1887
Volume 11, Issue 4
  • ISSN 2214-9953
  • E-ISSN: 2214-9961
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

This study is framed by nexus analysis and utilizes a photo-elicitation task as part of ethnographic interviews to explore community perspectives on practices and authorship in the Linguistic Landscape (LL) of Honolulu Chinatown. A single wall site, the Wo Fat Building’s street-facing walls, is the focus as nexus point and sample of the neighborhood’s LL. By utilizing texts from these walls to elicit perspectives from diverse community participants, this research aims to understand the heritage identity of Chinatown as well as its acceptance and integration into Oahu Island society as an immigrant ethnic place in Hawaiian space. This study is backdropped by Hawaiian indigenous history of colonization and ongoing concerns over indigenous people’s loss of heritage place, language, and history.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/ll.24053.alg
2025-04-22
2025-11-08
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Amos, Will
    (2016) Chinatown by numbers: Defining an ethnic space by empirical linguistic landscape. Linguistic Landscape, 2(2), 127–156.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Albury, Nathan
    (2018) Linguistic Landscape and metalinguistic talk about societal multilingualism. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism24(2), 207–223. 10.1080/13670050.2018.1452894
    https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2018.1452894 [Google Scholar]
  3. Angermeyer, Philipp
    (2017) Controlling Roma refugees with ‘Google-Hungarian’: Indexing deviance, contempt, and belonging in Toronto’s linguistic landscape. Language in Society, 46(2), 159–183. 10.1017/S0047404516001020
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404516001020 [Google Scholar]
  4. Bassford, Kimberlee
    (2022, July11). My Chinatown, with aloha [video]. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/video/my-chinatown-with-aloha-t5mcky/
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Blackwood, Robert
    (2014) The Top-Down Revitalization of Corsican: Considering the Reversal of a Language Shift in the Linguistic and Semiotic Landscapes of Ajaccio. French Studies, 68(1), 61–77. 10.1093/fs/knt224
    https://doi.org/10.1093/fs/knt224 [Google Scholar]
  6. Blommaert, Jan
    (2013) Ethnography, superdiversity and linguistic landscapes: Chronicles of complexity. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. 10.21832/9781783090419
    https://doi.org/10.21832/9781783090419 [Google Scholar]
  7. Cenoz, Jasone & Durk Gorter
    (2006) Linguistic Landscape and minority languages. International Journal of Multilingualism, 3(1), 67–80. 10.1080/14790710608668386
    https://doi.org/10.1080/14790710608668386 [Google Scholar]
  8. Charles, Shea
    (2020) The (re) urbanization of Honolulu: Colonialism and urban renewal in Hawaii. Ayana. Revista de Investigación en Turismo, 1(1), 66–72. 10.24215/27186717e006
    https://doi.org/10.24215/27186717e006 [Google Scholar]
  9. Chong, Douglas
    (2024, October26). Culturales series 1: Chinese history [public lecture]. 75th Anniversary Narcissus Festival Events.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Collins, James & Stef Slembrouck
    (2007) Reading Shop Windows in Globalized Neighborhoods: Multilingual Literacy Practices and Indexicality. Journal of Literacy Research, 39(3), 335–356. 10.1080/10862960701613128
    https://doi.org/10.1080/10862960701613128 [Google Scholar]
  11. Córdova Hernández, Lorena, Mario López-Gopar & William Sughrua
    (2017) From Linguistic Landscape to semiotic landscape: indigenous language revitalization and literacy. Studies in Applied Linguistics, 8(2), 7–21.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Cormier, Gail
    (2021) Glocal language awareness through participatory linguistic landscape research. Teaching, Learning, Leading, and Living in a Glocal World: Policy, Practice, and Praxis, 8(2–3), 21–45.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Fujikane, Candace
