Robert Blackwood

Trademarks in the linguistic landscape: methodological and theoretical challenges in qualifying brand names in the public space

Abstract In the last few decades, investigations into the linguistic landscape (LL) have sought to analyse written language practices as they are observable in public space. Whilst the LL analysis of language choice in given contexts has opened a host of possibilities for scientific enquiry in the field, the methodologies employed in the collection and categorisation of written signs is still controversial. This paper addresses a specific aspect of the question by discussing brand names in the urban space and seeking to identify a framework for a linguistic classification of brand names. The authors indicate a way forward for future research that draws upon work undertaken in disciplines such as marketing and social psychology, emphasising that brand names should not be excluded from the analysis of the LL as this would amount to denying the linguistic impact of trademarks on individuals and groups in our globalised world.

The linguistic landscape of Brittany and Corsica: A comparative study of the presence of France's regional languages in the public space

The linguistic landscape (LL) is emerging as a method by which to examine language practices of multilingual communities. Based on empirical research, carried out in Brittany and on Corsica in the summer of 2007, this project seeks to examine the extent to which two of Frances regional heritage languages mark the public space. In categorising the signs recorded, it is possible to detect trends in the use of Breton and Corsican for different purposes within the LL. Given Frances recent language management strategies, we are able to differentiate between the way in which cityscapes are marked by those in positions of authority and those with limited power. It is also practicable to examine the differences in multilingual signs within the survey areas. Collectively, these approaches to the LL of Brittany and Corsica will provide an overview of language practices and the relationships between these languages of France.

Policies vs Non-Policies: Analysing Regional Languages and the National Standard in the Linguistic Landscape of French and Italian Mediterranean Cities

This chapter will discuss one aspect of an on-going investigation into the Linguistic Landscape (LL) of French and Italian Mediterranean coastal towns with a view to examining the context for the management of the public space, something which in terms of language policy is tackled in radically different ways by the two states involved. Since 2007, we have collected data from Mediterranean urban areas in both France and Italy, and consider here our findings from Corsica, Northern Catalonia, and Marseille (in France), and Genoa, Cagliari, and Naples (in Italy). By comparing two different approaches, we seek to discern whether what we refer to as policies and non-policies influence the appearance of the LL.

French, language policy and new media / Französisch, Sprachpolitiken und neue Medien / Le français, la politique linguistique et les nouveaux média

Im Kampf zur Verteidigung und Verbreitung des Standardfranzösischen, der schon lange vor der Französischen Revolution begann, ist das Internet zum neuen Schlachtfeld geworden. Wir wollen untersuchen, inwieweit die Neuen Medien die althergebrachten Denkweisen zur Sprachenpolitik in Frankreich herausfordern. Insbesondere gehen wir dabei der Regelung von On-line-Praktiken nach, und zwar aus vier verschiedenen Blickwinkeln. Zuerst geht es dabei um die gesellschaftliche und intellektuelle Elite (vor allem in Paris), die den Staat, die Regierung und damit verbündete Organisationen umfasst. Zweitens beleuchten wir die selbst ernannten und lautstarken Wächter der französischen Sprache, die den Gebrauch der Standardformen durch alle, jederzeit und in allen Kontexten fordern. Drittens betrachten wir die neuen Medien-Plattformen und ihre Sprachenpolitik. Schließlich berücksichtigen wir die Nutzer der Neuen Medien, die oft textspeak, emoticons und normabweichende Formen verwenden und deren wenig konventionelle Sprachpraktiken die drei zuvor genannten Gruppen zu steuern suchen. Dans le combat pour défendre et étendre l’emploi du bon français, menée depuis longtemps par l’Etat français, l’Internet est le champ de bataille le plus récent. Nous examinons ici dans quelle mesure les nouveaux média défient les doctrines bien établies encadrant la politique linguistique en France. En particulier, nous abordons l’aménagement des pratiques linguistiques en lignes de quatre perspectives différentes. D’abord, il y a l’élite sociale et intellectuelle, principalement basée sur Paris, y compris l’Etat, le gouvernement et les agences gouvernementales. Deuxièmement, nous examinons les défenseurs auto-sélectionnés du bon français qui savent se faire entendre. Ils chérissent l’emploi du français standard par le grand public, dans tous les domaines de la vie, à tout moment, et partout. Troisièmement, nous considérons les plate-formes dans les nouveaux média, et leurs politiques linguistiques. Enfin, nous scrutons les actions des internautes francophones, qui ont souvent recours à la cyberlangue, les émoticônes, les emprunts, et le français non-standard, mais dont les pratiques linguistiques peu conventionnelles (bottom- up) sont en proie à un recachage constant par les trois autres groupes.

