ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns the largely ignored phenomenon of inner speech within religious groups. In three major parts, the first considers some linguistic, philosophical and theological approaches used to frame the phenomenon in the past, the second exemplifies and compares inner speech in, Sikh devotional focus on divine words, Zen Buddhist philosophical concern with silence and human being and, one contemporary Christian context concerning prayer. The third part asks how inner speech might relate to the interpersonal dynamics of religious group membership. One contextual background to the phenomenology of inner speech concerns the cultural shift from spoken to silent reading. Sikhism strongly advocates inner speech for devotional goals. Sikhism is both a radically corporate endeavour of a religious community and a profoundly individual pursuit of union with the divine. The sociological interest of this Zen case lies precisely in the attempt at a serious deconstruction of linguistic norms and 'structures'.
