talking to the dead: an ethnolinguistic study of a shiite ritual

In human communications, interlocutors are invariably two or more living human beings engaged in communicative events via oral or written interactions. what this research addresses however is a unique communicative event in which a human being is involved in a ritualistic conversation not with a living human being but with a dead one. in this unique untapped shiite linguistic ritual carried out at funeral services, a catechist clergyman is vested with the authority to talk to the deceased: addressing the deceased in arabic. the cleric induces a fixed range of islamic shiite teachings, seen of utmost religious importance, to the bereaved, and the deceased being buried. the inducement ritual is carried out in such a way as if the deceased is expected to carefully listen to the words, advises, and admonitions before being transferred to the hereafter, where he/she is supposed to be well-prepared to answer the relevant heavenly angels. this study aims to pinpoint the components and elements of a linguistic ritual not addressed so far in the linguistic literature. the relevant communicative event is offered here, its components are explained, and its ethnolinguistic significance is elaborated on from a linguistic point of view to be taken into consideration.