An analytical characterization of totalitarian language: The case of Francoism in context

Abstract

This analysis attempts to explore a practical characterization of totalitarianism. It has been tried to justify its theorization from the historiography of totalitarianism, the philosophy of language and certain theoretical and psychosocial notes. It is a first theoretical and practical approach, towards an analytical conception of the concept of totalitarian language, using the non-usual example of Franco's dictatorship in Spain. Given the interdisciplinary nature of this task, it is intended to disaggregate the different concepts that can be enclosed within this type of language: the different uses of language that modify the perception of reality, the construction of totalitarianism in a series of ideas of social engineering and certain ideas about ideology, legitimacy and acceptability. The first theoretical implications start from a basic model to satisfy, as far as possible, a sufficiently stable and solid theoretical framework, thus experimenting with a brief practical approach on part of the ideological skeleton of Francoism. Therefore, the fundamental and final object of this chapter will be, through the contribution of characteristics that limit the concept of totalitarian language, to elaborate a possible method of basic analysis of a totalizing ideological structure. Therefore, it will not tend to a sociological study of its social consequences.