Powiadomienia o śmierci w prasie XVII–XVIII i początków XIX wieku jako świadectwo życia gatunków
Death notifications in the Polish press from 17th, 18th and the beginnings of 19th century as the testimony to the development of genres

Summary/Abstract: The subject of the analysis are texts of which main intention was to notify of the death of a person. These notifications were accompanied by a set of complementary illocutions such as: presenting the deceased per- son, highlighting his or her merits and showing respect for them. The material basis of the analysis con- sisted of texts from the four oldest Warsaw newspapers: “Merkuriusz Polski” (the beginning of 17th cen- tury), “Kurier Polski” and “Gazeta Warszawska” (18th century) and “Kurier Warszawski” (the beginning of 19th century). This genre analysis led to the formulation of a hypothesis that the press genres such as obitu- ary, memorial note, and profile (with its variants) originated in the 17th-century press texts announcing the death of a person. The primary aim, which was to inform about the death, was complemented by other goals, depending on the epoch, the communication needs of the community and other contextual conditions (e.g. the technical abilities of the press), which in time gave rise to new variants/variations of genres, and over time, to separate genre forms.

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