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Part of
Linguistic Landscape in the Spanish-speaking World
Edited by Patricia Gubitosi and Michelle F. Ramos Pellicia
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 35] 2021
► pp. 313–340

Chapter 12
Linguistic Landscape in Otavalo

Kichwa, Spanish or English?

| University of Massachusetts Amherst
| University of Massachusetts Amherst
This article examines the Linguistic Landscape of Otavalo (Ecuador) where besides Spanish, Kichwa and English are present. This city is known for its cultural diversity and its handmade crafts market which offers a setting for the investigation of issues related with the sociolinguistics of globalization (Blommaert, 2010; Coupland & Coupland, 2014) and processes of language commodification (Heller, Jaworski, & Thurlow, 2014). Through quantitative and qualitative data our results show that Kichwa is seen as an identity and cultural marker as well as a commodity, while English is indexed to modernity and international orientation. Therefore, it is shown that social meanings attributed to languages are dynamic indexes which can be mobilized according to the social actors.
Keywords: linguistic landscape, Kichwa, identity, commodification, globalization
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Sociolinguistic contextualization of languages in Ecuador
  • Otavalo
  • Theoretical background
    • Languages in the linguistic landscape
    • Linguistic landscape in Ecuador
  • Methodology
  • Analysis and discussion
    • An overview of Otavalo’s LL
    • Kichwa language in Otavalo LL
    • English as an index of prestige and modernity
  • Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 29 July 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.35.12pum
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