The linguistic landscape of Mirandese

This study examines language diversity as a symbolic construction of public spaces, with a specific focus on Maroua, a city in Cameroon. The linguistic landscape characterized by the presence and visibility of different languages in public spaces, serve as a reflection of the sociolinguistic dynamics and cultural diversity of a community. This study shows how the language ideology of institutions and the community of Maroua as a whole are reflected on its landscape. The study mainly focuses on language distribution, and factors that influenced the linguistic landscape in public spaces in Maroua. The research is guided by Landry and Bourhis’ (1997) theory of Linguistic landscape. The researchers used the quantitative and qualitative research design. The data in this research were collected in the public spaces of Maroua. A total of 305 signs snapped with a digital camera constituted the primary source of information in this research. The researchers also used observation and interviews to gather data on the linguistic landscape of Maroua. Data analysis shows that the languages displayed in Maroua linguistic landscape are French, English and indigenous languages such as Fulfuldé. The findings show that French is the dominant language in the linguistic landscape of Maroua and minority languages are almost absent on the signs. The languages and signs reflect the political, social, ideological and cultural forces at work in the environment of Maroua. The linguistic landscape of Maroua is also influenced by factors such as urbanization, migration and government policy on language use. This research is an important contribution to the sociolinguistic dynamics and cultural diversity study of the Cameroonian urban communities.

This contribution focuses on the study of Linguistic Landscapes in the Central/Western African state of Cameroon, with particular reference to its capital, Yaoundé. Linguistic landscapes is a relatively recent area of research, and can be broadly defined as the visual representation of languages in public space. This paper will show that the field of linguistic landscapes can act as a reflection of linguistic hierarchies, ideologies and acts of resistance in multilingual and multicultural communities. At the same time, the sociolinguistic situation in the country will be investigated, which is paramount to understanding the linguistic and ideological conflicts between the anglophone minority and the francophone government. Cameroon’s linguistic landscape will be explored via the various spaces that English, French, Pidgin English, Camfranglais and, to a minor degree, indigenous African languages occupy in its sociolinguistic composition. The methodological design is quantitative in nature, involving collecting more than 600 linguistic tokens (digital photos) in various public places mainly in and around the Cameroonian capital of Yaoundé. It will be demonstrated that the deployment of languages on signs and linguistic tokens, apart from serving informative and symbolic functions for the audiences or passers-by they target, also has social and political implications in an ethnically heterogeneous and linguistically hybrid society such as Cameroon. Whereas in some other former British colonies there are indications that the public space is being symbolically constructed in order to preserve some of Africa’s indigenous languages (e.g. in Botswana, Rwanda, Tanzania), in Cameroon the linguistic landscape almost exclusively focuses on the dominant status and role of one single language, i.e. French, and to a lesser extent English, whose speakers therefore feel marginalized and oppressed by the French government.

Public space is one of the most accessible areas to the public eye. Placing any sign in a public space within a given territory creates a linguistic landscape environment. One of the essential functions of a linguistic landscape is representing a certain given territory's symbolic meaning. This symbolic meaning may represent local ideology or identity and local/national authority's power. This phenomenon occurs in Kuta village, Badung Regency, Bali Province, Indonesia. Due to a lack of local identity, all public sign in Bali is oblique to put Balinese scripts transliteration above all Latin scripts as mandated by Bali's Governor Regulation no. 80/2018. This authority's power of language use over public space is one of Bali's government's efforts to gain its local identity in public space through public signs. This study aims to further analyse the transliteration of Latin script to Balinese script in public signs in Kuta village, as previous research indicates some mistakes and irregularity. This analysis is needed to identify, refine and regulate the transliteration procedure since Balinese script is a syllabic system different from Latin script. The finding showed that some issues must be maintained and regulated to have a good transliteration of Balinese script in public space as a landmark of Balinese identity in Bali's public spaces.

