Language as a magnifying glass of history: The case of Italian brand names during the Fascism

This paper aims to illustrate some aspects of the relationship between language and identity during the Fascism, following the history of the brand names. The language policy in Italy was strongly puristic oriented and many decrees regulated the use of foreign languages in the first 40 years of the 20th century. Not only the morphological analysis of the brand names, enlightening extragrammatical solutions in word formations, but also their semantic analysis, organised through connotations domains (power, tradition) and their connected associations (history, family, fascist propaganda) can clarify the role of brands. As linguistic mirror of the society they describe the ideals of that period and as symbols of identity makers they give the consumers the satisfaction of desire of power.