The paper explores the relationship between language and economy, between
text and context, through a case study: the Basque region in northern Spain
during World War I and the immediate postwar years. Using some tools of
quantitative and qualitative analysis, I try to dissect the process of production
and interpretation of the corporatist discourse, and then relate it to the
evolution of the economy and the interests of the local economic elites.
Contrary to the widespread Foucaldian theory, which focuses on the intrinsic
structure of discourse, the results suggest that more attention should be paid to
the context in explaining the process of discourse production