    (2008) Introduction: Asian settler colonialism in the U.S. colony of Hawai’i. InCandace Fujikane & Jonathan Okamura (Eds.), Asian settler colonialism: From local governance to the habits of everyday life in Hawai’i (pp.1–42). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press. 10.21313/hawaii/9780824830151.003.0017
    https://doi.org/10.21313/hawaii/9780824830151.003.0017 [Google Scholar]
  14. Garvin, Rebecca
    (2010) Responses to the Linguistic Landscape in Memphis, Tennessee: An Urban Space in Transition. InElana Shohamy, Eliezer Ben-Rafael & Monica Barni (Eds.), Linguistic Landscape in the City (pp.252–272). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. 10.21832/9781847692993‑016
    https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847692993-016 [Google Scholar]
  15. Gorter, Durk & Jasone Cenoz
    (2024) A Panorama of Linguistic Landscape studies. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. 10.21832/9781800417151
    https://doi.org/10.21832/9781800417151 [Google Scholar]
  16. Gorter, Durk, Heiko Marten & Luk Van Mensel
    (2019) Linguistic Landscapes and Minority Languages. InGabrielle Hogan-Brun & Bernadette O’Rourke (Eds.) The Palgrave Handbook of Minority Languages and Communities. (pp.481–505). London: Palgrave Macmillan. 10.1057/978‑1‑137‑54066‑9_19
    https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54066-9_19 [Google Scholar]
  17. Hasni, Nurul Ain, Mohamad Syafiq Ya Shak, Abdul Malik & Andria Shirin Anuarudin
    (2022) Linguistic Landscape of tourist spaces from 2014 to 2022: A Review. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 12(10), 1695–1708. 10.6007/IJARBSS/v12‑i10/14996
    https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v12-i10/14996 [Google Scholar]
  18. Hawai’i Historic Foundation
    Hawai’i Historic Foundation (October20 2023) Oahu Historic Properties. https://historichawaii.org/2023/03/06/wo-fat-chop-sui-house/
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Hayik, Rawia
    (2017) Exploring the perceptions of passers-by through the participatory documentary photography tool PhotoVoice. Linguistic Landscape, 3(2), 187–212. 10.1075/ll.3.2.04hay
    https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.3.2.04hay [Google Scholar]
  20. Hult, Francis
    (2009) Language ecology and linguistic landscape analysis. InElana Shohamy & Durk Gorter (Eds.), Linguistic Landscape: Expanding the Scenery (pp.88–104). New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Jaworski, Adam & Thurlow, Crispin
    (2010) Introducing Semiotic Landscapes. InAdam Jaworski & Crispin Thurlow (Eds.), Semiotic landscapes: Language, image, space (pp.1–40). London: Bloomsbury.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Jocuns, Andrew
    (2021) The Geosemiotics of a Thai University: The narratives embedded in schoolscapes. Linguistics and Education611, 100902. 10.1016/j.linged.2021.100902
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2021.100902 [Google Scholar]
  23. Kallen, Jeffrey
    (2009) Tourism and representation in the Irish Linguistic Landscape. InElana Shohamy & Durk Gorter (Eds.), Linguistic landscapes: Expanding the scenery (pp.310–324). London: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Kress, Gunther & Theo van Leeuwen
    (2006) Reading images: The grammar of visual design (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. 10.4324/9780203619728
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203619728 [Google Scholar]
  25. Leeman, Jennifer & Gabriella Modan
    (2009) Commodified language in Chinatown: A contextualized approach to Linguistic Landscape. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 13(3), 332–362. 10.1111/j.1467‑9841.2009.00409.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2009.00409.x [Google Scholar]
  26. Lou, Jia Jackie
    (2010) Chinese on the side: The marginalization of Chinese in the linguistic and social landscapes of Chinatown in Washington, DC. InElana Shohamy, Eliezer Ben-Rafael & Monica Barni (Eds.), Linguistic Landscape in the City (pp.96–114). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. 10.21832/9781847692993‑008
