Dall'ideologia linguistica all'ideologia semiotica. Riflessioni sulla smentita

abstract a vast literature exists on the concept of "linguistic ideology." scholars generally agree on defining it as a set of ideas that the members of a community hold about the role of language in the community. nevertheless, scholars generally disagree on whether these ideas are explicit or implicit. different views on this point imply different methodologies: the analysis of explicit considerations on language in the first case, that of a more multifarious material in the second one. however, excluding implicit ideas from the analysis is too restrictive. a better option is to distinguish between explicit beliefs and implicit assumptions. whereas the first ones must be studied through socio- or ethno-logical methods, the second ones must be studied through semiotics: the discourses that are produced in a community are considered as signs of implicit assumptions that such community holds about language. the paper deals with a case-study: the semiotic ideology behind denegation in the contemporary italian political discourse.