Concept “Immortal Regiment” in the linguistic consciousness of teenagers

The article presents the results of an associative experiment that allow us to describe the structure of the concept “Immortal Regiment” in the linguistic consciousness of senior school pupils, college students and cadets. The research has made it possible to define concept core components (memory, war, pride, victory, veterans) and peripheral ones (unity, heroes, glory, posters, holiday, Motherland, etc.). Most of the components have a positive connotation. There are significant differences in the structure of the concept, identified in the linguistic consciousness of cadets (compared to schoolchildren and students). Associates appear in the concept core; they indicate that a personally significant connection with the events of the Great Patriotic War is preserved. This connection is almost lost among modern teenagers of the other social groups, which is caused by the “symbolic event reconstruction” that changes personal attitude to history in course of time. The periphery of the concept is specific in the view of the cadets; it includes the components that are not marked by the rest of the participants of the experiment. The concept “Immortal Regiment” is stated to have positive associates, which tend to be abstract. It means that to preserve the historical memory, it is necessary to personalize the concept. The fields of application include conceptology, social linguistics, cultural linguistics