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Linguistic Landscaping in Tabriz, Iran: A Discursive Transformation of a Bilingual Space into a Monolingual Place

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The Sociolinguistics of Iran’s Languages at Home and Abroad

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Abstract

This research examines linguistic landscape data collected in three main streets in Tabriz, Iran. The analysis demonstrates what types of discourses mediate, and are created by language choices on governmental and private signs. Farsi is normalized for both governmental and private signs reflecting and reproducing national ideologies. The absence of Azerbaijani as the native language of the people in the LL of Tabriz is noticeable. Overall, the findings suggest that the linguistic landscape is not always a fair representation of the linguistic repertoire of the people living in a geographical space, but rather language choice in the LL is deployed by the state and/or people to portray an image of a place they desire and aspire to.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The news was broadcast in Farsi in the following websites: http://www.ganjnews.ir/mynews.aspx?azer1361azmo1393ID=1311, http://qudsonline.ir/detail/News/152022, and http://www.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=13920618001329.

  2. 2.

    Azerbaijani is a Turkic language whereas Farsi is an Indo-Iranian languages. It is important to note that Azerbaijanis in Iran use Perso-Arabic alphabets for writing while Azerbaijanis in the Republic of Azerbaijan to the North use Latin alphabet (see Shaffer, 2002, for similarities and differences).

  3. 3.

    Despite a noticeable presence of English in the LL of the City, an analysis and discussion of its presence is not included in this paper mainly due to space limitations and being beyond the scope of this study.

  4. 4.

    As a result of Gee’s distinction, I will use Discourse with a capital ‘D’ hereafter to refer to symbolic and Discursive construction carried out through linguistic landscaping, and leave small ‘d’ discourse for examining instances of speech or writing in use.

  5. 5.

    Although Azerbaijani has been overwhelmed by Farsi over the last decades, and it is not taught at schools, a great deal of poetry has been produced in the language. However, the literature in Azerbaijani is often found on library shelves, rather than being actively read.

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  1. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Seyed Hadi Mirvahedi

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    Seyed Hadi Mirvahedi

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Mirvahedi, S.H. (2019). Linguistic Landscaping in Tabriz, Iran: A Discursive Transformation of a Bilingual Space into a Monolingual Place. In: Mirvahedi, S. (eds) The Sociolinguistics of Iran’s Languages at Home and Abroad. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19605-9_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19605-9_3

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