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

Australia as a product of setter colonialism and of mass immigration is a society that is characterised by widespread multilingualism, although at the same time, it is also a society characterised by widespread monolingualism in the dominant language, English. It is thus a society in which many heritage language speakers are present but also one in which prevailing beliefs about the desirability and sufficiency of English language monolingualism have influenced how languages are understood and treated (Clyne, 2008). The presence of linguistic diversity and the dominance of English have shaped Australia’s educational responses to languages and its language-in-education policies. This chapter will explore how language-in-education policy has addressed the needs of heritage language learners who speak either indigenous or immigrant languages. Before beginning this discussion, however, there is a need to consider some of the terminological issues that exist in Australia around heritage language learning. The term ‘heritage languages’ is not actually a widely used term in the Australian context and languages are more usually referred to as ‘community languages’, meaning immigrant languages, which are contrasted with ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages’, ‘Australian languages’ or ‘indigenous languages’. The term ‘community languages’ has been preferred in Australia over ‘heritage languages’ because it does not imply that the languages concerned are being lost or associated with the past and so has a particular discursive resonance. At the same time, this terminology creates a division between speakers of types of languages, which is consequential for how Australia understands minority languages. In Australia the term ‘background speaker’ is often used to indicate a person who has a heritage connection with a language. This term typically refers to a speaker of an immigrant language and has a rather fluid definition ranging from those who acquire a language other than the dominant English language at home as a first language to those with a family connection to the language but who do not speak it. In this chapter I will use ‘immigrant languages’ and ‘indigenous languages’ to refer to the two distinct groups of languages and will break with Australian usage to use heritage languages, when it offers a convenient way to make connections across these categories, which could not be done easily using the more conventional Australian terminology. This chapter will examine government language-in-education policy for provision of education programs for immigrant and indigenous languages and trace the ways that these policies have evolved over time and how they interact with other aspects of language in education policy.

This article investigates the language situation in the public space in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe, from a linguistic landscape point of view. The data consists of written information displayed on billboards, road signs and buildings. Data were also generated through in-depth interviews and documentary study. The theoretical underpinnings of the study are founded in the linguistic landscape and post-colonial theories. The study established the overwhelming dominance of English both in the cityscape and landscape. While Shona, one of the major indigenous languages of Zimbabwe, appears in a few instances in the form of proper names, most local languages are not part of the visible signs on roads, billboards and buildings in Masvingo. This gives English de facto status as the sole official language, regardless of the fact that the constitution of Zimbabwe officially recognises 15 indigenous languages in addition to English. This silencing of indigenous languages has serious implications for equity in language use in Zimbabwe. The study recommends equitable treatment of languages in the public space to ensure that the languages and cultures associated with all languages of Zimbabwe do not gradually die.

This study explores the linguistic landscape of Peshawar by focusing on three interrelated dimensions: physical space, language policies, and residents’ attitudes towards spatial practices. Theoretically, the study is grounded in Trumper-Hecht’s three-dimensional theory of space. A total of 753 signs were collected from three key survey areas in Peshawar—Qissa Khawani Bazaar, Saddar Bazaar, and University Road—and analyzed to determine the visibility and dominance of languages. The 1973 Constitution of Pakistan was examined to understand the state's language policy. Additionally, interviews were conducted with 15 onlookers to gain insights into community attitudes toward language use in public spaces. The findings reveal that English is the most dominant language in Peshawar’s public spaces, followed by Urdu and Arabic. These three languages are recognized by state language policies, which in turn influences community preferences for their use in the linguistic landscape. In contrast, local languages remain largely absent from public signage and are not recognized in the Constitution. Nevertheless, some participants expressed a preference for the inclusion of local languages in public spaces. The study recommends incorporating local languages into all three dimensions of the linguistic landscape to promote inclusivity and cultural representation.