    https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847692993-008 [Google Scholar]
  27. (2016) The Linguistic Landscape of Chinatown: A sociolinguistic ethnography. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. 10.21832/9781783095636
    https://doi.org/10.21832/9781783095636 [Google Scholar]
  28. (2017) Spaces of consumption and senses of place: A geosemiotic analysis of three markets in Hong Kong. Social Semiotics, 27(4), 513–531. 10.1080/10350330.2017.1334403
    https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330.2017.1334403 [Google Scholar]
  29. Lu, Song, Guanghui Li & Ming Xu
    (2020) The Linguistic Landscape in rural destinations: A case study of Hongcun Village in China. Tourism Management, 771, 104005. 10.1016/j.tourman.2019.104005
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2019.104005 [Google Scholar]
  30. Magin, Janis
    (2018, August8). Hotel, restaurant planned for Honolulu’s iconic Wo Fat building in Chinatown. Pacific Business News.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Malinowski, David
    (2009) Authorship in the Linguistic Landscape: A multimodal-performative view. InElana Shohamy and Durk Gorter (Eds.), Linguistic Landscape: Expanding the Scenery (pp.107–125). New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. (2015) Opening spaces of learning in the Linguistic Landscape. Linguistic Landscape, 1(1/2), 95–113. 10.1075/ll.1.1‑2.06mal
    https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.1.1-2.06mal [Google Scholar]
  33. Michalovich, Amir, Sarah Naaman, Moraia Trijnes, Iman Agbaria & Elana Shohamy
    (2020) Dynamic Walking Tour Methodology for LL Research: A Case Study in Jaffa. InGreg Niedt & Corinne Seals (Eds.), Linguistic Landscapes Beyond the Language Classroom (pp.217–236). New York: Bloomsbury.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Moriarty, Máiréad
    (2012) Language ideological debates in the Linguistic Landscape of an Irish tourist town. InDurk Gorter, Heiko Marten & Luk Van Mensel (Eds.), Minority languages in the Linguistic Landscape (pp.74–88). London: Palgrave Macmillan. 10.1057/9780230360235_5
    https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230360235_5 [Google Scholar]
  35. Muth, Sebastian
    (2015) Language Removal, Commodification and the Negotiation of Cultural Identity in Nagorno-Karabakh. InRani Rubdy & Selim Ben Said (Eds.), Conflict, Exclusion and Dissent in the Linguistic Landscape (pp.77–100). London: Palgrave Macmillan. 10.1057/9781137426284_4
    https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137426284_4 [Google Scholar]
  36. Nerlich, Brigitte & David Clarke
    (2002) Contextual competence: Its growth, use and loss. Studia Anglica Resoviensia11, 64–78.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Nguyen, Ha, Christina Higgins & Punihei Kaiwipunikauikawēkiu Lipe
    (2025) At an Epistemological Crossroads: International Students’ Experiences with a Decolonizing Campus Tour. Journal of Higher Education, 1–27. 10.1080/00221546.2025.2473707
    https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2025.2473707 [Google Scholar]
  38. Pennycook, Alastair
    (2011) Spatial Narrations: Graffscapes and city souls. InAdam Jaworski & Crispin Thurlow (Eds.), Semiotic Landscapes: Language, image, space. London: Bloomsbury.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. (2022) Street art assemblages. Social Semiotics, 32(4), 563–576. 10.1080/10350330.2022.2114731
    https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330.2022.2114731 [Google Scholar]
  40. Reinecke, John & Stanley Tsuzak
    (1967) Hawaiian Loanwords in Hawaiian English of the 1930’s. Oceanic Linguistics, 6(2), 80–115. 10.2307/3622760
    https://doi.org/10.2307/3622760 [Google Scholar]
  41. Ribao, Ronald
    (2015) Informing form: When graffiti meets architecture. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Hawai’i at Manoa.
