The Italian Language Between Purism, "Belles-Lettres" and Globalization: a Debate on Language from Manzoni to the Policies of Meloni

Abstract

This article, through an anlysis of language policies on the Italian language, from 1800 to the present day, aims to analyze some of the main tendencies that coexist and alternate in the linguistic debate, which can be identified in two main lines. The first presents a vision of language as a norm, declined either as linguistic purism of "belles-lettres", or as conservatism of identity, for which the question of language is at the service of ideology. The second, in turn, proposes a vision of language as social expression, thus conferring dignity to the different variants and forms, including the oral one. These trends will be analyzed from the point of view of the meaning attributed to the norm and its social value in each era, placing them in comparative dialogue with Marcos Bagno’s critical view regarding the use of a normative language as a form of social domination (2003). We will also try to understand what is the dominant trend today in the Italian linguistic policy of Giorgia Meloni government (2022-2025), considering globalization and migratory phenomena, that will be also connected and compared, with some aspects of the linguistic policies during fascism.