Matejka Grgič
SLORI, SLOV.I.K., Trst, 2016
When people use a particular language or live in an environment in which a certain language is used, they create a complex system of relationships towards it, as well as perceptions, representations, and beliefs. This complex structure, which may also be termed linguistic ideology in certain circumstances, is reflected in the discourse about language shaped by individuals and the community.
Discourse about language thus reveals the individual’s and group’s relationship to a language or languages. This discourse is also found in scholarly works on language, and even in the definitions of language. It is necessary to ask to what extent and in what contexts discourse about language is ideologically conditioned—that is, when discourse about language appears and develops without facts that can be scientifically confirmed and established by experts, and becomes a means for establishing relations of power, domination/subordination, and inclusion/exclusion.
This book presents the hypothesis that ideological discourse leads to fetishizing language. That is, a language that functions as a symbol of identity becomes a fetish within a community that uses an expressly ideologically conditioned discourse about (its own) language.
The purpose of this volume is to present the ideological cores in discourse about language formed by Slovenian speakers that potentially identify with the Slovenian minority (or ethnic community) in Italy. The research is based on an analysis of material that was published in the newspaper Primorski dnevnik from January 2011 to December 2012.
The publication is available in Slovenian language