No. 8 - The language of economics in Italy: its main features, history and development

This work provides an overview of the language of economics through a broad selection of contributions and studies, including studies devoted to the linguistic aspects of the Bank of Italy’s Annual Reports and, above all, the Governor's Concluding Remarks. The aim of the work is twofold: on the one hand, it gives an outline of the language of economics, with accounts of its more general and common features and of its many varieties, both from a historical perspective and in comparison with other special languages; on the other hand, it gives insights into the development and communicative capacity of the language, drawing on the Annual Reports and the Governor’s Concluding Remarks as a case study. Covering a period of eight centuries, the work identifies key documents of the language of economics, describes textual forms and strategies, and underlines some of its notable aspects, such as its dual nature, at once scientific and popularizing; the variety of figures of speech (especially metaphors) which already began to be in use in the founding texts of economics and finance; the strong presence of foreign words, particularly from English; the need (and the challenge) for economists to make themselves understood by the general public too, without losing authoritativeness and specificity. The work illustrates the debate involving linguists and economists on these issues and offers some concluding suggestions.