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Through the study of plurilingual posters for pop concerts, musical performances, sports events and other cultural and entertainment events, this paper investigates language status and functions, motivations of linguistic choices, discourse practice and social practice in three distinct institutional contexts, and takes the multilingual Chinese soc...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... language order, especially the 'overall order' (Gafaranga, 2000, p. 328), also reveals the salience of the first language. If it turns out that these criteria render contradictory results, the posters are then put into the neutral group, namely, the group of posters (Figure 2, for example) that display no dominant language. The observation of dominant language aims at exploring the power relations between languages. ...
Context 2
... the basis of text analysis in the above section, the symbolic and instrumental functions of languages are analyzed from a perspective of social practice. In Figure 2, the dark brown circle (circled in red to make it more visible) provides basic information in SC and English. The first three lines at the top are in Portuguese, English and TC, respectively. ...
Context 3
... is assumed that the intention of the organizers motivates the language choice. Firstly, the frequent language mixing patterns of the three types of posters were recorded in Table 1. Secondly, the posters were classified on the basis of the dominant languages. As Blackwood (2010) argues, '[c]onsidering elements such as position in the sign, as well as font (size, shape [and] color), a hierarchy of languages can be established in multi- lingual signs' (p. 299). In our data, a poster can be TC-dominant, SC-dominant, English- dominant, Cantonese-dominant, or Portuguese-dominant. Dominance is inferred on the basis of the language choice of the most attention-getting piece of information and that of the major part of a poster. The most salient piece of information is usually written in the largest font with contrastive color and placed in the middle or upper part of the poster (Lock, 2003;Scollon & Scollon, 2003). The language order, especially the 'overall order' (Gafaranga, 2000, p. 328), also reveals the salience of the first language. If it turns out that these criteria render contradictory results, the posters are then put into the neutral group, namely, the group of posters (Figure 2, for example) that display no dominant language. The observation of dominant language aims at exploring the power relations between languages. The kind of information that tends to be repeated is also observed. Concerning social practice, Fairclough (1993) focuses on power and domination (p. 136). In the present study, I concentrate on ideology and power relations in terms of languages and institutions/organizations, since they are the profound reasons for social and linguistic behaviors. The dimension of discourse practice remains the same as Fairclough's ...
Context 4
... the basis of text analysis in the above section, the symbolic and instrumental functions of languages are analyzed from a perspective of social practice. In Figure 2, the dark brown circle (circled in red to make it more visible) provides basic information in SC and English. The first three lines at the top are in Portuguese, English and TC, respectively. It can be inferred on the basis of languages present in the poster that this performance is targeting Cantonese speakers, Portuguese speakers, Mainland Chinese and foreigners in Macao. The performers and the theme of the event (??? ??? 'Sugar Club love Macao') are written in SC, with the aim of making the event more socially inclusive to Mainland Chinese people. As in any other discourse of popular culture, English appears in this poster because of its cultural capital of being ...
Citations
... 3). In this sense, messages about power and related concepts are communicated via sign, posts, spatial emplacements, and multimodal discourses [31][32][33]. The linguistic landscape, in such studies, is used to explore the ways in which semiotic assemblages (e.g., the visual signs and language) are used by different parties to materialize power and corroborate a particular belief, idea, etc. ...
This study aims to investigate the ways in which the linguistic landscape of a territory might be influenced by socio-political changes and movements to ensure social and cultural sustainability. To this end, this article reports on a study that examined the linguistic landscape of Doha after certain social and political changes since 2017. Further, this study aimed to examine how messages about power, unity sustainability, and national identity were communicated through the use of monolingual and bilingual signs in Doha. The article concludes that sudden socio-political changes can exert an influence on the linguistic landscape, and the linguistic landscape can be used as a tool for communicating messages about unity, sustainability, power and national identity. Moreover, the findings of this study suggest that the linguistic landscape can be used to maintain and improve social and cultural sustainability.
