Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-zzh7m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T22:06:37.295Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

English in the Slovak glocalized urban space

A study of the English language and the processes of glocalization in the linguistic landscape of Bratislava

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2023

Olha Bohuslavska  and
Elena Ciprianová Open the ORCID record for Elena Ciprianová [Opens in a new window]
Olha Bohuslavska
Affiliation:
Department of English and American Studies, Faculty of Arts, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia
Elena Ciprianová*
Affiliation:
Department of English and American Studies, Faculty of Arts, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia
*
Corresponding author: Elena Ciprianová, email: eciprianova@ukf.sk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Over the last few decades English has become an integral part of urban signage while taking different forms and performing a variety of functions. Numerous studies of linguistic landscapes, such as Gorter (2006), Huebner (2006), Cenoz and Gorter (2009), Lanza and Woldemariam (2009), Bolton (2012), and Tupas and Rubdy (2015) have demonstrated that the investigation of linguistic landscapes in multilingual settings can increase our understanding of the close relationship between English and globalization. Slovakia being no exception, the widespread use of English is observed on a large amount of public and private signs in the country's urban environment. Since Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, frequently becomes a meeting point for diverse languages and cultures, this study focuses on the phenomenon of glocalization and investigates the ways in which the English utilized in the signage mirrors the interaction between the global and the local. The results based on the corpus of 464 signs collected in the city centre indicate not only the substantial extent to which English penetrates the Slovak urban space but also shed some new light on how English, mainly through carrying its symbolic value, contributes to the construction of social reality and participates in the processes of glocalization.

