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Monolingual sign in the center of Shanghai

The picture shows the sign of a restaurant located in the center of Shanghai, Xintiandi, an area widely known for its traditiona Shanghai style building and te founding place of Chinese communist party. While the sign displays the restaurant's identity in English only, which is a common practice in the area. The menu and lamppost around also display English only or English prior to Chinese, which for the local Chinese monolinguals would be a bit difficult to orient around.

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Immigrants not using their language for shop signs?

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Immigrants not using their language for shop signs?

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These pictures were taken in my hometown in Japan where many Japanese-Brazilians live. Despite their Japanese-origin, most of them cannot speak any Japanese and thus they make their own community. I grew up in this neighborhood wondering why there are signs in a foreign language, which is clearly not English, in this small town. They have shops exclusively targeting Brazilians, but it seems that there is a change over time as to how they use their language, Portuguese, on a sign for their shops. At old stores, they put their flags next to the sign in Portuguese or their store names were in Portuguese; however, when they renewed their stores, they changed their store names in English and haven’t put their flag, but they still exclusively target Brazilians as customers. I call it “de-indexing their community/identity” but am still thinking what it means to the community or Japanese local residents as well as why they did it.

-Satoshi Nambu

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Thought I'd take this chance to share a little of my work. This is a picture from a coffee shop housed in a boutique in the Sai Ying Pun area of Hong Kong. What we see inside the store is a large neon sign that has four Chinese characters - it translates to "welcome", in a common way of greeting customers are they enter the store. We commonly think of the street-side neon signs in the city scapes of Hong Kong, now (not just in HK but elsewhere as well) they have become part of the interior decoration of all kinds of upmarket businesses, as I would call it, a marker of eliteness.

I have been thinking about the ways in which eliteness is indexed and I think it is especially interesting when you see these neon signs not just in English but in other scripts or languages as well, perhaps suggesting some kind of linguistic change or identity.

When I went back to this shop some months later, I found that it was gone. I only wonder what happened to this neon sign, and if it'll ever reappear some place else again.

- Andre Theng

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The Use of the Irish language in Irish Political Campaigning

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The Use of the Irish language in Irish Political Campaigning

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In the political campaigning on the Eighth Amendment of the Irish Constitution last year, a referendum which overturned the constitutional ban on abortion in Ireland, themes of national identity and the role of the Irish state were prominent in the campaign posters which lined the streets. But the Irish language, on the other hand, was not. Why? Sign-makers were rarely using the one resource perhaps most clearly linked to Irish identity, but instead found other (in some cases, non-linguistic) ways of referencing this, or indeed sought to challenge Irish identity itself.

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In our visit to Queens in November 2018, we noticed that the Latino community is very representative in this area, specially around Roosevelt Ave. However, it was surprising to us how Ecuadorians use different symbols to represent themselves when sharing this space with other Latin communities such as Mexicans and Colombians. As we can see in this picture, Ecuadorians not only use their flag colors but they also use their coat of arms and regionalisms (ex. names of cities). This was something that we did not see among the other ones.
In what ways do diasporic communities express their identity and diversity in their new home? Do these groups create a transnational space to build an extension to their place of origin?

- Patricia Gubitosi
- Daniela Narváez
- Christian Puma

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I've been attending the pride march in Metro Manila for the past two years. One of the most striking aspects of the pride march for me are the anti-LGBT religious protesters that verbally condemn participants in the march. The signs that both groups put on display and their respective emplacements create s clear demarcations of space and related attitudes towards LGBTs. I was wondering how does this contribute further understanding to the overall picture of the Metro Manila pride march as a form of LL.

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The so-called "wonton font" or "chop-suey font" shown in this image taken in Los Angeles Chinatown is meant to represent Asianness or Chineseness but is perceived by many as offensive or racist (file://localhost/Users/yuli/Zotero/storage/3D7LNFHP/is-your-business-font-racist.html). My students and I recently examined Chinese restaurant signage in the LA metro area, and to our surprise, signs with this and other brush-writing-mimicking typefaces was hard to come by. I wondered if this was truly a reflection of an awakening to a Eurocentric representation of racial identities in the LL.
- Yu Li

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Chinese and English bilingual signs are not uncommon on the streets of Melbourne, but this restaurant sign is the only one I found that plays with two distinct scriptal systems. 'Confucius' would be a familiar Chinese cultural symbol for the western audience, and inserting the red-coloured '中' (zhong) might help reinforce the Chinese identity of this restaurant. The Chinese sentence at the bottom reads: 'confucius says: maoben (quasi-homophonic with Melbourne) grilled fish [comes with] large portions and good quality.' Li Wei (2019) has noted playful subversions of the Chinese scriptal system; parts of the character are replaced with numbers, letters or even emojis which tend to be graphically or phonetically similar to the originals. In this case, however, we see the subversion of English scriptal system by replacing 'o' with '中', and the two are not necessarily related in any respect. I'm convinced that we are going to see more of these creative transcripting (translanguaging) practices as Melbourne becomes increasingly diverse.
- Xiaofang Yao

