Abstract In the wake of the ‘climate apocalypse’ global discourse, the environmental agenda of the European Green Deal and the overarching objective for the European Union are to deliver a high level of protection and improvement of the quality of the environment. European cities are under pressure to reinvent urban environments and develop resilience to environmental risks. This paper looks at semiotic material appearing in Essen, a city in Germany awarded the European Green Capital title. Grounded in the multimodal social semiotic approach and ecolinguistics, the paper investigates strategically emplaced ‘green’ semiotic material which shape environmental values and privilege. The paper illustrates the political economy of city clean-ups which every so often result in questionable environmental choices and fail to alleviate social inequalities. The analysis ultimately shows how semiotic forms of sustainability are evidently implicated in the creation of urban eco-arenas accentuating the socioeconomic stratification and privileges of valorized places.
{"title":"Semiotic landscape in a green capital","authors":"Maida Kosatica","doi":"10.1075/ll.23016.kos","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.23016.kos","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In the wake of the ‘climate apocalypse’ global discourse, the environmental agenda of the European Green Deal and the overarching objective for the European Union are to deliver a high level of protection and improvement of the quality of the environment. European cities are under pressure to reinvent urban environments and develop resilience to environmental risks. This paper looks at semiotic material appearing in Essen, a city in Germany awarded the European Green Capital title. Grounded in the multimodal social semiotic approach and ecolinguistics, the paper investigates strategically emplaced ‘green’ semiotic material which shape environmental values and privilege. The paper illustrates the political economy of city clean-ups which every so often result in questionable environmental choices and fail to alleviate social inequalities. The analysis ultimately shows how semiotic forms of sustainability are evidently implicated in the creation of urban eco-arenas accentuating the socioeconomic stratification and privileges of valorized places.","PeriodicalId":53129,"journal":{"name":"Linguistic Landscape-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136318480","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Preview this online first article: Review of Kosatica (2022): The Burden of Traumascapes: Discourses of remembering in Bosnia-Herzegovina and beyond, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/10.1075/ll.23068.vol/ll.23068.vol-1.gif
{"title":"Review of Kosatica (2022): The Burden of Traumascapes: Discourses of remembering in Bosnia-Herzegovina and beyond","authors":"Natalia Volvach","doi":"10.1075/ll.23068.vol","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.23068.vol","url":null,"abstract":"Preview this online first article: Review of Kosatica (2022): The Burden of Traumascapes: Discourses of remembering in Bosnia-Herzegovina and beyond, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/10.1075/ll.23068.vol/ll.23068.vol-1.gif","PeriodicalId":53129,"journal":{"name":"Linguistic Landscape-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134975255","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Osei Yaw Akoto, Ebenezer Onumah, Benjamin Amoakohene
In recent times, Linguistic Landscape (LL) research has been extended to cover several variables, domains, modes, and geo-political contexts. Arguably, humour remains understudied in LL research. This article, therefore, examines incongruities in LLs using a corpus of digital signs and incongruous inscriptions gathered across several mediums in urban Ghana. Drawing on the incongruity theory, we examined the levels of incongruities in the corpus. The study found that incongruities in public signs in urban Ghana manifest at the lexical, grammatical, semantic, and phonological levels. We conclude that the resolutions of these incongruities induce laughter and humour in the audience with the shared sociolinguistic knowledge, and humour intelligence. The findings have implications for the theory on humour and the research on LL.
