ANTI-LANGUAGE IN THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS: A SOCIO-SEMANTIC ANALYSIS

Abstract

The study examines variety of the anti-languages used in the synoptic gospels to determine the social functions of those anti-languages and what they mean in the context in which they are used. The overriding objective in the investigation is to have a broad understanding on the socio-cultural and semantic value of those anti-languages by different players in the synoptic gospels. The study uses survey-descriptive as its research design. Socio-linguistic theory of language code by Bernstein (1973) was adopted for the research. The study uses New King James Version (NKJV) as mean for data gathering. The data gathered were analyzed using descriptive and interpretative tools. The study uses socio-semantic methodology of this work to uncover Jesus’ teaching and movement as anti-societal tendency as recorded in the synoptic materials in other to dissect the early years of the Jesus movement from the social prospective. The study concludes that what is called as anti-languages in the synoptic gospels were actually meant to fulfill what was spoken by the prophets.