An analysis of obituaries in staff magazines

Abstract

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.

The Final Fight: An Analysis of Metaphors in Online Obituaries of Professional Athletes

“…The analysis of 150 obituaries of sportspeople confirms that obituaries are a homogeneous, stable genre (Moses & Marelli, 2003;Heynderickx & Dieltjens, 2016). Even though the material consists of online obituaries, the structure and the format of the texts are as predictable as those of print obituaries.…”

“…Tight (2008) distinguishes between traditional and untraditional obituaries, a distinction confirmed by Heynderickx & Dieltjens, 2016. The differences between the traditional and the untraditional obituaries lie at different levels: format, content, structure, and language use. In the research material of Heynderickx & Dieltjens, 2016, the majority of the untraditional obituaries have a letter format, which explains some of the differences. One of the characteristics of untraditional obituaries is the greater presence of metaphors that do not fit the categorization of Crespo Ferna´ndez (2011).…”

“…The metaphors that are linked to the athlete's sport are usually very general. There is a parallel with obituaries in staff magazines (Heynderickx & Dieltjens, 2016), in which there are metaphors that refer to the professional occupation or qualities of the deceased. Compare: The deceased in example (29) was an accountant in a bank.…”

“…The majority of studies focuses on a particular structural, linguistic, contentrelated, multimodal, or rhetorical aspect of obituaries. A well-exploited topic is that of metaphors in obituaries (e.g., Al-Kharabsheh, 2011; Cheung & Ho, 2004;Crespo Ferna´ndez, 2006Dieltjens & Heynderickx, 2012;Heynderickx & Dieltjens, 2016;Sexton, 1997). Based on the Conceptual Metaphor Theory of Lakoff and Johnson, Crespo Ferna´ndez (2011) offers a framework for the categorization of metaphors of death in obituaries and epitaphs.…”

“…The predominance of male obituaries is not surprising since it is present in the vast majority of studies of obituaries (for an overview: cf. Heynderickx & Dieltjens, 2016).…”