MICROFIELD "MENTAL TRAITS OF HUMAN CHARACTER" IN THE STRUCTURE OF THE LEXICO-SEMANTIC FIELD "HUMAN CHARACTER TRAITS" IN THE UKRAINIAN AND GERMAN LANGUAGES

Abstract

In modern linguistics, more and more attention is paid to comparative studies of vocabulary, and the main subject of research is allomorphic and isomorphic characteristics of the compared languages. Given the principle of systematicity, comparing isolated lexemes cannot be productive. Since the meaning of a word is determined to a certain extent by its place in the lexical-semantic system, paradigmatic associations should be matched. By the term ‘microfield’ we understand a set of language units that are united by a common content and reflect the conceptual (cognitive), substantive or functional similarity of the phenomena denoted by them. Microfields are divided into lexical-semantic groups. The analysis at the level of LSG allows to more fully determine the complexity of the semantic structure of a word and to reveal systematicity in the organization of vocabulary material of the language. The article describes the differential and integral features of the microfield ‘Mental traits of a person’s character’ of the lexical-semantic field ‘Character traits of a person’ in the Ukrainian and German languages. This microfield in both languages includes lexical units with the common semantic feature ‘Mental traits of human character’, containing the specific differential seme ‘rationality’. The basis of the comparison are semes ‘man’s ability to think’, ‘the ability to reflect and learn objective reality’, ‘the ability to think well and quickly’, ‘the ability to find a way out of any situation’, ‘the presence of versatile knowledge’, ‘the presence of life experience’, which set a single background against which the features of each of the compared languages stand out. The microfield ‘Mental traits of character’ in both languages consists of the following lexical-semantic groups: 1. Lexical units that denote the characteristics of a person by the ability/inability to think; 2. Lexical units that indicate the ability to ingenuity, the ability to find a way out of any situation; 3. Lexical units that denote the ability to know and reflect objective reality; 4. Lexical units to indicate the characteristics of a person according to the presence/absence of life experience; 5. Lexical units to indicate the characteristics of a person by education.