Linguistic Landscape - Volume 9, Issue 1, 2023

Abstract

In 2016, a special issue of the Linguistic Landscapes: An International Journal explored the nexus between LL and collective memory studies, calling for more research at the interface of these disciplines. Our analysis adds to recent studies by exploring the ways in which commemorative street renaming processes are discursively embedded. We build on research on memorialisation as well as critical toponymy to analyse media discourses that accompany, support or contest commemorative naming practices in the urban streetscape of a large East German city during the last century. Based on this dataset, we develop a typology of arguments against or in favour of street renaming. The longitudinal analysis of discourses in the local press vis-à-vis ongoing resemioticisation reveals a complex relationship between lived political history, freedom of the press, the type of argument and the stances encoded therein.

Abstract

We use the uneven distribution of languages in the public spaces of the University of Zambia and the voices and narratives that emerge to argue for legitimization and recontextualization as critical components in the presence and contestations of languages. Using data from interviews and photographs of signage in place, we show legitimization of foreign languages in which English, Japanese, and Chinese forge a place of linguistic contestation and legitimization through control and superiority. We argue for the apparent hegemony of foreign languages and the striking paucity of monolingual signage of indigenous languages as the imbalance of powers. While the former shows the influence of the global in the local, the prospects for the latter continue to diminish as their chances and opportunities as linguistic capital for wider/global communication do not look so favourable. We conclude with the glaring reality of recontextualization as capital for the display of indigenous inclined discourses.

Abstract

This paper examines the uptake and interpretation of the Linguistic Landscape of Singapore by members of the community. The main goal is to explore Singaporeans’ ideologies pertaining to the languages depicted in the LL, as these ideologies instantiate themselves through interview discourses focusing on the signs. More specifically, participants’ ideologies emerge through the indexicalities they assign to the various languages and semiotic signs depicted in the LL, indexicalities such as globalness, localness, and prestige.

Abstract

This paper investigates the potential relationship between multilingual landscapes and minority speech community members’ sense of subjective well-being. It focuses on three speech communities located in Germany: Chinese, Japanese, and Turkish. Drawing on interviews with members of these speech communities, it analyzes how individuals perceive their engagement with public displays of their language in terms of happiness and in the context of the host society. Integration, which is prominent in both Happiness studies and Linguistic Landscape research, is identified as a key theme influencing the emotional interaction between signs and sign readers. The paper’s aim is to integrate a subject-focused approach into the study of Linguistic Landscapes that can better address how individuals perceive and interact with language signs in multilingual and multi-ethnic settings.

This article reviews Linguistic Landscaping and the Pacific Region: Colonization, indigenous identities, and critical discourse theory9781793611192$ 45.00

This article reviews Linguistic Landscapes beyond the Language Classroom9781350125360