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Article published In:
Linguistic Landscape
Vol. 5:3 (2019) ► pp.302–329

Signs of resistance in the Asturian linguistic landscape

| Appalachian State University

A linguistic landscape analysis, grounded in the ideas of contestation and resistance (Blackwood, Lanza, & Woldemariam, 2016; Rubdy & Ben Said, 2015) and carried out using Scollon and Scollon’s (2003) concept of place semiotics, was conducted in four cities located in the Asturias region of Northern Spain. The primary goals of the study were to investigate and interpret the (in)visibility of Asturian, an endangered language spoken primarily in and around the capital city of Oviedo. Distinct patterns on public signage involving font alterations, layering, and material selections indicate that the linguistic landscape was being used as an asynchronous public forum between Asturian advocates and unseen actors. Drawing on similar studies of deliberately modified linguistic landscapes (Gorter, Aiestaran, & Cenoz, 2012; Tupas, 2015), this paper introduces the concept of the asynchronously layered linguistic landscape in which evidence of contestation and resistance can be found in strategic juxtapositions of sign materiality.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical and conceptual frameworks
  • 3.Asturian in context
  • 4.Methodology
    • 4.1Researcher positionality
    • 4.2Data collection & analysis
  • 5.Findings
  • 6.Discussion
    • 6.1Asynchronously layered linguistic landscapes
  • 7.Conclusions
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 12 November 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.18015.seb
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