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Article published In: Linguistic Landscape
Vol. 9:1 (2023) ► pp.86–106

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Does the Linguistic Landscape influence happiness?

Framing perceptions of language signs among speech communities in Germany

ORCiD logo with link | Universität Duisburg-Essen
Published online: 15 February 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.21013.mal
Abstract
This paper investigates the potential relationship between multilingual landscapes and minority speech community members’ sense of subjective well-being. It focuses on three speech communities located in Germany: Chinese, Japanese, and Turkish. Drawing on interviews with members of these speech communities, it analyzes how individuals perceive their engagement with public displays of their language in terms of happiness and in the context of the host society. Integration, which is prominent in both Happiness studies and Linguistic Landscape research, is identified as a key theme influencing the emotional interaction between signs and sign readers. The paper’s aim is to integrate a subject-focused approach into the study of Linguistic Landscapes that can better address how individuals perceive and interact with language signs in multilingual and multi-ethnic settings.
Abstrakt
Diese Studie untersucht die Beziehungen zwischen multilingualen Umgebungen und dem subjektiven Wohlbefinden von Angehörigen einer sprachlichen Minderheit, die innerhalb dieser agieren. Der Fokus der Untersuchung liegt dabei auf drei Sprachgemeinschaften in Deutschland: der chinesischen, japanischen und türkischen. Auf Grundlage von empirischen Daten aus Interviews mit Angehörigen dieser Sprachgemeinschaften, wird analysiert, auf welche Weise Individuen ihre Interaktion mit öffentlichen Darstellungen ihrer Sprache in Bezug auf ihr persönliches Wohlbefinden und ihre Zufriedenheit in der Gastgesellschaft formulieren. Integration, die als solche sowohl in Studien zum Wohlbefinden als auch in Untersuchungen zu Linguistic Landscapes oft eine herausragende Rolle einnimmt, bildet den übergeordneten Rahmen dieser Analyse. Ziel dieses Artikels ist es, einen qualitativen, auf das Individuum fokussierten Ansatz für die Untersuchung mehrsprachiger linguistischer Landschaften auszuarbeiten, welcher besser geeignet ist um zu verstehen, wie Personen sprachliche Zeichen in mehrsprachigen Umgebungen wahrnehmen und mit diesen interagieren.
Article outline
  • 1.Background
  • 2.Three communities
  • 3.Bridging happiness and the Linguistic Landscape
  • 4.Methods
  • 5.Analysis
    • 5.1The LL signifying group dependency
    • 5.2Transboundary interaction
    • 5.3Selective representation
  • 6.Discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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