Association field of "sea" in the linguistic consciousness of Russians and Spaniards

Russia and Spain have quite similar historical destinies but their cultural traditions are completely different. Many researchers, including Y. N. Karaulov, A.A. Oganova, A.A. Yakovlev, etc., addressed themselves to the comparative analysis of the linguistic consciousness of the Russians and the Spaniards. Since the natural environment is one of the key factors influencing the formation and the development of national mentality. In this article an attempt is made to reveal the peculiarities of psycho-linguistic perception of the image of the sea by the Russians and the Spanish. Within the framework of this research an association experiment was held among Russians and Spaniards. The analysis of the association-field notional structure determined in the course of the research showed that the image of the sea in the linguistic consciousness of the testees is, first of all, connected with the concept of a holiday place, a place inhabited by animals and of a large water space.