Abstract:
Obituaries are used to publicly announce death, giving details that can be used to
identify the deceased. This article aims to analyse obituaries appearing in a Kenyan
newspaper. Specifically, it investigates the schematic structure and language used
with the aim of finding out the social perception and attitudes that Kenyans have
towards the dead. The data comprise 356 announcements collected from the Daily
Nation, one of the leading dailies in Kenya. The data are analysed both qualitatively
and quantitatively. The genre analysis of the data reveals six obligatory moves in
the structure of obituaries with some elements within the moves being optional. The
research concludes that obituaries in Kenya can be considered as a genre with a
distinct structure. The social cultural perceptions, values and attitudes that society
has towards death greatly influence the language used in the writing of obituaries
