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Article published In: Linguistic Landscape
Vol. 9:1 (2023) ► pp.59–85

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Social actors in the Singaporean LL

Sign uptake, market ideology, and language hierarchies

ORCiD logo with link | University of Illinois at Chicago
Published online: 19 January 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.20031.tsi
Abstract
This paper examines the uptake and interpretation of the Linguistic Landscape of Singapore by members of the community. The main goal is to explore Singaporeans’ ideologies pertaining to the languages depicted in the LL, as these ideologies instantiate themselves through interview discourses focusing on the signs. More specifically, participants’ ideologies emerge through the indexicalities they assign to the various languages and semiotic signs depicted in the LL, indexicalities such as globalness, localness, and prestige.
Περίληψη
Αυτό το άρθρο εξετάζει την πρόσληψη και ερμηνεία του γλωσσικού τοπίου της Σιγκαπούρης από μέλη της κοινότητας. Ο κύριος στόχος είναι η εξερεύνηση των ιδεολογιών που έχουν οι Σιγκαπουριανοί σχετικά με τις γλώσσες που απεικονίζονται στο γλωσσικό τοπίο, όπως αυτές οι ιδεολογίες εμφανίζονται μέσα από αφηγηματικές πρακτικές εστιασμένες σε πινακίδες. Συγκεκριμένα, οι ιδεολογίες των συμμετεχόντων στην έρευνα αναδύονται μέσα από τους δείκτες που αναθέτουν στις διάφορες γλώσσες και σημιοτικά στοιχεία που απεικονίζονται στο γλωσσικό τοπίο, δείκτες όπως παγκοσμιότητα, τοπικότητα, και γόητρο.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Linguistic landscapes: Languages, people, spaces
    • 2.1LLs as reflecting ideology
    • 2.2Neoliberalism as a hegemonic ideology
      • 2.2.1Neoliberalism and globalization influence the LL
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4.Analysis and discussion
    • 4.1Overarching market ideology
    • 4.2Niche markets: Authenticity/the local
    • 4.3Niche markets: The global
    • 4.4Niche markets and linguistic hierarchies
    • 4.5Local-Global hybrids and linguistic hierarchies
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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