Language ideology and national propaganda in 18th-century British dictionaries of arts and sciences

The study examines the entry Language in three major British dictionaries of arts and sciences published between 1728 and 1778. The aim is to highlight the ideological gaze which contributed to the construction of the emerging nation-state as represented by language. In other words, the analysis is focussed on the discourse about and around the British national and linguistic identity as promoted in the Cyclopaedia (1728), the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1768-1771), and Rees’s Cyclopaedia (1778-1788). The investigation demonstrates how the ideological load is carried out over time by using similar linguistic expressions and rhetorical strategies s.v. Language, and how language is pivotal in establishing the British nation and the expanding British Empire.