Minority Languages through the Lens of the Linguistic Landscape

Mapping Yamunaji's linguistic landscape research: Cartographies in context, culture and class

“…With the explosion of scholarship in LL research currently, (Bolton, ; Mensel et al ; Simon ; Weber & Horner ; Blommaert ), why should we care to include the big research foresights of a petite‐sized female linguist such as Yamuna Kachru? The answer: for theoretical reasons.…”

“…Why is her research on the subject so revolutionary one might ask? One reason could be that unlike most of the research in LL which has recently been flawed by a predominantly reductive focus; an essentialized quantification and correlation, indeed, an enumerative counting of language, linguistic variety and linguistic occurrence so to speak (Mensel et al : 320), her approach argues for a necessary analysis of the why of cultural context in which such signage is both produced and received. Kachru did then what LL researchers are only doing now.…”

Language ideologies and literacy achievement: six multilingual countries and two international assessments

“…Understanding significant historical events involving different language groups within a country may help to clarify the reasoning behind particular national language policies and practices. The perceived (and bestowed) power among different groups within a given country reflects the public displays and uses of language as characterised by the LL (Van Mensel et al, 2012). We argue that the language ideologies represented by a country's or region's LL are more fully understood with the consideration of the sociohistorical landscape, which may include political coups, successions, wide-sweeping language reforms and the like.…”

“…Burgeoning interest in the impact of publically displayed and valued language has been framed most widely as the study of the Linguistic Landscape (LL; Gorter, 2006;Gorter, Marten, & Van Mensel, 2012;Landry & Bourhis, 1997;Shohamy & Gorter, 2009). The LL specifically refers to the interest in understanding the influences, beliefs about and uses of language in public spaces (e.g.…”

“…These language-specific attitudes may stem from historical conditions influenced by tensions and conflict among member groups defined by differing languages and cultural identities (e.g. Huebner, 2006;Puzey, 2012;Van Mensel, Marten, & Gorter, 2012). For schools, language ideologies may affect the quality of curricular materials (e.g.…”