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A bilingual notice at the University of Sydney, Australia

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A bilingual notice at the University of Sydney, Australia

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This bilingual notice of English and simplified Chinese asking the public to stay quiet and out of the working space was put up at the entrance of the office building in the Quadrangle at the University of Sydney in October 2018. Some Chinese-speaking staff and students found this notice offensive because the only LOTE (language other than English) on the sign overtly targeted at mainland Chinese, who are the main users of simplified Chinese characters, without addressing potential trespassers using other LOTEs.

The sign was put in place for a reason. The Quad in the main campus of the University of Sydney is full of selfie-snapping tourists all year around. Built with 19thCentury sandstone, the neo-gothic architecture has been on many tourists’ must-see lists. Recent years have seen a massive surge of Chinese visitors. According to Australia’s mainstream media SBS, Chinese tourists flock here because of misleading advertising of some Chinese tour companies that claims that the Quad is one of the locations where Harry Potter was filmed.

The Quad has been noted for its resemblance to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry of Harry Potter. It ranked the second place in Buzzfeed's rankings of University Campuses That Might Secretly Be Hogwarts.

Another reason for the mistake could be a new PhD student–created Hogwarts crest for the Great Hall completed in March 2017, located on the previously-blank sandstone shields on the University of Sydney's Great Hall. It marked a move away from the traditional style and magical opportunities that the University has to offer.

It’s fascinating that a simple bilingual notice in the linguistic landscape could lead us to many discoveries in the changes taking place in tourism and of a renewed identity of the University to embrace new ideas and keep up with the times and at the same time maintain its tradition.

— Samantha Xu

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Why is there so much Hindi in my Spaces?

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Why is there so much Hindi in my Spaces?

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The linguistic landscape, in general, of the town of D (the site for this study) in the State of Chhattisgarh, India is an apt site for study. This state is a contradiction of sorts when it comes to ITM rights and obligations. As a state, Chhattisgarh has an extended history of perpetuating the dominant language and culture both symbolically and substantively while simultaneously claiming to be sensitive to its tribal population and more specifically to the Child byway of educational and other welfare activities by manner of adhering to the Convention of the Rights of the Child.  The town of D is demographically the contact space with non-tribal communities for the State institutional machinery such as administration, education, health, judicial access not to mention commercial activities for the Halbi and the Gondi speaking ITM communities of the district. According to Ethnologue both the languages are endangered and experiencing language shift at an alarming pace despite ITM communities being internationally and domestically protected by legislations and State Obligations at the interface of which the community traverses. So the question I am interested in is: how does the ITM community negotiate the representation of their culture/identity?

Uma Chimirala

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Who is this menu for? (Diversity and change in Prague, Czechia)

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Who is this menu for? (Diversity and change in Prague, Czechia)

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This menu board in a Vietnamese baguetteria in the Czech capital Prague seems to presuppose a certain knowledge of three languages - Czech, English and Vietnamese - and the ability to read ornamental Czech handwriting at once. Would you be able to choose and order your meal based just on this menu? I find this way of presenting the bistro's offer intriguing and also fascinating, since the familiarity with Vietnamese cuisine among the Czech population was close to zero as recently as 10-15 years ago. But it seems to work for all practical purposes, as the bistro is full every lunch-time. The reliance on the knowlege of Vietnamese names of dishes testifies to the cultural change the Prague population is going through.
- Marián Sloboda

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The north of Sweden is historically characterized by linguistic diversity. Varieties of yet-not-named Sami and Finnish languages co-existed in the region long before the 19th century colonization created the myth of monolingualism and Swedishness. Today the traditional minority languages are seriously endangered, but ironically perhaps more visible than ever, due to recent government policies wanting to counteract the previous monolingual ones. But is it possible to recreate a past that never happened? Seen at the grassroot level, new language practices are emerging, in line with globalization processes and increased mobilities, and slowly making this once again a visibly diverse linguistic region. This is wonderfully illustrated in this popular no-frills restaurant in Umeå, a small university town located in the traditional Sápmi region. In naming the restaurant the owner has combined Kebnekajse, which is the old Swedish spelling of the mountain called Giebmegáisi in North Sami, and kebab – together with pizza maybe the most global of dishes, about which the question of “origins” never seems to get quite settled.
- Andreas Nuottaniemi

