Language and Discourse in Death, Dying and Bereavement

Dear Colleagues,

Language is a vehicle through which we attempt to make sense of, and to recover from, dying, bereavement and other forms of non-human or non-death loss. Whether in the ‘inner speech’ and stories we tell ourselves, in the outer language of condolence, or in the dialogue that comes from shared intersubjective experience, language is a social medium that is central to how we navigate dying and the aftermath of death.

As part of the everyday rituals and practices—or ‘deathways’—surrounding dying and death, words can offer great comfort and solace, providing social support in ways that can aid the psychosocial transition required of mourning. At the same time, language can also offend or exclude—often unintentionally—through the clumsy and insensitive use of inappropriate (Letherby 2015; MacArtney and Woodthorpe 2024) or worn-out words and phrases (Elias 1985).

As the representational framing of reality, language and discourse reflect dominant ideas, practices and power relations in society—often unquestioned—and in ways that appear natural and normal. Extended to dying, death and bereavement, discourse and language are often the means via which some lives are rendered ungrieveable (Butler 2009, 2020) and some losses are disenfranchised (Doka 2002).

By the same token, language and its discursive enactment can lead to positive culture change, leading to improvements in care and practices at the end of life and in its aftermath. Death Cafes, and the growing encouragement in public policy initiatives in societies of the Global North for people to engage in conversations about death and end of life planning, are but two recent examples of how language can be put to work in the service of social change.

With all of this in mind, this Special Issue invites articles from any area of the social sciences and humanities related to language and discourse in the context of dying, death and bereavement. This includes Anthropology, Sociology, Social Policy, Criminology, Sociolinguistics, Politics, Health Sciences, Geography, Social Work and Social Care, among others, including interdisciplinary approaches. Articles may be empirically focused, theoretical oriented, or even practice- and practitioner-based. We encourage creative and innovative approaches (including articles that combine any of the above or offer methodological innovation) and welcome submissions from early-career researchers, as well as established academics and practitioners in the field. Invitations are therefore invited for (but are not limited to) articles that address any of the following issues or themes:

• Language and narrative as vehicles of meaning-making: as opportunities for creativity, as therapy for managing and recovering from loss of various kinds;
• New technologies (including the uses of Generative AI) for languaging loss and its implications for dying, death and bereavement;
• Insensitivities in language around dying, death, bereavement (and forms of non-death loss);
• New anti-oppressive (best) practices around more inclusive language of bereavement and loss (including decolonising and anti-ableist strategies);
• Media discourses and linguistic framing (including new/digital, as well as legacy, media) of dying, death and bereavement;
• Language and discourse in relation to contemporary (and historical) ‘deathways’ (including condolence expression, epitaphs, eulogies, obituary writing, etc.);
• Limitations of language following loss of various kinds (e.g. traumatic loss, disenfranchised grief etc.);
• Language and discourse and its relation to necropolitics and wider inequities (by class, race, gender, sexuality, religion etc.) around dying, death and bereavement;
• Euphemism, metaphor, symbolism and other linguistic devices employed in the (encrypted/encoded) mis/representation of dying, death and bereavement;
• Broad understandings and applications of language—beyond transactional writing and speech—in the expression of poetry, creative writing and the creative arts (e.g. music, painting, photography, theatre, performance etc.);
• New directions and the evolving nature of linguistic norms, practices and forms surrounding dying, death and bereavement;
• Theoretical contributions and their applications to dying, death and bereavement (e.g. Speech Act theory, post-structuralism etc.);
• Socio-cultural variation in the language of loss;
• Language and its relationship to memory.

You may first submit an abstract (by 19 January 2026), which will be reviewed by the editorial team. Authors whose abstracts are accepted will then be invited to submit a full paper by 29 June 2026.

References

Butler, Judith. 2009. Frames of War: When Is Life Grievable?. New York: Verso Books.

Butler, Judith. 2020. The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind. New York: Verso Books.

Doka, Kenneth J.. 2002. Disenfranchised Grief: New Directions, Challenges, and Strategies for Practice. Champaign: Research Press.

Elias, Norbert. 1985. The Loneliness of the Dying. Oxford: Blackwell.

Letherby, Gale. 2015. Bathwater, Babies and Other Losses: A Personal and Academic Story. Mortality 20: 128–144.

MacArtney, John and Kate Woodthorpe. 2024. Is Everyone a “Loved One? 16 April. Available online: http://endoflifestudies.academicblogs.co.uk/is-everyone-a-loved-one/ (access on 9 October 2025).

Prof. Dr. Michael Brennan
Prof. Dr. Gayle Letherby
Dr. John MacArtney
Prof. Dr. Kate Woodthorpe
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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• language
• discourse
• death
• dying
• grief
• end-of-life
• narrative
• auto/biography
• creativity
• media