The Linguistic Landscape of Urban Spaces: Visual Language, Power, and Cultural Dynamics in Public Signage
The paper examines the linguistic landscape of urban environments by analyzing conspicuous textual artifacts, especially the way in which language and script patterns mirror social and cultural practices. The number of signs used in the corpus was 300 photographs taken across four neighborhoods, namely commercial, residential, market, and tourist. The analysis covers aspects such as language choice, authorship (top-down vs bottom-up), communicative role, translation practice, and visual salience. The results reveal that bilingual signage is the most prevalent, and the visibility of language differs greatly by district. English is used in business and tourist zones, which are associated with prestige and modernity, whereas local languages are used in market zones, with informal signs and little translations, indicating locality. Through qualitative geosemiotic analysis, it becomes apparent that typography and design have power-based effects and identity in urban space. Finally, the language landscape portrays more massive themes of power, identity, and globalization.
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Linguistic Landscape; Urban Multilingualism; Geosemiotics; Public Signage; Language Ideology; Globalization; Identity and Belonging
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(1) Irfan Ullah
Assistant Professor, Department of English, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, KP, Pakistan.
(2) Mahnoor Akbar
BS Graduate, Department of English, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, KP, Pakistan.
Cite this article
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APA : Ullah, I., & Akbar, M. (2022). The Linguistic Landscape of Urban Spaces: Visual Language, Power, and Cultural Dynamics in Public Signage. Global Regional Review, VII(I), 337-348. https://doi.org/10.31703/grr.2022(VII-I).30
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CHICAGO : Ullah, Irfan, and Mahnoor Akbar. 2022. "The Linguistic Landscape of Urban Spaces: Visual Language, Power, and Cultural Dynamics in Public Signage." Global Regional Review, VII (I): 337-348 doi: 10.31703/grr.2022(VII-I).30
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HARVARD : ULLAH, I. & AKBAR, M. 2022. The Linguistic Landscape of Urban Spaces: Visual Language, Power, and Cultural Dynamics in Public Signage. Global Regional Review, VII, 337-348.
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MHRA : Ullah, Irfan, and Mahnoor Akbar. 2022. "The Linguistic Landscape of Urban Spaces: Visual Language, Power, and Cultural Dynamics in Public Signage." Global Regional Review, VII: 337-348
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MLA : Ullah, Irfan, and Mahnoor Akbar. "The Linguistic Landscape of Urban Spaces: Visual Language, Power, and Cultural Dynamics in Public Signage." Global Regional Review, VII.I (2022): 337-348 Print.
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OXFORD : Ullah, Irfan and Akbar, Mahnoor (2022), "The Linguistic Landscape of Urban Spaces: Visual Language, Power, and Cultural Dynamics in Public Signage", Global Regional Review, VII (I), 337-348
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TURABIAN : Ullah, Irfan, and Mahnoor Akbar. "The Linguistic Landscape of Urban Spaces: Visual Language, Power, and Cultural Dynamics in Public Signage." Global Regional Review VII, no. I (2022): 337-348. https://doi.org/10.31703/grr.2022(VII-I).30
