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Article published In: Linguistic Landscape
Vol. 11:3 (2025) ► pp.211–232

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Voices in the Linguistic Landscape

Anthropomorphization of artifacts and the pronominal construction of speakerhood

 | Universität Heidelberg
 | University of Edinburgh
Published online: 23 January 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.24042.hey
Abstract
This paper contributes to the emerging analytical framework of anthropo­morphized artifacts as part of Linguistic Landscapes. It describes and analyzes cases where signage, objects, or related inanimate objects are inscribed with language that includes first-person pronoun usage and thus constructs the notion of speakerhood. We analyze a corpus of over 80 such items and provide qualitative analysis that includes structural aspects such as emerging syntactic regularities as well as the prevalence of graphematic and stylistic informality markers. We identify discursive and pragmatic functions that the construction of voice has in the analyzed material. We connect the phenomenon and our findings to theories of anthropo­morphization in general and to current developments in posthumanist linguistics and the uncertain epistemic status of speakerhood more specifically.
Zusammenfassung
Dieses Paper präsentiert einen ersten Überblick über anthropomorphisierte Artefakte als Bestandteil linguistischer Landschaften. Beschrieben und analysiert werden Fälle, in denen Beschilderungen, Objekte oder verwandte unbelebte Gegenstände mit Sprache versehen sind, die den Gebrauch des Personalpronomens der ersten Person einschließt und somit die Wirkung einer Sprecherinstanz konstruiert. Dafür wurde ein Bildkorpus von über 80 solcher Objekte erstellt, die anhand qualitativer Analyse insbesondere auf strukturelle Aspekte wie wiederkehrende syntaktische Muster und das Auftreten von graphematischen und stilistischen Markern von Informalität analysiert werden. Es werden diskursive und pragmatische Funktionen dieser Sprecherinstanz identifiziert, und im Anschluss mit Theorien der Anthropomorphisierung im Allgemeinen, aber auch der posthumanistischen Linguistik bezüglich des unsicheren epistemischen Status der Sprecher*inneninstanz in Zusammenhang gebracht.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
    • 2.1Linguistic anthropomorphization and the construction of voice
    • 2.2Voice in Linguistic Landscapes
  • 3.Data collection and analytical dimensions
  • 4.Linguistic features and discursive functions
    • 4.1Pronoun use
    • 4.2Constructing the voice: Graphematic and multimodal detail
    • 4.3Discursive effects of anthropomorphization in the Linguistic Landscape
      • 4.3.1Anthropomorphization as a means of achieving intended behavior
      • 4.3.2Anthropomorphization as a means of apologizing and diverting responsibility
      • 4.3.3Anthropomorphization for advertising purposes
      • 4.3.4Anthropomorphization as a warning
  • 5.Discussion and conclusion
  • References
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