Johan Järlehed
Biographic Data
| ID | 755597 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Johan Järlehed |
| GIVEN NAMES | Johan |
| FAMILY NAME | Järlehed |
| SIGNATURE | JÄRLEHED J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Gothenburg |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0117-9458 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 55 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 13 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Hollywood
The HOLLYWOOD sign is arguably the world's most famous language object. Emblematic of prestige and cultural capital, the sign can be found not just in Los Angeles, but in citations all over the world. Beginning with the history of its valorization, HOLLYWOOD is shown to emanate symbolic value through a set of enregistered semiotic features. Drawing upon a set of globally sourced citations of HOLLYWOOD, the circulation and stratified bundling of s…
Navigating whiteness from the margins
This paper examines the relationship between language, (in)visibility, and (im)mobility in racialized spaces, focusing on Finnish, Somali, and Arabic speakers in Sweden. Using a theoretical framework based on hegemonic whiteness and intersectionality, the study explores how multilingual practices and subjectivities intersect with race, religion, gender, and class to shape social visibility and mobility. The research draws on linguistic ethnograph…
Language, translocality and urban change
This article addresses the role of translocal interconnectedness between offline and online spaces by examining the varied presence of language displays in such spaces. Quantitative findings on language presence in the offline public spaces of four Gothenburg neighbourhoods are contrasted with the online presence found in three Swedish search portals, and the differences are interpreted in light of the broader socioeconomic processes of gentrific…
Introducing the political economy of language in place/space
In the last years, there has been a strong drive within Linguistic Landscape studies to 'go beyond the signs. ' This methodological challenge has often been interpreted as talking to the producers, owners, and readers of signs in order to learn more about how they conceptualize the value and meaning of signs and languages in place. This undertaking has contributed to underlining social agency in the production and interpretation of Linguistic Lan…
The politics of typographic placemaking
This article explores typographic placemaking by comparing the design and public launch of two city fonts: TilburgsAns (2016) and Dubai Font (2017). Building on recent work on semiotic technology and graphic ideology, the authors examine how these fonts’ visual features and the promotional discourses surrounding their launch are utilized for placemaking, and how this is facilitated and constrained by technology and ideology. The results show that…
The white worker’s hotdog and the not-so-white worker’s falafel
This paper discusses the dialectics of urban place and its public image, approached via an examination of the public process of proposing, debating, and selecting new monuments for the city of Gothenburg, Sweden. The analysis shows that while the proposed monument to the local foodstuff halv special (a type of hot dog) is generally received in a positive way, the proposal of a monument to falafel is met with criticism. The results suggest that th…
Alphabet city
This article examines the emergence and design of letter-based city logos in order to discuss what they reveal about writing and cities, and the dynamics between them. Developing a political economic and social semiotic analysis, I suggest that these letter-based logos respond to an increased competition for attention in society—strongly linked to new media technology and patterns of mobility in late capitalist economies. I further argue that the…
Multilingual creativity and play in the semiotic landscape
The papers presented in this special issue contribute to the growing interest in creativity in the study of multilingualism (cf. Deumert, 2014, 2017; Jones, 2012, 2016; Maybin & Swann, 2007). The r
Kill Bilbo
This paper draws on a multimodal notion of metrolingualism to discuss playful T-shirt displays of Galician and Basque language, culture and identity. They invite the audience to reflect on notions of Galicianness and Basqueness by mixing localising resources such as minority language and cultural heritage with globalised resources of fluidity, such as the English language, pop-cultural icons, and logos of transnational companies, and by strategic…
Culture and class in a glass
Genre and metacultural displays
This paper argues that studies of the LL could merit from a more detailed social semiotic examination of particular sign-genres. It describes genre as normative system open to change, on the one hand, and as complex historical and cultural configurations of semiotic resources and affordances, on the other. Based on illustrative analysis of how the discursive interaction of ‘pride’ and ‘profit’ is affecting Galician and Basque street-name signing,…
Ideological framing of vernacular type choices in the Galician and Basque semiotic landscape
This paper is concerned with the ideological framing of typographic choices in Galician and Basque public space. It builds on an interpretive discourse analytical approach to the enregisterment of vernacular typography as social emblems of Galician-ness and Basque-ness. The paper argues that this process of enregisterment interacts with a layering in the contemporary semiotic landscape of three major ideological complexes: cultural resistance, cu…
Typographic landscaping
Origins and
Typographic landscaping
Origins and
Ideological framing of vernacular type choices in the Galician and Basque semiotic landscape
This paper is concerned with the ideological framing of typographic choices in Galician and Basque public space. It builds on an interpretive discourse analytical approach to the enregisterment of vernacular typography as social emblems of Galician-ness and Basque-ness. The paper argues that this process of enregisterment interacts with a layering in the contemporary semiotic landscape of three major ideological complexes: cultural resistance, cu…
Alphabet city
This article examines the emergence and design of letter-based city logos in order to discuss what they reveal about writing and cities, and the dynamics between them. Developing a political economic and social semiotic analysis, I suggest that these letter-based logos respond to an increased competition for attention in society—strongly linked to new media technology and patterns of mobility in late capitalist economies. I further argue that the…
Multilingual creativity and play in the semiotic landscape
The papers presented in this special issue contribute to the growing interest in creativity in the study of multilingualism (cf. Deumert, 2014, 2017; Jones, 2012, 2016; Maybin & Swann, 2007). The r
Culture and class in a glass
Kill Bilbo
