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Article published In: Linguistic Landscape
Vol. 6:1 (2020) ► pp.80–103

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Tempo and affect in the Linguistic Landscape

 | Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Published online: 16 March 2020
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.00018.nie
Abstract
While the role of time and emotion have been acknowledged in linguistic and semiotic landscapes research, the particular qualities of tempo and affect have rarely been discussed directly. This case study from an Italian-American festival in South Philadelphia, a diverse and changing urban neighborhood, demonstrates how the two qualities work together to influence the discursive construction of identity for residents as they interact with the space. Ethnographic observation and photographs from the two days of the festival, as well as interviews with locals, frame the discussion of how to explore the landscape through this lens. The paper encourages researchers to devote more attention to the abstract qualities of landscapes, and serves as a starting point for critical examinations of a place and the distribution of capital among its occupants.
Résumé
Bien qu’on ait déjà reconnu l’importance du temps et de l’émotion dans le cadre des paysages linguistiques et semiotiques, les qualités particulières de tempo et d’affect sont rarement discutées. Cette étude est née d’un festival italo-américain à South Philadelphia, un quartier divers et en évolution, et montre comment ces deux qualités influencent ensemble la construction discursive de l’identité des habitants lorsqu’ils interagissent avec l’espace. L’observation ethnographique et les photos prises au cours du festival de deux jours, ainsi que des entretiens s, préconisent l’exploration des paysages sous cet angle. L’article encourage les chercheurs à consacrer plus de leur attention aux qualités abstraites des paysages, et fournit un point de départ pour une étude approfondie d’un endroit et de la distribution du capital parmi les habitants.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Tempo, affect and belonging in the Italian Market
  • 3.Ethnography in flux
  • 4.The role of discourses
  • 5.Outside the Festival: Everyday tempos, power and borders
  • 6.After affect: The opinions of residents
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
References (36)
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