The Communicative Linguistic Landscape

Book excerpt: "How exactly do linguistic landscapes communicate and what theoretical significance might follow from such an inquiry? This book addresses these questions by taking as its starting point the insight that the individual or organization that is responsible for the production of a sign may not be physically present at the landscape itself. The information to be conveyed is typically designed as a piece of signage to be emplaced at the site. Drawing on Goffman's (1974, 1981) notion of a production format, the book argues that the constructed piece of sign and its intended placement within the landscape combine to constitute an animator complex. This raises the possibility of a disruption to the sign and its placement in the landscape. The book describes various ways in which the integrity of the animator complex can be disrupted (e.g. the sign may be moved out of place through vandalism or acts of nature, or the organization that the sign represents may no longer be in business), identifies different types of animators, and expands on the implications for phenomena such as affect, multivocality, footing and the materiality of language. In doing so, the book also demonstrates the value of bringing in Bakhtin's (1981, 1984, 1986) work on heteroglossia and the dialogicity of communication, integrating the ideas of Bakhtin with those of Goffman"--