STRUCTURAL PECULIARITIES OF THE ENGLISH LEXICAL SEMANTIC FIELD “GESTICULATION”

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the study of the structure of the lexical semantic field “gesticulation” in the explanatory dictionaries of the English language. The article deals with semiotic aspect of correlation of verbal and paraverbal codes in human communication. Verbalization of a kineme has been studied. In modern linguistics, one of the most common approaches to the study of vocabulary is the method of field modeling. Field theory indicates the systematic organization of the entire lexical system. The lexical-semantic field is characterized by a number of systemic features both in the synchronous aspect (the semantic correlation of lexemes, the presence of hyponyms and hyperonyms), and in the diachronic aspect (a certain set of repeatedly implemented motivational models, repeatability of word-formation models, repeatability of producing etymological nests generating field vocabulary). The research material was a selection of 5 dictionaries of modern English. All components of the specified field are in hypo-hyperonymic relationships with the key unit of the field, namely with the nomination gesture. Kineme is treated as a proto-sign, which semantic structure comprises three obligatory semantic knots, i. e. “what is moving”, “how it is moving”, “what for it is moving”. Lexicographically registered verbal kinemes constitute language lexico-semantic field “gesticulation”. The first two knots reflect the formal component of the protosign (gesture kinetics), and the third knot reflects the semantic component of the kineme (meaning of the gesture). Nuclear-peripheral structure of the field in the language subordinates to the semantic principle of hyper-hyponymical relations among its constituents. The prospect of further research is the analysis of the functioning of this lexical semantic field in the artistic discourse.