Pavlenko, A. (2023) Multilingual ghost signs: Dissonant languages in the landscape of memory (original) (raw)
Related papers
The sights and sounds of the multilingual city
This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of a book chapter published in Lid King & Lorna Carson (Eds), The Multilingual City: Vitality, Conflict and Change, Bristol, Multilingual Matters, 2016. This chapter is about the visual evidence of multilingualism and the languages we hear in Europe’s cities, indeed the new varieties that seem to be emerging as a result of close language contact. In what follows, we will explore the languages we see in the streets of Europe’s cities as well as the soundscapes created and experienced by their citizens. The written language we see all around us in a city — official and permanent signs guiding traffic or providing public information, signs generated by the marketplace, unofficial or temporary notices, even graffiti — are all indicators of the various languages that may be spoken by the city’s residents and visitors. Most city-dwellers do not necessarily pay much attention to the languages they see and hear around them — sometimes ignoring them, sometimes taking them for granted, often failing to distinguish between them. Sociolinguistics and researchers in the field of study described as linguistic landscapes argue that the languages we see (or do not see) reflect the power and social relations in a city, inclusion or exclusion, solidarity and belonging. This is an important area of city life to scrutinise, as we know very little about how the multilingual repertoires of citizens are operationalised in their daily life. How do multilingual (and monolingual) citizens use the various languages at their disposal in their interactions with others? Do the various spheres of city life reflect the type of daily language usage that occurs, and the speech communities who are present? In the LUCIDE City Reports, the research teams examined what local residents and tourists notice about the cityscape. Through interviews with respondents and photographic evidence, the City Reports provide a snapshot of contemporary multilingualism in its manifestations in city streets. The last part of the chapter turns from the visual landscape to consider two aspects of the audioscape: multilingualism in the airwaves and the phenomenon of multiethnolects.
2019
This thesis examines a linguistic landscape and multilingualism of Surabaya and Mojokerto’s heritage sites. This research aims to find out if the different areas of tourist spaces can affect the use of linguistic landscape. It examined the language used in the sign, the function displayed by the sign, and the purpose of displaying particular language on the sign. The theoretical framework used in this study is Landry and Bourhis’s theory which provides the definition of linguistic landscape and anything that is categorized as linguistic landscape. Besides, Spolsky and Coopers’ theory is also employed to analyze the language used in the sign and the function of the sign. As the methodology, the researcher used qualitative and quantitative method in this research. The applied method has helped the researcher reach the objectives of the study by gaining 689 pictures of signs which consist of monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual signs. The researcher also found nine languages used i...
Informal and transient displays of written language such as graffiti, announcements and notes attached to walls and lampposts form an integral part of an urban linguistic landscape. Especially within multilingual contexts, individuals constantly shape the public space by the languages they use and make language choices that do not always reflect official language policies, commonly held perceptions or the demographic makeup within a certain area. The capital of the Republic of Moldova, Chisinau, proves to be an interesting area of research here, as – apart from a Romanian-speaking majority – the city is home to a large share of speakers of Russian, a language long considered to be the lingua franca of the country. The aim of the current study is to analyse signs made by private individuals that are not part of shop fronts or billboards, namely those that are found all over the city and advertise for language courses, work opportunities abroad or express political opinions. The quantitative basis of the study is made up of two corpora with over 750 different items from various parts of Chisinau surveyed in 2009 and 2010 both in the centre of the city as well as in suburban residential areas. For better traceability and to ensure transparency in linguistic landscape analysis, the 2010 corpus is accessible online. The survey shows that Russian is widely used as a local lingua franca, contradicting official policies that declare Romanian Moldovan the sole national language.
The Linguistic Landscape of Tourism: Multilingual Signs in Lithuanian and Polish Resorts
Eesti ja soome-ugri keeleteaduse ajakiri = Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric linguistics, (ESUKA – JEFUL), 2017
The present study provides a snapshot of Polish and Lithuanian linguistic landscapes (LLs) in several resort cities situated in the border areas of the two countries. The data consists of 515 digital pictures of multilingual signs collected in the central and thus the most touristic parts of the cities. The main objectives in this research are to identify the authorship of multilingual signs, determine the types of establishments that employ multilingual signage, and analyse which languages coexist in popular tourist destinations. The interpretation of the results is grounded on the interrelation between multilingual signage, tourism as an important economic factor, and official language policies. The findings show that at least some major tendencies in language displays in LL do relate to tourist exchange and tourists' needs. However, some trends (e.g. absence of Russian in Polish LLs) need to be analysed with regard to symbolic, economic, and ideological values attached to non-titular languages.
