The Structure of Tombstone Inscriptions on Ukraine and Serbia Rural Necropolises

The paper presents an analysis of structure of epitaphs in rural necropolises based on corpus from Serbia and Ukraine. The inscriptions are analyzed from a linguistic perspective with the main aim to describe and systematize corpus of epitaphs in both Serbian and Ukrainian languages. General and special features of epitaph structures in both languages are distinguished based on the corpus.Among the motives of epitaphs in Serbian and Ukrainian rural areas four are common – a motive to describe a deceased, his qualities and virtues, a motive to express grief and sorrow, a motive to show emotional state and attitude towards the deceased and a motive to take quotes from Holy Scripture and prayers. In Serbian areas, we find two more very typical motives which we do not find in Ukrainian rural areas: a motive to blame someone or something and a tendency to state the cause of death in case of death by an accident, and a motive to portray death as an evil force, a fate that takes lives. A motive to describe a cause of death and naming the guilty one makes the Serbian corpus specific. From this brief overview, we can see the diversity of the epitaph structure in rural cemeteries in both Serbia and Ukraine.The two corpuses are similar, they have a lot in common and tell us about the characteristics and beliefs of the two people and their views on life and death, as well as on what comes after death. The standard character of most of the inscriptions and their repetition gives us the right to see them as a part of folk literature that deserves the attention of scholars and researchers. Epitaphs are an inseparable part of nation culture, they reflect people identity, their thoughts and the image of the notion of death and eternal life, therefore epitaphs study is very interesting and versatile.