Language beliefs and the polynomic model for Corsican

As part of the attempts to revitalise Corsican, a regional language of France, and to reverse the language shift to French, language activists and academics have sought to apply the model of a polynomic language to what is considered as one language, but what is, in fact, a number of different Corsicans, each with varying levels of mutual intelligibility. Polynomy for Corsican calls upon islanders to recognise these different varieties as one language, without discrimination between what some refer to as dialects. The foundation upon which polynomy is built is the active participation of speakers, semi-speakers, and non-speakers in the recognition of Corsican as a polynomic language. On the basis of the results from four surveys into language beliefs over a five-year period, this paper evaluates the extent to which islanders engage critically and intellectually with the concept of polynomy, with a view to assessing the feasibility of the model to change positively both language beliefs and language practices. In addition, we analyse the potential for polynomy to answer criticisms levelled at Corsican language education by inviting respondents to consider the practical application of polynomy to a key domain in language revitalisation.

Language, images, and Paris Orly airport on Instagram: multilingual approaches to identity and self-representation on social media

ABSTRACT Given the emergence of a specific trope in social network services, whereby individuals upload an image that includes a passport and/or a boarding pass to index their status as a traveller, this article explores multilingual and multimodal creativity in the construction of identity by a body of individuals who pass through Paris’ Orly airport. In particular, collecting data from the mobile photo-sharing platform Instagram permits the analysis of the authorial control exerted by the Original Poster (OP) over their discursive practices from two distinct perspectives. One line of enquiry is the examination of preferred readings of the images by the OP, which is either affirmed or contested by the poster’s friends, followers, and others, with the view to assessing trends in language practices amongst users. A second vector is the (re)creative approach, where the OP often uses expensive branded goods in the image in a ludic way to convey a sense of their identity. To this end, we discuss how individuals draw on visual resources to hand to present themselves to others. Based on a corpus of images uploaded and geotagged at Orly airport, we explore here the approaches to self-representation on social media in order to typologize the resources – including languages – that twenty-first-century French nationals draw upon to create their individual but simultaneously collective identity.

Conflict, exclusion and dissent in the linguistic landscape

This collection of essays on Linguistic Landscape (LL) research is organised around the theme of LL as a site of contestation. Divided into two parts (‘Conflict and Exclusion’ and ‘Dissent and Prot...

Sketching the Contexts: Italy and France

The main aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of language change and language management in Italy and France in order to situate the competing factors and actors which are responsible for the linguistic construction of the respective public spaces. In the course of the discussion we shall highlight aspects ranging from political-ideological discourses to socio-economic developments and their interconnections. Language policy will be analysed in its broadest possible framework (Spolsky, 2004) to give an indication of the complexity and rootedness of language ideologies, and of how they impact on language practices. We are aware that we merely touch upon a number of fundamental issues and debates revolving around the linguistic histories of the two countries, but the intention is to bring to the fore similarities and differences between the two contexts in order to provide a setting for subsequent chapters.

Insularity in the Linguistic Landscapes of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica

The islands of Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily have long been understood as parts of France and Italy, and any study of these two states from the perspective of the Mediterranean demands an engagement with these landmasses. Language use on islands is exposed to different and, in some ways, additional pressures in comparison with the mainland. The physical space between a continent and outlying islands nourishes specific phenomena with their own sociolinguistic consequences. We do not presume that these phenomena are limited to islands, but their effects are intensified in specific ways as a corollary to the fact of separation by a body of water. Traditionally, insularity has been perceived as a defining characteristic of islands; insularity favours internal circulation and we seek to test the implications of this in the LLs of Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily, in particular for the people who inhabit these zones. For all islanders, external borders are not a matter of interpretation: an island’s territory ends where the sea begins. Geophysical characteristics therefore seem to provide the material for a durable sense of identity and for the preservation of linguistic features that can be generalized more easily across local varieties when compared to other contexts.

Social Representations of Marseilles and Naples’ Linguistic Landscapes

The comparing of cities in LL research has been undertaken since Cenoz and Gorter contrasted San Sebastian and Leeuwarden in the 2006 landmark edited volume on multilingualism in the LL, and this approach has proved fruitful for highlighting trends in the management of the public space.1 Here, we pair two Mediterranean cities with the intention of evaluating the potential for the LL to play a part in the social representations of Marseilles and Naples. We approach the LL of these ancient places with a view to assessing the extent to which written language use in urban centres echoes the social representations constructed around each city. We take this opportunity to differentiate further between the creation of LL in France and Italy, whilst exploring the scope for the LL to serve as a prism through which social representations can be examined critically. This chapter opens with a brief presentation of social representations of Marseilles and Naples, and then uses LL data to investigate whether the public space as lived and experienced by both cities’ residents and visitors confirms the discourses that circulate in wider society regarding language behaviour.