I conduct research on language and semiotics in cemeteries located in French border regions, with a primary focus on Alsace, but also in southern France. My work explores how inscriptions, symbols, and multilingual practices on gravestones and in graveyards reflect broader questions of history, cultural identity, ideology, and belonging. More broadly, my research interests lie in the intersection of language and identity, language and food, and the cultural imaginaries that surround these themes. I am particularly interested in how language use and material expressions reveal layered narratives of place, heritage, and social meaning.

Vajta, K. (2021) ‘Identity beyond death. Messages and meanings in Alsatian cemeteries’, Mortality, 26:1, 17–35.
Vajta, K. (2020) ‘Names on Alsatian gravestones as mirrors of politics and identities’, Nordic Journal of English Studies, 19:5, 288–310.
Vajta, K. (2018) ‘Gravestones speak – but in which language? Epitaphs as mirrors of language shifts and identities in Alsace’, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 39:2, 137–154.