Applying word space models to sociolinguistics 123daism’, hindoeïsme ‘Hinduism’, ethiek ‘ethics’, protestante ‘Protestant’,
boeddhisme ‘Buddhism’, individualisme ‘individualism’, idealisme ‘ideal-
ism’) and art (literatuur ‘literature’, schilderkunst ‘painting’), along with
some more socio-political movements (nationaal-socialisme ‘National So-
cialism’, sociaal-democratie ‘social democracy’, socialisme ‘socialism’).
We may conclude that, when the use of islam and christendom is compared
in newspaper articles after 9/11, islam scores particularly high on the politi-
cal dimension, while christendom is more related to the socio-cultural
sphere.
Table 2. Most highly distinguishing nearest neighbors of islam and christendom
How can we explain this pattern in linguistic terms? What is it that makes
islam so similar to terrorisme and christendom to spiritualiteit? In order to
islam christendom
christendom ‘Christianity’
moslim ‘Muslim’
Koran ‘Quran’
terrorisme ‘terrorism’
minderheid ‘minority’
islamist ‘Islamist’
religie ‘religion’
fundamentalist ‘fundamentalist’
jihad ‘jihad’
verzorgingsstaat ‘welfare state’
denkbeeld ‘conception’
fundamentalisme ‘fundamentalism’
regime ‘regime’
homoseksualiteit ‘homosexuality’
Islamiet ‘Islamite’
immigratie ‘immigration’
terreur ‘terror’
democratie ‘democracy’
politiek ‘politics’
integratie ‘integration’Islam ‘Islam’
spiritualiteit ‘spirituality’
theologie ‘theology’
nationaal-socialisme
‘National Socialism’
modernisme ‘modernism’
sociaal-democratie ‘social democracy’
mystiek ‘mysticism’
christen ‘Christian’
jodendom ‘Judaism’
hindoeïsme ‘Hinduism’
literatuur ‘literature’
ethiek ‘ethics’
schilderkunst ‘painting’
protestante ‘Protestant’
boeddhisme ‘Buddhism’
individualisme ‘individualism’
kerk ‘church’
socialisme ‘socialism’
idealisme ‘idealism’
mensheid ‘human nature’