Sociolinguistics Symposium 19
Freie Universität Berlin | August 21-24, 2012
Programme: accepted abstracts
Abstract ID: 440
Part of General Paper Session (Other abstracts in this session)
Multilingual Play in the Linguistic Landscape of Taipei
Authors: Curtin, Melissa L. (1); Chen, Yea-Wen (2)
Submitted by: Curtin, Melissa L. (University of California, Santa Barbara, United States of America)
Linguistic creativity has been closely examined in several domains, including advertising (Cook, 1994), verbal art (Sherzer, 2002), language acquisition (Cook, 2000; Pomerantz & Bell, 2007), and computer mediated communication (North, 2007; Su, 2009). However, it has been understudied in linguistic landscape (LL) research (although touched upon in Coupland, 2010; Curtin, 2009; Huebner, 2006). In this ethnographic study of multilingual creativity in the LL of Taipei, we document the range of languages/scripts on display; present different types of linguistic interplay (from fairly simple bilingual morphophonemic play to complex phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic interplay); analyze how this interplay is socioculturally and ideologically informed; and discuss ways such multilingual language play indexes various stances and Taiwanese/Chinese identities.
Analysis reveals a rich repertoire of linguistic resources including traditional Chinese characters (e.g., with default readings of Mandarin, yet carrying subtle Southern Min counter-readings); Japanese (iconic, semantic, and syntactic use of kanji, kana and romaji); English (from iconic letters to complex phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic interplay with other languages); French (iconic usage; phonological, syntactic, and semantic interplay); as well as an increasing number of other non-Chinese languages (used mostly as “display language” in the public sphere, including Danish, German, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Spanish, Thai and Russian). In addition to analyzing how multilingual play is enabled and constrained by specific linguistic and writing system features, we also note how it draws on a rich cultural history of homophonic wordplay in Chinese/Taiwanese cultures. And we argue that linguistic creativity in Taipei’s LL is:
- indicative of metalinguistic awareness and multicompetence
- often best apprehended via the lenses of interdiscursivity and multimodality
- globally informed but locally constructed
We conclude that multilingual play in a locale’s LL is an important social semiotic resource in developing and negotiating distinctive frames of identity and place.
References:
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