Linguistic landscape

A trash can in Seattle labeled in four languages: English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish.

Linguistic landscape is the "visibility and salience of languages on public and commercial signs in a given territory or region" (Landry and Bourhis 1997:23). Linguistic landscape has been described as being "somewhere at the junction of sociolinguistics, sociology, social psychology, geography, and media studies". It is a concept used in sociolinguistics as scholars study how languages are visually used in multilingual societies, from large metropolitan centers to Amazonia. For example, some public signs in Jerusalem are in Hebrew, English, and Arabic (Spolsky and Cooper 1991, Ben-Rafael, Shohamy, Amara, and Trumper-Hecht 2006).

A grocery store sign in Dallas, TX in three languages English, Amharic, and Spanish.

File:English & Spanish alcohol warning sign.jpg

Sign legally required to be in English and Spanish in Texas.

Development of the field of study

Studies of the linguistic landscape have been published from research done around the world. The field of study is relatively recent; "the linguistic landscapes paradigm has evolved rapidly and while it has a number of key names associated with it, it currently has no clear orthodoxy or theoretical core" (Sebba 2010:73). A special issue of the International Journal of Multilingualism (3.1 in 2006) was devoted to the subject. Also, the journal World Englishes published a themed issue of five papers as a "Symposium on World Englishes and Linguistic Landscapes: Five Perspectives" (2012, vol. 31.1). Similarly, an entire issue of the International Journal of the Sociology of Language (228 in 2014) was devoted to the subject, including looking at signs that show influences from one language on another language. In 2015 an academic journal devoted to this topic was launched, titled Linguistic Landscape: An International Journal, from John Benjamins. There is also a series of academic conferences on the study of linguistic landscape. A comprehensive, searchable Linguistic Landscape Bibliography is available. A 2016 special issue of Manusya (22, 2016) begins with a history and summary of the field.

Because "the methodologies employed in the collection and categorisation of written signs is still controversial", basic research questions are still being discussed, such as: "do small, hand-made signs count as much as large, commercially made signs?". The original technical scope of "linguistic landscape" involved plural languages, and almost all writers use it in that sense, but Papen has applied the term to the way public writing is used in a monolingual way in a German city and Heyd has applied the term to the ways that English is written, and people's reactions to these ways.

The languages used in public signs indicate what languages are locally relevant, or give evidence of what languages are becoming locally relevant (Hult 2009; Kasanga 2012). In many multilingual countries, multilingual signs and packaging are taken for granted, especially as merchants try to attract as many customers as possible or people realize that they serve a multilingual community (Hult, 2014). In other places, it is a matter of law, as in Quebec, where signs cannot be in English only, but must include French (Bill 101, Charte de la langue française). In Texas, some signs are required to be in English and Spanish, such as warning signs about consuming alcohol while pregnant.

The study of language in post-war and conflict-ridden areas has also attracted the interest of scholars who applied the Linguistic Landscape approach as a method to explore how language use in the public space represents ethnic groups, reflects territorial conflicts, expresses statehood and projects ideologies and socio-cultural identities. Themistocleous (2019) for instance explored the use of Greek and Turkish on public signs in the centre of Nicosia (Cyprus) and found that traditional discourses of separation and conflict are dominant in the public space but at the same time new discourses of unification, peace and integration slowly begin to surface .

Bathroom sign in French restaurant in USA, spelling "Toilets" to convey a French aura, but understood by unilingual English speakers.

In some cases, the signs themselves are multilingual signs, reflecting an expected multilingual readership. In other cases, there are monolingual signs in different languages, written in relevant languages found within a multilingual community. Backhaus even points out that some signs are not meant to be understood so much as to appeal to readers via a more prestigious language (2007:58).

Information in English, Bible verse in German, Texas

Some signs are spelled to convey the aura of another language (sometimes genuinely spelled as in the other language, other times fictionally), but are still meant to be understood by monolinguals. For example, some signs in English are spelled in a way that conveys the aura of German or French, but are still meant to be understood by monolingual English speakers. Similarly, some signs use Latin script that is aestheticized to look like Chinese characters or Cyrillic script, in order to evoke the associated languages while still being readable to people who don't know them. For example, Leeman and Modan (2010) describe the use of aestheticized Latin script in the Washington DC's Chinatown and the Arab Quarter of Granada, Spain.

