Culture Runs Deep

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Linguistic landscape may refer to the physical landscape of a region, containing all the public signs, but it does not cover the cultural landscape. Culture and language are completely interconnected; it is near impossible to separate the two. For the Western Apache people of Arizona, place names and the landscape are inextricably connected. M. Eleanor Nevins argues the Apache place names show a connection to place and distinguish between outsiders and members of the community; often the place names are humorous and only members of the in-group will "get the joke" (Nevins 2008:192). Place names have origins and stories behind them which are connected to mythology and the cultural knowledge of the group. This also translates over to road and street signs, which can also carry cultural knowledge. Nevins cites Keith Basso in her paper, as he has done extensive research on the Apache and their place names. Basso's paper, "'Speaking with Names': Language and Landscape among the Western Apache," delves into the dialogues of the Apache people. He focuses on Lola Machuse who is a staple in the community. She bridges the gap between culture and landscape, like the Apache people do with their place names and connections to the land. As Basso says, "geographical landscapes are never culturally vacant" (1988:102). The Apache people are a good example of a community who has displayed that their culture is linked to their landscape. Just like with road and street signs in other examples on my blog, the place names interact with the linguistic landscape to promote language.

Basso, Keith H.

   1988 “Speaking with Names”: Language and Landscape Among the Western Apache. Cultural Anthropology 3(2):99-130.

Nevins, M. Eleanor

2008 “They Live in Lonesome Dove”: Media and contemporary Western Apache place-naming practices. Language in Society 37(2):191-215.

Israel and its Trilingual History

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The history of Israel's peoples can be seen depicted on signs all around the country. Israel-Hebrew, Arabic, and English are displayed in various forms all around Jerusalem, giving evidence to the social hierarchies present at the time of the sign's construction. Authors Eliezer Ben-Rafael, Muhammad Hasan Amara and Nira Trumper-Hecht studied the usage of these three languages in Jerusalem in their chapter "Linguistic Landscape as Symbolic Construction of Public Space: The Case of Israel." They drew from the concept of linguistic landscape and studied "road signs, names of sites, buildings, places and institutions as well as advertising billboards, commercial shop signs and even personal visiting cards" (2006:6). The amount of language people are confronted with on a daily basis is staggering. When languages are so heavily tied to identity, seeing them everyday can be problematic for those who do not associate with them. Cultural identity is embedded in the languages displayed on public signs, especially in Israel which has had so much political conflict.

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Ben-Rafael, Eliezer, with Muhammad Hasan Amara and Nira Trumper-Hecht.

   2006 Linguistic Landscape as Symbolic Construction of the Public Space: The Case of Israel. In Linguistic Landscape: A New Approach to Multilingualism. Durk Gorter, ed. Pp. 7-30.  Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg - Welsh Langauge Society

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Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, or the Welsh Language Society, was founded on the principle that the Welsh language deserved to survive the oppression and dominance of English. Gerald Morgan points out moments in history the Welsh language and culture was at its highest points. During the mid-19th century, churches were the centres of culture and language worship (Morgan 2001:109). He argues that even though there are a lot of Welsh speakers, they are mainly bilingual, causing the language to be not as healthy as others with the same or less numbers. Bilingualism has often been an issue with endangered languages; while it can be helpful to speak both Welsh and English (in this case), it sometimes dilutes the strength of Welsh. Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg fought back (and continues to do so) against the threat of English monolingualism on their culture. Merriman and Jones argue in their article "'Symbols of Justice': the Welsh Language Society's campaign for bilingual road signs in Wales, 1967-1980" Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg began to protest in the 1960s and 70s: "On 14 July 1966 the Welsh National Party Plaid Cymru had had their first member of Parliament,  Gwynfor Evans, elected to Westminster, while during the year Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (the Welsh Language Society) had been engaging in increasigly militant acts of non-violent protest as part of their campaign to force the British state to give offocial (bilingual) status to the Welsh language" (2008:351)*. Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg brought bilingual status to the Welsh language, elevating it to the same prestige in the community as English. Welsh began to appear again on road signs and other public domains. The campaign has been a successful way of helping to revitalize the Welsh language.

*Due to spacing allotments on the blog, block quotes could not be indented as per AAA style.

Merriman, Peter and Rhys Jones.

2008 “Symbols of Justice”: the Welsh Language Society’s campaign for bilingual road signs in Wales, 1967-1980. Journal of Historical Geography 35:350-375.

Morgan, Gerald.

2001 Welsh: A European Case of Language Maintenance. In The Green Book of Language Revitalization in Practice. Leanne Hinton and Ken Hale, eds. Pp. 107-116. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.