Type
Research Article
Information
English Today , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , March 2024 , pp. 51 - 61
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Act of the National Council of the Slovak Republic on the State Language of the Slovak Republic. 1995. Online at <https://www.culture.gov.sk/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/zakon_o_sj_v_anj.pdf> (Accessed August 12, 2022).+(Accessed+August+12,+2022).>Google Scholar
Alomoush, O. 2018. ‘English in the linguistic landscape of a northern Jordanian city: Visual monolingual and multilingual practices enacted on shopfronts.’ English Today, 35(3), 35–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atanassova, S. 2022. Exploring Local Linguistic Scenery amongst Superdiversity: A Small Place in the Global Landscape. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
Backhaus, P. 2006. ‘Multilingualism in Tokyo: A look into the linguistic landscape.’ International Journal of Multilingualism, 3(1), 52–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, T. et al. (eds.) 2005. New Keywords: A Revised Vocabulary of Culture and Society. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.Google Scholar
Ben–Rafael, E. 2009. ‘A sociological approach to the study of linguistic landscapes’. In Shohamy, E., & Gorter, D. (eds.), Linguistic Landscape: Expanding the Scenery. New York: Routledge, pp.40–54.Google Scholar
Ben–Rafael, E., Shohamy, E., Amara, M. H. & Trumper–Hecht, N. 2006. ‘Linguistic landscape as symbolic construction of the public space: The case of Israel.’ In Gorter, D. (ed.),Linguistic Landscape: A New Approach to Multilingualism. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd, pp. 7–30.10.21832/9781853599170-002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blommaert, J. 2014. ‘Sociolinguistics’. In Leung, C. & Street, B. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of English Language Studies. London: Routledge, pp. 131–144.Google Scholar
Blommaert, J. & Huang, A. 2010. ‘Semiotic and spatial scope: Towards a materialist semiotics.’ Working Papers in Urban Language & Literacies Paper 62. Online at <www.kcl.ac.uk/ldc> (Accessed August 5, 2022).+(Accessed+August+5,+2022).>Google Scholar
Bolton, K. 2012. ‘World Englishes and linguistic landscapes.’ World Englishes. 31(1), 30–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cenoz, J. & Gorter, D. 2009. ‘Language economy and linguistic landscape’. In Shohamy, E. & Gorter, D. (eds.), Linguistic Landscape: Expanding the Scenery. New York/London: Routledge, pp. 55–69.Google Scholar
Сiprianová, E. & Vančo, M. 2010. ‘English in the age of globalization: Changing ELT models, restruсturing relationships.’ JoLIE, 3, 123–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crystal, D. 2003. English as a Global Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curtin, M. L. 2009. ‘Languages on display: Indexical signs, identities and the linguistic landscape of Taipei’. In Shohamy, E. & Gorter, D. (eds), Linguistic Landscape: Expanding the Scenery. New York: Routledge, pp. 221–237.Google Scholar
Dimova, S. 2007. ‘English shop signs in Macedonia.’ English Today, 23(3&4), 18–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ďuricová, A. & Lauková, J. (eds.) 2021. Od textu k prekladu: 2.časť. Linguistic Landscape. Praha: JTP.Google Scholar
EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI). 2021. Online at <https://www.ef.com/wwen/epi/> (Accessed August 12, 2022).+(Accessed+August+12,+2022).>Google Scholar
Ferenčík, M. 2013. ‘English in the “glocalized” world: English language profile of a local linguistic landscape from a pluriparadigmatic perspective’. In Ferenčík, M. & Bednárová–Gibová, K. (eds.), Language, Literature and Culture in a Changing Transatlantic World II. Prešov: Prešovská univerzita v Prešove, pp. 36–57.Google Scholar
Gorter, D. 2006. ‘Further possibilities for linguistic landscape research.’ In Gorter, D. (ed.), Linguistic Landscape: A New Approach to Multilingualism. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd, pp. 81–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffin, J. L. 2004. ‘The presence of written English on the streets of Rome.’ English Today, 20(2), 3–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heller, M. & Duchêne, A. 2012. ‘Pride and profit: Changing discourses of language, capital and nation-state.’ In Duchêne, A. & Heller, M. (eds.), Language in Late Capitalism: Pride and Profit. New York and London: Routledge, 1–21.Google Scholar
Holborow, M. 2007. ‘Language, ideology and neoliberalism.’ Journal of Language and Politics, 6(1), 51–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huebner, T. 2006. ‘Bangkok's linguistic landscapes: Environmental print, codemixing and language change.’ In Gorter, D. (ed.), Linguistic Landscape: A New Approach to Multilingualism. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd, pp. 31–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaworski, A. 2015. ‘Globalese: A new visual-linguistic register.’ Social Semiotics, 25(2), 217–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kress, G. 2010. Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kress, G. & van Leeuwen, T. 2006. Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203619728CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landry, R. & Bourhis, R. 1997. ‘Linguistic landscape and ethnolinguistic vitality: An empirical study.’ Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 16(1), 23–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lanza, E. & Woldemariam, H. 2009. ‘Language ideology and linguistic landscape: Language policy and globalization in a regional capital of Ethiopia.’ In Shohamy, E. & Gorter, D. (eds.), Linguistic Landscape: Expanding the Scenery. New York: Routledge, pp. 189–205.Google Scholar
Lanza, E. & Woldemariam, H. 2014. ‘Indexing modernity: English and branding in the linguistic landscape of Addis Ababa.’ International Journal of Bilingualism, 18(5), 491–506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magala, I., 2021. A map of Bratislava. Map Client ZBGIS. Online at <https://zbgis.skgeodesy.sk/mkzbgis/sk/kataster/identification/point/49.609297,20.749482?pos=48.800000,19.530000,8> (generated July 20, 2021).+(generated+July+20,+2021).>Google Scholar
Manan, S. et al. 2017. ‘The glocalization of English in the Pakistan linguistic landscape.’ World Englishes, 36(4), 645–665.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nádaská, K. 2017. ‘Viete, aké národnosti žili kedysi vo vašej mestskej časti? Etnologička prezrádza zaujímavosti o minulosti Bratislavy.’ Online at <https://www.rusyn.sk/viete-ake-narodnosti-zili-kedysi-vo-vasej-mestskej-casti-etnologicka-prezradza-zaujimavosti-o-minulosti-bratislavy/> (Accessed August 10, 2022).+(Accessed+August+10,+2022).>Google Scholar
National Institute for Certified Educational Measurements. 2022. Online at <https://www.minedu.sk/maturita-2022-vysledky-externej-casti-maturitnej-skusky> (Accessed August 12, 2022).+(Accessed+August+12,+2022).>Google Scholar
Pan, L. 2015. ‘Glocalization and the spread of unequal Englishes: Vernacular signs in the center of Beijing.’ In R., Tupas (ed.), Unequal Englishes. The Politics of Englishes Today. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 163–184.Google Scholar
Pavlenko, A. 2010. ‘Linguistic landscape of Kyiv, Ukraine: A diachronic study’. In Shohamy, E., Ben–Rafael, E. & Barni, M. (eds), Linguistic Landscape in the City. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, pp. 133–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, R. 1992. Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture. London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Robertson, R. 1995. ‘Glocalization: Time-space and homogeneity-heterogeneity.’ In Featherstone, M., Lash, S. & Robertson, R. (eds.), Global Modernities. London: Sage Publications, pp. 25–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ross, N. 1997. ‘Signs of International English.’ English Today, 13(2), 29–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scollon, R. & Scollon, S. 2003. Discourses in Place: Language in the Material World. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlick, M. 2003. ‘The English of shop signs in Europe.’ English Today, 19(1), 3–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic – Regional Office of Bratislava. 2020. Statistical Yearbook of the Capital of the SR Bratislava 2020. Online at <https://slovak.statistics.sk> (Accessed August 12, 2022).+(Accessed+August+12,+2022).>Google Scholar
Tupas, R. & Rubdy, R. 2015. ‘Introduction: From world Englishes to unequal Englishes’. In Tupas, R. (ed.), Unequal Englishes. The Politics of Englishes Today. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1–17.Google Scholar
Urry, J. 2000. Sociology Beyond Societies: Mobilities for the Twenty-First Century. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Vépyová, Z. 2011. ‘The lexical and morphological adaptation of English modern words in the system of Slovak language.’ Orbis Linguarum, 9(1), 7–12.Google Scholar
Wierzbicka, A. 2003. Cross-Cultural Pragmatics. The Semantis of Human Interaction. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar