"Arabic is the language of the Muslims-that's how it was supposed to be": Exploring language and religious identity through reflective accounts from young British-born South Asians

This study explores how a group of young British-born South Asians understood and defined their religious and linguistic identities, focusing upon the role played by heritage languages and liturgical languages and by religious socialisation. Twelve British-born South Asians were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule. Interview transcripts were subjected to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Four superordinate themes are reported. These addressed participants’ meaning-making regarding ‘the sanctification of language’ and the consequential suitability of ‘the liturgical language as a symbol of religious community’; the themes of ‘ethnic pride versus religious identity’ and ‘linguistic Otherness and religious alienation’ concerned potential ethno-linguistic barriers to a positive religious identity. Findings are interpreted in terms of concepts drawn from relevant identity theories and tentative recommendations are offered concerning the facilitation of positive religious and ethnic identities