{"title":"Exploring incongruity and humour in Linguistic Landscapes in Ghana","authors":"Osei Yaw Akoto, Ebenezer Onumah, Benjamin Amoakohene","doi":"10.1075/ll.22016.ako","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.22016.ako","url":null,"abstract":"In recent times, Linguistic Landscape (LL) research has been extended to cover several variables, domains, modes, and geo-political contexts. Arguably, humour remains understudied in LL research. This article, therefore, examines incongruities in LLs using a corpus of digital signs and incongruous inscriptions gathered across several mediums in urban Ghana. Drawing on the incongruity theory, we examined the levels of incongruities in the corpus. The study found that incongruities in public signs in urban Ghana manifest at the lexical, grammatical, semantic, and phonological levels. We conclude that the resolutions of these incongruities induce laughter and humour in the audience with the shared sociolinguistic knowledge, and humour intelligence. The findings have implications for the theory on humour and the research on LL.","PeriodicalId":53129,"journal":{"name":"Linguistic Landscape-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136060699","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Post-war Kosovo is characterised by strong transition processes, including in the car and service vehicle sector, and Germany, German culture, and the German language play a central role in these processes. The popularity of used vehicles imported from German-speaking countries has led to a change in the appearance of Kosovo’s streetscapes. These cars often carry signage or texts written in German and are very common in Kosovo. The spread of these cars is due both to the lower cost and to the high prestige of the German language and culture in Kosovo. Often the owners also keep the German number plates, as the registration of cars in Kosovo is not handled very strictly, or they retain the sticker that designates the country of origin of the vehicle, ‘D’ for Germany, ‘A’ for Austria and ‘CH’ for Switzerland. As a result, there is a strong German influence to be found across Kosovo’s streetscapes. Our article is dedicated to these particular semiotic landscapes on the basis of empirically collected photographic material. Data was collected outside the transmigrant season, i.e. outside the months around the turn of the year and the summer vacations, and the period of the lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic to avoid as far as possible non-residential German signs.
{"title":"The semiotics of Kosovo’s streetscapes","authors":"Lumnije Jusufi, Milote Sadiku","doi":"10.1075/ll.23003.jus","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.23003.jus","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Post-war Kosovo is characterised by strong transition processes, including in the car and service vehicle sector, and Germany, German culture, and the German language play a central role in these processes. The popularity of used vehicles imported from German-speaking countries has led to a change in the appearance of Kosovo’s streetscapes. These cars often carry signage or texts written in German and are very common in Kosovo. The spread of these cars is due both to the lower cost and to the high prestige of the German language and culture in Kosovo. Often the owners also keep the German number plates, as the registration of cars in Kosovo is not handled very strictly, or they retain the sticker that designates the country of origin of the vehicle, ‘D’ for Germany, ‘A’ for Austria and ‘CH’ for Switzerland. As a result, there is a strong German influence to be found across Kosovo’s streetscapes. Our article is dedicated to these particular semiotic landscapes on the basis of empirically collected photographic material. Data was collected outside the transmigrant season, i.e. outside the months around the turn of the year and the summer vacations, and the period of the lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic to avoid as far as possible non-residential German signs.","PeriodicalId":53129,"journal":{"name":"Linguistic Landscape-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135435041","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Being immersed in a covert conflict within a censored society, the Linguistic Landscape provides valuable insights into the dynamics of multilingual communication during war. Following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, political involvement among ethnic minority groups in Russia has experienced a surge. The use of minority languages signifies a hidden but significant form of protest, empowering ethnic minorities to assert their agency and political claims. Through an examination of anti- and pro-war signs in minority languages and interviews with language activists, this study explores how these languages are employed within the LL, revealing the motivations and attitudes of their authors. Minority languages in anti-war signs serve as secret codes while also personalizing protests and appealing to group solidarity. However, pro-war signs also evoke solidarity and ethnic values. Analysis of the anti- and pro-war signs illustrates their connection to other texts in minority languages, referencing discourses and ethnic symbols within the community of speakers of a minority language.
