Cover not available
Article published In:
Linguistic Landscape
Vol. 9:1 (2023) ► pp.59–85

Social actors in the Singaporean LL

Sign uptake, market ideology, and language hierarchies

ORCID logo | University of Illinois at Chicago

This paper examines the uptake and interpretation of the Linguistic Landscape of Singapore by members of the community. The main goal is to explore Singaporeans’ ideologies pertaining to the languages depicted in the LL, as these ideologies instantiate themselves through interview discourses focusing on the signs. More specifically, participants’ ideologies emerge through the indexicalities they assign to the various languages and semiotic signs depicted in the LL, indexicalities such as globalness, localness, and prestige.

Keywords: Singapore, LL uptake, LL interpretation, interviews, language ideology, neoliberalism
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Linguistic landscapes: Languages, people, spaces
    • 2.1LLs as reflecting ideology
    • 2.2Neoliberalism as a hegemonic ideology
      • 2.2.1Neoliberalism and globalization influence the LL
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4.Analysis and discussion
    • 4.1Overarching market ideology
    • 4.2Niche markets: Authenticity/the local
    • 4.3Niche markets: The global
    • 4.4Niche markets and linguistic hierarchies
    • 4.5Local-Global hybrids and linguistic hierarchies
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 19 January 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.20031.tsi
References
Alsagoff, L.
(2010) English in Singapore: Culture, capital and identity in linguistic variation. World Englishes, 29(3), 336–348. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barnes, A.
(2017) Telling stories: The role of graphic design and branding in the creation of ‘authenticity’ within food packaging. International Journal of Food Design, 2 (2), 183–202. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barni, M., & Bagna, C.
(2015) The critical turn in LL: New methodologies and new items in LL. Linguistic Landscape, 1 (1), 6–18. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ben-Rafael, E., E. Shohamy, M. H. Amara, & N. Trumper-Hecht
(2006) Linguistic landscape as symbolic construction of the public space: The case of Israel. In D. Gorter (Ed.), Linguistic landscape: A new approach to multilingualism (pp. 7–30). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Block, D., Gray, J., & Holbrow, M.
(Eds.) (2013) Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics. Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blommaert, J.
(2010) The sociolinguistics of globalization. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2005) Discourse: A critical introduction. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blommaert, J., Collins, J., & Slembrouck, S.
(2005) Polycentricity and interactional regimes in ‘global neighborhoods’. Ethnography, 6(2), 205–235. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, P.
(1971) Systems of education and systems of thought. Knowledge and control: New directions for the sociology of education, 189–207.Google Scholar
(1991) Language and symbolic power. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Bucholtz, M., & Hall, K.
(2008) All of the above: New coalitions in sociocultural linguistics. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 12(4), 401–431. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cameron, D.
(2000) Styling the worker: Gender and the commodification of language in the globalized service economy. Journal of sociolinguistics, 4(3), 323–347. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chua, B. H.
(2006) Values and development in Singapore. In L. E. Harrison & P. L. Berger (Eds.), Developing cultures: Case studies (pp. 101–117). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Chun, C. W.
(2017) The discourses of capitalism: Everyday economists and the production of common sense. Taylor & Francis. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Duchêne, A., & Heller, M.
(eds.) (2012) Language in late capitalism: Pride and profit (Vol. 11). Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eagleton, T.
(1991) Ideology. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Fairclough, N.
(1995a) Media discourse. London: Arnold.Google Scholar
(1995b) Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language. London: LongmanGoogle Scholar
Fairclough, N. and Wodak, R.
(1997) Critical discourse analysis: an overview. In T. Van Dijk (ed.), Discourse and Interaction. London: Sage, 67–97.Google Scholar
Gatrell, J., Reid, N., & Steiger, T. L.
(2018) Branding spaces: Place, region, sustainability and the American craft beer industry. Applied Geography, 901, 360–370. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gershon, I.
(2011) Neoliberal agency. Current Anthropology, 52(4), 537–555. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goh, C. L.
(18 Mar 2009) “Learning Dialects ‘Adds to Burden’”. Straits Times, p. A6.Google Scholar
Gram, M.
(2007) Whiteness and Western values in global advertisements: An exploratory study. Journal of Marketing Communications, 13(4), 291–309. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hall, K.
