Linguistic Landscapes in a Multilingual World

Abstract

This article offers an overview of the main developments in the field of linguistic landscape studies. A large number of research projects and publications indicate an increasing interest in applied linguistics in the use of written texts in urban spaces, especially in bilingual and multilingual settings. The article looks into some of the pioneer studies that helped open up this line of research and summarizes some of the studies that created the springboard for its rapid expansion in recent years. The focus is on current research (from 2007 onward), including studies that illustrate main theoretical approaches and methodological development as key issues of the expanding field, in particular when applied in settings of societal multilingualism.Publications on the linguistic landscape cover a wide range of innovative theoretical and empirical studies that deal with issues related to multilingualism, literacy, multimodality, language policy, linguistic diversity, and minority languages, among others. The article shows some examples of the use of the linguistic landscape as a research tool and a data source to address a number of issues in multilingualism. The article also explores some possible future directions. Overall, the various emerging perspectives in linguistic landscape research can deepen our understanding of languages in urban spaces, language users, and societal multilingualism in general. PANORAMA OF THE FIELDLanguage learning is the main product of the Rosetta Stone company. Its kiosks can be found in shopping malls and at airports across the United States, and its offices are all over the world. Through its display of the brand name, slogans, and advertisements, the company contributes to the construction of the linguistic landscape, similar to numerous companies, shops, government agencies, private associations, and individuals. The linguistic landscape refers to any display of visible written language. The signs are part of the textual decor that surrounds us every day, as we walk, ride, or drive through urban environments. One wonders, however, if passers-by are more than vaguely aware of the history of the Rosetta stone and its importance in the decipherment of hieroglyphs in 1822. The original text on the stone, now in the British Museum in London, is given in two languages and three scripts: Egyptian hieroglyphics on top, the 190

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“…As pointed out by Gorter (2013), this first construct -captures well the object of linguistic landscape studies (p. 191). Needless to say, LL studies connote that all publicly displayed signs, irrespective of their origin and authorial genesis as well as linguistic and social purposes, constitute organs of investigation.…”

Chinatown by numbers

“…To date, much quantitative work in the LL is based on small sets of variables, often limited to top-down/bottom-up authorship and languages contained, occasionally including a simple typology of usage scenarios (see Gorter (2013) for an overview). In what might be considered the prototype for many of these studies, Spolsky & Cooper (1991) articulated the shortcomings of this approach: namely that the desire to facilitate data collection by limiting survey categories has the result of generalizing the data.…”

Conflict, Exclusion and Dissent in the Linguistic Landscape

“…Some of the most stimulating studies of Linguistic Landscape so far have been those that impinge on multilingualism, variation, and the conflict and contact of languages (Gorter, 2013). In much of this research, however, European and West-based settings have tended to be over-represented, in all probability as a logical consequence of much of this scholarship having emanated from the Centre.…”

“…Tupas' study (Chapter 8) answers to Gorter's (2013) call for investigating 'semi-public institutional contexts such as government buildings, libraries, hospitals and schools' as providing 'a promising direction in linguistic landscape research', particularly with reference to 'questions about the functions of signs, multilingual literacy or multilingual competence ' (pp. 203-204).…”