Sacred language : Reformation, nationalism, and linguistic culture

In this chapter we discuss religion and linguistic culture with reference to changes that took place as a result of the Reformation. We focus on religiously motivated beliefs about language and their effects on linguistic ideologies and the cultural myths that guide the linguistic behaviour of individuals and societies. In particular, we follow the path of the idea of a sacred language that emerged in early Middle Eastern monotheism and ultimately became the normative, prescriptive language of a nation state. We see a continuum in the linguistic ideologies related to the language of the divine revelation, which evolved into the idea of the universal language of the Church and learning, the sacred language of a national church acting as the patron of the king, and finally the standard language of a modern nation under nationalist ideologies. The common factor behind this development is the notion that language, as the bearer of the common good, lasts over a single generation and maintains a community that has a sacred character. This sense of holiness is reflected in the importance of safeguarding the norm of the language. Thus, the ideological concept of a standard language derives to a significant degree from the concept of language as holy, representing one of the most important substitutions of traditional religion in the Western hemisphere, nationalism and its universal mythology. In the context of this volume, we exemplify these developments especially with respect to Finnish language but also take the wider European context into consideration.Peer reviewe