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Handbook of the Changing World Language Map pp 2825–2843Cite as

Sociocultural Influences on Linguistic Geography: Religion and Language in Southeast Asia

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Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to discuss the influences of sociocultural and historical factors, such as religion, on language and the development of linguistic areas. It is argued that the importance of sociocultural factors in areal linguistics is under-researched. This is the case especially for religion. This chapter discusses such sociocultural factors on the example of the linguistic area Mainland and Insular Southeast Asia (MSEA and ISEA). It is shown that early migration, as well as the cultural and linguistic heritage, brought to MSEA together with Buddhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism, needs to be considered. It is argued that extralinguistic factors, such as religion and politics, greatly influence conceptualization and consequently language usage. This can lead to linguistic areas, developed on the basis of, for example, religious practices. As a result, extralinguistic factors provide a rich field for future research in linguistic geography and areal studies, which holds the potential of a better understanding of the intertwined relation between language and nonlinguistic factors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, Munich, Germany

    Stefanie Siebenhütter

  2. Department of English and Linguistics, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany

    Stefanie Siebenhütter

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  1. Stefanie Siebenhütter
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Correspondence to Stefanie Siebenhütter .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

    Stanley D. Brunn

  2. Research Centre Deutscher Sprachatlas, Philipps University, Marburg, Germany

    Roland Kehrein

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Siebenhütter, S. (2020). Sociocultural Influences on Linguistic Geography: Religion and Language in Southeast Asia. In: Brunn, S., Kehrein, R. (eds) Handbook of the Changing World Language Map. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02438-3_84

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