Language is not only a means of communication, but also a symbol of identity and a medium of cultural resistance. In the context of a multicultural society, regional languages ​​represent cultural heritage that strives to survive amidst the dominance of national and global languages. This study aims to analyze the use of Sundanese in public spaces in Bandung City as a humanities study that highlights issues of language, identity, and resistance. The study uses a qualitative approach with a humanities perspective. Data were obtained through field observations of the linguistic landscape (street signs, billboards, advertisements, murals, public transportation), interviews with key informants (cross-generational community members, cultural figures, academics, and local officials), and language policy documentation studies. Data analysis was conducted using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and the linguistic landscape theoretical framework (Landry & Bourhis, 1997). The results show that Sundanese functions in three main dimensions. First, as an affirmation of local identity, seen in street names, government slogans, and cultural symbols. Second, as a symbolic resistance to the dominance of Indonesian and English, especially through commercial advertisements and street art. Third, as a creative expression of the younger generation who practice linguistic hybridity by combining Sundanese, Indonesian, and English. However, the use of Sundanese remains limited to symbolic contexts and has not yet fully emerged as the primary language of communication in formal spaces. Furthermore, the implementation of Sundanese language preservation policies remains inconsistent, being more ceremonial than practical. In conclusion, Sundanese continues to play a vital role in strengthening local identity and as a form of cultural resistance amidst the tides of modernization and globalization. However, for this role to be sustainable, consistent policies, supportive creative spaces, and cross-generational participation are needed to revitalize the Sundanese language's function in Bandung's public spaces.

As the most visible expression of language in everyday life, the linguistic landscape (LL) captures the interplay of a community’s linguistic diversity, sociocultural dynamics, and underlying language policies. While there is growing interest in these dynamics in both global and national contexts, LL often goes unnoticed and underexamined in local contexts, such as public parks in Davao City, Philippines. Thus, this study explores the linguistic landscape of Davao City public parks, which plays a crucial role in shaping identity and social interaction in the city. The researchers examined the types of signs, the languages or codes present in the signs, and their functions within the nine parks across downtown Davao City. Employing qualitative content analysis, the findings reveal that top-down signs were structured and standardized, while bottom-up signs were informal and diverse. Regarding the codes, the signs were displayed in English, Cebuano, Filipino, Spanish, and Japanese, and were either monolingual, bilingual, or trilingual, serving both informational and symbolic functions. The interaction between the informational and symbolic functions of signs illustrates how language operates as both a tool for regulation and a marker of identity in public recreational spaces. The study highlights how signs serve both regulatory and identity functions in public spaces, thereby recommending the inclusivity of signage policies that enhance cultural representation, particularly of indigenous languages. This research contributes to the understanding of the role of multilingualism in public spaces, identity, and accessibility.

The Torajan language is the heritage language of the Torajan people, which reflects the local wisdom and identity of the people. Yet, with the popularity of Indonesian and English as the lingua franca, there is a concern for the domain, status, and vitality of the Torajan language within the society. Therefore, this study aims to study the visibility of the language. This study offers a novel approach by looking at the use of the Torajan language in the linguistic landscape in two regencies, Tana Toraja and Toraja Utara, to determine its position in the community. The research utilized a case study design, and the source of data is linguistic landscapes found along Jalan Poros Rantepao–Makale which connects the two regencies. The images of linguistic landscapes were collected by viewing the Google Street View facility provided by Google Maps, and the languages in those linguistic landscapes were noted. The findings show that Indonesian and English dominate the linguistic landscape in Tana Toraja and Toraja Utara, and the Torajan language is minimally represented in the public space of these two regencies. The lack of visibility of the language in the public space might be caused by the restricted use of the language for familial talks at home and oral indigenous rituals. However, the Torajan language needs to be used more frequently in public spaces since it could promote a positive attitude of the people, which would in turn solidify the position of the language in the society.

ABSTRACTAlthough Singapore, a linguistically and ethnically diverse city–state, uses four official languages, namely Malay, Mandarin, Tamil, and English, which are supposed to enjoy equal status, there appears to be a pecking order to these languages. English seems to be the dominant language when taking into consideration the bilingual education policy, numerous campaigns promoting its use in terms of spoken language, and language use by the media. Another mechanism that also contributes to the predominance of English over the other three official languages is linguistic landscape, i.e. language use in public space. Adopting the ecology of language as its conceptual framework and linguistic landscape as its methodological tool, this article, by analyzing public signs in and around 30 MRT (Mass Rapid Transport) stations of the Circle Line (CCL), discloses not only English imperialism but also the complexity of this language in Singapore with its dual identity as a global language as well as a local one. Consequentially, it is postulated that Singapore is monolingual- rather than bilingual- or multilingual-oriented.

