Lexico-semantic Field of the Concept “Sense” in the Works of Sherwood Anderson and Iris Murdoch

A system of knowledge about the world is constantly developing due to receiving the significant amount of information emerging in the general concepts. Concepts are certain ideas that exist in the brain. It is important to pay attention to the “metaphor of iceberg” in order to understand concepts. According to this theory the language is only the "tip of the iceberg" (small visible part) and "under water" there are the cognitive processes involved in the formation of a language.

The topicality of study is stipulated by the necessity to analyze the verbalization of the concept “sense” in the form of lexico-semantic field in the sphere of cognitive linguistics. It allows us to define the semantics and the implication of the lexemes. According to Z.D. Popova, the lexico-semantic field has the special structure. It consists of the nucleus and the periphery (the closest, the farthest)

Modern linguists have identified two types of concepts: the cognitive concept and the concept of a literary text. Concept of a literary text is understood as the verbalized in fiction significant mental unit of the individual view of the author, which represents the common knowledge and reflects the subjective perception of the author's understanding of the reality.

The great significance in cognitive linguistics stems from the theory of conceptual metaphor by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. The conceptual metaphors in fiction can be considered as a basic mental operation based on the figurative expression of concepts.Conceptual metaphors can also be used as a stylistic device which is filled with the new content of the text.

Our research involves the study of the concept “sense” in the works of fiction. Short stories by Sherwood Anderson and novels by Iris Murdoch served as the material for our research.

Perception of the reality is very similar in the works of both writers. Considering the inner world of man, they both describe it as a fragmented, there being a constant struggle between reason and feeling. This struggle really emphasizes the tragedy of the reality of the 20th century. This tragedy, I am afraid, has gone over to the 21 century.

Having conducted this research, we determined that the nucleus of the concept “sense” in the view of the authors has a dual nature and relatively equal verbalization in the text.

Nuclear lexemes will be:

1) feeling and its synonyms — emotion, impression, spirit, an air of smth;

2) mind and its synonyms — thought, notion, matter, reason.

However, the border between them is relative and nuclear lexemes can interpenetrate.

Sherwood Anderson and Iris Murdoch portray their characters overwhelmed with feelings and emotions. But they are not capable of self-expression. Sometimes the inner condition of the heroes is reflected through the verbalized description of their actions and appearance.

This fact allowed us to identify 3 main elements of the closest periphery zone of the concept.

1) physical reflection of feelings;

2) degree of expression;

3) the cognition of reality.

The structure of the farthest periphery of the concept “sense” is the author’s individual perception, which is expressed in the text and can be interpreted and analyzed only through the context. It is formed by the conceptual metaphor. So, there are examples of the conceptual metaphor in the text:

· Senses (feelings) — “seasons of wishing”.

· Senses (feelings) — “seeds of something very fine”.

· “Ghostly band of senses”

· “The sea of senses”

It should be noted that exactly the context determines the dual nature of the concept "sense" and discovers the interpenetration of nuclear elements. This phenomenon can be observed clearly in the stories of Sherwood Anderson.

· “For years he had been beset by the notions concerning his heart”.

· “There must be a reason for the strange activity of the feelings”.

· “When he could not shook off the illusion his mind give it a professional twist”.

Thus, while distributing the lexemes to the nucleus and peripheral areas we have taken into consideration the integral meaning, the additional connotations and stylistic limitations

.

Lexemes that are characterized by the minimal dependence on the context and the lack of stylistic connotations were assigned to the nucleus of the lexic--semantic field of the concept “sense .

Units that have additional shades of meaning were related to the closest periphery .

To the farthest periphery were related polysemantic, stylistically limited in use, linguistic units — cases of the conceptual metaphor.