2.2.
Semantic relations in synonymy and hyponomy.
We know that linguitics studies and researches language according to its
branches. This branches are considered more important in investigating its features
and pecularities of the language. These branches are phonology, semantics, syntax,
morphology, pragmatics, phonetics, sociolinguistics and so on.
In linguistics, semantics is the subflied that studies meaning of the word.
Semantics can address meaning at the levels of meaningful units, vocabularies,
phrases or idioms, sentences, or large units of discourse. Two of the fundamental
issues in the semantic sphere are that compositional semantics (which pertains on
how smaller parts, like words, combine and interact to form the meaning of larger
expressions, such as sentences) and lexical semantics (the nature of the maening of
words). Other prominent issues are those of context and its role on interpretation
opaque contexts, ambiguity, vagueness, entailment and presuppositions. Several
disciplines and approches to linguistics semantics is that of the relationship
between form and meaning.
The semantic level of language interacts with other
modules or levels (like syntax) in which language is traditionally divided.
In a rapidly changing and developed world, English language plays a very
important role in almost every field of modern world. It is an extremely vital
means in communication. In the long history of English language, it has developed
its individual uniqueness and has been widely used in most nations. Thus, itthis
language has become a true global language. At present, about 25 million people
are learning English in Uzbekistan, and there are still more and more people
joining the group of English learners for online or offline course. The number of
English learners is rapidly increasing. It is well known that vocabulary is of vital
importance in language study because it is the essence of a language. Linguist D.
A. Wilkins has the famous line “Without grammar very little can be conveyed,
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without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.” Truly, without vocabulary, there
will be no sentence, no text and no language.
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So that we should take into
consideration that vocabulary is central to language and of crucial importance to
the common language learner.When it comes to its development, English has
gathered a considerable glossary which contains over a million words. However,
most of these words are not widely used by speakers; many of them are even
forgotten or solely banished. The English vocabulary that can be used in daily life
is about twenty thousand, which to most English learners is still a large number to
remember. In order to learn English more efficiently benificial and gain a
vocabulary that can meet the needs of normal communication, we should adopt an
effective way to remember English words. Semantic field theory plays a
surprisingly big part in learning English vocabulary effectively and systematically.
In recent years, more and more linguistic researchers start to pay close attention to
the importance of semantic field theory for developing the language abilities and
efficiency. Students find it difficult to remember all the English words at the same
time because some words look very alike, such as considerate and considerable,
temptation and temporary, geology and geometry, etc. Since semantic field theory
studies the relationship between a series of words in a certain group, appropriate
use of semantic field theory will make English vocabulary learning much easier.
Before componential analysis emerged as a first concrete approach to
describe word meaning, linguists distinguished and analyzed “semantic fields”,
that is, groups of words of which meanings are closely interrelated. Originally,
“field” is a concept applied in physics which describes the layout condition of a
certain object, such as electric field, magnetic field and gravitational field, which
separately shows the layout principles of electricity, magnesium and gravity in a
certain space. This concept was later applied into linguistics to describe the inter-
relationship between different words. Gradually, it turned into a new linguistic
approach called semantic field theory. The study of semantic field theory is traced
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Wilkins, D. A. Linguistics in Language Teaching. London: Edward Arnold. 1972. - P.14
44
back to the very first idea of the founder of common linguistics, known as the
famous German linguist from the middle of 19th century, W. Humbodt. However,
linguists who proposed the idea of semantic field theory on a real sense were some
German and Swiss structuralism linguists from 1930s, such as Ipsen, Jolls, Porzig
and J. Trier. Among all these brilliant linguists, J. Trier’s idea is accepted most
widely. People believe that his idea has brought semantics to a new level.
Structuralist linguists abandoned the traditional research methods which are
considered as isolated. Instead, a new research approach which studies semantics
with relational and developmental viewpointsis widely accepted so as to focus on
the unity of language system and the influence of contextstowards senses.