... Linguistic landscape in relation to multilingual cities has drawn much attention from scholars of sociolinguistics (e.g. Albury, 2021;Cenoz & Gorter, 2006;Manan et al., 2015;Zhang & Zhang, 2016), and these scholars have taken various approaches in their discussion of linguistic landscapes. For example, Albury (2021) explored Malaysia's multilingual linguistic landscape by taking into account grassroots sociocognition. ...
As a Chinese society featuring multilingualism, Macao is a showcase for the encounter between Chinese and Western cultures. Its public signs often see a flexible alignment of scripts in Chinese, Portuguese and English, which declare a kind of correspondence, equivalence and thus translation. This study examines the multilingual linguistic landscape, and reveals how the harmonious coexistence of polymorphous cultural streams makes Macao a microcosm cultivating and being cultivated by cosmopolitan translation. This paper takes a translational approach to linguistic landscape research, with the focus on the relation and interaction of languages. The study of Macao's linguistic landscape challenges the binary notion of translation as something perennially related to source and target texts, and deconstructs the linear conception of translation as something that happens to be an original that moves across cultural and linguistic boundaries. This study also sheds some light on the interlingual practices in other multilingual cities, theoretically and methodologically.
中西交融的澳门是中国唯一一座真正奉行三语的城市，中文(繁体和 简体)、葡文和英文是澳门公共空间的主要语言。本文尝试从翻译的 视角来探讨澳门公共空间的语言景观问题，把重点放在多语关系及其 背后的文化传统层面。多语城市呈现出的世界主义翻译挑战了传统意 义上翻译的二元性，更新了人们对翻译本质的理解。本文也为翻译 学、语言景观和文化研究的跨学科互动提供了参考范式。
... Midtown is situated in the nearby Gongbei Port regions, so the bilingual coverage of Midtown is evidently more extensive than Aoyuan Square. Most private enterprises utilize English names to catch young consumers' attention and create an attractive atmosphere with foreign cultural elements (Zhang, 2016). This cause suggests that the target audience is the greatest factor in the implementation of English signage. ...
As a window city for China to face internationalization, Zhuhai is quite suitable for linguists to look into Expanding Circle Countries’ English settings. Bilingual landmarks indicate the use of English in the local public sphere and the degree of the popularity of English. This study investigated the current situation of English in Zhuhai from two academic fields: linguistics landscape and language policy. The two types of language policy: the top-down model and the bottom-up mode, are used in the analysis of Zhuhai sociolinguistic phenomenon. An analysis from the language policy perspective reveals how the linguistic landscape has been interpreted from diversified dimensions as both a concept and a practice. The study evinces that the different target tourists and the various functions of facilities are two influential factors in the advancement of Zhuhai’s English signage.
... Midtown is situated in the nearby Gongbei Port regions, so the bilingual coverage of Midtown is evidently more extensive than Aoyuan Square. Most private enterprises utilize English names to catch young consumers' attention and create an attractive atmosphere with foreign cultural elements (Zhang, 2016). This cause suggests that the target audience is the greatest factor in the implementation of English signage. ...
As a window city for China to face internationalization, Zhuhai is quite suitable for linguists to look into Expanding Circle Countries’ English settings. Bilingual landmarks indicate the use of English in the local public sphere and the degree of the popularity of English. This study investigated the current situation of English in Zhuhai from two academic fields: linguistics landscape and language policy. The two types of language policy: the top-down model and the bottom-up mode, are used in the analysis of Zhuhai sociolinguistic phenomenon. An analysis from the language policy perspective reveals how the linguistic landscape has been interpreted from diversified dimensions as both a concept and a practice. The study evinces that the different target tourists and the various functions of facilities are two influential factors in the advancement of Zhuhai’s English signage.
... A more profound understanding of tradition and exoticisation relies on a closer observation of Macao society. TC is the core in written communication in Macao, especially in regard to detailed information in advertisements (Zhang, 2016). The use of Portuguese may indicate that the shop has a relatively long history or it is related to Portuguese culture. ...
