Terminological field as a structural-semantic area of terms functioning

This article discusses the main approaches to the definition of the notion term and its properties. The main functions performed by the term are given: nominative, significative, communicative, pragmatic, heuristic, cognitive and others. The concepts of “terminological system” and “terminological field” are considered. The systemic and hierarchical structure of the terminological field as a kind of lexical semantic field are confirmed. Configurating terminological field is an advanced method of analyzing the lexical material of a certain field of science or human activity. The terminological field makes it possible to reveal the seme structure of the terms structuring the field and trace their relationship within a certain scientific field. The aim of this research is to study different methods of defining the terminological field, as well as the functional advantages of terminological field while studying the terminological layer of the science. During this research the following methods have been used: the method of compon-ential, etymological, and systemic analysis of phraseologisms, the method of field language structure as well as the method of analysis of phraseosemantic fields which was offered by N.G. Dolgikh. The results of the research can be in use in the work of linguistic and pedagogical faculties, while learning various language subjects, for preparing student books in language colleges and universities as well as while analyzing the terminological apparatus of a definite science area.