List of Contributors Overview Map of Cases Discussed in this Book Studying Minority Languages in the Linguistic Landscape H.F.Marten , L.Van Mensel & D.Gorter PART I: LANGUAGE IDEOLOGIES AND LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE 'Latgalian is not a Language': Linguistic Landscapes in Eastern Latvia and how they Reflect Centralist Attitudes H.F.Marten Transgression as the Norm: Russian in Linguistic Landscape of Kyiv, Ukraine A.Pavlenko Minority Semiotic Landscapes: An Ideological Minefield? M.Hornsby & D.Vigers Language Ideological Debates in the Linguistic Landscape of an Irish Tourist Town M.Moriarty Linguistic Landscape as a Tool for Interpreting Language Vitality: Arabic as a 'Minority' Language in Israel E.Shohamy & M.A.Ghazaleh-Mahajneh PART II: LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE AND LANGUAGE POLICY Policies vs. Non-policies: Analysing Regional Languages and the National Standard in the Linguistic Landscape of French and Italian Mediterranean Cities R.Blackwood & S.Tufi Two-way Traffic: How Linguistic Landscapes Reflect and Influence the Politics of Language G.Puzey The Revitalization of Basque and the Linguistic Landscape of Donostia-San Sebastian D.Gorter , J.Aiestaran & J.Cenoz All is Quiet on the Eastern Front? Language Contact along the French-German Language Border in Belgium L.Van Mensel & J.Darquennes PART III: THE DISTRIBUTIVE APPROACH TO LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE The Linguistic Landscape of Three Streets in Barcelona: Patterns of Language Visibility in Public Space E.Long & L.Comajoan The Linguistic Landscapes of Chi?in?u and Vilnius: Linguistic Landscape and the Representation of Minority Languages in Two Post-Soviet Capitals S.Muth Multilingual Societies Versus Monolingual States: the Linguistic Landscapes in Italy and Brunei Darussalam P.Coluzzi Using Linguistic Landscape to Examine the Visibility of Sami Languages in the North Calotte H.Salo PART IV: FRESH PERSPECTIVES ON LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE Discourse Coalitions For and Against Minority Languages on Signs: Linguistic Landscape as a Social Issue E.Szabo-Gilinger , M.Sloboda , L.Simi?i? & D.Vigers The Linguistic Landscape of Educational Spaces: Language Revitalization and Schools in Southeastern Estonia K.D.Brown The Material Culture of Multilingualism L.Aronin & M.O Laoire Minority Languages through the Lens of the Linguistic Landscape L.Van Mensel , H.F.Marten & D.Gorter Index

The monolingualism of New Zealand has often been remarked on, but statutory and demographic changes in recent years suggest a shift away from the dominance of the English language. New Zealand now has two official languages, the indigenous Maori language and New Zealand Sign Language, and census data report a decreasing proportion of monolingual English speakers in the population. This paper describes a study investigating whether, as a result of these changes, languages other than English are now being heard in the public domain in New Zealand. It adopts a linguistic landscape approach but differs from other studies that have used this approach by adapting the standard binary categorisation of actors in the linguistic landscape in order to identify the differences in their contributions. Thus, Calvet's terms (1990, 1994) ‘in vitro’ and ‘in vivo’ are proposed as opposite ends of a continuum to reflect the dynamism within a linguistic landscape rather than as oppositional categories.

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.

Languages in public spaces are one of the linguistic phenomena in society. This study examines the form of written language in public spaces in a particular religious tourism destination, namely Syaikhona Cholil mosque and Cemetery complex, in Bangkalan Regency, Madura, in terms of linguistic landscape (LL). This study examines the functions of each sign and its identity representation. The data are photographic evidence of language use in this area. There are several steps to collect data by identifying the LL, photographing LL to capture language issues in public spaces, classifying data based on their taxonomies, and classifying the use of language patterns, functions, and representations of identity. LL in this religious tourism destination is monolingual LL in which it only used Indonesian language, without using other languages, either ethnic language or foreign language. The functions of the LL are signs of information, signs of warning, appeal and prohibition, road signs, and building signs. The use of LL shows the identity as the unity Indonesian and the ownership or regulator of the destination. Although the place is in Madura, but there is no Madurese language used, Indonesian is the identity of the nation, which must be maintained and preserved. The use of LL in the area also shows the owner or the management team of the object that has the right to regulate its use.