Conditionality, tagging, and declarative strategies as mechanisms of power: A sociolinguistic study of scriptural discourse
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53696/27753719.62404Keywords:
critical discourse analysis, English applied linguistics, political communication, socio-cultural, Discourse, Sermon, Sermonic Discourse, Metadiscourse Resources, Interpersonal Bonding.Abstract
This analysis examines tagging, conditionality, and declaratives in the Adamic accounts in relation to how these are discursive practices through which power and obedience are discursively enacted. By discursive analysis, this analysis demonstrates how biblical texts use conditionals in the formulation of obedience, tagging in the delimitation of meanings, and declaratives in the ideologically naturalized formulation of authority. Moving beyond analysis within biblical studies, this analysis proposes a sociolinguistic argument about linguistically attested patterns that are seen here as the expression of universal mechanisms through which language articulates ideology, through which it performatively instantiates hierarchy, through which language constellations work in conformity with constitutive ideas about language, power, and ideology, as related in contemporary debates in linguistics, semiotics, sociology, and critical theory.
Downloads
References
Austin, J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. Oxford University Press.
BibleHub. (n.d.). Interlinear Bible: Matthew 4. Retrieved September 8, 2025, from https://www.biblehub.com/interlinear/matthew/4.htm
Calvin, J. (1559/2011). Institutes of the Christian religion (J. T. McNeill, Ed.; F. L. Battles, Trans.). Westminster John Knox Press. (Original work published 1559).
Carson, D. A. (2016). The enduring authority of the Christian scriptures. Eerdmans.
Chilton, P. (2004). Analysing political discourse: Theory and practice. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203561218
Declerck, R., & Reed, S. (2001). Conditionals: A comprehensive empirical analysis. Mouton de Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110879591
Fairclough, N. (1995). Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language. Longman.
Fazio, L. K., Brashier, N. M., Payne, B. K., & Marsh, E. J. (2015). Knowledge does not protect against illusory truth. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 144(5), 993–1002. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000098
Foucault, M. (1972). The archaeology of knowledge (A. M. Sheridan Smith, Trans.). Pantheon Books.
Gadamer, H.-G. (1975). Truth and method (J. Weinsheimer & D. G. Marshall, Trans., 2nd rev. ed.). Continuum.
Habermas, J. (1984). The theory of communicative action: Vol. 1. Reason and the rationalization of society (T. McCarthy, Trans.). Beacon Press.
Han, C.-H. (2002). Interpreting interrogatives as rhetorical questions. Lingua, 112(3), 201–229. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0024-3841(01)00043-4
Hays, R. B. (2016). Echoes of scripture in the gospels. Baylor University Press.
Ilie, C. (1994). What else can I tell you? A pragmatic study of English rhetorical questions as discursive and argumentative acts (Stockholm Studies in English, 84). Almqvist & Wiksell.
Iredele T. (2022). Creation Account and Scriptures: A Linguistic Meta-Function Analysis of Genesis Chapter One. Covenant Journal of Language Studies, 10(1). Retrieved from https://journals.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/index.php/cjls/article/view/2970
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
King James Bible. (1769/2017). Holy Bible, King James Version. Cambridge University Press. https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org
Laclau, E., & Mouffe, C. (1985). Hegemony and socialist strategy: Towards a radical democratic politics. Verso.
Lakoff, G. (2004). Don’t think of an elephant!: Know your values and frame the debate. Chelsea Green.
Lewandowsky, S., Cook, J., Ecker, U. K. H., Albarracín, D., Amazeen, M. A., Kendeou, P., Lombardi, D., Newman, E. J., Pennycook, G., Porter, E., Rand, D. G., Rapp, D. N., Reifler, J., Roozenbeek, J., Schmid, P., Seifert, C. M., Sinatra, G. M., Swire-Thompson, B., van der Linden, S., ... Zaragoza, M. S. (2020). Misinformation and its correction: Continued influence and successful debiasing. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 21(3), 106–131. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100620949179
Pennycook, G., Cannon, T. D., & Rand, D. G. (2018). Prior exposure increases perceived accuracy of fake news. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 147(12), 1865–1880. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000465
Ricoeur, P. (1970). Freud and philosophy: An essay on interpretation (D. Savage, Trans.). Yale University Press.
Runge, S. E. (2010). Discourse grammar of the Greek New Testament: A practical introduction for teaching and exegesis. Hendrickson.
Searle, J. R. (1979). Expression and meaning: Studies in the theory of speech acts. Cambridge University Press.
Sloan, R. B. (1977). The favorable year of the Lord: A study of jubilary theology in the Gospel of Luke. Schola Press.
Thiselton, A. C. (1992). New horizons in hermeneutics: The theory and practice of transforming biblical reading. Zondervan.
Van Dijk, T. A. (2006). Discourse and manipulation. Discourse & Society, 17(3), 359–383. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926506060250
Vanhoozer, K. J. (2016). Faith speaking understanding: Performing the drama of doctrine. Westminster John Knox Press.
Wenham, G. J. (1987). Genesis 1–15 (Vol. 1). Word Biblical Commentary. Thomas Nelson.
Wodak, R. (2021). The Routledge handbook of language and politics. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367809848
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Tolulope Deborah Iredele
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The authors certify that:
- if the manuscript is co-authored, they are authorized by their co-authors to enter into these arrangements.
- the work described has not been formally published before in a registered ISSN or ISBN media, except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, or thesis.
- it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere,
- its publication has been approved by all the author(s) and by the responsible authorities – tacitly or explicitly – of the institutes where the work has been carried out.
- they secure the right to reproduce any material that has already been published or copyrighted elsewhere (it does not infringe on the rights of others).
- they agree to license and copyright agreement.
All articles published are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
- Authors retain copyright and other proprietary rights related to the article.
- Authors retain the right and are permitted to use the substance of the article in their own future works, including lectures and books.
- Authors grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (CC BY-NC 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post or self-archive their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
