The Lexico-Semantic Field Method in the Study of Gender Terminology

Abstract

Current trends in the development of of modern society determine the relevance of gender issues, including studies of gender terminology, referring fundamental and new concepts of the social activity of human society. The purpose of the article is a detailed component analysis of gender terms based on English-language articles, monographs, and publications on gender studies. The article describes the lexical and semantic features of gender terminology, highlights the advantages of the field method, analyzes the systemic relationships between language units. The following fields are highlighted: “gender stereotypes”, “human rights”, “gender identity” and “women's self-identification” and structural elements for each field are presented, including the core, center and periphery. The tendency to blur clear boundaries of the transition from the core to the periphery has been identified. Equivalent, hierarchical and associative relations inherent to gender terms are established.