Linguistic Landscape. An international journal

Book Review: Backhaus, Peter (2007): Linguistic Landscapes: A Comparative Study of Urban Multilingualism in Tokyo. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters; 158 Pages ISBN 9781853599460

Being visible may be as important for minority languages as being heard. Traditional research on minority languages focuses on language maintenance and language shift, on language endangerment and revitalization, on language transmission in the family, on education, and on language policies in other social domains such as the media. Although literacy has become an important issue also for speakers of minority languages, much less attention has been given to the written displays of minority languages in the public space. In this volume, our aim is to explore the contribution of linguistic landscape research to the understanding of the dynamics of minority language situations, with an explicit focus on Europe. We wish to add a new perspective to the long history of studies of linguistic minorities, because we believe the aspect of the visibility of minority languages in public space has received too little attention in traditional minority language research. The linguistic landscape approach seems particularly appropriate for a number of reasons. First, it adopts an all-encompassing view on written language in the public space, paying attention to all signs, rather than limiting its scope to the study of predominantly one type of signs. Second, linguistic landscape research not only studies the signs, but it investigates as well who initiates, creates, places and reads them. Moreover, linguistic landscape research as presented in this volume looks at how the linguistic landscape is manipulated — consciously or unconsciously — in order to confirm or to resist existing or presumed language prestige patterns and hierarchies.KeywordsPublic SpaceLanguage PolicyMinority LanguageRegional LanguageLanguage PracticeThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

The paper theorizes languages in public spaces in a broad framework consisting of multiple components beyond written texts in public spaces. These include among others, visuals, sounds, movements, gestures, history, politics, location, people, bodies, all embedded in the dimensions offered by Lefebvre (1991) of spaces as practiced, conceived and lived. Relating to Linguistic Landscape (LL) as a mechanism of Language Policy (LP), the paper frames LL within current theories of LP which focus on ‘engaged language policy’ (Davis, 2014) reflecting and cultivating language practice as used by communities. The paper shows how LL is instrumental in contributing to the broadening of the theory and practice of LP, a discipline that has been mostly overlooked by LP. The studies show how language in public space was used for the revival of Hebrew in Palestine, for documentation of multilingualism in specific areas where different groups reside, for realizing that LP in public spaces is broader than written language showing how multimodalities are essential for making meaning of spaces, for discovering the wealth of LL devices used for contestations in the city, and for examining local policies in neighborhoods. Finally, the engagement of high school students with documentation of LL in their neigborhoods was found to have a real impact on LP awareness and activism.

Linguistic Landscape (LL) research has explored signage in various public places in the world, including Indonesia. However, since there has been no comprehensive review of LL studies in Indonesia, the current article seeks to identify trends in LL research in Indonesia. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) method was applied to analyze thirty-one LL articles coming out from the open knowledge maps application. The findings suggest that there is a steady increase in the number of LL studies in Indonesia apparent starting from the year of 2017 based on the obtained data from eleven provinces. More bottom-up signs were found mostly using quantitative approaches. The findings also reveal that the Indonesian language dominates signs in the LL studies followed by English. Interestingly, although Indonesia has the biggest number of Muslim citizens in the world, Arabic is used more often than English only in two locations of LL studies, namely the tomb of Sunan Ampel and the City of Mataram. Issues often discussed in the LL studies are multilingualism, micro-analysis of linguistics, and broader issues, namely powerandsolidarity, identity, and ideology. Future researchers may focus more on qualitative analysis of LL studies, and relates LL studies with promising topics on geo-linguistics, management of halal food, ecology and culture, inequality and economic mobility, health issues, minority language, media in ELT, and online/virtual LL as well as language contestation related to the abovementioned issues.

Several things, including local, national, and global cultural influences, shape the language choices of today's society. In addition, social, political, economic, religious, and historical factors are also important. This study investigates the use and selection of language displayed in cultural heritage sites in Cimahi City. Several buildings have been formalized as cultural heritage buildings in Cimahi City. These buildings include Dustira Hospital, Cimahi Station, Sudirman Building, and Poncol Military Detention Center. The qualitative method in this linguistic landscape research was pursued by conducting photographic documentation and visual analysis in public spaces. The data were collected through linguistic signs in public spaces, especially the writings spread on cultural heritage sites in Cimahi City. As a cultural heritage site, the historical dimension marks almost all of the linguistic landscape data. The findings based on this semiotic landscape approach show that the Dutch face marks the linguistic landscape of cultural heritage sites in Cimahi City. Indonesia, as a nation that was once colonized by the Dutch is shown by the linguistic landscape markers here. This means that Dutch becomes an important language, even the national language, Indonesian must be willing to be a second language after Dutch. The language choices used in the linguistic landscape of cultural heritage sites in Cimahi City are Indonesian, Sundanese, English, and Dutch, both monolingually and bilingually.

