Examining social class and multilingualism through the Linguistic Landscape

This article presents a methodological proposal for using the Linguistic Landscape (LL) to examine the intersection of multilingualism and social class in urban settings. The article draws from a study that considered how patterns of linguistic diversity in public signage in a mid-sized US city mapped onto socioeconomic levels. The main innovation for LL methodology is the study’s use of census data and geographic information system (GIS) to increase representativeness using two main constructs (social class and linguistic diversity). After presenting the project design, the challenge of creating representative mapping in the LL is considered, with the solutions the research team generated. Finally, we discuss several practical issues specific to doing LL fieldwork in urban contexts: access, safety, and photography.

本文旨在呈现一个用语言景观研究城市语言多样性及社会经济地位关系的研究方法。该研究方法以一个美国中型城市为例，探讨了多语环境下城市语言景观的语言模式以及该模式与居民社会经济地位的关系。此研究方法的创新性体现在使用人口普查数据和地理信息系统来提升城市社会经济地位和语言多样性的代表性。除呈现研究方法外，本文还将探讨代表性语言景观研究过程中遇到的挑战并提出相应解决方案。最后，我们将讨论语言景观研究中与田野调查相关的问题：途径，安全，照片质量。