The image of the city in the consciousness of men and women (on the materials of the associative experiment)

The research is devoted to the image of a modern city. Despite the fact that the urban space is an object of study in various sciences, this complex, multi-layered phenomenon constantly shows «blank spots» in its body. An analysis of the image of a city from the point of view of the perception of people living in it seems relevant, since a city is not only a place of residence, but also a living organism that affects its inhabitants. The city is ambivalent in relation to the city dweller, since it is created by man and at the same time influences him. The formation of an objective image of the city is the goal of an associative experiment, a feature of which is an appeal to the intuition of native speakers. In addition to the psycholinguistic aspect, the study takes into account the sociolinguistic aspect: an attempt is made to form the «male» and «female» images of the city. The sample of informants is balanced according to two criteria (place of birth and gender). As a result of the analysis of 495 associations received from 50 men and 50 women and distributed by thematic groups, conclusions were drawn about the perception of the urban environment by men and women living in one of the cities of the Perm territory - Kungur. The study reveals the general and various semantic features, actualized by the toponym, and the nature of the assessment as an obligatory component of the designated object or fact of reality. The present study can be characterized as promising and acute since its method can be applied to the analysis of images of other locations. The results obtained can become the basis for the reflections and actions of the authorities of different levels who face the difficult task of creating a comfortable and convenient urban environment.