Pejzaż językowy jako nośnik dziedzictwa kulturowego, na przykładzie miasta Poznania

Wizerunek cmentarza – w wymiarze języka, kultury, dziedzictwa – uwagi wstępne na przykładzie cmentarza mennonitów w Stogach Malborskich

The aim of this paper is to discuss the reasons for erasing the testimonies of the multicultural history of small towns and their local heritage. The concept of testimony in this article will refer to the linguistic landscape that is present in the public space and which comprises different types of signs produced by both private people and institutions. It has been assumed that the linguistic landscape can transfer the knowledge about intangible, immaterial aspects – information about social composition, the history of cross cultural relations in towns such as Dzierżoniów, and the knowledge about the coexistence of ethnically, culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Linguistic landscape can also transfer knowledge about multicultural tangible heritage, which encompasses cemeteries, gravestones, places of religious worship or manufacturing companies/factories. Despite its undeniable value one can observe that socio-cultural and political events and traumas, which affected Polish citizens, can lead to the almost complete erasure of linguistic landscape from the public space.

Contemporary cosmopolitan European cities have been recently undergoing considerable social changes. Although most of them can be described as multicultural, the character of their public space should be redefined due to the intensified influx of immigrants mainly from the Middle East and North Africa and the socio-cultural background they bring along. This social and cultural process has a significant influence on the internal and external image and the identity of the city. These notions can be discussed in reference to Meffert’s (1989) concept of the city’s identity and the image of a city, hence in reference to the system of visual identification, communication system and the city culture. A particular attention should be drawn to the language in the public space (linguistic landscape LL), ritualized public space and the overall image of the city. These naturally have to be considered in the context of the socio-cultural transformation of the European cities. It should also be pointed out that Meffert’s theory may need to be slightly redefined in order to reflect the present-day urban cultural and linguistic reality.

Social semiotics in visual communication applied in advertisements of bankingproducts and services