Філолоічні науки/Экономические науки/7. Мова, мовлення, мовна комунікація

Барабаш Ю.Г.

Чернівецький національний університет імені Юрія Федьковича, Україна

Lexico-Semantic Field of the Verb “Desire” in English

System approach to the language is one of the main characteristic features of contemporary linguistic studies. The statement that the language is a system was formulated by F. de Saussure. System approach to the language phenomena gave a chance to their fundamental study. Lexical system, which forms the word stock of the language, is fully revealed in the history of sciences. The vocabulary study in the structure of “semantic” or “notional” fields has started since 20-30’s of the XX century. Theoretical interpretation of organization principles of definite lexemes into lexico-semantic fields is observed in publications of such famous linguists as J. Trier, G. Ipsen, and Yu.M. Sternin, Yu.M. Karaulov, Z.D. Popova, and others. Field approach to the study of lexical units makes possible the penetration into the depth of semantic interdependence of lexemes, study of the concepts’’ hierarchical correlations.

The works devoted to the study of the different types of fields, lexico-semantic field in particular (O.V. Bondarko, O.V. Gulyha, G.A. Ufimtseva and others) occupy the leading place in a traditional semantics. In spite of the great number of works devoted to the study of lexico-semantic fields few issues in the field theory remain open for discussion.

The aim of the present investigation is to reconstruct the lexico-semantic field “desire” that is one of the means of the concept DESIRE verbalization in the system of the English language. The methodology of concept analysis with the help of lexico-semantic fields is widely used in contemporary linguistics. That’s why it is necessary to reconstruct the lexico-semantic field “desire”.

Having analyzed different approaches to semantic fields we made a conclusion that the lexico-semantic field is one of the largest paradigmatic unities. To give a precise definition of the lexico-semantic field it is necessary to determine the notion of “field”.

So, the field is a limited to some extent unity of elements, groups, subgroups that are interconnected, interrelated, possess some common semantic features and influence each other.

The lexico-semantic field may be defined as the totality of groups and subgroups of terms; it is the hierarchy of continuities on the basis of their possessions of the general (integral) semantic features – scientific definitions which reflect logical relations in the particular branch of knowledge [4, p. 134]. It is the organization of related lexemes that show their relationships to one another. There may be comparatively small lexical groups of words belonging to the same part of speech and linked by a common concept.

M.K. Kochergan defines semantic field as an entity of paradigmatically connected lexical units which are united by the common meaning (sometimes even common formal indicators) and reflect notional, objective and functional similarity of the marked phenomenon. Every field has a common (integral) feature which unites all its elements. Such a feature is called an archiseme and is expressed by the lexeme with generalized meaning. Every separate unit of the semantic field must differ from the other elements of this field at least by one differential feature [1, p. 78]

The lexico-semantic field is the linguistic reflection of some area of objective reality. The totality of lexico-semantic fields reflects the reality expressed by the word. This totality becomes the system of terms, the structure of which is based on the presence of semantic fields in it. The semantic fields are not isolated: all of them are interconnected. Their special characteristic in that case is the possibility to cross each other buildig larger unities of science which, in their turn, make general knowledge. The continuity of semantic process is ensured by the relations between fields and unites all these fields into one terminological system. The basic characteristic feature of the lexico-semantic field is its structure. It is constructed of lexico-semantic groups which are built of smaller microsystems - synonymic ranks etc. As to the construction of the lexico-semantic field it is possible to point out the core, center, and periphery [2, p. 95].

Lexico-semantic fields are reconstruced on the basis of the componetial analysis. Componential analysis was developed as a method of semantic research to study the meaning of words. In its classical form it was applied to the so-called closed subsystems of the vocabulary, mostly to kinship and colour terms. It was successfully applied in the analysis of polysemantic words, synonyms, hyponymic groups, thematic classification of vocabulary, etc. Componential analysis is based on the study of the dictionary entries.

To reconstruct the lexico-semantic field of “desire” in the system of the English language we referred to the dictionaries of definitions, synonyms and thesauri. We have analyzed the following lexcographic sources: Collins English Dictionary and Thesaurus, American Heritage Dictionary, Webster’s New Dictionary of Synonyms, Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, and Webster's New World Thesaurus.

On the basis of the componential analysis we delineated 101 lexemes that contain a common component “desire”. The componential analysis gave a chance to define the core, center and periphery of the lexico-semantic field “desire” in the system of the English language. The core consists of the lexeme (archilexeme) that represents the name of the lexico-semantic field, the center is presented by lexemes that are present in all five dictionaries and periphery – lexemes present in one, two, three, and four dictionaries.

The lexico-semantic field possesses the following structure:

Core – desire

Center ( 5 dictionaries) – covet, crave, long (for), want, will, wish.

Periphery 1 (4 dictionaries) – pine, thirst.

Periphery 2 (3 dictionaries) – desiderate, fancy, hanker after, pant, yearn for.

Periphery 3 (2 dictionaries) – aim, aspire to, choose, hanker, hunger, like, long for, lust after, sigh for, yearn.

Periphery 4 (1 dictionary) – ache, allure, appetize, aspire, aspire after, attract, be desirous, be hungry, be on thorns for, be smitten, be turned on by, burn to, care for, catch at, cause desire, cotton to, court, create desire, cry for, die for, die over, dream of, eat one's heart out, enjoy, excite desire, fall for, feel like, fish for, gape for, gasp for, give eyeteeth for, go for, grasp at, gratify desire, hanker for, have a longing, have eyes for, have the hots for, hold out allurement, hold out temptation, hope, hope for, hunger after, hunger for, itch, itch after, jump at, languish for, lean toward, lust, make advances to, make one's mouth water, ogle, etc.

As can be observe, periphery 4 contains the largest number of lexemes representing the lexico-semantic field of “desire”. It is explained by the fact that these verbal lexemes verbalize just definite semantic components of the concept DESIRE. The center of the lexico-semantic field “desire” is represented by the following synonymic row: covet, crave, long (for), want, will, and wish. The given verbs share most of the semantic components of the lexeme “desire”. The next step of our research should be the verification of the retrieved data in the author’s discourse.

Литература:

1. Кочерган М.П. Загальне мовознавство / М.П.Кочерган. – К.: Академія, 2003. – 464 c.

2. Мостовий М.І. Лексикологія англійської мови / М.І. Мостовий. – Харків: Основа, 1993. – 256 с.

3. Collins English Dictionary and Thesaurus. – Glasgow: Harper Collins Publishers Ltd, 2000. – 1115 p.

4. Katz J.J. Recent issues in the semantic theory / J.J. Katz // Foundations of Language, 1997. – Vol. 3. – P. 124-94.

5. Roget's 21-st Century Thesaurus in Dictionary Form. – London: Dell Book, 1999. – 1198 p.

6. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: словник-довідник / [ред.-упоряд. Anne. H. Soukhanov]. – 3-d edition. – NY: Bartleby, 2002. – 8652 p.

7. Webster's New Dictionary of Synonyms. – N.Y.: Merriam Webster, 1980. – 836 p.

8. Webster's New World Thesaurus / Ed. by Ch. Laird. – N.Y.: A Meridian Book, 1975. – 1032 p.