Semiotic Landscapes: Language, Image, Space

Description

Semiotic Landscapes is an exciting addition to the study of linguistic landscapes. It looks at how landscape generates meaning and combines three major areas of scholarly interest each concerned with central dimensions of contemporary life: language and visual discourse, spatial practices, and also the changes bought about by global capitalism and ever increasing mediatization. The editors look at: the textual/discursive construction of place; the use of space as a semiotic resource; the extent to which these processes are shaped by wider economic and political re-orderings of post-industrial or advanced capitalism; changing patterns of human mobility and transnational flows of ideas and images. The collection demonstrates the way written discourse interacts with all other discursive modalities: visual images, nonverbal communication, architecture and the built environment. From the red light districts of Switzerland to the transgressive public art of graffiti, all landscape can be seen to generate meaning. Semiotic Landscapes looks at how and why, and places this meaning generation in an interdisciplinary and thoroughly modern cross-section of global trends.

Adam Jaworski is Professor in Language and Communication at the Centre for Language and Communication Research, Cardiff University, UK. Crispin Thurlow is Associate Professor of Communication and Adjunct Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA.

Semiotic landscapes is described on the dust jacket as an ''exciting addition to the study of linguistic landscapes'' and does not fall short of this claim. In a range of different geographic settings, this volume expands the discussion in several refreshing ways, inviting others to respond to the challenges, issues and questions identified in this cutting-edge growth area of sociolinguistics. -- Language Policy This book builds in a nice way on other linguistic landscape studies. The authors do a good job in exploring and expanding the borders of the field. -- Language and Society 41