceived by the human ear. This leads to opposite assessments of these phenomena. Sound and noise can form acoustic images using metaphors. The actions performed by sound and noise are identical, but there are differences in reactions to them when people try to hear and record the sound but ignore and protect themselves from the noise.