Siberian linguists find specific word perception in different peoples

TOMSK, October 23. /TASS/. Linguists at the Tomsk State University (TSU) found that native speakers of Russian and Khakass associate words with visual images and the position of objects in different ways, the university's press service told TASS. When perceiving a word, a person refers to its dictionary meaning, as well as to visual images, sensations of movement and sounds.

The bilingualism problem is typical for people all over the world, since about half of the world's population speaks two or more languages. There are more than 120 languages in Russia, and many native speakers of those languages are bilingual. Since 2017, specialists of the Tomsk University's Linguistic Anthropology Laboratory have been researching the linguistic diversity of Southern Siberia, and they were among the first in the world to create a psycholinguistic database using the Russian language as a basic one. Right now, the laboratory is engaged in documenting and preserving languages of Southern Siberian peoples, including the Chulymsky, Teleutsky and Shorsky languages. The research's results are published in the Rusin journal.

"Linguists at the Tomsk State University have studied the sensory experience reflection in meanings of Russian and Khakass words," the press service said. "They compared how bilinguals - native speakers of two languages - evaluate the connection of words with vision, size and position in space. They have found both common patterns and differences."

The surveyed participants rated Russian and Khakass words on a seven-point scale. It turned out that in both language groups, word connections positively correlated with vision and position in space, but among Russian native speakers these relationships were more pronounced, and the assessments were more diverse. In particular, Russian speakers had a clear pattern: the higher the object, the more strongly it is associated with vision. Among Khakass native speakers, this pattern related to the top and bottom is less pronounced, although on average they rated higher the connection of words with vision. At the same time, words for movement and physical contact evoked tactile associations in both groups.

Scientists also have found that not all differences are preserved when evaluating individual traits. For example, the groups did not demonstrate noticeable differences when estimating the size of an object. Such details help experts to understand which perception aspects are common for both languages, and which are differently reflected in the assessments. "Our results show that the sensations that arise when interacting with the world are involved in the formation of ideas related to words. Both language groups have common patterns, but the strength of individual connections varies," the laboratory's junior researcher Irina Korshunova added.

"Our approach is based on the premise that the meaning of a word is related not only to logical categories, but also to a person's visual, auditory, bodily and emotional experience. At the same time, linguistic and cultural experience can influence the structure of such connections," the project's scientific director and the laboratory's leading researcher Professor Zoya Rezanova said.

About the peoples of Russia

According to the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs, as of April 30, 2026, more than 190 peoples live in Russia, where 47 are classified as low-numbered indigenous peoples. On May 8, 2025, the government approved the Concept of Sustainable Development of the Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2036.

The low-numbered indigenous peoples are Russian peoples fewer than 50,000 people. The government approved a unified list of Low-Numbered Indigenous Peoples of the Russian Federation on March 24, 2000. The most recent updates were made on December 18, 2021, where the list contains 43 peoples, including the Abaza (41,793 people), the Veps (4,534), the Koryaks (7,485), the Mansi (12,228), the Sami (1,530), the Udege (1 325), the Khanty (31,467), the Eskimos (1,657). The smallest group at that time was the Kereks (23 people), the most numerous - the Nenets (49,646).

Changes to the list may be made by the Russian government at the suggestion of the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs, based on initiatives from governors of the territories where low-numbered peoples live.