The study of linguistic landscape also examines such patterns as which languages are used for which types of institutions (e.g. country club, hospital, ethnic grocery store), which languages are used for more expensive/cheaper items (new cars or used cars), or which languages are used for more expensive/cheaper services (e.g. pool cleaning or washing machine repair). Also, linguistic landscape can be studied across an area, to see which neighborhoods have signs in which languages. For example, Carr (2017) examined the languages of three cities in Southeast Los Angeles in her dissertation.

Linguistic landscape can also be applied to the study of competing scripts for a single language. For example, after the breakup of the Soviet Union, some signs in Mongolia were erected in the traditional Mongolian script, not just Cyrillic (Grivelet 2001). Similarly, in some Cherokee speaking communities, street signs and other public signage is written with the Cherokee syllabary (Bender 2008). Also, license plates in Greek Cyprus have been printed with Greek or Roman letters in different eras.

Multilingual gravestone: Welsh, English, French

More recently, scholars have rejected the purely quantitative approaches to Linguistic Landscape. For example, using Scollon and Scollon's (2003) framework of geosemiotics, researchers have analyzed the placement and relative size of different languages and signs. Leeman and Modan (2009) proposed a "contextualized historical approach" to linguistic landscape that emphasizes the importance of considering how the signs came to be, and what they mean in a given context. Their example of the different symbolic meanings of Chinese and English on Starbucks signs in Washington DC's Chinatown and a Shanghai shopping mall shows that it is unwise to draw conclusions based on the relative frequency of languages in signage.

The study of the linguistic landscape can also show evidence of the presence and roles of different languages through history. Some early work on a specific form of linguistic landscape was done in cemeteries used by immigrant communities, some languages being carved "long after the language ceased to be spoken" in the communities.

In addition to larger public signage, some who study linguistic landscapes are now including the study of other public objects with multilingual texts, such as banknotes in India which are labeled in over a dozen languages.

Examples

• 
  The three-language (Tamil, English and Hindi) name board at the Tirusulam railway station in South India. Almost all railway stations in India have signs in three or more languages (English, Hindi and the local language).
• 
  Spanish-English sign at Cathedral Santuario de Guadalupe in Dallas, Texas; the congregation has both English and Spanish speakers.
• 
  Bilingual sign in a Quebec supermarket with markedly predominant French text.
• 
  Monolingual biscriptal street sign in Belarusian in Minsk, Belarus.
• 
  English and Cherokee sign: Cherokee visually prominent but less functional.
• 
  English and Spanish hospital directory, English prominent, in USA.
• 
  English and French sign in Louisiana, French written to indicate historical link, not so much to be understood
• 
  Spanish church sign in Georgia, USA, addressed entirely to Spanish readers.
• 
  Washing machine repairman advertising on his truck, in English and Spanish, English on top, Texas
• 
  Product originally labeled in English; bilingual warning base added for any hospital visitors & workers who are Spanish-dominant.
