A Panorama of Linguistic Landscape Studies

Gorter, Durk; Cenoz, Jasone

doi:10.21832/gorter7144

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 523 publications

(1,094 reference statements)

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“…Studies on LL cover all types of written or printed language that one encounters in a particular environment, including signs, billboards, street names, storefronts, advertisements and various other forms of public text. Gorter & Cenoz (2023) considered LL as "one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing fields in applied linguistics and sociolinguistics" (p. 2). It studies how languages are represented and displayed on signs in public places.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tourism representation and strategies on public signs: linguistic landscape of a Saudi southern tourist destination

Hazaea,

Al-Sofi,

Alfaifi

2024

IJTC

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Purpose This study aims to investigate multilingual representation on public signs in the High City tourist destination in Abha, Saudi Arabia. It also reveals the linguistic strategies used in such representation. Design/methodology/approach This exploratory qualitative study used purposive sampling to analyze bottom-up public signs collected from the target tourist destination. A preliminary analysis was conducted for a more in-depth qualitative analysis of every sign. An Excel database was used to provide a general description and a preliminary reading of the strategies before using an in-depth analysis of every sign. Findings The study revealed that monolingualism (Arabic or English) and bilingualism (Arabic and English) represented the High City as a tourist destination where the signs served information and symbolic functions. No single multilingual sign was found. Certain linguistic strategies were used on the public signs, including politeness, transliteration, hybrid representation, personification and fragmentary. Some tourist-oriented strategies, such as the crisis communication strategy, are still missing. Practical implications These findings indicate that this tourist destination still targets local and regional visitors, and its linguistic landscape (LL) needs further consideration in terms of internationalization and targeting international visitors. This study implies that bilingual Arabic and English tourist destinations are potential domains for translation students and English language learners. Originality/value This study has focused on the LL of a newly established tourist destination in Saudi Arabia. It has shed light on the nuanced representations and strategies used through public signage. It contributes to understanding how linguistic elements can shape tourists’ perceptions and experiences.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tourism representation and strategies on public signs: linguistic landscape of a Saudi southern tourist destination

Hazaea,

Al-Sofi,

Alfaifi

2024

IJTC

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Linguistic landscape of restaurants in a tourist city: do outdoor signs represent menus?

Hazaea,

Alfaifi,

Al-Sofi

2024

IJTC

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Purpose This study aims to examine the language choices of outdoor signs and menus in addition to the functions of outdoor signs in restaurants in a Saudi tourist city, Abha. The primary focus is on identifying the extent to which outdoor signs accurately represent the language choices of restaurant menus. Design/methodology/approach The study developed a conceptual framework for the linguistic landscape (LL) of restaurants. It employed a quantitative approach to collect outdoor signs and menus of 75 sampled restaurants in Abha using online photos and a smartphone camera. Then it analyzed the frequency and percentage of language choices on outdoor signs and menus as well as the extent to which language choices of outdoor signs represent menus. Findings The findings indicate that more than half (58.66%) of the restaurants employ bilingual signage in both Arabic and English. Other languages like Spanish, French, Chinese and Turkish are sporadically used, with multilingualism observed only in isolated instances. The study also reveals that bi/multilingualism on outdoor signs primarily serves informational purposes, where more than one-third (36%) of the outdoor signs use languages other than Arabic to serve a symbolic function. Regarding menus, Arabic and English dominate, while Turkish appears on one menu. Spanish, French, and Chinese are absent from restaurant menus, indicating linguistic mismatch in terms of language choices. Originality/value This study contributes to LL studies of restaurants in tourist cities by showing language choices and functions of outdoor signs and their alignment with menus.

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A study of the commodification of multilingualism in four cafés in China

Yan

2024

Chinese Semiotic Studies

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Space is constructed as a particular place by various agents and in a variety of ways, and languages play an important role in the semiotic construction of a space. This study adopts a linguistic landscape approach to explore how languages are commodified for consumption in sites of luxury, i.e., four cafés in Quanzhou, a southeastern city of China. The findings show some similarities and differences in terms of language choice for the four cafés. Despite the similarities and differences, the four shops’ landscapes feature atmospheric multilingualism, where multiple languages and scripts move into a luxury register of late-modern consumption and create the affective regime of luxury and exclusivity. Atmospheric multilingualism is driven by commercial interests and characterized by the commodification of multilingualism and a division of labor among languages in four cafés. In this division, English, other foreign languages, and traditional Chinese characters are employed for their symbolic functions, indexing cosmopolitanism, distinction, luxury, and modernity. Simplified Chinese characters are linked to the interaction order and used in daily business as the main instrument of communication.

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A Panorama of Linguistic Landscape Studies

Cited by 3 publications

References 523 publications

Tourism representation and strategies on public signs: linguistic landscape of a Saudi southern tourist destination

Tourism representation and strategies on public signs: linguistic landscape of a Saudi southern tourist destination

Linguistic landscape of restaurants in a tourist city: do outdoor signs represent menus?

A study of the commodification of multilingualism in four cafés in China

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