МНОГОУРОВНЕВАЯ СТРУКТУРА ПОЛИСЕМАНТА: ИНВАРИАНТНО-КЛАСТЕРНЫЙ АНАЛИЗ

Abstract

Within the framework of the article, we have come up with a hypothesis of a polysemous word integrity as a multilevel structure, which is ensured by the dominant lexical invariant meaning. The analysis of the English polysemous word “key” is presented with the use of the empirical invariant-component method. Metaphorical clusters of meanings of this word and its lexical invariant are defined as a set of basic dominant components that form the semantic core of the word. The reasons for the ambiguity of the boundaries of the lexical meaning are substantiated, the patterns of schematization of the meanings of the word “key” are revealed. The use of lexical invariants can be useful for didactic purposes when using them as an alternative to memorizing lists of polysemous word meanings. The proposed method can be useful when compiling educational dictionaries. The representation of the semantic structure of words in the form of lexical invariants has a number of advantages over the “list theory”, it can significantly complement the theory of “general meaning”.