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Article published In: Linguistic Landscape
Vol. 9:4 (2023) ► pp.329–356

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Assessing the place of minoritized languages in postcolonial contexts using the Linguistic Landscape

The role of ethnographic information

ORCiD logo with link | University College Dublin
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with University College Dublin.

Published online: 10 February 2023
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.22027.mig
Abstract
Linguistic Landscape research has demonstrated that detailed analysis of written signage provides, often simultaneously, important insights into various aspects of the sociolinguistic dynamics of a context, particularly those involving minoritized languages. Comparatively little of that research has, however, focused on postcolonial contexts in which people make little use of literacy and in which locally widely used minoritized languages co-exist with an officially dominant ex-colonial language. This paper explores written signage involving minoritized languages in the town of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni (French Guiana) and how it is shaped by local practices and social change. The paper argues that knowledge of the ethnographic context such as local practices of place belongingness, the place of writing, and processes of social change is indispensable when analyzing the Linguistic Landscape. When viewed from a holistic perspective, the Linguistic Landscape provides insights into local identities and the processes promoting them.
Résumé
La recherche sur l’environnement graphique a bien démontré que l’analyse détaillée des panneaux fournit, souvent de manière simultanée, des informations pertinentes sur plusieurs aspects de la dynamique sociolinguistique d’un contexte, en particulier ceux impliquant des langues en situation de minorisation. En revanche, relativement peu de ces recherches se sont penchées sur les contextes postcoloniaux où l’écrit est peu utilisé et les langues politiquement minorisées sont largement employées et coexistent avec une langue ex-coloniale qui est officiellement validé mais relativement peu utilisée. Cet article étudie l’environnement graphique impliquant des langues minorisées dans la ville de Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni (Guyane française) et l’influence des pratiques culturelles et des changements sociaux. L’étude propose qu’il soit indispensable lors d’une analyse de l’environnement graphique de prendre en compte le contexte ethnographique tels que les pratiques d’appartenance à un lieu, la pratique de l’écrit et les processus de changement social. L’analyse de l’environnement graphique peut fournier des informations pertinentes sur les identités locales et les processus favorisant leur évolution si une approche holistique est adoptée.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Social and historical background
    • 2.1French Guiana
    • 2.2Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni
    • 2.3The sociolinguistic makeup of western French Guiana
    • 2.4Maroon populations
  • 3.Data and methodology
  • 4.Non-French signage in SLM
    • 4.1Health care domain
    • 4.2Commercial domain
    • 4.3.Official domain
    • 4.4Summary
  • 5.Conceptualizing and naming places among Maroons
    • 5.1Constructing place in the up-river villages
    • 5.2Early construction of place in SLM
    • 5.3Contemporary repurposing practices
  • 6.Some social changes
  • 7.Summary and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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