I am a fourth year anthropology student currently working on a project called "The Anthropology of Parental Bereavement". This project is being conducted in Canada (at McGill University, Wilfrid Laurier University and University of Victoria). The section of the project that I am currently working on entails an examination of the language of parental bereavement in a cross-cultural context. Specifically, we are interested in terminology for a) bereaved parents and b) the deceased children. Our interest is in examining the language of bereavement in other linguistic groups to better understand how they speak about the loss of children. One of the goals of this research is to elucidate possible cultural differences/similarities in the experience and understanding of the loss of a child through a linguistic analysis.

1. There is no single noun in English (to my knowledge) for a "bereaved parent" (as opposed to widow, orphan etc). Is this similar in other languages?

2. A second question pertains to how "parent" and "child" are defined cross-culturally. In certain cultures, children are not named until a certain amount of time has elapsed since birth. If the child dies before it is named, are the parents considered "parents" or are their other terms to more specifically define their status/experience?

Any suggestions about linguistic research pertaining to bereavement would be greatly appreciated!

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