Crespo Fernández, Eliecer
Linguistic devices coping with death in Victorian obituaries
CRESPO FERNÁNDEZ, Eliecer. “Linguistic devices coping with death in Victorian obituaries”. Revista alicantina de estudios ingleses. No. 20 (Nov. 2007). ISSN 0214-4808, pp. 7-21
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10045/6367
DOI: 10.14198/raei.2007.20.01
ISSN: 0214-4808
Abstract: 
Given that obituaries constitute a breeding ground for the proliferation of
different means of coping with death, it is my purpose in this paper to provide
an overview of the main linguistic devices used in a sample of Irish Victorian
death notices and analyse to what extent such devices have a social purpose. In
this regard, I consider the obituary as a socially oriented practice whose main
function is carried out via a wide range of praising and consolatory devices,
such as metaphors, metonymies, hyperboles or mitigating apology expressions,
among others. The results obtained support the idea that obituaries go beyond
the limits of a mere announcement of a death and faithfully represent the social
attitude and conventions towards mortality. In fact, nineteenth-century death
notices primarily served a social purpose, acting as a medium through which
families could demonstrate their place in society, being the degree of linguistic
elaboration parallel to the social status of the deceased.
Keywords:Obituarios, Muerte, Estrategias lingüísticas, Metáfora, Metonimia, Hipérbole, Sociedad victoriana, Irlanda, Siglo XIX
Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Filología Inglesa
info:eu-repo/semantics/article