Zur sprachlichen Konstruktion des Todes: Historische Grabinschriften vom Rakowicki-Friedhof in Krakau

Abstract

The death and dying play an important role in the development of all cultures and the conceptual patterns expressing our attitude to death reflect central values realized in the particular language and culture community. In the paper, we analyse the language construal of death in historic grave inscriptions from the Rakowicki Cemetery in Cracow. The focus of the analysis lies on the question, up to which point the choice of linguistic means corresponds with cultural patterns constituting the concept of death in the collective consciousness.

Keywords

• language of death
• grave inscriptions
• metaphors of death
• language construal
• linguistic worldview