Abstract
When we first started the project of looking at minority languages through a linguistic landscape lens, we felt that the visibility of minority languages in public space had been insufficiently dealt with in traditional minority language research. A linguistic landscape approach, as it had developed over the last years, would constitute a valuable path to explore, by looking at the ‘same old issues’ of language contact and language conflict from a specific angle. We were convinced that fresh linguistic landscape data would be able to provide innovative and useful insights into ‘patterns of language […] use, official language policies, prevalent language attitudes, [and] power relations between different linguistic groups’ (Backhaus 2007, p. 11). The linguistic landscape approach, as presented by the different authors in this volume, has clearly proven to be a heuristic appropriate and relevant for a wide range of minority language situations. More specifically, the ideas and analyses in the different chapters do contribute to a further understanding of minority languages and their speakers. They deepen our comprehension of language policies, power relations and ideologies in minority language settings.
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References
Backhaus, P. (2007) Linguistic Landscapes: A Comparative Study of Urban Multilingualism in Tokyo. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Fishman, J. A. (1991) Reversing Language Shift. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Gorter, D. (2006) ‘Further possibilities for linguistic landscape research’. In D. Gorter (ed.) Linguistic Landscape (A New Approach to Multilingualism). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
May, S. (2003) ‘Rearticulating the Case for Minority Language Rights’. Current Issues in Language Planning, 4, 2, 95–125.
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© 2012 Luk Van Mensel, Heiko F. Marten and Durk Gorter
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Van Mensel, L., Marten, H.F., Gorter, D. (2012). Minority Languages through the Lens of the Linguistic Landscape. In: Gorter, D., Marten, H.F., Van Mensel, L. (eds) Minority Languages in the Linguistic Landscape. Palgrave Studies in Minority Languages and Communities. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230360235_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230360235_18
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-32322-7
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