Social and Temporal Dimensions in Icelandic Obituarial Discourse

Abstract

Icelandic obituarial discourse negotiates public and private domains and employs expressions of past, present, and future to create "remembrances" of particular individuals. Detailed analysis of the discourse context in which the obituaries are set and of the expressive mechanisms that characterize the obituarial writings in general gives a concise view of the social and temporal dimensions of this form of Icelandic historical expression.

The Pragmatics of Obituary Notices in Malawian Newspapers

“…All this information is clearly encoded in both the linguistic and structural features of these announcements. Koester's (1995) work on Icelandic obituarial discourse also confirms the notion of obituaries as a distinct discourse type. Following Bakhtin's (1986:63) assertion that "to fail to consider the peculiarities of generic subcategories of speech in any area of linguistic study leads to perfunctoriness and excessive abstractness, distorts the historicity of research, and weakens the link between language and life", Koester (1995:161) draws a distinction between genre and discourse type in order to characterize the peculiarities of obituarial discourse.…”

“…While a genre is a compositional, intertextual creative resource (also see Briggs and Bauman 1992) discourse type, in which obituaries fit, it is "a recognizable form of communication that has semiotic value within a system of types of communication" (Koester 1995:161). Koester (1995) further uses Gasparov's (1977) typology of discourse types as a basis for analyzing obituaries. Gasparov, using two fundamental features of communication, the addresser and addressee, distinguishes between three types of discourseofficial, practical, and literary.…”

“…Gasparov's (1977) notion of discourse types has been expanded in various ways by various scholars. Koester (1995), for instance, adds commercial and journalistic discourse types to account for the discourse types that are often encountered in the mass media in western societies. Clark's (1996) notion of settings of language use also captures and expands this typology of discourse.…”

“…The name of the deceased is absolutely obligatory in obituary notices in Malawi and the other countries identified above (Fries 1990b, Nwoye 1992, Koester 1995. The name is usually written above the obituary message but below the photograph.…”

“…This clearly contrasts with Nigerian, English, German, and to a certain extent, Icelandic obituary notices which are principally addressed to the newspaper reading public informing them that death has occurred and setting out other details such as burial arrangements, or remembrance prayers and so on. Although Icelandic obituaries (see Koester 1995) are generally addressed to the reading public, they contain elements that are addressed to the deceased such as expressions of gratitude and farewell.…”