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The signs of an English street

This article is the first in an occasional series which takes a look at how English is used in the everyday world of the urban landscape.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2018

Vivian Cook
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Extract

Street signs are an everyday part of our lives. Yet their language and form reveal important aspects of written English. The aim of this article is to open the reader's eyes to some common features of English street signs by looking at some of the signs in a typical street, Leazes Park Road in Newcastle upon Tyne. On one side of Leazes Park Road the buildings are three-storey nineteenth-century brick townhouses, on the other assorted modern brick and concrete offices, shops and clubs. It is a mixed street of dentists, offices, shops, restaurants, flats and clubs; its signs are typical of English city streets. The paper forms part of a research programme looking at street signs in England from different perspectives (Cook, 2013); a complementary short paper looks at the signs of the traffic junction in Leazes Park Road.

Type
Research Article
Information
English Today , Volume 34 , Issue 3 , September 2018 , pp. 27 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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References

Cook, V. J. 2013. ‘The language of the street’. Applied Linguistics Review, 4(1), 43–81.Google Scholar
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Magnini, V. P., Miller, T. & Kim, B.–C. 2011. ‘The psychological effects of foreign-language restaurant signs on potential diners.’ Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, 35, 24–44.Google Scholar