In the literature, extensive attention is given to the content, structure, and style of obituaries in newspapers. Analyses of the demise of colleagues in internal business communications are however nonexistent. This article discusses a bottom-up analysis of 150 obituaries published in Flemish staff magazines--obituaries that mostly focus on the deceased's career and professional qualities. Following analysis, the data were divided in obituaries that are continuous texts and obituaries with a letter format. The differences between the two types lie at different levels: format, content, structure, and language use. Obituaries with a letter format are characterized and determined by three paradoxes: the sender-receiver paradox, life-death paradox, and happiness-sadness paradox.

Linguistic analysis can help medical professionals to better understand their communicative skills, styles, and approach to patients in end-of-life situations. We have shown how linguistic analysis can contribute to a better understanding of physician-patient interaction. Moreover, we have illustrated the usefulness of interdisciplinary research in the medical domain.

Despite the increasing incidence of the condition, people with dementia face a double stigma: ageism and the stigma of mental illness. The stigmatization of the condition has negative consequences, and can even lead to self-stigmatization. To develop adequate education programs to overcome the harmful stigma, the degree and the characteristics of that stigmatization have to be identified. In this study, the content and the language of obituaries of well-known people with dementia are analyzed using a qualitative bottom-up approach. If mentioned, the dementia receives little attention and the information given does not exceed common knowledge. Euphemistic language such as metaphors is introduced not to circumvent the condition, but to palliate its degressive nature.

In studies of political communication the use of personal pronouns is often put forward as one of the strategies for influencing sender-receiver relations (e.g., De Fina [1], Haverkate [2], Zupnik [3]). As Rogers and Swales [4] among others have demonstrated, similar techniques can be detected in corporate communication. In this article, the use of French and Dutch personal and possessive pronouns in the first person plural is examined in internal communication documents. The focus is on the link between text types and the use of inclusive, exclusive, or ambiguous we. First the research material is described; then a concise overview of the literary sources is given; finally the results of the research are discussed. It will be demonstrated that managers can exploit personal pronouns strategically and that the use of we is a parameter for identifying text function.

Silke Creten is working on a PhD in linguistics at KU Leuven. In her research project, she looks into communication about dementia and communication with people living with dementia in Flanders, with an emphasis on the stigma surrounding the condition. Her research interests