Zur textlinguistischen Relevanz lexikalischer Einheiten

Abstract

Towards Text Linguistic Relevance of Lexical Units

The present paper deals with the question of German substantives like Unglück, Futchtbares etc., that can create connections within paragraphs, chapters of narrative texts. Such substantives have an important discourse function in establishing lexical cohesion as they signal cataphoric links. When used with determinative article (Das Unglück, das Furchtbare), such words are backward pointing, i.e. they denote anaphoric reference. Within sentences like Krieg ist etwas Furchtbares such lexical units lose their ability to create textual ties. The impossibility of linking is determined not through inherent meaning, but through syntagmatic meaning, the type of utterance and the type of discourse / text in which the utterance is embedded. Therefore, the meaning of lexical units and utterances is in accordance with features of the text into which they are composed; lexical and sentential structures are compatible with the structure of discourse / text.