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Part of
From West to North Frisia: A Journey along the North Sea Coast
Edited by Alastair Walker, Eric Hoekstra, Goffe Jensma, Wendy Vanselow, Willem Visser and Christoph Winter
[NOWELE Supplement Series 33] 2022
► pp. 119–132

Names in the Frisian linguistic landscape

| University of the Basque Country | Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science
In this contribution about the study of linguistic landscapes, the focus is on the use of names in a case-study of the province of Fryslân. Signage, in particular names, can be a visible marker of the multilingualism of a region or a city. Based upon the model “Multilingual Inequality in Public Spaces” (MIPS), an analysis is presented in five steps of policy processes, the production of signage, the meaning and characteristics of signs, as well as their perception and use by people. The conclusion is that in Fryslân the number of signs that include Frisian is so low that it is hardly noticeable. The linguistic landscape is obviously not a reflection of the sociolinguistic situation. Overall, the study shows that the analysis of the linguistic landscape can lead to new insights into the role of names in the environment.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical framework
  • 3.Application of the MIPS model to Frisian names on signage
    • 3.1Language policy processes in Fryslân
    • 3.2Sign production
    • 3.3Physical signs with Frisian names
    • 3.4Perception of Frisian names
    • 3.5Language practices
  • 4.Discussion and conclusion
  • Note
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 10 March 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/nss.33.08gor
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Akoto, Osei Yaw
2023. Towards a ‘grounding model’ of linguistic landscape through church names. International Journal of Multilingualism ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

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