{"title":"The Linguistic Landscape of the war","authors":"Vlada Baranova","doi":"10.1075/ll.23006.bar","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.23006.bar","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Being immersed in a covert conflict within a censored society, the Linguistic Landscape provides valuable insights into the dynamics of multilingual communication during war. Following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, political involvement among ethnic minority groups in Russia has experienced a surge. The use of minority languages signifies a hidden but significant form of protest, empowering ethnic minorities to assert their agency and political claims. Through an examination of anti- and pro-war signs in minority languages and interviews with language activists, this study explores how these languages are employed within the LL, revealing the motivations and attitudes of their authors. Minority languages in anti-war signs serve as secret codes while also personalizing protests and appealing to group solidarity. However, pro-war signs also evoke solidarity and ethnic values. Analysis of the anti- and pro-war signs illustrates their connection to other texts in minority languages, referencing discourses and ethnic symbols within the community of speakers of a minority language.","PeriodicalId":53129,"journal":{"name":"Linguistic Landscape-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135980577","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of Peck, Stroud & Williams (2019): Making sense of people and place in linguistic landscapes","authors":"Samantha Zhan Xu","doi":"10.1075/ll.23058.xu","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.23058.xu","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53129,"journal":{"name":"Linguistic Landscape-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86661131","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A strategic, often spectacular intersection of semiosis and spatiality, place branding should be an obvious topic for linguistic landscape research. Isolated studies which do attend to branding seem insufficiently concerned with its conceptual and metasemiotic complexity. Part visual essay, my paper examines the small Spanish town of Miajadas which, in a performative act of scale-jumping, declares itself Tomato Capital of Europe. Drawing on fieldwork, and using a three-part analytic framework, I document the range of semiotic and sociomaterial tactics by which Miajadas stages itself as a ‘tomatoscape’. Through its mediatization, mediation, and remediation the town maximizes its location in the global economic order. This case study underscores how place branding is a highly contingent mode of semiotic reflexivity which is seldom discrete or unilateral, but which can be highly effective.
{"title":"Staging a tomatoscape","authors":"C. Thurlow","doi":"10.1075/ll.23019.thu","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.23019.thu","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 A strategic, often spectacular intersection of semiosis and spatiality, place branding should be an obvious topic\u0000 for linguistic landscape research. Isolated studies which do attend to branding seem insufficiently concerned with its conceptual\u0000 and metasemiotic complexity. Part visual essay, my paper examines the small Spanish town of Miajadas which, in a performative act\u0000 of scale-jumping, declares itself Tomato Capital of Europe. Drawing on fieldwork, and using a three-part analytic\u0000 framework, I document the range of semiotic and sociomaterial tactics by which Miajadas stages itself as a ‘tomatoscape’. Through\u0000 its mediatization, mediation, and remediation the town maximizes its location\u0000 in the global economic order. This case study underscores how place branding is a highly contingent mode of semiotic reflexivity\u0000 which is seldom discrete or unilateral, but which can be highly effective.","PeriodicalId":53129,"journal":{"name":"Linguistic Landscape-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84773034","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Christiana Themistocleous, Çise Çavuşoğlu, Melis Özkara
In this paper we explore multilingual practices in the Linguistic Landscape which are geared towards commercial goals. We study simultaneously the commercial areas of two conflict-affected communities in Nicosia (Cyprus) which are divided by a UN-controlled buffer zone. Ledras (Greek-Cypriot) is a street in the south and Arasta (Turkish-Cypriot) is in the north of the divide. We investigate how these communities’ political economies and ideologies shape language choice in public space and how the language of the other community, namely Greek or Turkish, is discursively framed as economically valuable or worthless. Photographs of shopfront signs and a thematic analysis of interviews with shopkeepers revealed that language choice in Nicosia’s commercial area is highly strategic. We demonstrate that this area is a politically and economically charged space where language battles, triggered by power relations, differing language hierarchies, ideologies, and political economies, become visible in the LL.
