Ein Blick auf die Forschungsgeschichte und Methodik der Wortfelduntersuchungen

The present study makes an attempt to outline the continuity of the research into word fields, pointing out its six stages and highlighting the significance of this topical issue. Since an onomasiologic collection of verbal components of word fields allows no insight into the meaning structures of the verbs in either languages, and in an effort to explore new ways of their adequate analysis, the paper is therefore trying to provide an overview of and demonstrate how modern theories of word semantics such as componential analysis and the prototype theory contribute to the further development of word field theory. I illustrate the findings of my research by using the verbal word field components 'Geschehen'/'happening'. I elaborate on the definitions of word fields, notion circle and happening, and I also touch upon the working methods employed in the course of the interlingual analysis of German and Hungarian verbs, which is then followed by an interligual semantic analysis. The use of word fields in language learning and in lexicographical research is a pivotal issue if one looks into the topic. In the case of the latter one, I point out the necessity to compile a German-Hungarian, Hungarian-German dictionary of verbal word fields