Sposoby wyrażania śmierci w inskrypcjach nagrobnych ze Starego Cmentarza w Zakopanem

Abstrakt

MEANS OF EXPRESSING DEATH IN GRAVESTONE INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE OLD CEMETERY IN ZAKOPANE

The article investigates linguistic and extralinguistic means of notifying of death through gravestone inscriptions in Zakopane. The analysis of 595 inscriptions from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries allowed us to establish that the repertoire of linguistic means of signalling death is much more differentiated than the extralinguistic one. Linguistic measures include: 1. lexemes directly communicating death (e.g. verbs: to die, to commit suicide; participles: killed); 2. euphemistic expressions for death (death is metaphorically expressed as: rest, sleep, transformation in the world of flora, extinguished flame, journey, sacrifice); 3. date of death. Extralinguistic measures include: 1. ideograms in the form of an obelisk (dagger) †; 2. placing names in a certain context, in the burial area, at a cemetery gravestone. The analysis results were compared with results of studies of inscriptions from other cemeteries in Poland, which showed that the fundamental manner of speaking of death is constant, independent of place or time – discrepancies pertain to nuances only.