Occupational Varieties: Religious English

According to David Crystal Encyclopedia, the term “occupational dialect” is used as a specific language, which is associated with one’s occupation and profession. The linguistic features of occupational varieties may be as distinctive, as regional or class features, but they are only in temporary use.  They are part of a job, after which one do not use those words.
There are some people whose work has become part of their lives and personality, and have influenced their behavior, linguistically as well as socially, which means that they may use those words even after their work. But mostly when we stop working we stop using the language of work.

Any domain could be used to illustrate occupational linguistic distinctiveness, or identity (starting with factory workers, ending with doctors or musicians). The distinctive word stock used by a special group of the same occupation, develops a slang and jargon which set them apart from outsiders. Jargon or Argot comprise a special category of words, which are used by a certain group of people who pertain to a specific field of science, profession, trade, occupation, etc. (Fromkin, Rodman, & Hyams, 2007). The more an occupation is a part of a long-established tradition, the more it is likely to have accreted linguistic rituals which its members accept as a criterion of performance.

Now, I would like to talk about Religious English. There is a unique phonological identity in such genres as spoken by prayers, sermons, chants and litanies, including the unusual case of unison speech. There Is a strong grammatical identity, lexical identity, and highly distinctive discourse identity .

There are three main reasons that show why Religious English is probably the most distinctive of all occupational varieties.

The first reason is that it is consciously retrospective, in the way it constantly harts back to its origins. The next reason is that it is consciously prescriptive, concerned with issues of orthodoxy and identity, both textual and ritual. And, finally, it is consciously imaginative and exploratory, as people make their personal response to the claims of religious belief.

Although many commentators point to similarities between religious and legal English (in the way that historical tradition has sanctioned the use of archaism and ritual dialogue), religion occupational variety has far more formally identifiable subvarieties than any other use of English.