POLYSEMY IN THE STRUCTURE OF THE SEMANTIC FIELD: A PROTOTYPE-BASED ANALYSIS OF THE CONCEPT “MOTHER”

Аннотация

This paper examines polysemy as one of the fundamental semantic relations within the structure of the semantic field from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. The study focuses on radial and chain models of polysemy as described in the works of Yu. D. Apresyan and I. M. Kobozeva. Special attention is given to George Lakoff’s prototype theory and his interpretation of the concept “mother” as a radial category. The paper also considers Anna Wierzbicka’s critical approach, emphasizing the existence of a universal semantic core. The analysis demonstrates that polysemy should be interpreted through an integrated model combining both prototype-based and hierarchical principles.