Linguascaping the City: A Phenomenological Inquiry into Linguistic Placemaking of Toronto’s Chinatown and Kensington Market Neighborhoods, 2019
Conclusion
Focusing on Toronto’s urban spaces, the collaborative initiative explores the agency... more Conclusion
Focusing on Toronto’s urban spaces, the collaborative initiative explores the agency of language and other semiotic means in the process of linguistic place-making, what we are terming linguascaping. The aim of this chapter is two-fold: first, it has introduced IPA as an approach to qualitative inquiry in the linguistic landscapes studies framed as linguascaping or linguistic place-making. Second, the chapter has shown the theoretical and methodological promise of the framework, seen as the agentive process of creating and co-creating personal and shared readings of urban spaces, to uncover negotiated and intersubjective, but also idiosyncratic, interpretation of linguistically and culturally complex discourses. As the narrative excerpts (scenes) and the analysis of emerging themes have shown, the interpretation of space is subjective and contextual. Interpretations are highly contingent on participants’ life-world – histories, backgrounds, linguistic repertoires, memories – which is in constant flux, but which still displays stability allowing accounts of life experiences to be shared and reified. The study reveals the following emergent themes: human activity and interaction, the presence/absence of a particular language and associated referents, memories and associations, and a feeling of inclusion/exclusion. Exemplifying the role of subjectivity and intersubjectivity in linguistic profile of urban spaces, this study may serve as a blueprint for a collaborative project, involving not only an instructor and students, but also professional ethnographers in uncovering impressions of globalization in cosmopolitan cityspaces on individuals.
Linguascaping the City: A Phenomenological Inquiry into Linguistic Placemaking of Toronto’s Chinatown and Kensington Market Neighborhoods, 2019
Conclusion
Focusing on Toronto’s urban spaces, the collaborative initiative explores the agency... more Conclusion
Focusing on Toronto’s urban spaces, the collaborative initiative explores the agency of language and other semiotic means in the process of linguistic place-making, what we are terming linguascaping. The aim of this chapter is two-fold: first, it has introduced IPA as an approach to qualitative inquiry in the linguistic landscapes studies framed as linguascaping or linguistic place-making. Second, the chapter has shown the theoretical and methodological promise of the framework, seen as the agentive process of creating and co-creating personal and shared readings of urban spaces, to uncover negotiated and intersubjective, but also idiosyncratic, interpretation of linguistically and culturally complex discourses. As the narrative excerpts (scenes) and the analysis of emerging themes have shown, the interpretation of space is subjective and contextual. Interpretations are highly contingent on participants’ life-world – histories, backgrounds, linguistic repertoires, memories – which is in constant flux, but which still displays stability allowing accounts of life experiences to be shared and reified. The study reveals the following emergent themes: human activity and interaction, the presence/absence of a particular language and associated referents, memories and associations, and a feeling of inclusion/exclusion. Exemplifying the role of subjectivity and intersubjectivity in linguistic profile of urban spaces, this study may serve as a blueprint for a collaborative project, involving not only an instructor and students, but also professional ethnographers in uncovering impressions of globalization in cosmopolitan cityspaces on individuals.
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Focusing on Toronto’s urban spaces, the collaborative initiative explores the agency of language and other semiotic means in the process of linguistic place-making, what we are terming linguascaping. The aim of this chapter is two-fold: first, it has introduced IPA as an approach to qualitative inquiry in the linguistic landscapes studies framed as linguascaping or linguistic place-making. Second, the chapter has shown the theoretical and methodological promise of the framework, seen as the agentive process of creating and co-creating personal and shared readings of urban spaces, to uncover negotiated and intersubjective, but also idiosyncratic, interpretation of linguistically and culturally complex discourses. As the narrative excerpts (scenes) and the analysis of emerging themes have shown, the interpretation of space is subjective and contextual. Interpretations are highly contingent on participants’ life-world – histories, backgrounds, linguistic repertoires, memories – which is in constant flux, but which still displays stability allowing accounts of life experiences to be shared and reified. The study reveals the following emergent themes: human activity and interaction, the presence/absence of a particular language and associated referents, memories and associations, and a feeling of inclusion/exclusion. Exemplifying the role of subjectivity and intersubjectivity in linguistic profile of urban spaces, this study may serve as a blueprint for a collaborative project, involving not only an instructor and students, but also professional ethnographers in uncovering impressions of globalization in cosmopolitan cityspaces on individuals.
Focusing on Toronto’s urban spaces, the collaborative initiative explores the agency of language and other semiotic means in the process of linguistic place-making, what we are terming linguascaping. The aim of this chapter is two-fold: first, it has introduced IPA as an approach to qualitative inquiry in the linguistic landscapes studies framed as linguascaping or linguistic place-making. Second, the chapter has shown the theoretical and methodological promise of the framework, seen as the agentive process of creating and co-creating personal and shared readings of urban spaces, to uncover negotiated and intersubjective, but also idiosyncratic, interpretation of linguistically and culturally complex discourses. As the narrative excerpts (scenes) and the analysis of emerging themes have shown, the interpretation of space is subjective and contextual. Interpretations are highly contingent on participants’ life-world – histories, backgrounds, linguistic repertoires, memories – which is in constant flux, but which still displays stability allowing accounts of life experiences to be shared and reified. The study reveals the following emergent themes: human activity and interaction, the presence/absence of a particular language and associated referents, memories and associations, and a feeling of inclusion/exclusion. Exemplifying the role of subjectivity and intersubjectivity in linguistic profile of urban spaces, this study may serve as a blueprint for a collaborative project, involving not only an instructor and students, but also professional ethnographers in uncovering impressions of globalization in cosmopolitan cityspaces on individuals.