LingLit Journal Scientific Journal for Linguistics and Literature

Determinants of Health in Abrahamic Scriptures: A Comparative Thematic Analysis of the Quran, Bible, and Torah

Belay Sitotaw Goshu — 2026-05-19

Mainstream models of health determinants, including the Dahlgren Whitehead rainbow model and WHO frameworks, overlook spiritual and religious factors despite growing evidence of their influence on health outcomes. Abrahamic scriptures the Quran, Bible, and Torah contain extensive guidance on health, yet no systematic comparative analysis has mapped their determinants. This study aimed to identify, categorise, and compare health determinants articulated in the Quran, Bible, and Torah, and to integrate findings into contemporary public health discourse. A comparative qualitative thematic analysis was conducted. Deductive codes were derived from existing determinant models; inductive codes emerged from scriptural analysis. Texts included the Quran (Arabic with Saheeh International translation), the Bible (NIV/NRSV), and the Torah (Jewish Publication Society translation). Rigour was ensured through audit trails, peer debriefing, and negative case analysis. Four determinant categories were identified: metaphysical (divine will, sin, spiritual forces, prayer), behavioural (diet, hygiene, rest, sexual ethics, intoxicants), social (charity, community responsibility, justice, governance), and psychological (faith, gratitude, repentance). All three scriptures affirm metaphysical determinants. Behavioural determinants are strongest in the Quran and Torah; social determinants are strongest in the Bible; psychological determinants are strong in the Quran and Bible, moderate in the Torah. Conclusion: Abrahamic scriptures present a holistic model in which the divine human relationship is the primary health determinant, extending beyond secular frameworks. Public health practice should integrate spiritual determinants through culturally competent promotion, faith based interventions, and clinical spiritual assessment. Future research should quantify scriptural determinants and extend analysis to other religious traditions.

The Divine Blueprint: Mathematics, the Language of Creation

Muhammad Ridwan — 2026-06-04

The relationship between mathematics and theology has occupied human thought for millennia, with traditions across cultures conceiving mathematics as a divine language or blueprint through which the cosmos is ordered. The remarkable effectiveness of mathematics in describing physical reality presents a persistent philosophical puzzle. This article explores the historical, philosophical, and theological dimensions of mathematics as a divine blueprint, examining how different traditions have interpreted mathematical order and considering the implications for contemporary science, religion, and human meaning. A multidisciplinary synthesis drawing from historical analysis, philosophical inquiry, theological reflection, and contemporary physics examines the development of mathematical theology from Pythagorean and Platonic traditions through the Scientific Revolution to modern cosmology. The investigation reveals that mathematics has been consistently understood across diverse traditions, including Christian Logos theology, Islamic geometric art, Jewish Kabbalah, Hindu sacred geometry, and Ethiopian Orthodox calendrical computation, as participating in divine order. The “unreasonable effectiveness” of mathematics in modern physics, exemplified by Noether’s theorem, general relativity, and quantum theory, intensifies questions about whether mathematics is discovered or invented. The mathematical intelligibility of the universe admits multiple interpretations, theistic, mystical, and naturalistic yet converges on recognition that mathematical inquiry participates in something transcendent. Gödel’s incompleteness theorems and quantum indeterminacy remind us that mystery persists alongside mathematical order. Future inquiry should pursue interdisciplinary dialogue between mathematics, philosophy, theology, and physics, attending to both the power and limits of mathematical description.

The Body Politic as a Sacred Vessel: A Systematic Review of the Cross-Cultural Resonance of Moral Metaphors

