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Article published In: Methodology in Linguistic Landscape Research
Edited by Robert Blackwood
[Linguistic Landscape 3:3] 2017
► pp. 286–305

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Genre and metacultural displays

The case of street-name signs

 | University of Gothenburg
Published online: 19 January 2018
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.17020.jar
Abstract
This paper argues that studies of the LL could merit from a more detailed social semiotic examination of particular sign-genres. It describes genre as normative system open to change, on the one hand, and as complex historical and cultural configurations of semiotic resources and affordances, on the other. Based on illustrative analysis of how the discursive interaction of ‘pride’ and ‘profit’ is affecting Galician and Basque street-name signing, the paper makes the following points: (1) genre depends on discourse, and discourse depends on genre; (2) particular materializations of a genre actualize distinct resources and highlight different affordances; (3) detailed and contextualized analysis of determined sign genres can reveal ideological layering in the LL; (4) when a genre is taken ‘out of place’ or is recontextualized, its typical repertoire of resources is rearranged and new affordances emerge.
Español
Este artículo sostiene que el estudio de paisajes lingüísticos podría sacar provecho de un análisis socio semiótico de determinados géneros de signos. Describe la noción de género como un sistema normativo abierto al cambio, por una parte, y como complejas configuraciones históricas y culturales de determinados recursos semióticos, por otra. Basado en un análisis ilustrativo de cómo la interacción discursiva entre ‘orgullo’ y ‘lucro’ afecta al diseño de placas de calle gallegas y vascas, el artículo sostiene que: (1) el género depende del discurso y el discurso depende del género; (2) las materializaciones particulares de un género activan recursos distintos y destacan diferentes afordancias; (3) el análisis detallado y contextualizado de determinados géneros de signos puede revelar capas ideológicas en el paisaje lingüístico; (4) cuando un género está utilizado ‘fuera de lugar’ o está recontextualizado, su repertorio típico de recursos se reorganiza y emergen nuevas afordancias.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Semiotic resources, genre, and affordances
    • 2.1Street-name signs as socio-semiotic genre: Governance, commemoration, and commodification
    • 2.2Semiotic resources and layered affordances in Galician and Basque street-name signs
  • 3.Pride and profit in street-name signing in Galicia and the Basque Country
    • 3.1Ribadeo, Cervo, and Sargadelos: Local solidarity
    • 3.2Ourense and the project Memoria nas rúas: Local clientelism
    • 3.3Historic and ideological layering in street-name schemes in Pamplona
    • 3.4Calzados Astrid: Creative recontextualization and cultural commodification
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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