Semantik fester Wortverbindungen mit der Komponente Kreuz
Semantic Representation of Phrasemes Containing the Lexical Item Kreuz

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article was to analyze the semantic representation of German phrasemes containing the lexical item Kreuz, to determine their linguistic modality, form, and the communicated message. The conceptual apparatus of axiological linguistics was applied in the study to examine the relationship between phrasemes, values, and the qualification of values. The analyses of phraseological material revealed that the lexical item Kreuz functions mainly as a metaphor which, by making a reference to Biblical associations with the suffering and death of Christ, defines and expresses various life adversities and problems of human existence. This lexeme was also preserved in German phraseology in an anatomical sense (bottom of the spine, the sacrum), and as a representation of two perpendicular lines which denote conflict, strife, experience of defeat and criticism in a metaphorical sense in selected expressions. It was also found that German structures containing the lexical item Kreuz have an axiological potential by communicating judgment explicitly or implicitly. The normative axiological dimension has a clearly anthropocentric character, and it generally propounds negative judgment. The analyzed phrasemes have assertory or imperative modality, and the intensity of the axiological load is determined by, among others, the type of modality, the extent to which these phrasemes carry metaphorical meaning and have lexical connectivity. However, their axiological potential is represented mainly by the wide range of communicated meanings which are described in the Conclusions section.

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