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Article published In: Linguistic Landscape
Vol. 6:1 (2020) ► pp.2–15

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Linguistic landscape

The semiotics of public signage

 | Bar-Ilan University
Published online: 16 March 2020
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.00015.spo
Abstract
The paper starts with signs that Cooper and I found in the Old City of Jerusalem. It describes how the term Linguistic Landscape was applied to the recollections of francophone high school students of the signs they had seen. It traces the many collections of photos employing digital cameras and cell-phones, and research that was derived from these collections, including published papers and books, a journal, and an annual workshop. The paper regrets the rarity of details of authorship (but reports who was responsible for the Jerusalem street signs), and the tendency to interpret signs without detailing authorship. Signs provide evidence of the state of literacy, but ignore the sociolinguistic make-up of the local community, missing that for earlier scholars “linguistic landscape” meant speech as well as writing. It regrets the paucity of efforts to provide a theory of public signage, arguing that this could be derived from the field of Semiotics.
מופשט
המאמר נפתח בשלטים שקופר ואני מצאנו בעיר העתיקה בירושלים. הוא מתאר כיצד המונח נוף לשוני הוחל לראשונה על זיכרונותיהם של תלמידי תיכון פרנקופונים באשר לשלטים שראו. המאמר מתחקה אחר אוספי התמונות הרבים שצולמו באמצעות מצלמות דיגיטליות וטלפונים סלולריים, והמחקרים שנגזרו מאוספים אלה, המופיעים במאמרים ובספרים שפורסמו, ומאפשרים את קיומם של כתב עת וסדנה שנתית בתחום. מאמר זה מצר על הידע החלקי והלוקה בחסר באשר ליוצריו של הנוף הלשוני (אך מדווח מי היה אחראי לשלטי הרחוב הירושלמיים), ועל הנטייה לפרש שלטים מבלי לפרט מי היו יוצריהם. השלטים מספקים עדות למצב האוריינות, אך מתעלמים מן ההרכב הסוציו-לינגוויסטי של הקהילה המקומית. בכך הם מחמיצים את המובן המקורי שהיה למונח “נוף לשוני" בעבור חוקרים קדומים, מונח שכלל הן דיבור והן כתיבה. פרט לכך, המאמר מותח ביקורת על מיעוט המאמצים לספק תיאוריה של שילוט ציבורי, וטוען כי זו תוכל אולי להיגזר מתחום הסמיוטיקה.
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