field (n.)

A term used in SEMANTICS to refer to the vocabulary of a LANGUAGE viewed as a SYSTEM of interrelated LEXICAL networks, and not as an inventory of independent ITEMS. The theory of semantic fields (field theory) was developed in Europe in the 1930s (especially by Jost Trier (1894–1970), and later Johann Leo Weisgerber (1899–1985)). Conceptual fields (e.g. color, kinship) are isolated, and the lexical items used to refer to the various features of these fields are analyzed in terms of a network of SENSE relations. This network constitutes the lexical STRUCTURE of the semantic (or ‘lexical’) field. Several interpretations of this notion can be found in the semantics literature of the period.

In HALLIDAYAN linguistics, field of discourse (or simply, field) refers to a classification of REGISTERS in terms of subject-matter, e.g. the ‘fields’ of chemistry, religion, advertising.

The usual sense of the term fieldwork (or field study) is also used in LINGUISTICS referring to the principles and procedures of obtaining linguistic DATA from INFORMANTS, especially in their home environment.

In TAGMEMICS, field refers to the analysis of linguistic UNITS in terms of their DISTRIBUTION – as distinct from their status as PARTICLES (physically DISCRETE items) or WAVES (their VARIANT forms).