Language, faith and identity

Abstract

While most language-planning and policy (LPP) studies have focussed on language decisions made by government bodies, in recent years there has been an increased interest in micro-level language planning in immigrant contexts. Few studies, however, have used this framework to retrospectively examine the planning decisions of religious institutions, such as “ethnic” churches. This paper explores the language decisions made by the Lutheran church in Australia between 1838 and 1921. The study is based on archival research carried out in the Lutheran Archives in Adelaide, South Australia. The paper draws attention to the complex interrelationships between language, religion and identity in an immigrant context.