Language, discourse and ideology : the Real Academia EspaĂ±ola and the standardisation of Spanish
This thesis aims to investigate the nature of ideologies of language, and specifically to understand what kinds of linguistic, social, political and historical factors impact upon and inform ideologies of standardisation. I consider the particular case of the Spanish language, and examine how public debates in Spainâs press constitute discursive sites in which the ideologies of language authorities are evidenced. There are few studies which identify and critique the social actors in Spanish standardisation, and this thesis is a contribution to addressing that absence. By adopting a Critical Discourse Analysis approach , I seek to relate the microstructures of texts from two of Spainâs best-selling daily newspapers (El PaĂ­s and ABC) to the socio-political macrostructures in which press discourse is produced, and in which hegemonic ideologies underpin debates about Spanish. The press is a crucial vehicle of transmission in which language ideologies are staked out, and the large data corpus allows me to identify recurring aspects of discourse which become ânaturalisedâ and form âcommon senseâ beliefs about Spanish, its role, its authorities, and the practices of those who âguardâ the language.
Paffey, Darren J.
AS Academies and learned societies (General) ; P Philology. Linguistics ; PC Romance languages
Language, discourse and ideology : the Real Academia EspaĂ±ola and the standardisation of Spanish. This thesis aims to investigate the nature of ideologies of language, and specifically to understand what kinds of linguistic, social, political and historical factors impact upon and inform ideologies of standardisation. I consider the particular case of the Spanish language, and examine how public debates in Spainâs press constitute discursive sites in which the ideologies of language authorities are evidenced. There are few studies which identify and critique the social actors in Spanish standardisation, and this thesis is a contribution to addressing that absence. By adopting a Critical Discourse Analysis approach , I seek to relate the microstructures of texts from two of Spainâs best-selling daily newspapers (El PaĂ­s and ABC) to the socio-political macrostructures in which press discourse is produced, and in which hegemonic ideologies underpin debates about Spanish. The press is a crucial vehicle of transmission in which language ideologies are staked out, and the large data corpus allows me to identify recurring aspects of discourse which become ânaturalisedâ and form âcommon senseâ beliefs about Spanish, its role, its authorities, and the practices of those who âguardâ the language.
language discourse ideology real academia standardisation spanish aim_investigate nature ideology language specifically kinds linguistic social_political historical factor_impact upon inform ideology standardisation consider particular_case spanish language examine public_debate spain press constitute discursive site ideology language authority evidence study identify critique social actor spanish standardisation address absence adopt critical_discourse_analysis seek relate texts spain best selling daily newspaper abc socio_political press discourse produce hegemonic ideology underpin debate spanish press crucial vehicle transmission language ideology stake large data corpus allow identify recur aspect discourse become naturalised form common_sense beliefs spanish role authority practice guard language