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Reframing History through Discourse: A French Discourse Analysis of Vox’s Political Language

Nicola Riccardi

Abstract


Abstract

This article investigates the epistemological convergence between French historiography and French Discourse Analysis (FDA), emphasizing their shared focus on language as a vehicle for historical meaning and ideological formation. Tracing the evolution from the Annales School to post-structuralist thinkers such as Foucault and LaCapra, the study highlights how history has increasingly embraced discourse as both a methodological tool and an object of analysis. Through a case study of Santiago Abascal, leader of Spain’s far-right party Vox, the article illustrates how FDA concepts – such as lexical worlds, interdiscursivity, and discursive ethos – can be applied to political rhetoric in the digital age. Using lexicometric methods (IraMuTeQ, SketchEngine) and qualitative interpretation, the study analyzes a corpus of Abascal’s tweets (2019-2022), focusing particularly on the term golpista as a strategic signifier of ideological antagonism. The findings show how far-right discourse reactivates historically loaded terms to construct binary oppositions and mobilize collective memory. Ultimately, the article argues that FDA offers historians a powerful framework to interrogate the linguistic production of identity, power, and historical continuity in contemporary political narratives.


Keywords


Annales school; extremist narratives; French discourse analysis; historiography; ideological framing; lexicometry; linguistic turn; political rhetoric; post-structuralism

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.7358/lcm-2025-001-ricn

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Lingue Culture Mediazioni - Languages Cultures Mediation
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