Dialogism and Intertextuality in Corporate Discourses: Linguistic-semiotic Analysis

Abstract

Discourse from the standpoint of semiotics attempts to create an effect in the receptor of a specific text or message. In the case of corporate discourse, the language employed should create a positive image that depicts the corporation as being competent, ethical and transparent. In practice, however, the language used by business firms tends to conceal more than it reveals. Linguistic and semiotic analysis point out how communication produced in corporations is constructed on the surface for the purpose of transmitting an image of perfection, of heroism (as a manifestation of the John Wayne syndrome, the invincible “cowboy”) while, in the deep structure, the discourse reveals an authoritative, conservative and biased intertextuality.The purpose of this paper is to show how corporate discourse, in many instances, manipulates signs through the use of a narrative marked by semantic incoherence and stereotypes. This manipulation is articulated by the “technique” of silence with respect to essential aspects of the message content. The discourse attempts to mask what is essential, merely emphasizing details. But we know that God hides in the details. For semiotics the true meaning of discourse can be extracted from what is “small”: the “small” leads to what is “big”, according to a brilliant expression of Carlo Guinzberg, who points to the similarities among the discovery procedures employed by Freud, Sherlock Holmes and the art critic, Morelli.