SEMANTIC ANALYSIS OF A UNIT (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE CONCEPT "HONOR")

Abstract

Operating with the content side of a word and establishing relationships between a word and other units is studied by such a branch of linguistics as semantics. Semantics denotes the relationship between signifiers and what they mean, deals with words and their meanings. Understanding the nature and essence of the semantic components of words affects the ability to convey meaning and understand various combinations of these meanings as elements of language. Semantic analysis of lexical units also makes it possible to outline the discursive nature and pragmatic potential of a word and determines how these possibilities are used and understood by subjects of speech. The purpose of this study is to study the semantic nature of the word “honor”. The scientific significance of the work lies in the fact that within the framework of the study, the content of the concept of “semantics” is clarified and a model of semantic analysis of a lexical unit is built. The concept of “honor” was chosen as the analyzed unit. The concept of “honor” as an important cultural phenomenon reveals a person’s value perception of himself and determines his behavior. It is interesting to trace due to what lexical characteristics this concept is filled with exactly this meaning. Semantic analysis was carried out at different levels: from working with categorical lexical meanings to identifying background information. The practical significance of the work is determined by the author’s analysis of the content of the word “honor” and an outline of its concept. Working with lexical compatibility and paradigmatic characteristics of the word allows us to highlight those connotations and that pragmatic information that is characteristic of the word “honor” in modern Russian-language discourse and contributes to the development of linguistic science. The research methodology includes the use of such general scientific techniques as comparison, analysis and synthesis, as well as questionnaire techniques to determine the semantic field of the word “honor”. It seems interesting to study the peculiarities of the functioning of this word in the modern linguistic picture of the world by analyzing the products of popular culture. The key results of the study were the following: clarification of the concept of “semantics”, determination of the semantic and discursive content of the unit “honor”, construction of a map of synonymous frequency of the studied unit, definition of the concept “honor” in modern linguistic consciousness.