Representation and videography in linguistic landscape studies

Abstract

Much Linguistic Landscape scholarship relies on visual data collection, primarily the use of still photography; however, the field has yet to address the theoretical underpinning of such visual and spatial representation. Furthermore, digital video is currently as easy to capture and share as digital photographs were when Linguistic Landscape studies first became prominent in the early 2000s. With these two points in mind, this article first grounds the documentation and analysis of the Linguistic Landscape in a theory of visual representation; it then provides a framework for videographic methodologies drawing on recent work in the related fields of anthropology and cultural geography. An example study utilizing non-participatory videography is summarized in which digital video recordings were used to capture and convey the Linguistic Landscape.

Inclusive ethnographies

“…Up to this point we have not addressed the choices that are entailed when a researcher chooses to use videographic methods to create a representation of the LL based on a walking tour with a participant. As presented in Troyer and Szabó (2017), the choice of representation (e.g., a numerical tally of languages, photographs, audio/video recordings) directly effects the kind of LL data that can be generated. Furthermore, videography, despite its current ubiquity and ease of production, is rife with technical, contextual, and usage choices that researchers should be aware of before beginning production.…”

“…Furthermore, videography, despite its current ubiquity and ease of production, is rife with technical, contextual, and usage choices that researchers should be aware of before beginning production. Figure 4, reprinted from Troyer and Szabó (2017) and based on current methodological work in anthropology and human geography, maps orientations along several parameters that are available to the videographer. To begin with the horizontal axis, the case study described in this paper is a situation in which the video was captured in a setting that the participant was very familiar with.…”

“…As presented in Figure 4. Methodological dimensions of videography for LL studies (Troyer & Szabó, 2017: 65; based on Knoblauch et al, 2012) the Online Appendices, the record has been significantly modified by our choice of which sections to include and the audio and visual filters used to protect participant anonymity.…”

“…Following a literature review (Section 2) and a case study of a walking tour in a Hungarian school (Sections 3-4), our discussion (Section 5) establishes connections between inclusive research agendas, walking-based methods in LL studies, and the challenges of visual representation in LL studies (Troyer & Szabó, 2017). The conclusion (Section 6) emphasizes the transformative and performative character of these fieldwork activities.…”

Why is English Green? The Preference for English on Environmental Discourse at a Thai University

“…One way to triangulate such studies is by interviewing the perceived audience or users of such signage. Walking interviews have been one method applied to linguistic landscapes to illustrate how the linguistic landscape is involved in place making itself (Stroud and Jegels 2014;Troyer and Szabó 2017;Lou 2017). To augment the data discussed in the previous section 15 students were interviewed during walking tours at the Thammasat University Rangsit Center Campus.…”