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

The list of used literature provides with information about sources which were used during the process of investigation of this course paper.

CHAPTER I. LEXICAL FIELDS AS A SUBJECT OF LINGUISTIC STUDY
1.1. The notion of lexical fields. Lexical field theory

Linguistics is a study of a language. A language is a hierarchy, a system of units and rules according to which these units can combine. The system of any language includes several levels: phonetic, morphemic, lexical and syntactical⁶. The lexical level is considered to be the central level of language as words are made up of phonemes and morphemes and at the same time they themselves make up bigger units of speech - sentences and texts.

Lexicology is a branch of linguistics, the science of language. The term Lexicology is composed of two Greek morphemes: lexis meaning “word, phrase” and logos, which denotes “learning, a department of knowledge”⁷. Lexicology deals with all vocabulary units of the language, thus, the lexical level is considered to be the central level of a language as words are made up of phonemes and morphemes and at the same time they themselves make up bigger units of speech – sentences, which at the same time create texts.

Vocabulary of any language is huge and its units must be classified according to some principles. The concept of “field”, which is considered to unite words into a system according to their meaning and through these systems shows their interdependence, was introduced by I.A. Boduen de Kurtene and F. de Saussure in XX century⁸.

However, field approach always was a very arguable topic of all times, since it appeared, and different scholars and researchers understand it differently.

The promoters of this direction in the study of language were G. Ipsen and J. Trier, who were German scientists. At the first time the term “semantic field” was noticed in the work of G. Ipsen where he investigated similarities and differences between German language and other languages of Indo-European family, where the notion “semantic field” was described as the collection of words, possessing the same meaning.

Lexical field theory, or word-field theory, was introduced on March 12, 1931 by the German linguist Jost Trier. He argued that words acquired their meaning through their relationships to other words within the same word-field. An extension of the sense of one word narrows the meaning of neighboring words, with the words in a field fitting neatly together like a mosaic. If a single word undergoes a semantic change, then the whole structure of the lexical field changes. The lexical field is often used in English to describe terms further with use of different words. Trier's theory assumes that lexical fields are easily definable closed sets, with no overlapping meanings or gaps. These assumptions have been questioned and the theory has been modified since its original formulation⁹.

J. Trier’s conception was very popular abroad. Trier believed that the language of a certain period is a stable and relatively completed system, where words possess meanings not independently, but because other words, closely-spaced with former ones, possess them as well. Trier’s merit is regarded to be the core idea of the terms of “lexical field”, divided into elementary items – concepts. He also introduced these terms into linguistic use. The fields of this kind are decided to be called as paradigmatic fields.

Another scholar, O. Dukhachek believed that division in semantic fields must be done if only it is based on their semantical structure. This fact made it possible for him to establish the two main types of linguistic fields: verbal linguistic fields, a centre of which is a word, and conceptual linguistic fields, where words are linked by the fact, that they contain one common meaning (elementary fields) and some close meanings (complex fields) in their semantics.

Verbal fields are divided by O. Dukhachek into morphological, syntactical (syntagmatic) and associative, hence, words were sorted among semantic fields according to their inner structure: identical suffixes, prefixes, inflections common in form.

German scientist L. Weisgerber, considered the concept of field as the assembly of structural models of sentences, joined by semantic task community. Thus, all models, by means of which imperative is expressed, are included into the field of imperative sentences: “Go!” – imperative mood; “Let’s go!” – inverted form; “Stand up!” – infinitive; “You are going home immediately” – declarative sentence; “Will you stop at last?” – interrogative sentence; “ “You shouldn’t cry in this way” – some modal verbs¹⁰.

Hence, The lexical field studies the morphology of words, or their shape, form, and construction. When we put together a lexical web, we are relating words that are similar in formation probably because they are also similar in linguistic origins. Hence, when these kinds of lexemes are put together they should have the same structure, and form.¹¹

There is the third approach to understanding what semantic, or lexical, field is, and it is called functional-system approach. The advantage of functional-system approach is in the fact, that it enables to sort words not according their inner structure, but in the sphere of its functioning, connections with the environment. Such approach gives the opportunity to study language in its concrete realization, in action, research means of transporting extra-linguistic phenomena and situations. Functional-system approach suits natural facilities of conversation as well, when different linguistic means are used in their inextricable connection¹².

Functional-semantic field is a concrete linguistic two-side unity, which plane of content includes semantic elements in this language interpretation. In the base of each functional-semantic field there is some certain semantic category, representing semantic invariant, uniting dissimilar language means and stipulating their correlation¹³.

In other words, this definition of the lexical fields is based on the conception that lexical fields are represented by words which affect other words in a sentence. For example, the presence of a certain word can change the whole meaning of another word in a radical sense. However, within the context of a sentence, that word can have a different meaning altogether, because the lexical range changes it¹⁴.

According to the information given above, it will be fair to conclude that:

– there are different approaches to sorting words among fields;

– the term of “linguistic field” contains the idea of grouping of dissimilar linguistic means;

– the features of elements connection and interdependence are the most important inner qualities, and it is based on functional-system approach.