Education is a complex and important process which the future not just of only one person but the whole nation depends on, hence, it is an important factor of the progress in modern world

1.4. Lexical field analysis

Lexical field analysis is the process of presenting and describing words according to their topic, or theme.

A lexical field analysis will attempt to establish the lexemes that are available in the vocabulary for talking about the area under investigation and then propose how they differ from each other in meaning and use. Such an analysis begins to show how the vocabulary as a whole is structured, and more so when individual lexical fields are brought into relationship with each other. There is no prescribed or agreed method for determining what constitutes a lexical field; each scholar must draw their own boundaries and establish their own criteria. Much work still needs to be undertaken in researching this approach to vocabulary²⁴.

Lexical field analysis is one of various forms of lexical semantics inspired by the structuralist conception of language as inaugurated by Ferdinand de Saussure. All these approaches reject the view that the vocabulary of a language is an unordered set of items, but instead take the view that the lexicon is organized into groups of items that belong together on the basis of their meaning. The different types of structural semantics can be classified primarily in terms of the kind of semantic relations that they concentrate on. The basic distinction is that between paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations²⁵.

«Lexical field analysis is based mainly on the approach of I. V. Arnold and includes some elements of Stylistic of Decoding. It concentrates on practical, detailed study of texts or their parts, sometimes being unaware of the author’s personality and the author’s individual style. Somewhat seemingly mechanical technique of stylistic analysis does not in the least exclude intuition and personal judgment of the student, and makes this type of analysis – as any – very subjective. Much depends on the thesaurus, degree/level of one’s knowledge of the language and literature, one’s aesthetic preferences (but this is true for any type of analysis).

This type of analysis may be used in any text, but best suited to it (in our opinion) would be 1) heterogeneous texts with numerous short paragraphs which will hardly be good for paragraph analysis; 2) comparatively short linguistically complicated texts offering lots of ideas; 3) poetic samples (preferred by I. V. Arnold); 4) essays or epistolary texts lacking a discernable plot.

A possible plan of discussion will be:

1) a summary with its usual constituents, but with an emphasis not only on the gist but on the idea of the text which student will prove in the process of the analysis;

2) an approximate/subjective innumerating of the most obvious themes/lexical fields;

3) establishing their hierarchy (principal, interdependent, background) – in the process of the analysis these suppositions prompted by intuition, may undergo some changes.

The analysis begins with the best represented LF, including the greatest number of lexical units (LU), connected directly (derivatives, synonyms, antonyms) and through associations (constant and casual). It is recommended to mark – for oneself – the number of LU, but offer to your listenes not more than three or four.

One should dwell on the predominant evaluative, emotive and stylistic connotations of the LF in general paying attention to the contextually acquired evaluative and emotive connotations. LU’s falling out of the general picture should be commented on separately.

To avoid a mechanical enumeration of facts special attention should be paid to the following: each statement should be followed by the student assessing its significance for a more propound understanding of the text in general and the before mentioned (in the summary) idea in particular.

The next step is stating the means of foregrounding of the theme (strong position, semantic repetition, contrast – on the level of denotations and connotations, – convergence, defeated expectancy etc). The means of foregrounding should be juxtaposed with those of related LFs: the more means of foregrounding, the greater is the significance of the LF for understanding of the text.

The conclusion should contain confirming or alternating the preliminary supposition, the final variant of the idea and the gist is given»²⁶.


Chapter II. The analysis of translated extract from “The Duel” by A. Kuprin
2.1. About the author and his literature carrier

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is the famous Russian prosaic writer, considered to be a classic author of Russian literature. The most famous works of his are “The Duel”, “The White Poodle”, “The Garnet Bracelet” and short stories about Russian life style and immigration.

Alexander Kuprin was born in 1870 in the small city of Narovchat of Penza gubernia and grew up in Moscow. His parents were noblemen with a long dynasty, that make possible for author to get perfect education. He studied in Moscow School of Razumovsky till he was 13, and being in the age of 14, he was transferred to The Second Moscow Cadet’s Corps that became the initial stage of his carrier in Russian army. Graduating The Cadet’s School, he entered Military school of Alexandrov and after graduation served as the first lieutenant in Dnepropetrovsk Infantry Regiment. He was serving there till the age of 24, and namely this period gave Kuprin material and experience for his future writings.

