„Gesundheit/zdrowie” und „Krankheit/choroba” als kommunikativ semantisierte sprachliche Größen und Elemente des Systems der Kollektivsymbolik in Deutschland und Polen

Abstract

The article deals with the words Gesundheit/zdrowie and Krankheit/choroba as communicationally semanticized language units, which have been analyzed (among other words) in the framework of a broader study concerning collective symbolism in Germany and Poland. In the context of the current situation that is characterized by the COVID-19 pandemic, both issues appear prominently in communications, so their detailed analysis seems to be particularly interesting. How the semantics of this words is shaped from the perspective of respondents who are asked to characterize their meaning? Moreover, the question comes up if and how such topicalities are reflected in the outcomes (collected, however, just at the beginning of the pandemic), particularly in the semantic profiles. It turns out that an effect manifests itself, but it is only added to existing semantic constellations that have been stable over decades, without modifying them basically.