Abstract This article examines commemorative sticker clusters that emerged in Israel following the October 7 2023 attacks and the Iron Swords war. Based on a multimodal qualitative analysis of ~1,020 stickers across 55 documented clusters, the study explores how these grassroots artifacts construct collective memory in the wake of national trauma. Analyzing stickers as semiotic units within dense spatial formations, the findings identify a new biographical commemorative genre that shifts from earlier polemical forms to emotionally charged personal narratives structured around three themes: Love of Life, Heroism and Nationalism, and Calls for the Return of Abductees. Conceptualized as a distributed memoryscape, these clustered formations process trauma while reinforcing patterned hierarchies of grief within a contested Linguistic Landscape.

Abstract This article explores how roadscapes are affectively shaped for multiple purposes, with particular attention to chronotopic productions of specific types of affect in relation to traffic signage. Through an analysis of photographed traffic signs, which are complemented by ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews, it presents a case study of Mudu, China, focusing on chronotopes of affect that construct and constitute it into an affective space. The analysis identifies three distinctive types of affect — familial love, considerateness, and intolerance — that are co-existing and synthesized into coherent affective regimes within chronotopic configurations of traffic signage. Findings reveal that affective roadscapes serve not only as mechanisms for traffic regulation, but as strategic tools for value promotion and place branding. This study contributes to the interdisciplinary dialogue at the intersection of Linguistic Landscape studies, affect theory, and tourism studies, offering new insights into how public signage mediates affective experience and facilitates the spatial commodification in tourist contexts.

Abstract The Hong Kong-style cha chaan teng ( 茶餐廳 ), or tea cafés, are a key feature of the local foodscape and they are internationally known and recognised. However, their semiotic aspects have received little scholarly attention. This paper combines a geosemiotic analysis of cha chaan tengs with a historical perspective on their development. The theoretical approach also draws on the concept of the semiotic register as an aspect of enregisterment, highlighting both the dynamic development of the cha chaan teng register and its currently visible differentiation. The latter is analysed through the tentative identification of different subcategories of cha chaan teng, two of which are illustrated by detailed geosemiotic analyses. The analysis shows how more recently established cha chaan tengs can consciously draw on certain aspects of the semiotic register to create a sense of the past in new spaces, as part of an overall semiotic strategy that indexes related values such as artisan production. The semiotic construction of cha chaan tengs reveals aspects of the complex relationship between economic and commercial factors, identity, and a sense of belonging.

Abstract This study examines whether purpose-built mosques in Oslo, Stockholm, and Copenhagen are embedded within their local contexts or whether they rather display ties to transnational Islamic networks. To address this question, we draw on an exploratory theoretical framework that integrates territorialization theory, the field of semiotic landscapes, and critical toponymy and conceptualizes mosques as assemblages. The study demonstrates that analyzing toponyms, language use and language choices (both offline and online), religious transparency, and the presence and visibility of women in the semiotic landscape in addition to mosque architecture and visibility offers valuable insight into territorialization processes. Our aim is to evaluate the applicability of the proposed model, to deepen our understanding of purpose-built mosques in Scandinavia, and ultimately to provide a more comprehensive perspective on the role of language in territorialization processes.

Abstract With globalization and localization, Linguistic Landscapes are gradually becoming more diverse while the emotional experience mechanisms of LLs with different functions increasingly vary. This study collects skin conductance and self-reported data from 165 tourists while they view LLs. The research explores the impact of font, practice subject (official or private), and emotional appeal on the LL, elucidating emotional response patterns from physiological and psychological perspectives. The findings reveal that symbolic LLs significantly enhance emotional pleasure and arousal, expanding the theoretical understanding of LLs. We contend that it is crucial to examine the design of LLs and the management of tourism experiences to inform the creation of favorable atmospheres, to improve the quality of tourism experiences, and to elicit stronger, more positive emotional responses from tourists.

Abstract This qualitative study examines three small business signs that use 夹壮 (jiāzhuàng) in the Linguistic Landscape of Nanning, the capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in South China. Jiāzhuàng is a contact-induced language practice, meshing Putonghua (standard spoken Chinese) and Zhuàngyǔ (the officially recognized language of Guangxi’s Zhuang minority ethnic group). Adopting a lived landscape approach, this study captures and interprets photographic data of how jiāzhuàng fosters unconventional meaning-making as a semiotic device. The analysis demonstrates jiāzhuàng as linguistic processes of phonetic change and character swapping that create intentional misalignments between folk language use and what is perceived as standard. The discussion reveals that jiāzhuàng, emblematic of grassroots language planning, empowers individuals to author public signage that transgresses dominant language policies, serves as a tool for conciliatory meaning-making (e.g., sexual innuendo), and functions as a marketing strategy for small business at the periphery of the valorized urban marketplace.