The Sociology of Language and Religion

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

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2. Introduction: Change, Accommodation and Conflict

   • Tope Omoniyi

   Pages 1-13

3. Jewish Religious Multilingualism

   • Bernard Spolsky

   Pages 14-28

4. Mauritian Muslims: Negotiating Changing Identities through Language

   • Aaliya Rajah-Carrim

   Pages 29-44

5. Arabic and Sociocultural Change among the Yoruba

   • Oladipo Salami

   Pages 45-57

6. Authenticating a Tradition in Transition: Language of Hinduism in the US

   • Rajeshwari V. Pandharipande

   Pages 58-83

7. Blorít — Pagans’ Mohawk or Sabras’ Forelock? Ideological Secularization of Hebrew Terms in Socialist Zionist Israeli

   • Azzan Yadin, Ghil’ad Zuckermann

   Pages 84-125

8. Society, Language, History and Religion: a Perspective on Bangla from Linguistic Anthropology

   • James M. Wilce

   Pages 126-155

9. Metaphors of Change: Adolescent Singaporeans Switching Religion

   • Phyllis Ghim-Lian Chew

   Pages 156-189

10. African American Vernacular English, Religion and Ethnicity

    • Nkonko M. Kamwangamalu

    Pages 190-204

11. Holy Hip-Hop, Language and Social Change

    • Tope Omoniyi

    Pages 205-233

12. Back Matter

    Pages 235-241

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This is an eclectic collection of essays which successfully demonstrate how the Sociology of Language and Religion as a disciplinary paradigm responds to change, conflict and accommodation. The multiple religious coverage in the essays (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) as well as more or less global panorama.

• anthropology
• Christianity
• religion
• social change
• sociology
• sociology of language

'The profound linkage between language and religion has, until recently, lain beyond the scope of a linguistics detached from speakers' identities and cultures, and a sociological methodology wary of entering too deeply into belief systems. Tope Omoniyi has taken the lead in putting language and religion squarely on the research agenda, inspiring growing numbers of others to follow. With this book, so marvellously clear in its description and analysis, rich in ethnographic detail, and with abundant linguistic and textual examples, the emerging field moves well beyond facile categories. The studies in The Sociology of Language and Religion will be widely cited for years to come for their mature understanding of the traditions, enduring yet ever-changing - and sometimes, as with 'Holy Hip Hop', invented on the hoof - through which people interpret themselves and others within two infinite unfathomables: the universe of their beliefs, and the languages and discourses in which they are constructed.' - John E. Joseph, University of Edinburgh, Scotland

• Roehampton University, UK

  Tope Omoniyi

PHYLLIS GHIM-LIAN CHEW is Associate Professor, English Language Methodology and Sociolinguistics, Nanyang Technological University, Japan NKONKO M. KAMWANGAMALU is Professor of Linguistics, Howard University, USA RAJESHWARI V. PANDHARIPANDE is Professor of Linguistics and Religious Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA AALIYA RAJAH-CARRIM is a sociolinguist actively involved in disseminating her research on Mauritian Creole among lay people in Mauritius DIPO SALAMI is Professor of Linguistics, Department of English, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria BERNARD SPOLSKY is Professor Emeritus at Bar-Ilan University, Israel JIM WILCE is Professor of Anthropology, Northern Arizona University, USA AZZAN YADIN is Associate Professor of Rabbinic Literature, Rutgers University, USA GHIL'AD ZUCKERMANN is Associate Professor and Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Fellow in linguistics at The University of Queensland, Australia

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