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Article published In: Diaspora and Asian Spaces in a Transnational World
Edited by Thom Huebner
[Linguistic Landscape 7:2] 2021
► pp. 175–203

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Change and continuity in Hurstville’s Chinese restaurants

An ethnographic linguistic landscape study in Sydney

ORCiD logo with link | University of Sydney
 | University of Sydney
Published online: 1 March 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.20007.xu
Abstract
This paper investigates the Linguistic Landscape of Chinese restaurants in Hurstville, a Chinese-concentrated suburb in Sydney, Australia. It draws on Blommaert, J., & Maly, I. (2016). Ethnographic linguistic landscape analysis and social change: A case study. In K. Arnaut, J. Blommaert, B. Rampton, & M. Spotti (Eds.), Language and superdiversity (pp. 197–217). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar Ethnographic Linguistic Landscape Analysis (ELLA) and Scollon and Scollon’s geosemiotics (Scollon, R., & Scollon, S. W. (2003). Discourses in place: Language in the material world. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Our data set consists of photographs, Google Street View archives, and ethnographic fieldwork, in particular in-depth interviews with restaurant owners. This paper adopts a diachronic perspective to compare the restaurant scape between 2009 and 2019 and presents an ELLA case study of a long-standing Chinese restaurant. It aims to unveil the temporal and spatial relationships between signs, agents, and place, that demonstrate how a social and historical perspective in Linguistic Landscape studies of diasporic communities can shed light on the changes in the broader social context.
摘要
本文运用Blommaert, J., & Maly, I. (2016). Ethnographic linguistic landscape analysis and social change: A case study. In K. Arnaut, J. Blommaert, B. Rampton, & M. Spotti (Eds.), Language and superdiversity (pp. 197–217). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar民族志语言景观分析 （ELLA） 和Scollon, R., & Scollon, S. W. (2003). Discourses in place: Language in the material world. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar地理符号学（geosemiotics），研究澳大利亚悉尼华人聚集区好事围（Hurstville）中餐厅的语言景观。我们通过收集照片、谷歌街景档案和民族志田野调查，特别是和中餐厅老板的深入采访，历时比较2009年和2019年的餐厅景观。我们以一家经营近20年的中餐厅作为案例，揭示符号、行为主体和地点之间的时间和空间关系，展现社会和历史视角下的海外华人社区语言景观研究如何有助于理解更广泛的社会变迁。
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.LL studies, ELLA, and geosemiotics
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Introducing the field
    • 3.2Data and methods
  • 4.Restaurant scape in Hurstville: A retrospective comparison
  • 5.Sunny harbour seafood restaurant: An ELLA case study
    • 5.1Signs that point towards the past
    • 5.2Signs that point towards the future
    • 5.3Signs that point towards the present
  • 6.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
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