Review of Semiotic Landscapes: Language, Image, Space by Adam Jaworski and Crispin Thurlow

Felix Banda

doi:10.14426/mm.v2i1.61

Abstract

Although the volume was published in 2010, it still remains one of the most important contributions to a new field of enquiry in the study of language and signage in public spaces initially conceptualised and institutionalised by Landry and Bourhis (1997) as linguistic landscapes (LL). They defined linguistic landscapes as “[t]he language of public road signs, advertising billboards, street names, place names, commercial shop signs, and public signs on government buildings combine to form the linguistic landscape of a given territory, region, or urban agglomeration” (p. 25). As the title of the volume suggests, the aim was to extend the study to consider other semiotic material in place rather than linguistic ones alone. Jaworski and Thurlow prefer the term semiotic landscapes to LL to account for the fact that descriptions of space are not just about language, image and space, but more so about how interlocutors engage with semiotic material including objects in place.

Highlights

The volume has an introduction by the two editors followed by 13 chapters covering a range of topics and contributions by some of the major scholars in linguistic/semiotic landscapes studies
The introduction by Jaworski and Thurlow introduces semiotic landscapes as a new area of enquiry, focusing on the interaction between language, image and space—especially how culture and textual mediation are implicated in the discursive and multimodal construction of space
They draw on Scollon and Scollon’s (2003) geosemiotics and Harvey’s (2006) dynamic conceptualization of space as a consequence of human interaction practice—that is, space is invented through human interactions with signs in place

Summary

Introduction

The volume has an introduction by the two editors followed by 13 chapters covering a range of topics and contributions by some of the major scholars in linguistic/semiotic landscapes studies. The introduction by Jaworski and Thurlow introduces semiotic landscapes as a new area of enquiry, focusing on the interaction between language, image and space—especially how culture and textual mediation are implicated in the discursive and multimodal construction of space. Jaworski and Thurlow acknowledge that the majority of chapters in the volume are on LL, that is, written language in place rather semiotic landscapes as proposed in their introduction.

Results

Conclusion