Caroline Lipovsky

Belleville's linguistic heterogeneity viewed from its landscape

ABSTRACT In line with a recent trend in sociolinguistic research focusing on the visual dimension of multilingual urban environments, this study investigates multilingualism, as seen in street signage, more particularly shopfronts, in the Parisian neighbourhood of Belleville. Through this illustrative account, the study aims to highlight the ways in which, in spite of a national policy that proclaims the pre-eminence of the French language, immigrant communities in Belleville succeed in gaining visibility in the linguistic landscape. It also seeks to explore the ways in which written signs, as well as other discursive modalities such as images and elements of architecture, enact cultural diversity in Bellevilles linguistic landscape. The study also documents the impact of the English language on Bellevilles linguistic landscape. Specifically, the analysis highlights the influence of English syntax in shop and business names, and the use of English as a symbol of cosmopolitanism and globalisation. The study is supplemented by the metalinguistic remarks and insights of individual actors regarding their choice of language for their business names.

Right to a fair trial: could hard news reports influence jurors?

ABSTRACTThe “trial by media” phenomenon that describes the media frenzy accompanying a high-profile court case, and that may be at odds with a defendant’s right to a fair trial by an impartial jury, has been widely researched. The aim of this project is consequently to investigate whether jurors could be influenced by their readings of the media in trials receiving less media attention. Using the systemic functional linguistics framework, this study uses a murder trial held in Sydney, Australia, and contrasts the crime story, as described in the court’s Decision, with an article published in the Daily Telegraph at the time of the offender’s arrest. The aim is to explore whether the jurors who were appointed to this trial could have been affected by their reading of the article. The findings highlight the ways in which the news report is made persuasive through a range of features, such as its ideational structure, rhetorical organisation, use of circumstantial details, transitivity and agency patterns, as...

The CV as a multimodal text

This article aims to broaden our understanding of CV visual design from a critical perspective, using the visual grammar developed by Kress and van Leeuwen as a point of departure. Drawing on an analysis of a set of CVs collected in France, the article highlights the significant role played by visual semiotics in applicants’ construals of professional expertise in their CVs as part of their endeavour to be shortlisted for an interview. It also identifies significant features across the interpersonal, ideational and textual metafunctions of the CVs. The analysis of the CVs is complemented by the recruiter’s comments on the CVs, which further highlight the role of visual features in recruiters’ impressions of job applicants.