Leaving the army, he acquainted with Ivan Bunin, and being inspired by him, he began his carrier as a writer. He worked as a journalist in the magazine “Journal for everybody” and as editor in the magazine “Zemlya” which was for village settlers. Not satisfied with the new regime of Bolsheviks, he leaves for Finland after which he moves to France. But having serious financial problems her returns in Russia in 1937, where he passed away in 1938.

Alexander Kuprin’s story “The Duel” was published in 1905 and depicts the condition of Russian army of this period. The main idea of the work is to describe how army life looks like, how it affects people’s life and how people change under its pressure. The generalized idea of the writhing is contemporary life in the whole Russia and author’s emergent call to change situation as soon as possible, or in other way, people will lose their human face and sensibility.

Kuprin’s style is extremely natural. He picks up the slang and argot that is peculiar to his subject and describes everything with zest and colour and with a goodness of heart that compensates for any shortcomings he may have in originality or intellectual depth²⁷.

His style combined stark realism with romantic and even sentimental ideas. Leo Tolstoy admired Kuprin, and in the years before World War I Kuprin's short stories were nearly as popular as those of Anton Chekhov²⁸.
2.2. The work “The Duel”: main idea and characters

In 1904 Kuprin started working on The Duel. This novel, conceived in his second year in the army, and commenting on the "horror and tedium of army life," was published on 3 May 1905. The creation of this novel was a cathartic experience for Kuprin. "I must free myself from the heavy burden of impressions accumulated by my years of military service. I will call this novel The Duel, because it will be my duel ... with the tsarist army. The army cripples the soul, destroys all a man's finest impulses, and debases human dignity... I have to write about all I have known and seen. And with my novel I shall challenge the tsarist army to a duel," he informed his wife in a letter²⁹.

The Duel became the literary sensation of the year in Russia. In 1905 some 45.5 thousand copies were sold, a vast number for the early 1900s. The controversy this novel caused continued until 1917. Critics of the left welcomed The Duel as "another nail in the coffin of autocracy," while their conservative counterparts condemned it as "perfidious assault on the ruling order." One officer even challenged Kuprin to a duel through a Petersburg paper, while a group of twenty officers sent Kuprin a letter in 1905, expressing their gratitude. The Duel, according to Luker, marked "the summit of Kuprin's career... assuring him immortality in the annals of Russian literature."³⁰

The central idea of the narration is a life style in Russian army: how higher officer push around those who lower during the day, and heavy drinking and promiscuity in the evening. Through the main characters – Yuriy Romashov, Vasiliy Nazansky, captain Sliva, the Nikolayevs – author shows what army is: captain Sliva and Vladimir Nikolayev with his wife Shurochka are considered to be the product of army – without any emotions, senses and cruel sometimes even not smart units of that reality; V. Nazansky is the “prophet” in that world, he had understood long ago that those who enter the army got nothing but dying mentally, and he says that it is impossible to leave the army, as the military are not adapting for anything more than serving the army, so even if they leave the army they will die in the outer world, as many others who wanted to escape – this is the real understanding of the army reality that he retells to Romashov, who is still “alive”; Yuriy Romashov is depiction of the author himself – he is kind, romantic, intelligent, honest and earnest, in other words, among many others he is morally alive, and he, as Nazansky, also understand the impossibility of leaving army. Another central character, who plays the most important role in the story is Shurochka – V. Nikolayev’s wife. She depicts hypocrisy and two-faced nature of those people who could adopt to army rules and life style. She leads the main hero – Romashov, to death, and in this death the author sees the real exit from the army for Romashov.

