Jehovah's Witnesses' Linguistic Identity: An Analysis of the Watchtower Publication
- Aimee Keay, University of Sussex
- Old College Lorimer Room, University of Edinburgh
This research illuminates specific linguistic features of Jehovah’s Witnesses’ language use in
their official publication The Watchtower. Using discourse analysis, patterns and features in the
text are identified and argued to form part of the community of practice’s linguistic identity. Six
months of The Watchtower are scrutinised (January – June 2007), with particular focus on thirteen
personal narratives in the ‘life story’ section of the publication. The linguistic features of The
Watchtower that can be seen to relate to Jehovah’s Witness identity are outlined and examined,
looking at the implications and connotations associated with the particular usage.
The noun phrases examined highlight the ‘family relationship’ aspect of Jehovah’s Witness
identity, seen in lexical items such as brotherhood, sister, brother, and bethel family. Of particular
interest is the complementless use of the nouns service and work in constructions such as on the
service, highlighting insider presupposed knowledge about the benefactor of such service (i.e.
Jehovah).
Verb phrases examined include to witness (extended to apply to the organisation’s preaching
work) and to serve, which is frequently used to describe any preaching activity, emphasising the
implication of ‘a service’ to Jehovah. This relates to the noun servant, a term that inversely implies
a higher position in the organisation. This study also considers Beckford’s (1978) notion of
progressive enlightenment (according to which, Jehovah’s Witnesses describe conversion as a
progress and not ‘sudden enlightenment’) in relation to verb aspect (perfective, imperfective and
perfect).
When considering grammatical patterns, the exclamative sentence type is frequently used in
The Watchtower to signal emotion, emphasising the connotations of the construction for the
community.
One final consideration of this study is insider-outsider categories, given their key relationship
to identity. These are considered through a focus on pronominal choice (particularly the ‘inclusive’
and ‘exclusive’ we), and the juxtaposed structure of opposing views, both of which are prominent in
The Watchtower.
At present, this study highlights the interesting lexical and semantic implications made by The
Watchtower. It forms part of larger research project, which involves a triangulation analysis
comparing The Watchtower to individual member’s use through interviews and questionnaires. The
questionnaire and interview data, which is currently being collected, will provide a contrastive data
set and it is hoped that this comparison will emphasise the link with identity, and highlight the
relationship between the individual’s constructions and the official publication.
their official publication The Watchtower. Using discourse analysis, patterns and features in the
text are identified and argued to form part of the community of practice’s linguistic identity. Six
months of The Watchtower are scrutinised (January – June 2007), with particular focus on thirteen
personal narratives in the ‘life story’ section of the publication. The linguistic features of The
Watchtower that can be seen to relate to Jehovah’s Witness identity are outlined and examined,
looking at the implications and connotations associated with the particular usage.
The noun phrases examined highlight the ‘family relationship’ aspect of Jehovah’s Witness
identity, seen in lexical items such as brotherhood, sister, brother, and bethel family. Of particular
interest is the complementless use of the nouns service and work in constructions such as on the
service, highlighting insider presupposed knowledge about the benefactor of such service (i.e.
Jehovah).
Verb phrases examined include to witness (extended to apply to the organisation’s preaching
work) and to serve, which is frequently used to describe any preaching activity, emphasising the
implication of ‘a service’ to Jehovah. This relates to the noun servant, a term that inversely implies
a higher position in the organisation. This study also considers Beckford’s (1978) notion of
progressive enlightenment (according to which, Jehovah’s Witnesses describe conversion as a
progress and not ‘sudden enlightenment’) in relation to verb aspect (perfective, imperfective and
perfect).
When considering grammatical patterns, the exclamative sentence type is frequently used in
The Watchtower to signal emotion, emphasising the connotations of the construction for the
community.
One final consideration of this study is insider-outsider categories, given their key relationship
to identity. These are considered through a focus on pronominal choice (particularly the ‘inclusive’
and ‘exclusive’ we), and the juxtaposed structure of opposing views, both of which are prominent in
The Watchtower.
At present, this study highlights the interesting lexical and semantic implications made by The
Watchtower. It forms part of larger research project, which involves a triangulation analysis
comparing The Watchtower to individual member’s use through interviews and questionnaires. The
questionnaire and interview data, which is currently being collected, will provide a contrastive data
set and it is hoped that this comparison will emphasise the link with identity, and highlight the
relationship between the individual’s constructions and the official publication.