Governing the word: Antonio Gramsci and Soviet linguistics on language policy

Abstract

The paper explores the possibility of an influence on Antonio Gramsci’s conception of language by the sociolinguistics developed in Soviet Russia in the 1920s. In the first part, the paper focusses on linguistic policy, analysing the evolution of the meaning of the term between Gramsci’s pre-prison and prison writings. In the second part, the paper explores the similarities between Gramsci’s and Soviet linguists’ stances on language policy, suggesting the latter as possible influence on the evolution of the former’s ideas on language.