Belay Sitotaw Goshu — 2026-06-06

Unfilled pauses silent gaps in conversation carry pragmatic meaning that may vary across cultural contexts. Hall’s (1976) distinction between high context (HC) and low context (LC) cultures suggests that silence is valued in HC societies as a sign of reflection and respect, whereas LC societies interpret silence as evasive or uncomfortable. However, empirical evidence directly linking pause duration to Hall’s dimension in naturalistic and experimental settings remains limited. This study investigated cross cultural differences in the production and interpretation of unfilled pauses. Specifically, we examined whether HC speakers produce longer and more frequent pauses, and whether listeners from HC versus LC cultures differentially rate willingness, politeness, and competence as a function of pause length. Phase 1 corpus analysis (Japanese, Egyptian Arabic, German, American English; N = 400 conversations) revealed that HC speakers produced pauses nearly twice as long (mean = 915 ms) and twice as frequent as LC speakers (mean = 517 ms). Phase 2 experimental results (N = 480) showed a significant interaction between pause duration and cultural group for willingness ratings, F(3, 19152) = 34.7, p < .001. LC listeners’ willingness dropped 52% from short to long pauses, while HC listeners dropped only 15%. For politeness, longer pauses increased ratings for HC listeners but decreased them for LC listeners. Unfilled pauses function as a culturally variable pragmatic marker, supporting Hall’s high /low context framework and challenging Universalist accounts of silence interpretation. Intercultural communication training should explicitly address pause norm differences, and pragmatic competence assessments in second language learning should incorporate culturally appropriate silence use.

Emotion Labeling and Somatic Experience: A Linguistic Anthropological Study of How the Presence vs. Absence of ‘Sadness’ Words Alters Autonomic Arousal in Japanese and American Speakers

Muhammad Ridwan — 2026-06-06

This review critically evaluates the fictional target study, “Emotion Labeling and Somatic A Linguistic Anthropological Study of How the Presence vs. Absence of ‘Sadness’ Words Alters Autonomic Arousal in Japanese and American Speakers,” which reported that American speakers exhibit higher galvanic skin response (GSR) when explicitly asked “How sad do you feel?” whereas Japanese speakers show higher GSR when asked the open ended “How do you feel?” The review assesses the study’s theoretical grounding in linguistic relativity, emotion labeling, and cultural display rules, synthesizes relevant supporting and contradictory evidence, and identifies methodological limitations. Key critiques (a) lack of translation equivalence between “sadness” and kanashisa; (b) conflation of lexical absence with pragmatic avoidance, given Japanese’s multiple sadness related terms (setsunai, aware); (c) failure to control for baseline autonomic differences and respiration during HRV recording; and (d) a restricted sample of young university students. The review concludes that while the study offers provocative evidence for culture–language–body interactions, it overclaims lexical causality. Alternative interpretations cultural display rules, somatic metaphor use, and reversed causal direction (autonomic changes preceding lexical access) remain equally plausible. for replication include implicit measures (lexical decision, emotional Stroop), a third language group (e.g., German with Traurigkeit), and non word controls. Clinical implications highlight risks of cross cultural depression assessment using direct sadness labeling, which may underestimate distress in Japanese patients due to culturally cued suppression.

Counterfactual Structure and Regret Intensity: Cross Linguistic Experiments on How Grammatical Mood Shapes Post Decision Emotions

Muhammad Ridwan — 2026-06-06

Regret is a counterfactual emotion requiring mental simulation of alternatives to reality. Languages differ dramatically in grammatical mood marking for counterfactuals from obligatory subjunctive (Spanish, Turkish) to optional periphrastic (English) to absent (Mandarin). Whether these grammatical differences shape regret intensity remains unknown. This review synthesizes cross‑linguistic experimental evidence testing whether obligatory counterfactual mood increases post‑decision regret, whether fine‑grained mood distinctions produce graded effects, and what mechanisms explain these effects. We integrate behavioural, eye‑tracking, and self‑paced reading experiments comparing speakers of Spanish, Turkish, German, English, and Mandarin. Standardised decision scenarios with negative outcomes were used, measuring regret intensity, counterfactual generation latency/frequency, and rumination. Multilevel mediation and within‑language mood manipulations were employed. Obligatory mood produces significantly higher regret (Cohen’s *d* up to 1.13) than optional or absent marking, mediated by faster counterfactual generation. Fine‑grained distinctions (past perfect vs. imperfect subjunctive) amplify regret selectively for irreversible outcomes. Mandarin speakers show lower regret but higher rumination, suggesting deliberative processing. Processing fluency reduced cognitive effort for counterfactual simulation when mood is obligatory is the primary mechanism. Grammatical mood is a cognitive determinant of regret intensity, not merely an expressive device. Regret’s phenomenology is partially grammatically constructed. Future research should use neurolinguistic methods, developmental designs, artificial language learning, and clinical trials of “grammatical distancing” for regret‑based disorders. Applications in legal, medical, and marketing contexts should account for cross‑linguistic mood variation.