Assessing the place of minoritized languages in postcolonial contexts using the Linguistic Landscape

Abstract

Linguistic Landscape research has demonstrated that detailed analysis of written signage provides, often simultaneously, important insights into various aspects of the sociolinguistic dynamics of a context, particularly those involving minoritized languages. Comparatively little of that research has, however, focused on postcolonial contexts in which people make little use of literacy and in which locally widely used minoritized languages co-exist with an officially dominant ex-colonial language. This paper explores written signage involving minoritized languages in the town of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni (French Guiana) and how it is shaped by local practices and social change. The paper argues that knowledge of the ethnographic context such as local practices of place belongingness, the place of writing, and processes of social change is indispensable when analyzing the Linguistic Landscape. When viewed from a holistic perspective, the Linguistic Landscape provides insights into local identities and the processes promoting them.