THE FORGET-ME-NOTS OF SEMANTIC ANALYSIS? FIELD THEORYIN CURRENT DIACHRONIC SEMANTICS

Анотація

Field theory, the birth of which was stimulated by the principles of structuralism, has been
present in linguistic research for more than 70 years. Yet, as with every innovation, Trier’s
[26] revolutionary ideas aroused much heated discussion among contemporary linguists. On
the one hand, the theory was developed further by Trier’s follower Weisgerber [29].
Simultaneously, there developed rival conceptions of fields, of which the best known –
proposed at the time of Trier’s work – were presented by Porzig [23] and Jolles [10]. It is
easily observable that any systematic study of semantic changes of the kind offered by
Kleparski [14], [15], [16], Grygiel [9], Kronenfeld and Rundblad [17] or Kiełtyka [12]
makes use – in one way or another – of field theory and its principles. The general tenet of
this paper is that the theory of fields – accompanied by more recent methods of linguistic
investigation – continues to be of much use to the students of semantic change.
Key words: field theory, historical linguistics, semantic change, polysemy, domain,
blending.