While frequently referenced in linguistic landscape (LL) research, the notion of “cosmopolitanism” has generally been under-theorised in the field. This article, in keeping with the call for an ethnographically grounded, multi-centric understanding of different varieties of cosmopolitanism, traces the emergence of a “bona fide cosmopolitanism” in the LL of Taipei, Taiwan. This overarching cosmopolitanism is cumulatively indexed via orthographies employed in several domains of the LL: (1) traditional Mandarin Chinese characters and Romanisation systems thereof; (2) non-Chinese scripts in official and unofficial domains; and (3) graffiti. Furthermore, each domain contributes to several varieties of cosmopolitanism. Drawing upon theorisations of social indexicality, distinction and transgressive semiotics, these varieties have been given the working labels of “presumptive, distinctive and transgressive cosmopolitanisms”. This article thus demonstrates that cosmopolitanism in the LL is best apprehended as multi-centric and recursive, as well as highly situated.

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.

Linguistic landscape (LL) research has been subject to a great deal of attention since the publication of the well-known research paper by Landry and Bourhis (1997), whose most quoted definition of LL covers diverse linguistic tokens, including but not restricted to government-related inscriptions, street-name signs, commercial signs, and noticeboards. There is an increasing number of contributions on the use of English in many LLs worldwide. However, there are relatively few LL publications on the use of English in the LL in Arabic-speaking countries (but see Al–Naimat & Alomoush, 2018; Alomoush, 2019). The vast majority of previous LL studies in non-Arabic contexts (e.g. Backhaus, 2007; Griffin, 2004; Hasanova, 2010; Jaworksi & Thurlow, 2010; Lanza & Woldemariam, 2014; Ross, 1997; Schlick, 2003) focus on analysing language on fixed or relatively stable signs, such as shop names.

Linguistic landscape (LL) refers to the signs of linguistic objects located in public spaces as a place for human social interaction to perform a series of cultural activities. The linguistic landscape in Japan, in particular, on Nishikasai street, Tokyo, uses an absorption word called Gairaigo. This research focuses on the use of Gairaigo in the Japanese linguistic landscape, particularly in Nishikasai street, Tokyo. Through a qualitative method, the research data is drawn from the linguistic landscape along Nishikasai street, Tokyo. In the linguistic landscape of Nishikasai street, Tokyo, there are lexical semantic meanings connected with Gairaigo and there are shifts in the mention and selection of words even though the meaning and function are similar. On the other hand, the absorption of foreign language into Japanese was also found to have no change in word composition or meaning and function. The results of LL's research in Nishikasai, Tokyo showed that the criteria for the formation and use of gairaigo is based on the nuances of meaning contained in the foreign word cannot be represented by an equivalent word in Japanese; the foreign word used as Gairaigo is considered effective and efficient; and the foreign word, according to the sense of language, is considered to have good taste value, good, and harmonious as expressed by Sudjianto (2004).

This study investigates regulatory signage at Prof. Dr. I.G.N.G. Ngoerah Denpasar hospital as a multimodal Linguistic Landscape (LL) that communicates institutional identity, authority, and behavioural norms in public space. LL research in Indonesia has largely focused on tourism, transportation hubs, and cultural sites, hospital environments remain underexplored despite their semiotic richness and governance function. The research aims to describe and interpret the multimodal composition of regulatory signs related to waste disposal. It also explains their communicative functions using LL, multimodality, and speech act theory. The study employs a qualitative approach based on documentation and descriptive analysis. Data were collected through field photography of signage within the hospital environment. The those were analysed using multimodal frameworks and pragmatic models. The analysis reveals three semiotic components—image, colour, and text—working cohesively to construct meaning. Institutional logo elements encode ideological values, colour palettes convey psychological reassurance and authority, while verbal constructions alternate between expressive acts (“thank you for disposing of waste properly”) and directive acts (“maintain cleanliness”). Findings indicate that signage serves as multimodal governance rather than mere instruction. Signs strategically balance visual authority and linguistic politeness to shape public behaviour. It supports theoretical claims that LL functions as discourse in place. The study concludes that hospital signage operates as a dynamic communicative system, integrating symbolic identity, persuasive emotion, and directive force to regulate conduct. These insights extend LL scholarship to healthcare contexts and demonstrate the relevance of speech act analysis in multimodal public communication

English language learning does not only happen within the four corners of the classroom, but it may occur even within the learner‟s immediate community. Learning English can be enhanced through various resources like the available linguistic landscape. According to Landry and Bourhis (1997, p. 25) the term linguistic landscape (LL) is defined as the language of public road signs, advertising billboards, street names, place names, commercial shop signs, and public signs on government buildings combines to form the LL of a given territory, region, or urban agglomeration. As such, it contributes to an additional languagelearning tool for language learners. It is, therefore, the focus of this study to examine the use of the linguistic landscape as a pedagogical resource in teaching and learning English. This study examines explicitly the shop names and signage in Oman. To carry on the study, fifty (50) shop names and signage in Al Buraimi, Oman were collected and analyzed. The findings of the study reveal that the linguistic landscape does not only provide awareness about the English language, but it also enhances the learners‟ English language skills. This study supports the notion that exposing learners to the linguistic landscape provides awareness of the languages used in public signs, which indicate or give evidence of what languages are locally relevant (Kasanga, 2012). This study offers new insights on how classroom activities can be extended to the streets of the learners‟ community.

