Cover not available

In:Cultural-Linguistic Explorations into Spirituality, Emotionality, and Society
Edited by Hans-Georg Wolf, Denisa Latić and Anna Finzel
[Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts 14] 2021
► pp. 9–22

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Cultural Linguistics and religion

 | Monash University
Published online: 8 September 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/clscc.14.02sha
Abstract
Spiritual systems such as religions embody particular worldviews or systems of conceptualizing life, death, morality, creation, the life hereafter, fate, and so on. Since these conceptualizations are more or less shared across any speech community that believes in the same faith, religions can be viewed as providing systems of cultural conceptualizations. The analytical framework of Cultural Linguistics should therefore be able to offer fruitful tools for examining the language and conceptualizations associated with spiritual systems. This chapter demonstrates this premise by presenting a survey of the research on language and religion from the perspective of Cultural Linguistics.
Article outline
  • 1.Cultural Linguistics
  • 2.Background
  • 3.Conceptualizations relating to Sufi life
  • 4.Conceptualizations relating to death in Buddhist and Christian eulogistic idioms
  • 5.Conceptualizations relating to Sacred Sites in Aboriginal English
    • 5.1Aboriginal English
    • 5.2Sacredness in Aboriginal English
  • 6.Concluding remarks
  • References
References (51)
References
ABC. (2001). Australia’s sacred sites part 1. [URL] (accessed April 17, 2021)
Arthur, J. (1996). Aboriginal English: A cultural study. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ahmadi, N., & Ahmadi, F. (1998). Iranian Islam: The concept of the individual. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave MacMillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Can, S. (2005). Fundamentals of Rumi’s thought: A Mevlevi Sufi perspective (Z. Saritoprak, Ed. and Trans.). New Jersey: The Light.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chilton, P., & Kopytowska, M. (Eds.) (2018). Religion, language, and the human mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Darquennes, J., & Vandenbussche, W. (2011). Band 25 (2011) Sprache und religion / Language and religion / Langue et religion. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dingle, S. (2015). What is sacred now? Background briefing. [URL] (accessed April 17, 2021)
Dixon, R. M. W. (1980). The languages of Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eades, D. (1982). You gotta know how to talk …: Ethnography of information seeking in South-east Queensland Aboriginal society. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 2: 61–82. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1988). They don’t speak an Aboriginal language, or do they? In I. Keen (Ed.), Being Black: Aboriginal cultures in ‘settled’ Australia. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1991). Aboriginal English: An introduction. Vox, 5: 55–61.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1992). Aboriginal English and the law: Communicating with Aboriginal English speaking clients. A handbook for legal practitioners. Brisbane: Queensland Law Society.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1993). The case for Condren: Aboriginal English, pragmatics and the law. Journal of Pragmatics, 20: 141–62. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1994). A case of communicative clash: Aboriginal English and the legal system. In J. Gibbons (Ed.), Language and the law (pp. 234–264). London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1995). Cross-examination of Aboriginal children: The Pinkenba case. Aboriginal Law Bulletin, 3(75): 10–11.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1996). Legal recognition of cultural differences in communication: The case of Robyn Kina. Language and Communication, 16: 215–27. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2000). I don’t think it’s an answer to the question: Silencing Aboriginal witnesses in court. Language in Society, 29(2): 161–96. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Get Up! Australia (2009). Voices from the homeland. [URL] (accessed April 17, 2021).
Global Oneness Project (2009a). Major Sumner: Complete interview. [URL] accessed April 17, 2021).
(2009b). Max Harrison: Complete interview. [URL] (accessed April 17, 2021).
Habib, S. (2012). Meeting the Prince of Darkness: A Semantic analysis of English the Devil, Arabic Ashaytân and Hewbrew Hasatan. In G. Zuckermann (Ed.) Burning issues in Afro-Asiatic linguistics (pp. 123–160). Cambridge: Cambridge Scholarly Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2018). Heaven and hell: A cross-linguistic semantic template for supernatural places. RASK: International Journal of Language and Communication, 48, 1–29.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harkins, J. (1990). Shame and shyness in the Aboriginal classroom: A case for practical semantics. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 10, 293–306. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2000). Structure and meaning in Australian Aboriginal English. Asian Englishes, 3(2), 60–81. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kaldor, S., & Malcolm, I. G. (1991). Aboriginal English – an overview. In S. Romaine (Ed.), Language in Australia (pp. 67–83). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Koch, H. (2000). Central Australian Aboriginal English: In comparison with the morphosyntactic categories of Kaytetye. Asian Englishes, 3(2), 32–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lu, W. (2017). Cultural conceptualisations of death in Taiwanese Buddhist and Christian Eulogistic idioms. In F. Sharifian (Ed.), Advances in Cultural Linguistics (pp. 49–64). Cham, CH: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Malcolm, I. G. (1994a). Aboriginal English inside and outside the classroom. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 17(2), 147–80. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1994b). Discourse and discourse strategies in Australian Aboriginal English. World Englishes, 13(3), 289–306. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2001). Aboriginal English: Adopted code of a surviving culture. In D. Blair & P. Collins (Eds.), English in Australia (pp. 201–222). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2004). Australian creoles and Aboriginal English: Morphology and syntax. In B. Kortmann, K. Burridge, R. Mesthrie, E. W. Schneider, & C. Upton (Eds.), A handbook of varieties of English, Volume 2: Morphology and syntax (pp. 657–681). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nūrbakhsh, J. (1992). The psychology of sufism (Del va nafs). London: Khaniqahi Nimatullahi Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Omoniyi, T., & Fishman, J. A. (Eds.). (2006). Explorations in the sociology of language and religion. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pandharipande, R. V., David, M. K., & Ebsworth, M. E. (Eds.). (2019). Language maintenance, revival and shift in the sociology of religion. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Parliament of Australia (n.d.). House of Representatives Committee. [URL] (accessed April 17, 2021)
Petruzello, M. (n.d.). Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? Encyclopaedia Britannica, online. [URL] (accessed April 24, 2020).
Samarin, W. (1976). Language in religious practice. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1987). The Language of religion. In A. Ulrich, D. Norbert, and M. J. Klaus (Eds.), Sociolinguistics: An international handbook of the science of language and society (Vol. 1, pp.85–91). Berlin/New York: de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sawyer, J. F. A. (2001a). General introduction. In J. F. A. Sawyer, & J. M. Y. Simpson (Eds.), Concise encyclopedia of language and religion (pp. 1–2). Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2001b). Religion and language. In R. Mesthrie, (Ed.), Concise encyclopedia of sociolinguistics (pp. 262–265). Oxford: Pergamon.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sawyer, J. F. A., & Simpson, J. M. Y. (Eds.) (2001). Concise encyclopedia of language and religion. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sharifian, F., Dirven, R., Yu, N., & Niemeier, S. (2008). Culture and language: Looking for the “mind” inside the body. In F. Sharifian, R. Dirven, N. Yu, & S. Niemeier (Eds.). Culture, body, and language. Conceptualizations of internal body organs across cultures and languages (pp. 3–24). Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(Ed.). (2017a). Advances in Cultural Linguistics. New York/London/Singapore: Springer Nature. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Spolsky, B. (2006). Introduction Part II. In T. Omoniyi & J. A. Fishman (Eds.), Explorations in the sociology of language and religion (pp. 4–9). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wierzbicka, A. (2001). What did Jesus mean? Explaining the Sermon on the Mount and the parables in simple and universal human concepts. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2019). What Christians believe. Oxford, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wolf, H.-G. (2006). Religion and traditional beliefs in West African English: A linguistic analysis. In T. Omoniyi, & J. A. Fishman (Eds.), Readings in the sociology of language and religion (pp. 42–59). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yükleyen, A. (2011). Localizing Islam in Europe: Turkish Islamic communities in Germany and the Netherlands. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (6)

