Date of Award

Fall 2024

Language

English

Embargo Period

11-22-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Anthropology

Program

Anthropology

First Advisor

Lauren Clemens

Committee Members

Lauren Clemens, Lee Bickford, Lotfi Sayahi, Ronald Jacobs

Keywords

linguistic landscape, shop sign, minority language, Yorkville, advertising

Subject Categories

Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics | Cognition and Perception | Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics

Abstract

The term “linguistic landscape” is used to describe the usage and placement of language in public places of a specific geographic area, such as on buildings, street names, pedestrian notices, vehicular warnings, and advertising billboards. Studies of a space’s linguistic landscape typically involve an accounting and analysis of the visible signs and/or the presentation of bystanders’ or researchers’ thoughts and observations. This study instead probes the intentions of the sign creators: the owners of the façade sign and the business it advertises. The façade sign, often called the shop sign, is frequently the first image for a business that a person sees, and therefore it must elicit interest if the person is to become a customer. To understand the art and science behind the creation of a shop sign, an overview of historical advertising trends and techniques is included.

This study explores the reasons why, in a predominantly English monolingual New York City neighborhood, there are 30 non-English languages used on shop signs. The neighborhood in question, Yorkville, was known for over a hundred years as a working-class area of (mainly) Austrian, Czech, German, Hungarian, and Irish immigrants and their descendants. Since the 1970s, however, it has become increasingly gentrified, with consequential changes to its roster of businesses, its population, and its signage.

In contrast to findings by previous studies that a non-local language is used for connotative reasons, this study demonstrates that non-English is used – at least, on shop signs in Yorkville – for denotative reasons. Business owners cite authenticity and identity as the primary reasons for using non-English even though they are aware that their customers may not understand it.

In order to investigate Yorkville’s linguistic landscape, a mixed methods strategy was used that included both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The quantitative portion identified 910 shop signs within the Yorkville boundaries, of which 20.9% contain a non-English language one or more times. French was by far the most prevalent non-English language, even when personal names and loanwords were removed, followed by Italian and Chinese. Food-related businesses were the most frequent users of non-English. Based on the responses to the interview instrument questions, the qualitative portion revealed that business owners use non-English for its literal meaning, and for reasons of authenticity and identity. The answers also suggest that “Yorkville” as a distinct place may not exist much longer.

License

This work is licensed under the University at Albany Standard Author Agreement.

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