Agency Attribution through Condolence Messaging in Tanzania

Abstract

It is normal to pray that the deceased’s soul should rest in eternal peace and even write ‘RIP’ in condolence books, which gets us closer to issuing a directive to the deceased: ‘You REST in peace’. This utterance attributes agency to the deceased. Analyzing 525 condolence messages and discussing with 50 respondents from two major universities in Tanzania, this study reveals agency as clearly implicated among some condolers who address the deceased in the second person singular. Others issue directives to the deceased to perform acts other than resting peacefully. I present the respondents’ views as to the attribution of agency and recommend a further study in the pragmatics and semantics of condolence messages to further enhance our understanding of such messages. Keywords: Agency, condolence, meta-agentive discourse, Tanzania https://dx.doi.org/10.56279/ummaj.v11i1.5