• 
  Bilingual sign, in three scripts, near Hungary-Ukraine border.
• 
  Sign in Israel written in Hebrew (official language), Arabic (widespread language), plus in English.
• 
  Sign in Roman script but Hebrew words, a hostel in Haifa, Israel catering to European gentiles
• 
  This Spanish sign was advertising a mobile home for rent in a largely Hispanic neighborhood in Texas. The broader community is predominantly non-Spanish speaking.
• 
  Commercial signs in section of Houston, Texas with large Asian population.
• 
  Predominantly Spanish sign in Texas church working to welcome Spanish speakers, near English version of same sign
• 
  Chinese sign on restaurant in America, conveying Chinese aura but not propositional content.
• 
  Trilingual, biscriptal sign in Nunavut, Canada, using Canadian Aboriginal Syllabic script
• 
  Hebrew gravestone in Germany
• 
  German gravestone in Israel
• 
  Apartheid era trilingual sign in South Africa
• 
  Gujarati and English sign on shop in English-speaking town in America, a Hindu talisman in the Gujarati language
• 
  Manila Oriental Market, grocery store in Daly, CA catering to many customers of Asian origin
• 
  A library sign in English with Spanish below, in Texas. The city has many Spanish speakers moving in, so the public library has added Spanish books and Spanish signs.
• 
  Statue of Mariano Datahan in Bohol, Philippines, early promoter of the Eskayan language and script, labeled in Eskayan with its unique script
• 
  Vietnamese temple in Seattle, sign in three languages
• 
  Tombstone for Gurkha soldier who served in British army, in Gurkha and English
• 
  Mi'kmaq language stop sign in Elsipogtog First Nation, Canada, street names in English
• 
  Sign on building for Burmese refugees in USA
• 
  Signs in both Japanese and Portuguese in the Homi housing complex in the Homigaoka district of Toyota City, Japan
• 
  In Fredericksburg, Texas founded by Germans, using German image for tourism. German part of the sign only for a German aura.
• 
  "Learn Danish" banner in Danish and German, in Flensburg, Germany where it is an officially recognised regional language.
• 
  Sign in Macau with street name in both Chinese and Portuguese
• 
  Latin on altar and wall of cathedral in USA. Understood by few, but seen as holier by some.
• 
  Sign specifically made for Spanish language church. Burglar alarm warning sign mass-produced, so English.
• 
  Sign in Jerusalem prohibiting slanderous speech
• 
  Sign for government-run eye clinic in Yellowknife, Canada, with all 11 official languages of the Northwest Territories
• 
  Multilingual signs at supermarket in Arlington, Texas. The area has many immigrants who speak Chinese, Vietnamese, or Spanish.
• 
  Recycling site labeled in English, Hmong, Spanish, and Somali in Minneapolis
• 
  Coptic and Arabic inscription in old part of Cairo, from 1899
• 
  Maronite convent in Old Jerusalem: French, Latin, Arabic, Hebrew
• 
  Manhole cover, San Antonio. English, except "No Basura!" ('No trash/waste!') in Spanish. "Made in India" in English
• 
  Wendish museum sign in Texas, welcoming visitors in both Wendish and English
• 
  Swedish trash can sign with five languages, reflecting growing population of refugees from Middle East
• 
  Though French is official on Martinique, sign is in Creole.
• 
  Korean newspaper machines, Fresh Meadows, NY, labeled in Korean & English.
• 
  Sign in English, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and Arabic at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