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Diversity in the eyes of students in campus housing

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Diversity in the eyes of students in campus housing

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I started working with a residence hall at Stellenbosch University (South Africa) in 2017. This residence hall is called Goldfields and was the first university housing project at Stellenbosch University to house students of colour. It was established in 1986, at the height of a 'state of emergency' during the apartheid era - an era of institutionalised racial segregation - needless to say its establishment was ground-breaking at the time.  Today, not many students understand the significance of Goldfields, not even those who reside within its walls. However, in a recent project I asked the residents of Goldfields to photograph the LL as they experience it and one participant brought me photographs of their new dining hall at lunchtime. He said to me that this is where you experience the diversity of Goldfields, where different people from different backgrounds and cultures come together and engage and just generally enjoy one another's company. He illustrated how you could maybe hear 5 of the 11 official languages of South Africa and also pointed out that even 'non-official' varieties like Kaaps (a variety of Afrikaans mostly heard in Cape Town) are showcased in this 'linguistic place'.
- Charné Pretorius

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(click to view larger image)
Thom Huebner

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I first came to Thailand more than a few decades ago with the U.S. Peace Corps, teaching EFL in a distant rural province. But it wasn’t until I was invited back as a linguist and visiting professor in Bangkok thirty years later that I noticed the linguistic diversity and free-wheeling hybridity in the language of Bangkok’s linguistic landscape. As the field of LL has expanded, I’ve become fascinated by some of the non-linguistic semiotic affordances expressing Thai identity encountered on a daily basis. I include some pictures below.
Thom Huebner

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Multilingual Participation in a Residential Community in Taiwan

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Multilingual Participation in a Residential Community in Taiwan

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I live in a residential community in Taiwan that offers many services for residents, such as garbage collection (most people must dispose of their household trash by waiting outside for garbage trucks to drive by their neighborhood), a study room, and a swimming pool. The photo below shows a sign instructing residents on how to separate compost from their household trash and where compost should be tossed. What's interesting about this sign is that it's multilingual, written in Mandarin Chinese, English, and what looks like a Southeast Asian language (I apologize for not knowing what the language it is). This is a rather new sign, put up in the last couple of months, and probably designed to be multilingual in taking it's audience into consideration. Our residential community not only has Taiwanese residents but also residents from other countries. Furthermore, there are also an increasing number of caretakers from Southeast Asia working for households in our residential community. The fact that the administrative board of our residential community decided to go out of their way to present this information multilingually shows a recognition that the community is increasingly multilingual and a desire for all participants to abide by these rules and participate in this residential service (of garbage collection).

This sign design, however, is in stark contrast to almost all of the other signs posted around the lobby, front desk, and elevators of the residential community, which is almost entirely written in monolingual Chinese. This includes signs that post rules, updates, and announcements for residential services such as the study room and the swimming pool. So while the sign below shows a desire for non-Chinese speakers  to participate in services such as garbage collection, when it comes to most other residential services, the administrative board seems to conveniently forget and shut a blind-eye to the multilingualism in the residential community that they are clearly aware. This raises questions about 1) how language is being used by the administrative board as a gatekeeper for participation in certain community services, and 2) what kinds of residential services non-Chinese speakers are expected to participate in and how are these expectations related to race, class, and other social identities.
- Eric Ku

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I moved to San José, California, about 9 months ago and have been struck by the linguistic diversity here--some of which is part of the visible linguistic landscape. The 2010 U.S. Census says that over 28% of the city's population is of Mexican descent, and among the 32% of residents with (South, Southeast, East) Asian background, over 10% of the city's people come from Vietnamese background. And this is what the exit of the city bus looks like on my ride from home to school every day...
- Dave Malinowski

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Posting on this site requires no sign-up or login. Just follow these steps:

1. Click the pink "+" button or click twice in an empty place on the screen to start a new post;

2. Give your post a title;

3. Write some text;

4. Click the appropriate button to add or link to content you'd like to share (image, video, etc.)

Posts here are anonymous by default, so please add your name and any other information about you if you're willing to share.

- Dave and Thom

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Welcome to the XIScape2019 Introductory Workshop, a few days early. As a way to start discussion and begin to get to know each other, we'd like to ask you to share a scene or two from a place or research site that's familiar to you. Please post an image, video, or sound or just write some text that addresses any part of these questions:

What do you consider to be a significant expression of identity, diversity or cultural change in the linguistic landscape around you?

Where do you see a significant conflict or challenge to identity, diversity, and/or cultural change in your local contexts?

Be sure to write enough contextual information so that  people from other parts of the world can understand what you're discussing.

Thank you, and see you soon!

- Dave Malinowski and Thom Huebner