Chapter 13
Donde su visión se hace realidad
Landscaping the linguistics of Orlando’s Plazas
This chapter examines the Linguistic Landscape
of business plazas in Orlando, Florida to identify the roles of
Spanish and English and illustrate how signage converges with local
neighborhoods. Data consists of storefront signage for 119
businesses in 10 Orlando plazas. Quantitative data analysis
demonstrated how language represented the surrounding populations
(Van Mensel, Vandenbroucke,
& Blackwood, 2016). By integrating grammar of visual
design (Kress & Van Leeuwen,
1996), geosemiotics (Scollon & Scollon, 2003), and multimodality (Kress, 2003, 2010), I examined how
multimodal choices further index certain populations. Findings
indicate the importance of neighborhood plaza culture in language
choice and the role of gentrification and translocal identities in
the creation of Orlando business signs.
Article outline
- Introduction
- Previous research on bilingual linguistic landscapes in the
United States
- Theoretical framework
- Grammar of visual design
- Geosemiotics
- Multilingualism and multimodality in semiotic
landscapes
- Methods
- Setting: Orlando, Florida
- Data collection
- Findings
- Frequency count
- Zooming in: The Plaza as the “Neighborhood”
- Bilingualism count
- Treat yourself or get a family plan: The case of Metro PCS
- Surreal uses of Spanish and English:
Donde su visión se hace realidad
- Indexing customers through multimodal national colors, flags,
and cultural artifacts
- Conclusion
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Notes
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References