Over the past two decades, research on linguistic landscapes (LL) has slowly but steadily expanded, offering new ways of understanding how language, identity, and power take shape in the spaces where daily life unfolds. What began as simple documentation of languages on shop signs, street names, and public notices has since grown into a field that asks deeper questions. Signs are no longer seen as just texts on walls. They have come to be recognized as part of how communities express themselves, negotiate belonging, and work through questions of power, inclusion, and visibility. In a world where movement and multilingualism are part of everyday life, LLs provide a grounded way of noticing how these realities are made visible, sometimes quietly, sometimes quite forcefully, in the streets and spaces people share. This paper revisits some of the key ideas that have shaped this body of work. Through a narrative literature review and thematic analysis, it brings together a range of perspectives and approaches that have been used to make sense of LLs. Nine themes emerged through this process: foundational definitions, language policy and planning, ethnolinguistic vitality, semiotic and multimodal perspectives, political economy and power, globalization and mobility, translanguaging and multilingualism, identity and place-making, and methodological innovation. Each theme shows that public signage is never just practical. It carries traces of social histories, local struggles, shifting identities, and ongoing negotiations over who belongs, who is heard, and how people relate to the places they inhabit. The paper also reflects on how these insights might matter for English language teaching, especially in the Japanese context. It suggests that paying attention to LLs could help learners develop not only greater language awareness but also a more sensitive understanding of cultural diversity and communication in real-world settings.

As a burgeoning area of interdisciplinary enquiry, linguistic landscape (LL) research can shed light on the sociopolitical, cultural and demographical realities of a particular locale. However, LL research has seldom explored major international cities from a translation and contrastive perspective. Drawing on a corpus containing 450 photographs (e.g. shop fronts and public signs), this study investigates the multilingual landscape involving the Arabic-English pair in Dubai, an international hub representing a vivid case of micro-cosmopolitanism and superdiversity in the 21st century. An examination of the bilingual and translation practices enacted on Dubai’s LL points to a ubiquitous phenomenon that the Arabic information is often not authentic Arabic but transliterations from English (pseudo Arabic in disguise). Such use of transliteration privileges the phonetic transference of sounds, at the expense of meaning and function. The prevalent use of transliteration as a ‘go-to’ strategy is interesting, considering the obvious existence of pure Arabic equivalents. To provide some ethnographic context for the analysis, 10 people in Dubai were interviewed (Arabic speakers from different Arab countries) to establish whether the transliterated Arabic can be understood and the possible rationale behind this interesting linguistic decision. Such symbolic and decorative use of Arabic reflects Dubai’s global city status with immigrants significantly outnumbering the indigenous Arabic-speaking natives. The widespread aesthetic use of ‘Arabised English’ points to the influence of English in a globalised world. Some tentative reasons are provided to explain the phenomenon.

The field of linguistic landscape (LL) is concerned with monolingual and bi/-multilingual patterns and practices enacted on ‘public road signs, advertising billboards, street names, place names, commercial shop signs, and public signs on government buildings’ (Landry & Bourhis, 1997: 25). Since the publication of Landry and Bourhis’ (1997) research study, much more attention has been paid towards LL research, especially after the appearance of a Linguistic Landscape special issue of the International Journal of Multilingualism 3(1) (2006) (reproduced as the book Linguistic Landscape: A New Approach to Multilingualism [Gorter, 2006]). There has also been increased discussion of specific locations, such as multilingualism in Tokyo (Backhaus, 2007), English in the neighbourhoods of Johor Bahru City in Malaysia (McKiernan, 2019), and Jawi, an endangered orthography in the Malaysian LL (Coluzzi, 2020).

Practitioners of additional-language (AL) education have consistently argued for the pedagogical benefits of engaging students in Linguistic Landscape (LL) research. The potential of how LL study may contribute to students’ development in (meta-)cultural understanding is yet to be explored. Additionally, while a number of present studies target students at the intermediate or advanced level, student-led LL research projects designed for learners with beginning AL proficiency are under-explored. This paper seeks to fill these gaps by offering a study of undergraduate students learning Chinese and those learning Korean in their first year in the United States. Analysis of student work and pre- and post-project survey data demonstrates that engaging beginning learners of AL in LL research enables them to develop enriched and nuanced understanding of cultural authenticity as well as a deeper appreciation of their target culture. In other words, it is beneficial for promoting their meta-cultural as well as culture-specific learning.