Romashov Georgiy Alexeevich is the main hero of the story. He is a young officer, who has been serving for almost 2 years. It is really hard for him to adopt with this rough reality of army. He is romantic, kind and a bit shy, he is not in the rows of those who can rebuild his nature for the rules dictated by army, but still, author wanted to depict him as a person in whom the weakness of spirit combines with the strength of will. Shurochka blames him for being so weak, as she put “a great name” and a status inn society higher all other things. That is why being with her, she always fell himself as if he is tiny. Deep in his soul he was romantic: he wrote novel and poems but was afraid to show it anybody. In his free time, he liked to dream about another life: he dreamed about brave deed. He has all gentle and kind feelings to Shurochka. At the beginning she does not show any reciprocal feelings, but later she says him that she also likes him, but dislike his softness and asks not to come to her house. Later, it will be crystal clear that only she is guilty in his death.

Shurochka, or Alexandra Petrovna Nikolayeva, is the woman whom Romashov loves. She is smart, intelligent, has a sense of beauty, and with all her soul she wants to leave army. The only way for this is to make her husband enter the Academy, but he is not talented and cannot pass an exam. Although Shurochka seems to stand alone and independently on the whole line of the narration, in the end namely she seems the worst person, even in comparison with cruel officers. Because she, being in chase of her own desires, kills a friend.

Nikolayev Vladimir Yephimich is considered to be the dumb officer with meaningless eyesight. When he was young and promised high perspectives, he married Shurochka, but, unfortunately, did not lived up to her expectations. Being informed from anonymous mails that his wife and Romashov are together, he appoints the duel to Romashov, on which he (Romashov) is killed. In this character author generalized officer in army: those who could only perform tasks and was not able to think.

Nazansky Vasiliy Nilich is “a prophet” from the author’s words. Although he is not considered as a main hero, yet he plays an important role in the story. He describes the situation as it is to readers. He announces his findings bravely and has a lot of strength and talents, but, unfortunately, he cannot apply himself anywhere.

All characters supplement each other and help to show their good and bad sides. In this novel author wanted to show how a person may conflict with society, and if he or she is not strong enough, he or she will disappear. Here is also shown transformation of people: from living creatures to machines that know nothing except army. In this conflict Romashov lost, and Kuprin had to kill him as there were no another way to solve these problems or escape from this prison. The story “The Duel” is considered to be as a pearl of Russian and world treasury for its realistic and frank depiction of army reality which reflects the reality in Russia of that time³¹

2.3. The lexicological analysis of the translated passage

The lexicological analysis of the extract from the story represents practical value of the paper. There have been given several items according to which the analysis below done.

1. 
   Define the general choice of the vocabulary in connection with the style of the text and its language (formal, informal, neutral, literary, colloquial, etc.)
   

• 
  Text is written in semiformal style and for choice of the vocabulary in connection with the style of the text is used literary and familiar colloquial words
  

2. 
   Write out 5 longest of the text. Analyze their morphological structure root, no-root, free, bound, derivational and inflectional types of morphemes).
   

Words	Free root	Bound root	Derivational		Inflectional
			prefixes	suffixes
1. insurmountable	surmount	In-, -able	un –	-able	-
2. unconscious	conscience	Un-, -ious	Un-	- ious	-
3. understandable	understand	- able	-	-able	-
4. restoration	store	Re-, -tion	Re-	-tion	-
5. disconnected	connect	Dis-, -ed	Dis-	-ed	-

3. 
   Write out examples of simple, derived, compound and compound-derived stems.
   

Simple stems — job, picture, blood;

Derived stems — murderous, boredom, outlandish;

Compound stems — shellfire, motherland, headache;

Compound-derived stems – fast – beating.

4. 
   Write out words formed by affixation and comment on the types of affixes used (suffix, prefix, productive or non-productive, native, borrowed, etc).
   

1. 
   Disconnected – dis- - borrowed productive prefix; -ed – native productive suffix;
   
2. 
   outlandish – out- - productive native semi-affix; -ish - productive native suffix;
   
3. 
   fast-beating – -ing - productive native suffix.
   

5. 
   Find conversion in the text. Explain the difference in the meanings of converted pairs. Give your own version of converted pairs of the used words.
   

