Discursive practices of national identity: The Argentine anthem as a multi-paradigmatic entity

Abstract

The heterogeneity of the Spanish-speaking world, the peculiarities of the historical development of Spanish-speaking countries determined the uniqueness of their linguistic cultures and, as a consequence, the originality of the precedent phenomena and rhetorical means reflected in their national anthems. Latin America’s national anthems reflect their so-called “border” cultures. A comprehensive understanding of the ideological, aesthetic, and symbolic potential of Latin American anthems represents a gap and at the same time an important topic in modern humanitarian knowledge. The authors of this article offer an interpretation of the dynamics of the formation of the anthem of the Argentine Republic, from its original versions, regarded as precedent texts, to modern multimodal interpretations. The goal of this article is to interpret the emergence of the Argentine anthem, to trace the development of its linguistic parameters. The methodology is based on text theory, precedent philology, axiology, cognitive linguistics, linguopragmatic analytical techniques, which allow to interpret the grammatical, lexical-semantic, precedent parameters of the anthem of the Argentine Republic, its aesthetics, rhetoric and impactful forth. The objectives of the article also include an analysis of the linguistic means of the anthem in the context of the historical memory of Argentines and national rhetoric. The complex methodology undertaken permit to perceive the anthem of the Argentine Republic as a systemic embodiment of the Argentine national identity. The article postulates a connection between the cognitive mechanisms of anthem formation and the categories of identity. The proposed methodology for analyzing the Argentine anthem can be applied to the interpretation of the anthems of other countries.

Keywords:

anthem, Argentina, identity, axiology, precedent phenomena