References

• Angermeyer, Philipp Sebastian (2005). "Spelling bilingualism: Script choice in Russian American classified ads and signage". Language in Society. 34 (4): 493–531. doi:10.1017/s0047404505050190.
• Aronin, Larissa; Laorie, Muiris Ó (2013). "The material culture of multilingualism: moving beyond the linguistic landscape". International Journal of Multilingualism. 10 (3): 225–235. doi:10.1080/14790718.2012.679734.
• Backhaus, Peter (2006). "Multilingualism in Tokyo: A Look into the Linguistic Landscape". International Journal of Multilingualism. 3 (1): 52–66. doi:10.1080/14790710608668385.
• Backhaus, Peter (2007). "'Linguistic landscapes: a comparative study of urban multilingualism in Tokyo". Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
• Ben Said, Selim. 2010. Urban Street Signs in the Linguistic Landscape of Tunisia: Tensions in Policy, Representation, and Attitudes. Doctoral dissertation, Pennsylvania State University.
• Bender, Margaret (2008). "Indexicality, voice, and context in the distribution of Cherokee scripts". International Journal of the Sociology of Language. 2008 (192): 91–104. doi:10.1515/ijsl.2008.037.
• Ben-Rafael, Eliezer; Elana Shohamy; Muhammad Hasan Amara; Nira Trumper-Hecht (2006). "Linguistic Landscape as Symbolic Construction of the Public Space: The Case of Israel". International Journal of Multilingualism. 3 (1): 7–30. doi:10.1080/14790710608668383.
• Cenoz, Jasone; Durk Gorter (2006). "Linguistic Landscape and Minority Languages". International Journal of Multilingualism. 3 (1): 67–80. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.573.7767. doi:10.1080/14790710608668386.
• Choski, Nisshant (2014). "Scripting the border: Script practices and territorial imagination among Santali speakers in eastern India". International Journal of the Sociology of Language. 2014 (227): 47–63. doi:10.1515/ijsl-2013-0087.
• Correll; Arthur Polk, Patrick (2014). "Productos Latinos: Latino business murals, symbolism, and the social enactment of identity in Greater Los Angeles". Journal of American Folklore. 127 (505): 285–320. doi:10.5406/jamerfolk.127.505.0285.
• Gorter, Durk (2006). "Introduction: The Study of the Linguistic Landscape as a New Approach to Multilingualism". International Journal of Multilingualism. 3 (1): 1–6. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.537.7398. doi:10.1080/14790710608668382.
• Gorter, Durk, Heiko F. Marten and Luk Van Mensel, eds. 2012. Minority Languages in the Linguistic Landscape. (Palgrave Studies in Minority Languages and Communities.) Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Grivelet, Stéphane (2001). "Digraphia in Mongolia". International Journal of the Sociology of Language. 2001 (150): 75–94. doi:10.1515/ijsl.2001.037.
• Hassa, Samira (2012). "Regulating and negotiating linguistic diversity: top-down and bottom-up language planning in the Moroccan city". Current Issues in Language Planning. 13 (3): 207–223. doi:10.1080/14664208.2012.722375.
• Hult, F.M. (2014). Drive-thru linguistic landscaping: Constructing a linguistically dominant place in a bilingual space. International Journal of Bilingualism, 18, 507-523.
• Hult, F.M. (2009). Language ecology and linguistic landscape analysis. In E. Shohamy & D. Gorter (Eds.), Linguistic landscape: Expanding the scenery (pp. 88–104). London: Routledge.
• Kasanga, Luanga Adrien (2012). "Mapping the linguistic landscape of a commercial neighbourhood in Central Phnom Penh". Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. 32 (6): 1–15. doi:10.1080/01434632.2012.683529.
• Lai, Mee Ling (2013). "The linguistic landscape of Hong Kong after the change of sovereignty". International Journal of Multilingualism. 10 (3): 225–235. doi:10.1080/14790718.2012.708036.
• Landry, Rodrigue; Richard Y. Bourhis (1997). "Linguistic Landscape and Ethnolinguistic Vitality An Empirical Study". Journal of Language and Social Psychology. 16 (1): 23–49. doi:10.1177/0261927X970161002.
• Leeman, Jennifer; Modan, Gabriella (2009). Commodified language in Chinatown: A contextualized approach to linguistic landscape. The Journal of Sociolinguistics 13(3), 333-363.
• Leeman, Jennifer; Modan, Gabriella (2010). Selling the City: Language, ethnicity and commodified space. In Elana Shohamy, Eli Ben-Rafael and Monica Barni (Eds.) Linguistic Landscape in the City. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. 182-197.
• Macalister, John (2012). "Language policies, language planning and linguistic landscapes in Timor-Leste". Language Problems and Language Planning. 36 (1): 25–45. doi:10.1075/lplp.36.1.02mac.
• Muth, Sebastian (2014). "Linguistic landscapes on the other side of the border: Signs, language, and the construction of cultural identity in Transnistria" (PDF). International Journal of the Sociology of Language. 2014 (227): 25–46. doi:10.1515/ijsl-2013-0086. {{cite journal}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
• Pons Rodríguez, Lola. 2012. El paisaje lingüístico de Sevilla. Lenguas y variedades en el escenario urbano hispalense. Sevilla: Diputación Provincial de Sevilla, Colección Archivo Hispalense. (Download)
• Rasinger, Sebastian M. (2014): Linguistic landscapes in Southern Carinthia (Austria), Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, doi:10.1080/01434632.2014.889142
• Sebba, Mark (2010). "Book review: "Linguistic Landscapes: A Comparative Study of Urban Multilingualism in Tokyo", by Peter Backhaus". Writing Systems Research. 2 (1): 73–76. doi:10.1093/wsr/wsp006.
• Shiohata, Mariko (2012). "Language use along the urban street in Senegal: perspectives from proprietors of commercial signs". Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. 33 (3): 269–285. doi:10.1080/01434632.2012.656648.
• Shohamy, Elana; Durk Gorter (2009). Linguistic landscape: Expanding the scenery. New York and London: Routledge.
• Spolsky, Bernard; Robert Cooper (1991). The Languages of Jerusalem. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

External links

• Linguistic Landscape Bibliography
• Linguistic Landscape: An International Journal