Componential analysis is a method typical of structural semantics which analyzes the components of a word's meaning.
Thus, it reveals the culturally important features by which speakers of the language distinguish different words in a semantic field or domain (Ottenheimer, 2006, p. 20).
Structural semantics and the componential analysis were patterned on the phonological methods of the Prague School, which described sounds by determining the absence and presence of features.
On one hand, componential analysis gave birth to various models in generative semantics, lexical field theory and transformational grammar.
On the other hand, its shortcoming were also visible: As a consequence, entirely different ways to describe meaning were developed, such as prototype semantics.