7. semantic classification of words

Diagram 13. Correlation between the semantic classes

A semantic field
A lexico-semantic group
A lexical / terminological set
4.1. LEXICAL AND TERMINOLOGICAL SETS

Words denoting things correlated on extralinguistic grounds form lexical sets. For example, the words lion, tiger, leopard, puma, cat refer to the lexical set of ‘the animal of the cat family’. Depending on the type of the notional area lexical sets may acquire a more specialized character, for instance, names of ‘musical instruments’: piano, organ, violin, drum; names of ‘parts of the car mechanism’: radiator, motor, handbrake, wheels. Such classes of words are called terminological sets.

4.2. LEXICO-SEMANTIC GROUPS

Words describing sides of one and the same general notion are united in a lexico-semantic group if 1) the underlying notion is not too generalized and all-embracing, like notions of ‘time’, ‘space’, ‘life’, ‘process’, etc.; 2) the reference to the underlying notion is not just an implication in the meaning of the lexical unit but forms an essential part in its semantics.

Thus, it is possible to single out the lexico-semantic group of names of ‘colours’ consisting of the words pink, red, black, green, white; the lexico-semantic group of verbs denoting ‘physical movement’ – to go, to turn, to run; or ‘destruction’ – to ruin, to destroy, to explode, to kill; etc.

4.3. SEMANTIC FIELDS

A semantic field is a large group of words of different parts of speech in which the underlying notion is broad enough to include almost all-embracing sections of vocabulary. For example, the words cosmonaut (n), spacious (adj), to orbit (v) belong to the semantic field of ‘space’. These broadest semantic groups are sometimes referred to as conceptual fields which might be in many cases misleading. The members of the semantic field are joined together by some common semantic components, i.e. the component common to all members of the semantic field, which is sometimes described as the common denominator of meaning.
The starting point of the theory of semantic fields and lexico-semantic groups was J. Trier’s work (a German linguist; the beginning of the 20^th century) on intellectual terms in Old and Middle High German. J. Trier showed that they form an interdependent lexical sphere where the significance of each unit is determined by its neighbours. The semantic areas of the units limit one another and cover up the whole sphere.

QUESTIONS

1. 
   What are the two basic principles of semantic classification of words?
   
2. 
   What semantic classes or categories can be singled out?
   
3. 
   What is synonymy? What are synonyms? What semantic relations are synonyms characterized by?
   
4. 
   How may the difference in connotation be observed?
   
5. 
   How can the difference in the pragmatic value of words be observed?
   
6. 
   What are the main types of synonyms?
   
7. 
   What does stylistic synonymy imply?
   
8. 
   What does ideographic synonymy present?
   
9. 
   How is ideographic-stylistic synonymy characterized by?
   
10. 
    What is meant by the synonymic dominant?
    
11. 
    What is a euphemism? What do euphemisms substitute? What is the reason of the creation of euphemisms?
    
12. 
    What do we call antonyms?
    
13. 
    What structural types of antonyms do you know? What semantic types of antonyms do you know?
    
14. 
    What do contradictories represent?
    
15. 
    How can contraries be characterized?
    
16. 
    What are incompatibles like?
    
17. 
    What are lexical and terminological sets?
    
18. 
    What is a lexico-semantic group?
    
19. 
    What is a semantic field?
    

SEMINAR 7