Linguistic Representations and Modelling of Religious Denominations in School Textbooks. An Exploratory Analysis

Abstract

This article examines how denominations are represented and modelled linguistically in religious education textbooks. In an initial exploratory study based on individual chapters from four Bavarian religious education textbooks for Years 7 and 8, Stefan Altmeyer's analytic model relating to “religion” is applied to the subject of “denomination(s)” and adapted with a view to textbook analysis. Methodologically, a content analysis procedure is used to enable deductive and inductive category formation. The results reveal linguistic strategies that oscillate between the poles of specificity and commonality, dynamics of demarcation and convergence, inclusive and exclusive communitisation, personal closeness and distance, weak and strong positioning, etc.