{"title":"Language battles in the Linguistic Landscape of a divided capital","authors":"Christiana Themistocleous, Çise Çavuşoğlu, Melis Özkara","doi":"10.1075/ll.22039.the","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.22039.the","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 In this paper we explore multilingual practices in the Linguistic Landscape which are geared towards commercial\u0000 goals. We study simultaneously the commercial areas of two conflict-affected communities in Nicosia (Cyprus) which are divided by\u0000 a UN-controlled buffer zone. Ledras (Greek-Cypriot) is a street in the south and Arasta (Turkish-Cypriot) is in the north of the\u0000 divide. We investigate how these communities’ political economies and ideologies shape language choice in public space and how the\u0000 language of the other community, namely Greek or Turkish, is discursively framed as economically valuable or worthless.\u0000 Photographs of shopfront signs and a thematic analysis of interviews with shopkeepers revealed that language choice in Nicosia’s\u0000 commercial area is highly strategic. We demonstrate that this area is a politically and economically charged space where language\u0000 battles, triggered by power relations, differing language hierarchies, ideologies, and political economies, become visible in the LL.","PeriodicalId":53129,"journal":{"name":"Linguistic Landscape-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85550355","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper brings together urban planning and linguistic perspectives to examine the semiotic landscape of a Washington, DC ‘streatery’ in the context of the intersecting public health- and place-based economic crises unleashed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Drawing from Garay-Huamán and Irazábal-Zurita’s (2021) work on neoliberal Social Structures of Accumulation (SSA), we examine how different layers of Adams Morgan’s emergent Covid landscape are rooted in the dynamics of capitalist accumulation through urban placemaking strategies. We focus on signs put up by the Business Improvement District (BID) that explain the public health regulations applicable to the area through discourse that playfully encourages people to social distance and wear masks. These signs utilize three linguistic or semiotic discourses: hygiene, humor and play, and anti-Trump politics. The signs serve as a bona fide effort to both halt the spread of the coronavirus and take a political stance. At the same time as the signs promote public health, their commodified aestheticization of hygiene and politics also serves commercial interests.
{"title":"Semiotics of a Covid landscape","authors":"Gabriella Modan, S. Schaller","doi":"10.1075/ll.22038.mod","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.22038.mod","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper brings together urban planning and linguistic perspectives to examine the semiotic landscape of a\u0000 Washington, DC ‘streatery’ in the context of the intersecting public health- and place-based economic crises unleashed by the\u0000 Covid-19 pandemic. Drawing from Garay-Huamán and Irazábal-Zurita’s (2021) work on\u0000 neoliberal Social Structures of Accumulation (SSA), we examine how different layers of Adams Morgan’s emergent\u0000 Covid landscape are rooted in the dynamics of capitalist accumulation through urban placemaking strategies. We focus on signs put\u0000 up by the Business Improvement District (BID) that explain the public health regulations applicable to the area through discourse\u0000 that playfully encourages people to social distance and wear masks. These signs utilize three linguistic or semiotic discourses:\u0000 hygiene, humor and play, and anti-Trump politics. The signs serve as a bona fide effort to both halt the spread of the coronavirus\u0000 and take a political stance. At the same time as the signs promote public health, their commodified aestheticization of hygiene\u0000 and politics also serves commercial interests.","PeriodicalId":53129,"journal":{"name":"Linguistic Landscape-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88913515","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article uses linguistic and semiotic landscapes as tools to analyze the ideological work required for rendering Calle Loíza, an urban street in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as successfully revitalized. Linguistic Landscapes provide insight on discursive chains that circulate logics and produce values of places, and therefore form an intrinsic part of capital-driven urban change. I aim to show how perspectives of places can be structured, and how values of places are naturalized and embedded in the neoliberal political economy. Drawing from ethnographic and online sources of data, I argue that Calle Loíza is a site of ideological contestation and that the processes of rhematization and erasure are required for Calle Loiza’s indexical relation to progress and its articulation as a successfully revitalized urban neighborhood. The findings demonstrate that online spaces are also material, and that language is essential in the production and circulation of political economic values of places.
{"title":"Hipsters and drunks, tourists and locals","authors":"Sara Isabel Castro Font","doi":"10.1075/ll.22037.cas","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.22037.cas","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article uses linguistic and semiotic landscapes as tools to analyze the ideological work required for\u0000 rendering Calle Loíza, an urban street in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as successfully revitalized. Linguistic Landscapes provide\u0000 insight on discursive chains that circulate logics and produce values of places, and therefore form an intrinsic part of\u0000 capital-driven urban change. I aim to show how perspectives of places can be structured, and how values of places are naturalized\u0000 and embedded in the neoliberal political economy. Drawing from ethnographic and online sources of data, I argue that Calle Loíza\u0000 is a site of ideological contestation and that the processes of rhematization and erasure are required for Calle Loiza’s indexical\u0000 relation to progress and its articulation as a successfully revitalized urban neighborhood. The findings demonstrate that online\u0000 spaces are also material, and that language is essential in the production and circulation of political economic values of\u0000 places.","PeriodicalId":53129,"journal":{"name":"Linguistic Landscape-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78607820","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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