Observatory's linguistic landscape: semiotic appropriation and the reinvention of space
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Date
2014
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Abstract
Using a longitudinal ethnographic study of the linguistic landscape (LL) in
Observatory's business corridor of Lower Main Road, the paper explores changes
brought about by the influx of immigrant Africans, their artefacts and language
practices. The paper uses the changes in the LL over time and the development of an
"African Corner" within Lower Main Road, to illustrate the appropriation of space and
the unpredictability, which comes along with highly mobile, technological and
multicultural citizens. It is argued that changes in the LL are part of the act of claiming
and appropriating space wherein space becomes summarily recontexualized and hence
reinvented and "owned" by new actors. It is also argued that space ownership can be
concealed through what we have called "brand anonymity" strategies in which the
identity of the owner is deliberately concealed behind global brands. We conclude that
space is pliable and mobile, and that, it is the people within space who carve out new
social practices in their appropriated space.
Description
Keywords
Space, Semiotics, Linguistic landscape, Observatory, Appropriation, Brand anonymity
Citation
Peck, A. & Banda, F. (2014). Observatory's linguistic landscape: semiotic appropriation and the reinvention of space. Social Semiotics, 24(3): 302-323