A linguistic study of the epithaps in the yukari mezarlik of Denizli Kale

This study aims to conduct a linguistic analysis of gravestone inscriptions, one of the tangible elements of cultural heritage. It focuses on the literary components found in the epitaphs—such as expressions, titles/honorifics, surnames, and family names—as well as the scripts and orthographic conventions used in these inscriptions. The introduction outlines the aim, scope, and methodology of the research, along with background information on the Kale district. In the first chapter, inscriptional expressions are thematically categorized and presented in alphabetical order. The second chapter examines the titles, honorifics, surnames, and family names found in the inscriptions. Each lexical item is alphabetically arranged and etymologically analyzed based on data from twenty-eight different sources. The third chapter evaluates the collected data under various subheadings and presents the findings. Each item of analyzed material is accompanied by a catalog number in the footnotes, and a visual catalog containing at least one representative photograph per item is included in the fourth chapter. Keywords: epithaps, vocabulary, dialect, phonology, morphology.