A Little Caribbean in Madrid: analysis of the Dominican identity in the public space

Abstract

According to the field of sociolinguistics of globalization, migrants resettle in new countries through deterritorialization and reterritorialization processes, which entail changes in the perception of the language and symbols of the homeland and those of the communities that migrants establish themselves in. Given that this contextual relation is expressed in the public space, the present study analyzes how Dominican resources are used in the linguistic and semiotic landscape of Tetuán, a well-known Dominican neighborhood of Madrid. Using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, results show both the presence of the Dominican Spanish as well as Dominican symbols in the public space. Findings suggest that the Dominican community in Madrid has adapted their new place to make it more similar to their homeland, the Dominican Republic, reterritorializing the linguistic and semiotic landscape of Tetuán while building and shaping new identities. This study contributes to the body of research on linguistic landscape and linguistic attitudes in multilingual settings.