Get up! Be Opened!: Code-switching and Loanwords in the Gospel of Mark

Abstract

This article explores the social and literary functions of the loanwords and cases of code-switching in the Gospel of Mark from a sociolinguistic perspective, as a means of understanding better the author and the discursive community for which he writes. Sociolinguistic concepts and definitions that affect the understanding of the different varieties of language will be discussed. These tools will then be applied to the Gospel of Mark to analyze significant aspects of its idiolect, especially those related to Mark’s use of multilingualism. From this analysis conclusions are drawn that illuminate its idiolect from another angle, as well as the social actions that could be carried out by its author through the linguistic strategies that can be recognized from the study of its idiolect.