(2014) Hypersubjectivity: Language, anxiety, and indexical dissonance in globalization. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 24(2), 261–273. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2005) Intertextual sexuality: Parodies of class, identity, and desire in liminal Delhi. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 15(1), 125–144. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2009) Boys’ talk: Hindi, moustaches, and masculinity in New Delhi. In P. Pichler & E. Eppler (Eds.), Gender and spoken interaction (pp.139–162). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heller, M.
(2011) Paths to post-nationalism: A critical ethnography of language and identity. Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2010) The Commodification of Language. Annual Review of Anthropology 391: 101–14. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2003) Globalization, the new economy, and the commodification of language and identity. Journal of sociolinguistics, 7(4), 473–492. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heller, M., Jaworski, A., & Thurlow, C.
(2014) Introduction: Sociolinguistics and tourism–mobilities, markets, multilingualism. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 18(4), 425–458. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holbrow, M.
(2015) Language and neoliberalism. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Irving, J. T., & Gal, S.
(2000) Language ideology and linguistic differentiation. In P. V. Kroskrity (Ed.), Regimes of language: Ideologies, polities and identities, (pp. 35–84). Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press.Google Scholar
Jaworski, A.
(2015) Word cities and language objects: ‘Love’ sculptures and signs as shifters. Linguistic Landscape, 1(1), 75–94. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jaworski, A., & Thurlow, C.
(2010) Introducing semiotic landscapes. In A. Jaworski & C. Thurlow (Eds.), Semiotic landscapes: Language, image, space, (pp. 1–40). London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Kachru, B. B.
(1992) Teaching world Englishes. The other tongue: English across cultures, 21, 355–365.Google Scholar
Kumaravadivelu, B.
(2008) Cultural globalization and language education. Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Landry, R., & Bourhis, R. Y.
(1997) Linguistic landscape and ethnolinguistic vitality: An empirical study. Journal of language and social psychology, 16(1), 23–49. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Massey, D.
(2013) Vocabularies of the economy. Soundings, 54(54), 9–22. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mautner, G.
(2010) Language and the market society: Critical reflections on discourse and dominance. Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Park, J. S. Y., & Wee, L.
(2012) Markets of English: Linguistic capital and language policy in a globalizing world. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Pennycook, A.
(2018) Linguistic Landscapes and Semiotic Assemblages. In M. Pütz & N. Mundt (Eds.) Expanding the linguistic landscape: Linguistic diversity, multimodality and the use of space as a semiotic resource (pp. 75–88). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ritzer, G.
(1993) The McDonaldization of Society. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge.Google Scholar
Singapore Statutes Online
(2010) Constitution of the Republic of Singapore. Attorney General’s Chamber Singapore 2010, [URL] (accessed 15 July 2017).
Scollon, R., & Scollon, S. W.
(2003) Discourses in place: Language in the material world. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shohamy, E. G., Ben Rafael, E., & Barni, M.
(Eds.) (2010) Linguistic Landscape in the City. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shohamy, E., & Gorter, D.
(2009) Introduction. In E. Shohamy & D. Gorter (Eds.), Linguistic landscape: Expanding the scenery (pp. 1–10). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Silverstein, M.
(1977) Cultural prerequisites to grammatical analysis. Linguistics and Anthropology: Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics 1977, 139–51.Google Scholar
(2003) Indexical order and the dialectics of sociolinguistic life. Language & communication, 23(3), 193–229. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Simpson, W.
(2018) Neoliberal fetishism: The language learner as homo œconomicus. Language and Intercultural Communication, 18(5), 507–519. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Springer, S.
(2012) Neoliberalism as discourse: between Foucauldian political economy and Marxian poststructuralism. Critical discourse studies, 9(2), 133–147. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stroud, C., & Mpendukana, S.
(2009) Towards a material ethnography of linguistic landscape: Multilingualism, mobility and space in a South African township. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 13(3), 363–386. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sweetser, E. E.
(1988) Grammaticalization and semantic bleaching. Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 141, 389–405. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tan, P. K.
(2014) Singapore’s balancing act, from the perspective of the linguistic landscape. Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, 29 (2), 438–466. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Titscher, S., Meyer, M., Wodak, R. and Vetter, E.
(2000) Methods of text and discourse analysis. London: Sage. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhao, S. & Baldauf Jr., R. B.
(2012) Individual agency in language planning: Chinese script reform as a case study. Language problems and language planning, 36 (1), 1–24. DOI logoGoogle Scholar