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Article published In: The interpersonal functions of public signs during the Covid-19 pandemic
Edited by Eva Ogiermann
[Pragmatics and Society 14:2] 2023
► pp. 210–235

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Solidarity and support in Belgian residential linguistic landscapes during the Covid-19 outbreak

ORCiD logo with link | University of Antwerp
 | University of Antwerp
Published online: 6 July 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.22013.van
Abstract
This article examines the role played by signs in the public space of two socio-economically stratified residential neighbourhoods of Ghent (Belgium) during the first Covid-19 outbreak in 2020. On the basis of fieldwork, we explore the potential of public signs as a resourceful strategy for communicating solidarity and support and the discursive construction of a community affected by this crisis. We show that in times of lockdown and social distancing, the residential linguistic landscape in both neighbourhoods became strategically appropriated by local inhabitants to communicate with neighbours and strangers and was operationalised as a vehicle to serve new communicative functions such as the conveying of solidarity and support as well as gratitude, and collective belonging. Some differences related to emplacement, language use and quantity of signs were also observed. Overall, the article documents the affective appropriation of space through Covid-19 signs during the Covid-19 outbreak and periods of lockdown in Flanders, Belgium.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The re-functionalisation and appropriation of the linguistic landscape during times of crisis
  • 3.Research questions, data and methods
  • 4.Covid-19 signs in Ghent, Belgium
    • 4.1Signs displayed by inhabitants expressing affective messages
    • 4.2Signs displayed by the local government expressing support and solidarity
    • 4.3Comparing Covid-19 signs in both neighbourhoods
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
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