GERMAN PEDAGOGICAL TERMINOLOGY: SEMANTICS AND STRUCTURE

Abstract

Purpose. The article deals with the semantic and structural peculiarities of the pedagogical term field. The purpose of the study is thesaurus modeling of the domain terminology and semantic analysis of the terminology of modern German pedagogy on the basis of a continuous selection of pedagogical dictionaries, reference books and thesauri.

Methods. The development of a comprehensive methodology for thesaurus modeling involves three steps: modeling special knowledge in the form of ontology as a domain model; modeling of terminology in the form of a terminological field as a unified system-based multilevel classification structure integrating terms of the sphere of homogeneous professional activity; modeling a thesaurus, which is both a model of metamorphic science and a model of the structure of the relevant field of knowledge. In general, thesaurus modeling gives an idea of the semantic space of a language and of its systemic relations.

Results. The component analysis of the definitions’ corpus allowed us to establish equivalent, hierarchical and associative relationships between the title term of the dictionary article and other terminological units within the semantic field. The created thesaurus is a static model of logical-conceptual relations bet ween the terms of pedagogical metalanguage. The most significant part of terms is covered by paradigmatic semantic relations such as genus – species, synonymy, part – whole, correlates. The semantic features of terminological vocabulary are defined, pedagogical terms are separated and systematized according to thematic rows.

Conclusions. The method of thesaurus modeling of German pedagogical terminology is effective in solving the problems of formalizing the semantics of fuzzy terminological objects, their systematization and unification. This is especially important in the development of educational information thesauruses, which serve as a linguistic tool for forming the professional competence of the future teacher. The systematization of pedagogical terms by thematic series, combined by a common orientation, allows to compare these terms, to see the specifics of each, which opens additional opportunities for practical use of the meaning of each term in the educational process.