Lexical field theory
Encyclopedia
Lexical field theory, or word-field theory, was introduced on March 12, 1931 by the German linguist Jost Trier
. Trier 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 neighbouring 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.
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 formulation.
Jost Trier
Jost Trier was a German Germanic linguist .He taught as a professor at Münster University .In 1968 he was awarded the Konrad-Duden-Preis.-Literary works:...
. Trier 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 neighbouring words, with the words in a field fitting neatly together like a mosaic. If a single word undergoes a semantic change
Semantic change
Semantic change, also known as semantic shift or semantic progression describes the evolution of word usage — usually to the point that the modern meaning is radically different from the original usage. In diachronic linguistics, semantic change is a change in one of the meanings of a word...
, then the whole structure of the lexical field changes.
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 formulation.