Linguistic landscapes on postcards: Tourist mediation and the sociolinguistic communities of contact
Alongside 'iconic' sights such as buildings, monuments, artworks, modes of transport, and so on, linguistic landscape is a prime semiotic resource for the tourist consumption of place. Apart from their referential function (naming or indexing places, buildings, institutions, products, etc.), written signs work as symbolic resources to create a 'sense of place' and as performative displays of identity for their producers and consumers. This paper examines the representation and production of linguistic landscapes on the seemingly banal yet one of the most ubiquitous and powerful of tourist genres -the postcard. I consider six types of interpretive frames for understanding the presence (or absence) of language as part of the postcard image: absence of text; caption; greeting; spectacle; language learning and teaching; tourist script. I conclude with some observations on the sociolinguistic reflexes of mediated tourist-host contact under globalisation.
Linguistic Landscape as Symbolic Construction of the Public Space: The Case of Israel
International Journal of Multilingualism, 2008
This paper is about multilingual signs in Tokyo. It is based on empirical research conducted in 2003. Special attention is given to the distinction between official and nonofficial multilingual signs. It will be demonstrated that the two types of signs exhibit some essentially different characteristics with regard to the languages contained and their arrangement on a sign. These differences will be interpreted using the notions of power and solidarity. While official signs are designed mainly to express and reinforce existing power relations, nonofficial signs make use of foreign languages in order to communicate solidarity with things non-Japanese. Both types of signs have their share in changing Tokyo's linguistic landscape.
Language Aspect of Form in Samosir's Tourism Public Signs: A Linguistic Landscape Study
https://www.ijrrjournal.com/IJRR\_Vol.5\_Issue.12\_Dec2018/Abstract\_IJRR0013.html, 2018
The paper explores the forms of language being used in the public signs around the tourist objects in Samosir regency, North Sumatera. Investigating forms of language in public sphere is a relatively new approach in applied linguistic and the branch of linguistics studying such forms is called Landscape Linguistic (or sometimes called Linguistic Landscape). The paper is both quantitative and qualitative. The first method identifies and calculates numbers of types of verbal and nonverbal languages and groups them into tables of percentage. In other words, the method also focuses on macro linguistic phenomenon. The second explores micro language forms involving morphology as content analysis strategy. The paper aims to investigate and answer the following two questions: what are the linguistic forms of language in public signs? and what are the nonlinguistic forms of language in public signs? The findings are: i) most of morphological forms are dominated by the forms of words followed by phrases, clauses and sentences respectively, ii) linguistic type forms show the outstanding numbers of translation forms, multilingual, mono-/bi-lingual, speech act and politeness strategy with less number of acronym, iii) visual design proves the forms of fonts size and type, colours, LL material, salience, and framing, and iv) spatial design indicates that media of LL is designed with more empty space. Few LL is seen fully loaded with information.
Linguistic Landscape of Tourist Spaces from 2014 to 2022: A Review
International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences
This paper reviews studies on the linguistic landscape (LL) field concerning tourism between 2014 and 2022 to offer insights into the development of LL, particularly in the tourism context. Furthermore, the review provides examples of using LL as a research tool and a data source to address several issues in tourist spaces. There has been a growing trend in the study of the written text in tourist spaces as it encompasses a wide variety of creative theoretical and empirical research, dealing with themes like multilingualism, multimodality, language policy, linguistic diversity, and minority languages, among others. This review examines past studies that aided in opening up this area of research and outlines some emerging themes that serve as a springboard for others to consider. Relevant articles for this review were identified from two leading databases: Google Scholar and Academia. Three main steps were involved in this review method: identification, screening, and eligibility processes. The selected articles revealed two main emerging themes that are prominently discussed in the area of tourism which are language dominance and multilingualism. Overall, LL research's emerging themes help deepen the understanding of language(s) use in tourist spaces, especially in multilingual settings. The review demonstrates the potential for LL studies in areas such as tourist space, pedagogy, inclusion, and public awareness.
A Psychological Approach to the Perception of the Linguistic Landscape. A Study in the City of Aosta
Castillo Lluch, Mónica/Kailuweit, Rolf/Pusch, Claus D. (ed.): Linguistic Landscape Studies. The French Connection, Freiburg im Breisgau: Rombach, 2019
Over the last two decades, many researchers investigated the presence of written languages in public space and their proportion to each other. Along with the enhancement of the discipline, the question arose how passers-by perceive the linguistic landscape (LL) and to what extent the signs impact on their language behaviour. This study pursues an interdisciplinary approach and adopts the methodological principles used within perceptual psychology to explore the pedestrians’ reactions on the LL. By means of experiments and interviews conducted in the multilingual town Aosta in Italy, the level of attention paid to the signs and the manner of verbalising their content was analysed. The results of the pilot study prove that the psychological method is fruitful for unveiling the laypersons’ degree of consciousness and for explaining their responses to the LL.