Rituals of Death as Staged Communicative Acts and Pragmemes

Abstract

Building on Mey’s (2001) notion of pragmatic acts and Capone’s (2010a) thoughts on rituals of death, this chapter borrows ideas from Mey and Capone to address its main claim that death rituals in Iran are pragmatic acts that fit well in the frame of pragmemes as well as staged communicative acts (SCAs). It addresses the rituals of death in the Shiite population of Iran and categorizes the speech acts produced in such rituals into the three categories of language addressed to God, language addressed to the deceased, and language addressed to the grieved relatives of the deceased. Providing samples of speech from all of these situations, the chapter then analyzes them in the framework of staged and conventional speech acts and pragmemes. It compares Shia funerary rites and Catholic death rituals, and concludes that Capone’s (2010a) treatment of the rituals of death as pragmemes is valid. The chapter argues that funerary rites in Iran function on a psychological plane that aims at providing solace for the grieved relatives of the deceased as well as a social plane that aims at enhancing collective social intentionality.