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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. 235–257

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Linguistic landscapes as discursive frame

Chinatown in Paris in the eyes of new Chinese migrants

ORCiD logo with link | Birkbeck, University of London
Published online: 2 March 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.20009.zha
Abstract
Previous research on the Linguistic Landscapes of Chinatowns has highlighted the perceptions and experiences of long-term residents (Lou, J. J. (2009). Situating linguistic landscape in time and space: A multidimensional study of the discursive construction of Washington, DC Chinatown. Doctoral dissertation, Georgetown University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, (2016). The linguistic landscape of Chinatown: A sociolinguistic ethnography. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Amos, H. W. (2016). Chinatown by numbers. Linguistic Landscape, 2(2), 127–156. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). To explore Chinatown in the eyes of newly arrived migrants, this paper presents a study of the Linguistic Landscape of the Triangle de Choisy, the Chinatown in Paris. Drawing upon Scollon and Scollon’s geosemiotic framework (Scollon, R., & Scollon, S. W. (2003). Discourses in place: Language in the material world. London and New York: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and Augé’s place theory (Augé, M. (1995). Non-places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity. London: Verso.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), it analyzes 130 photographs of the field and four interviews with newly arrived Chinese migrants. It is found that the Linguistic Landscape of the Chinatown constructs a coherent semiotic aggregate for the newcomers as an identifiable, relational, and historical transnational space that helps to orient them in a new country. Thus, this study illustrates how the Linguistic Landscape of Chinatown could serve as structured and structuring discursive frame (Coupland, N., & Garrett, P. (2010). Linguistic landscapes, discursive frames and metacultural performance: The case of Welsh Patagonia. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2010(205), 7–36. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) in the lives of new migrants.
Résumé
Des recherches antérieures sur les paysages linguistiques des quartiers chinois ont mis l’accent sur les perceptions et les expériences des personnes qui habitent ou travaillent dans le quartier à long terme (Lou, J. J. (2009). Situating linguistic landscape in time and space: A multidimensional study of the discursive construction of Washington, DC Chinatown. Doctoral dissertation, Georgetown University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, (2016). The linguistic landscape of Chinatown: A sociolinguistic ethnography. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Amos, H. W. (2016). Chinatown by numbers. Linguistic Landscape, 2(2), 127–156. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Afin de privilégier les perceptions de Chinatown de la part des migrants chinois nouvellement arrivés, cet article présente une étude du paysage linguistique du Triangle de Choisy, le Chinatown de Paris. S’appuyant sur le cadre géosémiotique de Scollon, R., & Scollon, S. W. (2003). Discourses in place: Language in the material world. London and New York: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar et la théorie sur le lieu d’Augé (1995), il analyse 130 photographies et 4 entretiens avec des migrants chinois nouvellement arrivés. On constate que le paysage linguistique du Chinatown a construit un agrégat sémiotique cohérent pour les nouveaux arrivants comme un espace transnational identifiable, relationnel, et historique qui aide à les orienter dans un nouveau pays. Ainsi, cette étude illustre comment le paysage linguistique de Chinatown pourrait servir de cadre discursif structuré et structurant (Coupland, N., & Garrett, P. (2010). Linguistic landscapes, discursive frames and metacultural performance: The case of Welsh Patagonia. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2010(205), 7–36. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) dans la vie des nouveaux migrants chinois.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Linguistic landscape as discursive frame
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4.A geosemiotic analysis of the Linguistic Landscape of the Triangle de Choisy
    • 4.1Visual semiotics: Polyphonic code preference
    • 4.2Place semiotics: Spatial appropriation of visibility
    • 4.3Reshaped interaction order
  • 5.Place-making of the Triangle de Choisy through the linguistic landscape
    • 5.1Chinatown as identifiable place
    • 5.2Chinatown as relational place
    • 5.3Chinatown as a historical place
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
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