The tourist city of Macao is small but rich in cultures characterised by contrasts between the traditional and the modern, East and West, local and international. This paper captures some of these contrasts as constructed through its multilingual landscape, focusing on shop names. Whereas many shop names are characterised by destandardisation, iconisation or translanguaging, there is also noticeable variation according to different spaces, in particular, casino complexes vs. local neighbourhoods. Shop names in Macao’s casino complexes tend to exoticise Western languages, particularly English, by adding symbols or ‘iconising’ the letters to take on a foreign, mysterious or a friendly appearance; those in local neighbourhoods, however, often highlight Chinese traditions, for instance, by invoking the right-to-left text vector which was more prevalent in Chinese communities until the mid-twentieth century. The former phenomenon is partly based on the symbolic function of Western languages and symbols in Macao (i.e. Western brands are associated with high-quality and fashionable products), creating an exoticisation effect. The latter respects Macao’s history and is an outcome of particular government regulations. These two types of naming strategies show how various shops and businesses take different positions on various sociolinguistic ‘scales’ in relation to their goods and customers.
This article discusses the potential for schools as sites of foster-ship and empowerment for all children, including children from migrant backgrounds. It draws on social justice theories to explore how educational practices can contribute to creating socially just societies. Through semi-structured interviews with seven school educators, coupled with field notes from school visits to three schools in Manchester (UK), the article explores the ways in which educators develop and improvise culturally responsive educational approaches in order to enhance the representation of their migrant children. However, such approaches require navigating and negotiating educational structures and policies, which could leave some educators with sentiments of professional anxiety. The article concludes by recommending the importance of professional training on diversity that critically engages with the subject of who we are today and how this diversity can be utilized to create solidarity bridges and social ties. Fundamentally, this requires schools to regain some level of agency to support the decisions made in response to local needs and aspirations.
Current linguistic landscape studies of tourism are primarily concerned with the commodification of languages, and less attention is focused on ownership discourses that are constructed in tourist spaces through varied semiotic resources. This study employs a spatial perspective to analyse commodification and ownership in the linguistic landscape of Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, focusing on how these discourses materialise in the conceived, perceived, and lived spaces through the semiotic resources of Chinese communities. Built on a comprehensive dataset of photographs, field notes, interviews, and archived materials, this study reveals the agency of Bendigo’s Chinese community members, who claim ownership of semiotic resources despite the institutional forces seeking to commodify Chinese cultural heritage for tourist consumption. Examination of Chinese heritage sites demonstrates the possibility of shared ownership of Chinese semiotic resources among Chinese and non-Chinese residents in an Australian cultural tourism context. This balancing act of commodification and ownership constitutes a critical part of the lived experiences of Chinese communities in today’s era of mobility and globalisation.
Multimodal graffiti are constrained by the environment in which they are written and by the activities in which graffiti writing takes place. This article examines graffiti collected in Graffiti Park and Nam Van Lake Underground in Macao. The graffiti in the two sites display systematic differences in topics, objectives, subjects, affordance, texture and framing, which are attributed to varied activity types and the multimodality/materiality of public space. Specifically, those in Graffiti Park – a small and secluded area – are products of one-off activities attended by professional writers, ordinary citizens and tourists. Nam Van Lakeside has a more visible space, and yet the graffiti there – largely murals painted by a few commissioned writers – display limited topics/themes under institutional appropriation. The materiality of the wall space also contributes to the variations in styles and contents of graffiti in the two sites.
The aim of this paper is to advance an understanding of power in linguistic landscape research. After setting out and discussing the concepts of ‘power over’, ‘power to’ and ‘power through’, we present a case study of Chinese semiotic assemblages in the Australian regional city of Bendigo. Our research includes ethnographic details of the processes of sign production and consumption, and illustrates the ways in which power relations have been experienced through semiotic objects specific to the Chinese culture. Importantly, such objects are contextualised as to provide insights into inclusion, values, ownership and literacy by those in this specific linguistic landscape. To conclude, we argue that a close examination of the linguistic landscape can inform various forms and interpretations of power relations in diasporic contexts.
