Universitas Humanística (Jul 2009)
Language and Communicative Practices: An Approach from the Ethnography of Speech at Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University
Abstract
Language regulates and facilitates social practices; that lends it a particular character, given that it is not presented in an isolated way, but rather utilized real and concretely by the individuals that constitute a determined society of discourse. That way, language is action, strength; it creates and is the vehicle through which beliefs are transmittedand the inherently symbolic world of a determined society or group is interpreted. This article, from a specific point of view based on the ethnography of speech, presents the results of a preliminary study about forms of communications and the way in which these form animate the construction of meaning within a particular spiritual community ofOriental origin. In this way, the article discusses how particular linguistic forms framed by specific communicative events bring about the structurizing of the symbolic world of the Brahma Kumaris language community, distinguish it from other spiritual communities, constitute its identity and establish a complex network of interpersonal relationships.