Cited by six other publications

Heidari Tabrizi, Hossein & Azizeh Chalak
2025. Cultural Conceptualizations of Friendship in Locally Developed English Textbooks for Iranian ELT Institutes. In Cultural Linguistics and ELT Curriculum [Cultural Linguistics, ], ► pp. 129 ff. DOI logo
Latić, Denisa
2025. Cultural Linguistics and World Englishes. In The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of World Englishes, ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Abbaszadeh, Elnaz & Ali Dabbagh
2024. “You have no right!”. International Journal of Language and Culture 11:2 ► pp. 229 ff. DOI logo
Dhama, Muhammad
2024. MAQĀMAN MAḤMŪDAN PERSPECTIVE IBN ʻAJĪBAH IN TAFSĪR AL-BAḤR AL-MADĪD FĪ TAFSĪR AL-QURʼĀN AL-MAJĪD. Jurnal Ilmiah Mahasiswa Raushan Fikr 13:1 ► pp. 21 ff. DOI logo
Stadnik, Katarzyna
2024. Julian of Norwich’s Revelation of Divine Love: The concept of LIGHT and the development of the mystic’s spirituality. Język. Religia. Tożsamość. 2:30 ► pp. 243 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2025. Cultural Conceptualizations of the SELF in Hong Kong English [Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts, 19], DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 8 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue