The Linguistic landscape of tourism: multilingual signs in Lithuanian and Polish resorts
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Kalbinis kraštovaizdis; Daugiakalbiai ženklai; Lenkų kalba; Turizmas; Kurortai; Pasienio zona; Linguistic landscape; Multilingual signs; Lithuanian; Polish; Tourism; Resorts; Border area.
ENThe present study provides a snapshot of Polish and Lithuanian linguistic landscapes (LLs) in several resort cities situated in the border areas of the two countries. The data consists of 515 digital pictures of multilingual signs collected in the central and thus the most touristic parts of the cities. The main objectives in this research are to identify the authorship of multilingual signs, determine the types of establishments that employ multilingual signage, and analyse which languages coexist in popular tourist destinations. The interpretation of the results is grounded on the interrelation between multilingual signage, tourism as an important economic factor, and official language policies. The findings show that at least some major tendencies in language displays in LL do relate to tourist exchange and tourists’ needs. However, some trends (e.g. absence of Russian in Polish LLs) need to be analysed with regard to symbolic, economic, and ideological values attached to non-titular languages. [From the publication]
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