This paper draws on a multimodal notion of metrolingualism to discuss playful T-shirt displays of Galician and Basque language, culture and identity. They invite the audience to reflect on notions of Galicianness and Basqueness by mixing localising resources such as minority language and cultural heritage with globalised resources of fluidity, such as the English language, pop-cultural icons, and logos of transnational companies, and by strategic…
Hollywood
The HOLLYWOOD sign is arguably the world's most famous language object. Emblematic of prestige and cultural capital, the sign can be found not just in Los Angeles, but in citations all over the world. Beginning with the history of its valorization, HOLLYWOOD is shown to emanate symbolic value through a set of enregistered semiotic features. Drawing upon a set of globally sourced citations of HOLLYWOOD, the circulation and stratified bundling of s…
The politics of typographic placemaking
This article explores typographic placemaking by comparing the design and public launch of two city fonts: TilburgsAns (2016) and Dubai Font (2017). Building on recent work on semiotic technology and graphic ideology, the authors examine how these fonts’ visual features and the promotional discourses surrounding their launch are utilized for placemaking, and how this is facilitated and constrained by technology and ideology. The results show that…
The white worker’s hotdog and the not-so-white worker’s falafel
This paper discusses the dialectics of urban place and its public image, approached via an examination of the public process of proposing, debating, and selecting new monuments for the city of Gothenburg, Sweden. The analysis shows that while the proposed monument to the local foodstuff halv special (a type of hot dog) is generally received in a positive way, the proposal of a monument to falafel is met with criticism. The results suggest that th…
Ideological framing of vernacular type choices in the Galician and Basque semiotic landscape
This paper is concerned with the ideological framing of typographic choices in Galician and Basque public space. It builds on an interpretive discourse analytical approach to the enregisterment of vernacular typography as social emblems of Galician-ness and Basque-ness. The paper argues that this process of enregisterment interacts with a layering in the contemporary semiotic landscape of three major ideological complexes: cultural resistance, cu…
Typographic landscaping
Origins and
Genre and metacultural displays
This paper argues that studies of the LL could merit from a more detailed social semiotic examination of particular sign-genres. It describes genre as normative system open to change, on the one hand, and as complex historical and cultural configurations of semiotic resources and affordances, on the other. Based on illustrative analysis of how the discursive interaction of ‘pride’ and ‘profit’ is affecting Galician and Basque street-name signing,…
Multilingual creativity and play in the semiotic landscape
The papers presented in this special issue contribute to the growing interest in creativity in the study of multilingualism (cf. Deumert, 2014, 2017; Jones, 2012, 2016; Maybin & Swann, 2007). The r
Kill Bilbo
This paper draws on a multimodal notion of metrolingualism to discuss playful T-shirt displays of Galician and Basque language, culture and identity. They invite the audience to reflect on notions of Galicianness and Basqueness by mixing localising resources such as minority language and cultural heritage with globalised resources of fluidity, such as the English language, pop-cultural icons, and logos of transnational companies, and by strategic…
Culture and class in a glass
Alphabet city
This article examines the emergence and design of letter-based city logos in order to discuss what they reveal about writing and cities, and the dynamics between them. Developing a political economic and social semiotic analysis, I suggest that these letter-based logos respond to an increased competition for attention in society—strongly linked to new media technology and patterns of mobility in late capitalist economies. I further argue that the…
The politics of typographic placemaking
This article explores typographic placemaking by comparing the design and public launch of two city fonts: TilburgsAns (2016) and Dubai Font (2017). Building on recent work on semiotic technology and graphic ideology, the authors examine how these fonts’ visual features and the promotional discourses surrounding their launch are utilized for placemaking, and how this is facilitated and constrained by technology and ideology. The results show that…
The white worker’s hotdog and the not-so-white worker’s falafel
This paper discusses the dialectics of urban place and its public image, approached via an examination of the public process of proposing, debating, and selecting new monuments for the city of Gothenburg, Sweden. The analysis shows that while the proposed monument to the local foodstuff halv special (a type of hot dog) is generally received in a positive way, the proposal of a monument to falafel is met with criticism. The results suggest that th…
Language, translocality and urban change
This article addresses the role of translocal interconnectedness between offline and online spaces by examining the varied presence of language displays in such spaces. Quantitative findings on language presence in the offline public spaces of four Gothenburg neighbourhoods are contrasted with the online presence found in three Swedish search portals, and the differences are interpreted in light of the broader socioeconomic processes of gentrific…
Introducing the political economy of language in place/space
In the last years, there has been a strong drive within Linguistic Landscape studies to 'go beyond the signs. ' This methodological challenge has often been interpreted as talking to the producers, owners, and readers of signs in order to learn more about how they conceptualize the value and meaning of signs and languages in place. This undertaking has contributed to underlining social agency in the production and interpretation of Linguistic Lan…
Navigating whiteness from the margins
This paper examines the relationship between language, (in)visibility, and (im)mobility in racialized spaces, focusing on Finnish, Somali, and Arabic speakers in Sweden. Using a theoretical framework based on hegemonic whiteness and intersectionality, the study explores how multilingual practices and subjectivities intersect with race, religion, gender, and class to shape social visibility and mobility. The research draws on linguistic ethnograph…
Hollywood
The HOLLYWOOD sign is arguably the world's most famous language object. Emblematic of prestige and cultural capital, the sign can be found not just in Los Angeles, but in citations all over the world. Beginning with the history of its valorization, HOLLYWOOD is shown to emanate symbolic value through a set of enregistered semiotic features. Drawing upon a set of globally sourced citations of HOLLYWOOD, the circulation and stratified bundling of s…
Linguistics (10 works) · Political science (10 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Law (8 works) · Multilingual Education and Policy (8 works) · Politics (7 works) · Semiotics (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Art (5 works) · Ideology (5 works)