A need – to need

Noun: what someone wants to possess to have normal life

Verb: to want to have something, because without this thing nothing can done

A stream – to stream

noun: a natural flow of water

verb: to move in continuous direction

Pale – to pale

adjective: having color that is very white

verb: when someone becomes whiter than usual because of shock

6. 
   Write out compound words and define their types (coordinative, subordinative, motivated or motivated, etc.)
   

wide-spread – are subordinative motivated compounds

7. 
   Find shortenings, if there are any, comment on the type (abbreviations or clippings).
   

Tho’

8. 
   Find words formed by minor types of word-formation, such as blending, back formation, sound and stress interchange, etc.
   

sound interchange --------------- life – live; to breathe – breath

back formation ------------------ hazed is back derived from adjective hazy

There are not any words for stress interchange

9. 
   Write out 3 most polysemantic words, give their meanings and explain in which of their lexico-semantic variants it is used in the text.
   

Way

1. 
   Method;
   

2. Manner;

3. Direction/path;

… and he continued his way…

4. Part of something that is true;

5. Time;

6. The space in front of you;

7. State;

8. Condition;

9. Fact;

10. Behavior;

11. Development;

12. Choices/possibilities.
Interest

1. Curiosity;

2. Activity;

… have no other interest…

3. A quality or feature;

4. Money (bank rate);

5. Something advantageous one possesses;

6. Own shares in a company as a co-owner;

7. A group of people in a business that shares aims.
Stream

1. 
   Small river;
   
2. 
   Continuous series;
   

…stream of thoughts…

3. Flow of water/air;

4. Start point of the work;

5. School.

10. 
    Find cases of metaphoric or metonymic transference of words, analyse the result of the semantic change.
    

Motherland – used metonymically: huge responsibility

11. 
    Write out synonyms from the text and indicate the difference between them (ideographic or stylistic synonyms; contextual synonyms, synonymic dominant).
    

to answer – to reply – to respond --------- ideographic synonyms;

tedious – boring ---------- stylistic synonyms;

enemy – contestant ------------contextual synonyms;

shoot – blast ---------- absolute synonyms.

12. 
    Write out antonyms from the text, give their classification (contraries, contradictories, root and derivational antonyms)
    

life – death --------------- contradictories

inside – outside ---------- contradictories

vivid – dark ---------- contraries

13. 
    Write out homonyms from the text, give their classification (homophones, homographs, grammatical and lexico-grammatical homonyms, paronyms, etc).
    

no – know ---- homophones

14. 
    Write out words belonging to other semantic and functional types such as neologisms, archaisms, nonce-words, euphemisms, borrowings, internationalisms, etc,
    

Tradition ------------ internationalism

Triumph ------------ borrowed from Latin

Batman ------------- archaism

15. 
    Write out set expressions from the text, give their classification (fusion, unities, collocations, idioms, etc.). Write out proverbs and sayings from the text, if any, and explain their function.
    

to have something on brain --------- collocation

to stand one’s ground ---------------- phraseme

2.4. Activities based on the translated extract from “The Duel”

Following exercises are provided, so that one would be able to understand the conception of lexical fields. There will be instructions according to which tasks must be completed. Materials for task are taken from the work of A. I. Kuprin “The Duel”.

After the theoretical part of the course paper is read, and one has already acquainted with the translated extract from the novel “The Duel” written by Alexander Kuprin in 1905, he has to work with the exercises represented below. Exercises are completely based to the theory of the work and has clear instructions of how they must be done. When one completes the exercises related to the translation of the story, he should write notes related to the topic and exercises based on them, whether they are satisfactory or not. These activities are designed for checking the level of comprehension of what semantic field is. Hence, in such a way, this approach helps to identify the level of both theoretical and practical value of the paper.
Exercise 1

Read the following extract and find the synonyms to the highlighted words with the common concept, so the lexical field would be formed.

“A tremendous battle field, cadavers, grenades, blood, death! This is the final battle that will define the destiny of the whole campaign. The last reserves are coming and waiting in the enemy rear when the turning Russian column shows up”.

Exercise 2

Read the following extract and find the synonyms to the highlighted words with stylistic or emotional coloring.

“If only they could last one or two minutes more – and the victory would be wrested from the contestant. But the Colonel Shulgovich is in disarray; he is brave – that is indisputably, but his nerves cannot stand this terror. He is closing his eyes, shuddering, paling…”.