Controlling Roma refugees with ‘Google-Hungarian

Indexing deviance, contempt, and belonging in Toronto's linguistic landscape

Bibliographic Data

ID7901088
AuthorsPhilipp Sebastian Angermeyer (0000-0002-2506-8533, York University, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume46
Issue2
Pages159-183
Publication date2017-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguage in Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-4045 • E-ISSN: 1469-8013
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047404516001020
OpenAlexW2579899860
LanguageEN
Citations received18
References cited39

This article investigates signage in the linguistic landscape of Toronto that is addressed to Hungarian-speaking Roma asylum applicants, focusing on multilingual public-order signs that convey warnings or prohibitions. Such signs are produced by institutional agents who often use machine translation (Google Translate), yielding ungrammatical texts in ostensible Hungarian. Drawing on ethnographic interviews, the article explores the indexicalities that such multilingual signs have for different groups of participants, including Roma addressees and English-speaking ‘overreaders’. While institutions may view the production of multilingual signs as indexical of open-mindedness towards migrants, Roma interviewees may see public-order signs as indexing racial stereotypes by presupposing deviant behavior, and may view ungrammaticality as indexing an unwillingness to engage in face-to-face interaction. (Multilingualism, Canada, Gypsies (Roma), linguistic landscapes, Hungarian, machine translation, indexicality

Ethnography · Face (sociological concept) · Indexicality · Linguistic landscape · Linguistics · Multilingualism · Signage · Social science · Sociology · Visual arts · Anthropology · Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare · Romani and Gypsy Studies · Translation Studies and Practices

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