Faculty of translation theoretical phonetics

Different status

In a semantic field, not all semantic elements necessarily have the same status. For example, the words blue, red, yellow. green. black, purple, indigo, royal blue, aqua and cyan belong to the field colour.
However, the former are more commonly used. These are considered less marked members of the semantic field, and they are often easier to learn and remember. In fact, children learn the term blue first before they do indigo, royal blue, or aqua.
Often times, a less marked word consists of a single morpheme (blue, for example), in contrast to the more marked words (royal blue).
In fact, the least marked member cannot be described using the name of another member. So, you can say Cyan is a type of blue. But the opposite is not feasible

( *Blue is a type of cyan).

Also, the less marked items tend to be used more frequently than the stronger terms. For example, the word blue occurs much more frequently in conversation and writing than aquamarine or royal blue.

1.3.Types of the semantic field

Open

Within the open semantic fields are included those whose number of words is infinite or indeterminate. An example of this would be the types of food (pasta, tamales, fast food, salads, cakes, soups, stews, fried foods ...).

Closed

In very specific cases, the number of words that could belong to a certain semantic field is finite. Such is the case of the days of the week, the zodiacal signs or the seas of the world.

Graduates

In some cases, the words that make up a semantic field are encompassed in two extremes. This is the case for the entire range of words that are between big Y little or between bad Y good (as medium or regular, respectively).

Associative

A semantic field can be made up of words related to a concept. This is the criterion used by ideological dictionaries, very popular during the 19th and much of the 20th centuries.

In this way, an idea or concept is related to a series of broader terms (categories, general ideas) or more specific. So, for example, the words curtain and decorator belong to the same semantic field by association.