Understanding linguistic prejudice through linguistic landscapes

In the last two decades, multidisciplinary research has increasingly embraced the concept of linguistic landscape (LL) to investigate interactions among different languages and their visibility in public spaces. Conducted across fields such as language policy, multilingualism, sociolinguistics, semiotics, education, globalization, and literacy, the outcomes of this research transcend disciplinary boundaries, resonating across domains such as tourism, advertising, and cultural/human geography. By exploring how languages are categorized as visible or invisible, LL research delves into the symbolic construction of space, examining how language mediates the nexus between social and political relations. With its rich empirical evidence on the role of language and signs in society, LL emerges as a pivotal subject for studying linguistic prejudice. Understanding linguistic prejudice is crucial, given LL’s focus on the symbolic construction of space, mediating social and political relations through language visibility, and providing extensive empirical evidence of language dynamics in public spaces. LL research, probing the categorization of languages as visible or invisible, sheds light on how language shapes perceptions, attitudes, and power dynamics within society. The overlap between LL and linguistic prejudice reveals tangible data on the role of language and signs, facilitating the identification of patterns and manifestations of linguistic bias. In essence, LL emerges as a valuable subject for the study of linguistic prejudice, contributing to a profound understanding of the intricate relationships between language, space, and societal biases. Moreover, LL studies, primarily centred on the spatial dimension of language use, share significant common ground with language prejudice. This overlap is reflected in the multidisciplinary nature of both fields.