  42. Riker, Marina
    (2022, December30). How one Hawaiian family battled in court for 20 years to reclaim ancestral land. Honolulu Civil Beat. https://www.civilbeat.org/2022/12/how-one-hawaiian-family-battled-in-court-for-20-years-to-reclaim-ancestral-land/
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Riley, Nancy
    (2024) Chinatown, Honolulu: Place, Race, and Empire. New York: Colombia University Press. 10.7312/rile19678
    https://doi.org/10.7312/rile19678 [Google Scholar]
  44. Saft, Scott
    (2021) Language and Social Justice in Context: Hawai’i as a Case Study. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. 10.1007/978‑3‑030‑91251‑2
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91251-2 [Google Scholar]
  45. Salcedo, Donna
    (2013) Hawaiian land disputes: how the uncertainty of the native Hawaiian indigenous tribal status exacerbates the need for mediation. Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution, 14(2), 557–592.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Saranillio, Dean
    (2013) Why Asian settler colonialism matters: A thought piece of critiques, debates, and indigenous difference. Settler Colonial Studies, 3(3/4), 280–294. 10.1080/2201473X.2013.810697
    https://doi.org/10.1080/2201473X.2013.810697 [Google Scholar]
  47. Schaefers, Allison
    (2022, November6). Oahu’s construction pipeline for hotel properties extends beyond Waikiki. Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Scollon, Ron & Suzie Wong Scollon
    (2003) Discourses in place: Language in the material world. London: Routledge. 10.4324/9780203422724
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203422724 [Google Scholar]
  49. (2004) Nexus analysis: Discourse and the emerging internet. London: Routledge. 10.4324/9780203694343
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203694343 [Google Scholar]
  50. Sharma, Bal Krisha
    (2021) The scarf, language, and other semiotic assemblages in the formation of a new Chinatown. Applied Linguistics Review, 12(1), 65–91. 10.1515/applirev‑2019‑0097
    https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2019-0097 [Google Scholar]
  51. Sheng, Rong & John Buchanan
    (2022) Traditional visual language: a geographical semiotic analysis of indigenous Linguistic Landscape of ancient waterfront towns in China. SAGE Open, 12(1), 1–13. 10.1177/21582440211068503
    https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211068503 [Google Scholar]
  52. Stroud, Christopher & Dmitri Jegels
    (2014) Semiotic landscapes and mobile narrations of place: Performing the local. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2014(228), 179–179. 10.1515/ijsl‑2014‑0010
    https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl-2014-0010 [Google Scholar]
  53. Szabó, Tamás Péter & Robert Troyer
    (2017) Inclusive ethnographies: Beyond the binaries of observer and observed in linguistic landscape studies. Linguistic Landscape, 3(3), 306–326. 10.1075/ll.17008.sza
    https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.17008.sza [Google Scholar]
  54. Troyer, Robert & Támas Péter Szabó
    (2017) Representation and videography in Linguistic Landscape studies. Linguistic Landscape, 3(1), 56–77. 10.1075/ll.3.1.03tro
    https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.3.1.03tro [Google Scholar]
  55. Trumper-Hecht, Nira
    (2010) Linguistic Landscape in Mixed Cities in Israel from the Perspective of ‘Walkers’: The Case of Arabic. InElana Shohamy, Eliezer Ben-Rafael & Monica Barni (Eds.), Linguistic Landscape in the City (pp.235–251). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. 10.21832/9781847692993‑015
    https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847692993-015 [Google Scholar]
  56. Tuck, Eve & Marcia McKenzie
    (2015) Relational validity and the ‘where’ of inquiry: Place and land in qualitative research. Qualitative inquiry, 21(7), 633–638. 10.1177/1077800414563809
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800414563809 [Google Scholar]
  57. Urada, Kristen, Lin Chen, Kathleen Griffin, Michaela Nuesser & Christina Higgins
    (2021) Finding Queen Emma at the International Market Place. InBal Krishna Sharma & Shuang Gao (Eds.), Language and Intercultural Communication in Tourism (pp.104–133). New York: Routledge. 10.4324/9781003088028‑8
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003088028-8 [Google Scholar]
  58. Wallace, Don
    (2017, February24). Chinatown’s Latest Revival is putting it Back on the Map. But Will it Last?Honolulu Magazine. https://www.honolulumagazine.com/chinatowns-latest-revival-is-putting-it-back-on-the-map-but-will-it-last/
    [Google Scholar]
  59. Wroblewski, Michael
    (2020) Inscribing indigeneity: Ethnolinguistic authority in the Linguistic Landscape of Amazonian Ecuador. Multilingua, 39(2), 139–168. 10.1515/multi‑2018‑0127
    https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2018-0127 [Google Scholar]
  60. Zhao, Fengzhi
    (2021) Linguistic Landscapes as discursive frame: Chinatown in Paris in the eyes of new Chinese migrants. Linguistic Landscape, 7(2), 235–257. 10.1075/ll.20009.zha
    https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.20009.zha [Google Scholar]
  61. Zhu, Xiaoli
    (2015) The evolvement and development of the Chinese dragon. Cross-Cultural Communication, 11(3), pp.95–100.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/ll.24053.alg
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/ll.24053.alg
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Chinatown; historical bodies; nexus analysis; transgressive; unauthorized
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error