Gammalt och nytt i predikospråket : Språklig-stilistisk analys av predikan i Svenska kyrkans radio- och TV-sända högmässor 1938-1984 : linguistic- stylistic analysis of the Church of Sweden's Sunday service sermons on radio and television from 1938 to 198

Sammanfattning: The principal aim of this dissertation is to give a broad description of the linguistic and stylistic changes in the language of the Church of Sweden's Sunday service sermons on radio and television between 1938 and 1984.The material consists of 67 sermons beginning with the period 1938-40, ending with the period 1979-84, and including the periods 1950-52 and 1967-68. The material from 1979-84 consists of 13 sermons held by female ministers and 13 held by male ministers. Of the 67 sermons, 57 are recorded on tape and 10 are in manuscript form. The survey thus mostly includes spoken sermons.The main hypothesis is that the language of sermons has changed in a rather sweeping way over the 47 years covered in the survey, but that there are also persistent features given that the sermons are part of a nearly 2,000-year-old tradition.It was found that major changes took place in what was largely an obsolete language influenced by the Bible, as shown in the sermons from 1938-40, giving way over time to a language affected by connections to the living conditions of contemporary people and characterized by words associated with social and psychological domains. This suggests that the ministers to some extent tried to adapt their sermons to the recipients. The target group of the sermons from 1938-40 was people who already believed in God. In the post-war period, society became secularized, which led Radio Sweden to prescribe that ministers also address secular listeners and people looking for religious inspiration in their sermons.Changes that took place in the Swedish language in the post-war period are also found in the language of the sermons. One can note, however, a delayed effect. It seems that sacred language is more conservative than profane language.Rhetorical devices for motivating the listener, reinforcing the message and making it concrete, and structuring the sermon are still found to about the same extent in the most recent material as in the oldest material.Female ministers have adapted their language to the prevailing norms to a great extent but sometimes deviate in a way that is usually seen as being typical for the language of women.