HEURISTIC ASPECT OF COGNITIVE PARADIGM IN LINGUISTICS (EXEMPLIFIED BY THE ENGLISH COMMON LEXIS AND GEOLOGICAL TERMS)

The author describes the modern linguistic paradigm as the cognitive-heuristic one. The heuristic character of lexical semantics is demonstrated by the English geological terminology that inherits the mental and lexical prototypes from common words. Heuristic functions of common lexis result from its polysemantic potential, which gains a new impulse in terminological lexis. The heuristic character of lexical semantics as the object of linguistic studies requires its heuristic understanding.