Мixed English-Bulgarian Inscriptions in Local Public Space

Abstract

The article focuses on the process of mixing languages (translanguaging) in the public inscriptions of Veliko Turnovo. There are two main principles that presuppose the occurrence of mixed inscriptions and that structure the local landscape – the presentation-of-self principle and the good-reasons pricniple. In this context translanguaged writing reflects the deliberate manipulation of the features of the two languages – English (in its variety as a global language) and Bulgarian (the local code) to produce hybrid language forms that evoke different connotations. The ethnographic analysis is carried out within the theoretical framework of Linguistic Landscaping Studies with a special focus on the indexability of the material world, code preference and feature analysis.