The semiotics of Kosovo’s streetscapes
German signage on vehicles as an example of moving landscapes
Post-war Kosovo is characterised by strong transition processes, including in the car and service vehicle sector,
and Germany, German culture, and the German language play a central role in these processes. The popularity of used vehicles
imported from German-speaking countries has led to a change in the appearance of Kosovo’s streetscapes. These cars often carry
signage or texts written in German and are very common in Kosovo. The spread of these cars is due both to the lower cost and to
the high prestige of the German language and culture in Kosovo. Often the owners also keep the German number plates, as the
registration of cars in Kosovo is not handled very strictly, or they retain the sticker that designates the country of origin of
the vehicle, ‘D’ for Germany, ‘A’ for Austria and ‘CH’ for Switzerland. As a result, there is a strong German influence to be
found across Kosovo’s streetscapes. Our article is dedicated to these particular semiotic landscapes on the basis of empirically
collected photographic material. Data was collected outside the transmigrant season, i.e. outside the months around the turn of
the year and the summer vacations, and the period of the lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic to avoid as far as possible
non-residential German signs.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Methods and state of research
- 2.1Collecting the photographic material
- 2.2Albanian-(Kosovar-)German relations
- 2.3The concept of cultural transfer
- 2.4State of research
- 3.Analysis
- 3.1Outdoor advertising
- 3.2Information and warning signs
- 4.Cultural role of the German inscriptions
- 4.1Positive image of Germany
- 4.2Unilateral Albanian-(Kosovar-)German friendship
- 5.Conclusion
- Notes
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References