Religious language use in a multilingual community represents a special case of language planning. The choice of a liturgical language is determined both by religious and practical considerations and is based, in part, on the ways in which people view sacred activities. The Catholic Church has at various times during its history promoted and condemned the celebration of the Mass in vernacular languages. The language policy of the Church has been a response to two factors: the need for uniformity and integrity of doctrine and the need for the worshipping community to have access to the meaning of the words of the liturgical action. These two factors have received different emphases at different times in the history of the Church with the consequence that the Church has supported either plurality or uniformity in the choice of the liturgical languages of the Mass.
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Cited by
Cited by 4 other publications
Hoenes del Pinal, Eric
2016. From Vatican II to speaking in tongues: theology and language policy in a Q’eqchi’-Maya Catholic parish. Language Policy 15:2 ► pp. 179 ff.
Liddicoat, Anthony J.
2012. Language Planning in Religious Observance. In The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics,
Liddicoat, Anthony J.
2012. Language planning as an element of religious practice. Current Issues in Language Planning 13:2 ► pp. 121 ff.
Luo, Junjie
2022. Researching Traditional Chinese Fiction in the English-Speaking World: Translations and Critiques of Jin Ping Mei. In Traditional Chinese Fiction in the English-Speaking World [Chinese Literature and Culture in the World, ], ► pp. 163 ff.
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