A Sociological Research Program for Linguistic Landscapes

This essay discusses topics pertaining to a sociological research program of linguistic landscapes (LL in the all-following)). We see in linguistic landscapes a major area of symbolization of contemporary urban societies. Unlike the interest shown by sociolinguistic students, until these days, this field has attracted but a few sociologists. We are particularly interested in those spaces that are designated as urban centers, that is, the streets and squares where LLs is of emblematic impacts. We propose to investigate these spaces on the basis of a distinction of three facets (1) tenets of individual LL items regarding their language choices; (2) directives transpiring on items exercised by top-down public-regulative factors versus effects of bottomup influences targeting potential clients; (3) impacts of present-day waves of globalization displacing populations and goods from one end of the globe to the other. The sociological investigation of these different – but interlinked – sequences challenges the capture of the currents underlying LLs’ transformations. An investigation that aims at deciphering the order within and beneath the apparent disorder of LLs

Epistemology · Linguistics · Social science · Sociological research · Sociology · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy