ABSTRACT Individuals in many cultures have a close relationship with their pets and think of them not only as companion animals but also as family. Research on the ways in which people memorialize their deceased pets has become increasingly important, and pet cemetery gravestone inscriptions have provided a way to examine the evolution of the human–animal bond. Past studies of the inscriptions on gravestones have been largely qualitative, whereas our longitudinal study of the 2,695 memorial plaques from 1951 to 2018 in the Lancaster Pet Cemetery in the United States allows for a quantitative analysis of the inscriptions and what they reveal about pets, owners, and people’s relationship with their pets over time. The results showed that nearly all plaques listed the pet’s name as well as the pet’s year of birth and year of death. Identifying the type of pet on the plaque increased over time as did the use of a bronze cast or picture to identify the type of pet, nearly all of which were dogs or cats. The use of gendered human names for pets increased over time, particularly for families and male-female couples. The types of owners remained relatively stable over time, with about two-thirds of pets belonging to families and male-female couples; however, the way in which owners listed themselves on the plaques changed over time. Words on the memorial plaques that increased over time included “love/loved,” “you,” “Mommy/Daddy,” and “missed,” and described the owner relative to the pet or feelings about it. On the other hand, the word that decreased most over time was “pet.” For the most part, there was little variation in the words by type of pet or type of owner. Many of the findings signaled an increasing tendency for people to think of their pets as family. Suggestions for future research are also included.

中文翻译：

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兰开斯特宠物公墓纪念牌匾 1951-2018：铭文分析

摘要 在许多文化中，人们与宠物有着密切的关系，不仅将它们视为伴侣动物，而且将它们视为家人。对人们纪念已故宠物的方式的研究变得越来越重要，宠物墓地墓碑铭文提供了一种研究人与动物关系演变的方法。过去对墓碑铭文的研究主要是定性的，而我们对 1951 年至 2018 年在美国兰开斯特宠物公墓的 2,695 块纪念牌匾的纵向研究允许对铭文及其揭示的宠物、主人的信息进行定量分析，以及人们与宠物的关系随着时间的推移。结果表明，几乎所有的牌匾都列出了宠物的名字以及宠物的出生年份和死亡年份。随着时间的推移，识别牌匾上宠物的类型越来越多，使用青铜铸件或图片来识别宠物的类型也越来越多，几乎所有的宠物都是狗或猫。随着时间的推移，宠物性别化人名的使用越来越多，特别是对于家庭和男女夫妻。随着时间的推移，主人的类型保持相对稳定，大约三分之二的宠物属于家庭和男女夫妻；然而，随着时间的推移，业主在牌匾上列出自己的方式发生了变化。纪念牌匾上随时间增加的词包括“爱/被爱”、“你”、“妈妈/爸爸”和“想念”，并描述了主人与宠物的关系或对它的感受。另一方面，随着时间的推移减少最多的词是“宠物”。在大多数情况下，宠物类型或主人类型的词几乎没有变化。许多调查结果表明，人们越来越倾向于将宠物视为家人。还包括对未来研究的建议。