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By Oatmilk
From Wikimedia Commons.
Being an urban geography student, I wanted to write about something that would bridge the study of language and geography. So I thought it would be interesting to discuss the ways in which language exists in the city and in our public spaces. When you walk, drive, or bike around, language is virtually everywhere, from signs and billboards to posters and graffiti. Language is written all over our streets. The study of this phenomenon and what it means to us is called “linguistic landscape” and it aims to explore and better understand the various ways in which language is displayed in public and its symbolism.
Linguistic landscape has been particularly researched in multilingual contexts or in contexts of conflict where the use of multiple languages, either official or non-official languages, can tell us many things about the local community, culture or politics. For example, studies have focused on contexts where the national state language and the local language differ such as in the Basque country of Spain or in Québec, the French speaking part of Canada. In these regions, legislations are put in place to preserve the local language against the more wide-spread Spanish and English, forcing all signage, and therefore most of the linguistic landscape, to be in the minority language.
Signs in both Breton and French in Quimper, Brittany. From Wikimedia Commons.
Linguistic landscape also is a great tool to show linguistic diversity in a certain context. Places like restaurants, shops or places of worship are sometimes written in languages completely different from the languages normally spoken locally. This is the reason why you can find restaurants with a storefront in Korean or Spanish in the middle of an American city, or signs in Creole in European oversea territories despite the official language being an European one (for example Guadeloupe or Sint-Maarten).
Popular Asian food store in the center of Amsterdam. From Maangchi's Korean Grocery Shopping Directory.
This phenomenon doesn’t just denote local diversity but also sometimes happens because of more external factors like tourism. It is very common to see signs or ads written in Chinese, Spanish, or Russian in tourist areas such as the center of Amsterdam or Paris. This is done to appeal to the biggest group(s) of international visitors. Another external factor that you most likely have experienced is the cultural power and influence of a particular language. English is probably the easiest example, it can be seen everywhere for ads, logos, movie posters, etc.
Linguistic landscape is a worldwide phenomenon that can tell a lot of information about a place, its community, and its connection to other places. It shows the role that public space and language(s) have in our everyday lives. It’s also an ever-changing mirror reflecting the weight of language on communities and society. Next time you wander through your community, be on the lookout for what you can learn from the street signs you notice. There might be more information than you would have expected in something that often goes overlooked.
About Oatmilk
24-year-old French queer person who’s been living in the Netherlands for a few years. Currently a master’s student in Social Sciences Research and part-time barista while studying Dutch and Turkish on the side. Loves playing video games, watching movies, and reading philosophy, sociology, or science fiction.