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The field of linguistic landscape studies is rapidly expanding. The texts we see around us on signs in the public sphere of cities all over the world are no longer a neglected source of sociolinguistic data. Investigations of how languages function in signage are based on diverse theoretical and methodological approaches. Diversity can be seen as a built-in characteristic of the field of linguistic landscape studies. Its results offer fresh sociolinguistic perspectives on issues such as urban multilingualism, globalization, minority languages, and language policy. The current book is a valuable addition to a growing number of publications about linguistic landscapes. The editors refrain from the term "linguistic landscape" for the title of their collection, selecting "semiotic landscape" as an alternative, although they also state that "all landscape is semiotic," which would make the term pleonastic. It is interesting to note that the editors themselves as well as most contributors to the book continue to use the term "linguistic landscape" repeatedly. The subtitle "language, image, space" clarifies the focus of this book: space and image are equally important to language.
In their programmatic chapter "Introducing semiotic landscapes," Jaworski & Thurlow undertake a daring attempt to cover a wide range of issues related to the study of space as a semiotic resource. Their discussion of landscape "as a way of seeing" holds the attention as it is based on works from human geography and art history. The spatial turn shows that space is not only physical but also socially constructed. They want to move forward linguistic landscape studies by adding complexity to existing theories and methodologies. Context-specific analyses of language are recommended, and a multifaceted, in-depth ethnographic approach is encouraged. The editors provide a number of examples from earlier studies to demonstrate that globalization underlies "much ongoing change in the linguistic/semiotic landscapes" (15).
In Ch. 1, Jeffrey Kallen observes changes in the linguistic landscape as he walks through Dublin's city-center. Loosely based on Goffman's frame analysis, he distinguishes five "spatial frameworks," which he labels the civic frame, marketplace, portals, wall, and detritus zone. The official policy remains bilingual Irish-English but due to the effects of tourism, international businesses, and the arrival of immigrants, each frame contains examples of other languages, in...