Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 November 2013
This article offers an overview of the main developments in the field of linguistic landscape studies. A large number of research projects and publications indicate an increasing interest in applied linguistics in the use of written texts in urban spaces, especially in bilingual and multilingual settings. The article looks into some of the pioneer studies that helped open up this line of research and summarizes some of the studies that created the springboard for its rapid expansion in recent years. The focus is on current research (from 2007 onward), including studies that illustrate main theoretical approaches and methodological development as key issues of the expanding field, in particular when applied in settings of societal multilingualism.
Publications on the linguistic landscape cover a wide range of innovative theoretical and empirical studies that deal with issues related to multilingualism, literacy, multimodality, language policy, linguistic diversity, and minority languages, among others. The article shows some examples of the use of the linguistic landscape as a research tool and a data source to address a number of issues in multilingualism. The article also explores some possible future directions. Overall, the various emerging perspectives in linguistic landscape research can deepen our understanding of languages in urban spaces, language users, and societal multilingualism in general.
Gorter, D., Marten, H. F., & Van Mensel, L. (Eds.). (2012). Minority languages in the linguistic landscape. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave-Macmillan.
This collection of 18 articles focuses on the dynamics of the use of minority languages for public display in urban spaces or next to majority languages, English as a global language, and other languages. Most articles make use of tangible, photographic data to explore the so-called same old issues of language contact and language conflict. The lens of the chapters is on situations in Europe, with two contrasting cases from Israel and Brunei.
Jaworski, A., & Thurlow, C. (Eds.). (2010). Semiotic landscapes: Language, image, space. London, UK: Continuum.
Semiotic landscape is an alternative term for linguistic landscape that emphasizes a wider focus for the studies in this book. For the editors, space and image are equally important to language texts. The programmatic introduction adds complexity to existing theories and methodologies. The authors of the 13 chapters succeed in doing a good job exploring and expanding the borders of the field.
Shohamy, E., Ben-Rafael, E., & Barni, M. (Eds.). (2010). Linguistic landscape in the city. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
This collection offers 18 case studies of major world cities and smaller towns concerning the factors that construct the linguistic landscape and the impact it has on wider sociocultural realities. Its programmatic introduction characterizes the field as being interested in “ordered disorder” (pp. xi–xxviii), a jungle of jumbled and irregular items, which can be analyzed by using underlying structuration principles. This book complements existing publications on linguistic landscape.
Shohamy, E., & Gorter, D. (Eds.). (2009). Linguistic landscape: Expanding the scenery. New York, NY: Routledge.
This book introduces a broad and diverse view on the field of linguistic landscape studies, based on empirical data obtained from a wide range of places from around the world. It provides a basic exposition of an expanding field. Across the 20 chapters, urgent issues of study in linguistic landscapes are dealt with. The book puts forward many suggestions as to what the field in its various manifestations can become.