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Article published In: Linguistic Landscape
Vol. 6:3 (2020) ► pp.237–264

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The changing landscape of unofficial signage in a U.S. refugee relocation city

ORCiD logo with link | Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
Published online: 2 September 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.19021.yoc
Abstract
This Linguistic Landscape project investigates public signage throughout one year in a small Pennsylvania refugee relocation city, exploring the linguistic diversity of the city’s numerous generations of newcomers. The diachronic analysis indicates that monolingual government signs conflict with multilingual signs in private businesses, demonstrating that newcomer business owners are willing to meet the needs of refugees and immigrants even if the government will not. The lack of official multilingual signage calls into question what obligation government city planners in refugee relocation areas have to accommodate their linguistically diverse newcomers. The results of this project also reveal that the Linguistic Landscape is dynamic, as suggested by new languages that are layered on top of evidence of earlier generations of immigrants and by changes to signs within one year.
Resumen
Este análisis del paisaje lingüístico (LL) investiga las señales públicas en un período de un año en una ciudad pequeña en Pennsylvania que es designada como un lugar oficial para refugiados, explorando la diversidad lingüística de muchas generaciones de recién llegados en la ciudad. El análisis diacrónico muestra que las señales públicas monolingües del gobierno difieren de las señales multilingües de los negocios privados, demostrando que los dueños recién llegados de los negocios privados quieren adaptarse a las necesidades de los refugiados e inmigrantes, aun si el gobierno no lo hace. La falta de las señales públicas multilingües plantea el asunto de la obligación que tienen los líderes de los lugares oficiales para refugiados de contemplar a sus recién llegados multilingües. Los resultados de este LL también demuestran que el paisaje lingüístico es dinámico, como indican los idiomas nuevos que hacen capas encima de la evidencia de las generaciones anteriores de inmigrantes y como muestran los cambios a las señales dentro de un año.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Symbols of hierarchy
    • 1.2Historical layering
  • 2.Methodology
    • 2.1Research site
      • 2.1.1History of newcomers
      • 2.1.2Demographics
      • 2.1.3Languages
    • 2.2Procedure
      • 2.2.1Identifying public signs
    • 2.3Analysis criteria
  • 3.Findings and discussions
    • 3.1Official signs
    • 3.2Non-English signs
    • 3.3Bilingual signs
    • 3.4Cultural heritage signs in English
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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