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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 897

Part of Session 154: A tale of six cities (Other abstracts in this session)

In Search of Past Identities: Lithuanian Chicago

Authors: Tamosiunaite, Aurelija
Submitted by: Tamosiunaite, Aurelija (University of Illinois at Chicago, United States of America)

As noted by Pavlenko (2010), most of the recent (as well as pioneering) studies of linguistic landscape (LL) focus on the present-day „urban linguistic mosaic“, without giving too much attention to the past. The diachronic approach to LL, however, brings its own challenges, such as the dynamic and temporary nature of written signs and, therefore, limitation (insufficiency) of the available data. According to Coulmas (2008), a study of a historical LL “must make do what is left, that is, inscriptions that have survived from the past”. The selection and limitation of sources are even more problematic when reconstructing the history of the LL related to one particular immigrant group, living in a large multiethnic city. In this case the analysis of one particular public space of LL might help to at least partially reconstruct the presence of immigrant language in a city and its vitality in diachronic perspective.

For this research I chose to take a closer look at the LL of two Chicago-area Lithuanian cemeteries – St. Casimir’s Catholic Cemetery (located in Chicago, IL) and Lithuanian National Cemetery (located in Justice, IL). Historically the establishment of these two Lithuanian cemeteries is connected with the rapid growth of the Lithuanian community in Chicago at the turn of the 20^th century. Thus, the history of linguistic landscape of these two places mirrors the 100 year presence of Lithuanian community in Chicago. In order to understand the diverse nature of the Lithuanian community and reconstruct the manifestations of its linguistic and cultural identity over time I will share the results of the linguistic analysis of 1000 tombstone inscriptions (covering the period from 1903 to 2000). My research will be guided mainly by three questions: a) how LL of these two Lithuanian cemeteries manifests ethnic and linguistic identity? b) what factors shaped the linguistic changes in this LL? c) how accurately LL of this public sphere can actually represent the dynamics of ethnic community?

References:

Pavlenko, Aneta (2010): Linguistic Landscape of Kyiv, Ukraine: A Diachronic Study. In Shohamy, E., Barni, M. & E. Ben Rafael (eds.): Linguistic Landscape in the City. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, pp. 133-150.

Coulmas, Florian (2008: Linguistic Landscaping and the Seed of the Public Sphere. In Shohamy, E., D. Gorter (eds.): Linguistic Landscape: Expanding the Scenery. New York, London: Routledge, pp. 13-24.