NOVINSKE ČITULjE KAO ETNOLINGVISTIČKE ČINjENICE (NA KORPUSU ČITULjA OBJAVLjENIH U KRAGUJEVAČKIM ŠTAMPANIM MEDIJIMA)

Abstract

Publishing, getting informed and acting accordingly are the conventionally established relations towards the “news” of one’s passing. Posthumous rituals, alongside other life-cycle rituals and those of folklore calendar expectedly cherish strong cult of the ancestors. While the urbanization process (taking economical, industrial, cultural and other factors into consideration) caused the migration of rural population towards cities, the development of media enabled constant influx of urban influences into rural areas and vice versa. Printed and electronic media, as a consequence, are fast becoming representatives of a specific merger of the two areas, if one can even speak of a categorically precise differentiation between rural and urban areas. In this paper, we are examining obituaries as forms of manifesta tion of traditional culture in urban environment. The research is being conducted on the basis of obituaries published in print media located in Kragujevac. Adopting the ethnolinguistic perspective, the author strives to describe the ritual role of posthumous notices. As a secondary aim, the paper presents an attempt to establish a model of theoretical-methodological paradigm to be used for examination from the aspect of urban ethnolinguistics. The analysis has shown that journalistic obituaries have a substituent role in posthumous rituals and that the tradition of mourning survives in urban environment through replacement of the folklore genre (lament) with journalistic notice (obituary).