Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 June 2016
Because of a too liberal, often inadequate and/or arbitrary use of the term field, especially in semantics, modern semantic theory needs more than ever before a new field notion and a new field terminology. An attempt will be made to define a field notion based on what others have said about fields in semantics. With regard to terminology, I shall use the term axiological field, which appears in several of my earlier writings as well. “Axiology” is to be defined as a functional and structural approach to meaning which stands to semantics as phonology stands to phonetics. It is about values (“axiology”, a term coined by André Martinet, literally means ‘science of values’) as opposed to meanings, with values being to meanings what phonemes are to uttered sounds.