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Lawrence Williams University of North Texas Sociolinguistics Symposium 19 Freie Universität Berlin

Informational and Symbolic Functions of English, French, and Other Languages in the Virtual Linguistic Landscape of the City of Montréal. Lawrence Williams University of North Texas Sociolinguistics Symposium 19 Freie Universität Berlin. Research Questions.

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Lawrence Williams University of North Texas Sociolinguistics Symposium 19 Freie Universität Berlin

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  1. Informational and Symbolic Functions of English, French, and Other Languages in the Virtual Linguistic Landscape of the City of Montréal Lawrence Williams University of North Texas Sociolinguistics Symposium 19 Freie Universität Berlin

  2. Research Questions • To what extent does the virtual linguistic landscape of the City of Montréal reflect the city's physical linguistic landscape in the matter of language use/contact? • In what ways is the analysis of a linguistic landscape different or unique when focusing on interrelated virtual and physical spaces as opposed to an isolated analysis of virtual or linguistic spaces?

  3. Defining the Linguistic Landscape Examples • Traffic signals/signs/information • Building signs • Shop signs • Signs for pedestrians/bicyclists • Advertisements Types • Public/Government vs. Private/Non-Gov.

  4. The Linguistic Landscape: Informational Function (1) "The most basic informational function of the linguistic landscape is that it serves as a distinctive marker of the geographical territory inhabited by a given language community (Bourhis, 1992). The linguistic landscape also serves to delineate the territorial limits of the language group it harbors relative to other linguistic communities inhabiting adjoining territories." (Landry & Bourhis, 1997)

  5. The Linguistic Landscape:Informational Function (2) "The prevalence of a specific language on public signs also serves an informational function inasmuch as it indicates that the language in question can be used to communicate and obtain services within public and private establishments located in the pertinent territory." (Landry & Bourhis, 1997, p. 25)

  6. The Linguistic Landscape:Informational Function (3) "Given that language territories are rarely linguistically homogenous, the linguistic landscape can also provide information about the sociolinguistic composition of the language groups inhabiting the territory in question. . . . The predominance of one language on public signs relative to other languages can reflect the relative power and status of competing language groups (Bourhis 1992)." (Landry & Bourhis, 1997, p. 26)

  7. The Linguistic Landscape: Symbolic Function “[T]he absence or presence of one's own language on public signs has an effect on how one feels as a member of a language group . . . . Thus inclusion of the in-group language on public signs can serve a symbolic function that is affectively charged and that complements the informational function of the linguistic landscape (Québec, 1996).“ (Landry and Bourhis, 1997, p. 28)

  8. The Corpus Web Site of the City of Montréal • 133 hypertext micro-sites • 19 of which are Borough micro-sites • 64 multimodal micro-sites • Facebook (28) • Twitter (22) • YouTube (10) • Flickr (4)

  9. Example (1): Biodiversity

  10. Quantitative Analysis: Level 1 (The City of Montréal's Supersite) • See Table 1

  11. Quantitative Analysis: Level 2(The City of Montréal's Hypertext Microsites) • See Table 2

  12. Quantitative Analysis: Level 3 (Multimedia/Social Media Microsites) • See Table 3 • For Facebook only, see Table 4 • For Twitter only, see Table 5

  13. Summary of Results (Table 6)

  14. Montréal: Physical Geography

  15. Physical Geography & Virtual Geography • Traditional definitions and analyses of the linguistic landscape based on physical geography often cannot be transferred to virtual spaces. • Social media could be considered an equivalent to private signs. “Sociolinguistically, language diversity in private signs [not unlike social media] may most realistically reflect the multilingual nature of a particular territory, region, or urban agglomeration." (Landry & Bourhis, 1997, p. 27)

  16. Conclusions & Directions for Future Research • Even social media (which is often referred to as the virtual space of the people) can be controlled by a government agency or representative. • Future research will have to compare, for example, blogs or other types of social media sites that are managed by government agencies/representatives and those that are not.

  17. Additional points to consider • How do multilinguals behave (sociolinguistically) in the city compared to virtual spaces? • How often are requests made for information in specific languages (in printed form compared to an online publication of the information)? • What importance should recent demographic shifts in the population be given as this relates to language planning/policy?

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