What is semantic field theory exactly? The core of semantic field theory is to
analyze the relationship between genus and species of lexical study. It suggests that
the words of a language system are related with each other and they form a
complete lexical system. In this system, certain words could form a semantic field
under a common concept. For example, under the concept of stationery, pen,
eraser, pencil, ruler and etc. could form a semantic field. In this semantic field,
stationery represents the genus, or in other words, general concept; pen, eraser,
pencil, and ruler represent species, or specific concept. In short, semantic field is a
combination of a group of words that interact, dominate, distinguish and depend on
with each other.
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If we can try to explain with examples, under the concept of soil,
acid soil could form a semantic field. In this semantic fields, soil expressed the
natural entity, or in other words general semantic category; acid soil is considered
the hyponym represent substanse according to specific semantic category.
The semantic range of the combination is called the field range of the
semantic field. Semantic field can be also called lexical field or domain, which
refers to the combination of a bunch of words with interrelated meanings and
dominated under a same concept. It has two folds of meanings. Some words, from
a language, which were dominated under one certain concept, combined together
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Chunming Gao. Theory and Practice in Language Studies. Academy Publisher Manufactured in Finland. 2013.
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and formed a semantic field. This certain concept may be represented by a
superordinate, while the semantic field is formed from either hyponyms or
semantic features. For example, under the common concept of furniture, words like
table, closet, bed, bookshelf, couch, sofa, chairs, etc., could be gathered as a
semantic field. Another example, burgundy, purple, pink, green, yellow, blue,
orange, white and black, these words go to a common concept of color. On the
other hand, words that belong to the same semantic field are not only semantically
related, but also interact with each other. That is to say, when checking the
meaning of a word, the first step is to compare the semantic meaning of the other
words under the same semantic field.
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The collection of the words in a linguistic
system is semantically connected and establish a basis for a complete lexical
system. This system is always unsteady and altering continously. Since the words
of of the language collectively is semantically standing in connection, we are not
assume to study the semantic change of individual words in isolation, but to
analyse voacabulary as an integrated system. Also lexemes in a language is
interrelated in sense, we can only determine the connotation of a word by
analyzing and asses the similarities and differences its semantic relationship with
other words. We know that the word is maeningful only in its own semantic field.
In addition to this, the German scholar J.Trier’s theory about semantic field is
generally considered paradigmatic. It comes to terms with paradigmatic relations
between words such as hyponymy, synonymy and antonymy. This study follows
this classification.
Hyponymy is the most common branch of semantic field theory. It contains
all objects that belong to the same category. The most fundamental category is
dualistic, for example, paddy field and upland field, autorotation and revolution,
etc. Another category is diversified, for example, navy, marine, air force, etc.
Hyponymy can be multileveled, which means the basic level could be divided into
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Chunming Gao. Theory and Practice in Language Studies. Academy Publisher Manufactured in Finland. 2013.
Vol. 3, No. 11, -P. 2030-2035, doi:10.4304/tpls.3.11.2030-2035
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more specific levels, and even more specific ones. For instance, we could divide
animals into human being and birds and beasts, yet birds and beasts could be
further divided into birds, fishes, insects and mammals, etc. And the mammals
could also be specifically divided into pigs, dogs, cows, wolves and horses, etc.
And finally, for example, horses can be further divided into broncos, stallions,
ponies and so on. These divisions implicate the system of hyponymy, which is
basically the superordinate-hyponym semantic field, also called general terms and
specific terms. Take the example above for instance, if animals are the
superordinate, human being, birds and beasts will be the hyponyms. On the other
hand, if birds and beasts are taken as the superordinate, then birds, fishes, insects
and mammals will be the hyponyms. Hyponymy is featured as being relative. The
relativity of this semantic field has two-fold meanings. On the one hand, it means
that the superordinate-hyponym relations are not relative instead of absolute or
unchanged. Take an example as:
Flower
Rose Lily
Kashmir Samoural Red Mabel Sorbonne La Mancha
Rose rose rose Tulip
Triumph tulip Broken tulip
Lily flowered tulip
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