Concept of culture in Serbian and French pictures of the world

Abstract

The aim of this research is to investigate and compare the concept of culture in the Serbian and French linguistic and cultural communities by analysing associative responses to the stimulus word 'culture', given by the Serbian and French students. The responses are classified according to the concepts they express in order to determine linguistic and cultural similarities and specificities. Results of the research have shown that fifty responses are equivalent in meaning. Nevertheless, statistical analysis has revealed that identical associations differed in frequency. In addition, primary responses in Serbian ('theatre') and French ('knowledge') have not yielded the same meaning. In both languages, culture is conceptualised as necessity, life, wealth, prestige and preciousness. According to the results of the analysis, we can conclude that culture is conceptualised in a similar way in the two observed linguistic and cultural communities, with certain differences in the choice and frequencies of responses and concepts.