The pragmeme of accommodation in Christian condolence messages in Nigeria

Abstract The inevitability of death is reinforced in the different cultures and religions of the world. Among Christians in general and Nigerian Christians in particular, it is seen as a transformator of human beings from mortality to immortality, as evident in their linguistic behaviour. This study investigates pain-relieving strategies in Christian condolence messages in Nigeria, within the purview of Capone’s pragmeme of accommodation. Data for the study comprised tributes and condolence messages in selected Christian burial souvenirs, programmes and books of tributes. Findings revealed reference to the deceased’s good qualities, reference to heaven as rest home and a better place, reference to future re-union, and reference to death as an inevitable messenger that calls human beings home are strategic pain-relieving strategies carefully employed by authors of Christian condolence messages and tributes to ‘heal the pain of death’ among Nigerian Christians. The choice of these strategies is predicated on the shared Christian belief about death.