Bohemian Carnival: Locally Englishised art from citizens to society

By Amàlia Bratu and Andrea Montero

1. INTRODUCTION
The Linguistic Landscape presented in Figure 1can be found in Carrer Lluís Besa, 1 in Lleida. As it can be perceived, the token is a poster situated in a window display of an art school and creative space called “La Bohème by Laveda”. This creative art center is a small premise that offers art lessons for all kind of people, from children to adults. Lessons are provided in Catalan or Spanish by local art teachers.
This token is a commercial sign and its activity domain is entertainment, as it offers the possibility to participate in an watercolour workshop with previous reservation. The sign is multilingual as it contain several languages. The predominant one is Catalan, for instance we can also find English and French on it as secondary languages. English and French are only used in the sign as commercial information, which means that these two languages are not applied to the actual workshop.
As this commercial sign was posted by the individual business managers of the center, we can say that it is a bottom-up and non-institutional sign. It was placed and announced by citizens to society, aiming at entertainment as well as at arts teaching.

2. CONTEXTUALISATION
As has been already mentioned before, this Linguistic Landscape is placed in Carrer Lluís Besa, 1. This street is part of a neighbourhood known as Centre Històric, which is the oldest part of the city of Lleida. In figure 2, the surroundings of the token can be perceived, as well as some of the streets of this area. In this neighbourhood we can appreciate the multiculturalism and multilingualism of the city, as many different cultures are mixed and several languages are spoken.
After having analysed the neighbourhood’s demographic profile and according to La Paeria (2012), we have found that 55.19% of the people living in Centre Històric are national Spaniards in contrast to the 44.18% who are foreign-born. Therefore, Centre Històric, that can be seen highlighted in red in figure 1, is a migrant populated and middle-class neighbourhood. This neighbourhood is also tourified due to its great deal of historical and architectural wealth. 

Figure 1: Map of the neighbourhoods of Lleida (Centre Històric in red). Retrieved from Gifex, n.d.


Figure 2: Street view map of the tokens’ surroundings. Retrieved from Google Maps by the authors.

3. METHODOLOGY






Figure 3: Street views of the token. Pictures taken by the authors on Thursday 20th of February 2020

In this project, we have operated with an interpretative critical sociolinguistics approach. Citing Widdowson (1998) we understand sociolinguistics as a “linguistics with a conscience and a cause, one which seeks to reveal how language is used and abused in the exercise of power and the suppression of human rights”. Also, the ethnographic data allowed our further research on society's traditions as mediated through language, by focusing on local and global languages (Catalan/Spanish and English/French, in this case) in contact and in contrast.

The first time we visited that linguistic landscape, was on Thursday 20th of February at 3 p.m. Even though most of the premises were closed at that time, we were truly amazed to witness so much art on the streets in that neighborhood. Later on, we found that art, history and culture, as well as clothing stores, Lleida's museum and Catalan traditional food restaurants, were some of the crucial social institutional activities in the neighbourhood Centre Històric.

After that, we checked into thorough information on the premises “La Bohème by Laveda Centre d’art creatiu” (creative art center). As the name itself expresses, it is a place invested into creative activities for all types of audiences. Thus, we were not surprised at all by the wide presence of the English language alongside the official languages of the neighborhood, since the following language policy allows for the combination of Catalan and Spanish outside the Catalan linguistic sphere “fora de l’àmbit lingüístic català, la publicitat s’ha de fer preferiblement en versió doble: català i la llengua pròpia del territori on va adreçada o en castellà” (Article 17.2, BOP, 2014). 
On the one hand, foreign language usage has increased in tourist areas, mostly because language combinations are visually more engaging, for aesthetic functions. Also, might prove an artist's innovation and creativity.
On the other hand, as we already know, Lleida has lately increased the number of inhabitants as a result of the increased immigration flows, and this has also benefited foreign languages use.

Although both Catalan and Spanish are the main languages established by law in Catalonia, Lleida's city council established a language policy that suggests any advertisement on the streets must include Catalan as the precedent language “la retolació pública de tota mena s’ha de redactar normalment en català” (Article 14, Ajuntament de Lleida, 2018). However, because of globalization's immense impact on today's society, as well as freedom of movement and the migratory influx, many locations have adapted their advertising to reach a larger international audience.
When we analyzed our linguistic landscape token, we observed that even though the English language is very present in advertising posters, Catalan is still the predominant language in this area. In our poster, the top-down policy prevails as it meets the crucial language policy requirement, which is to respect the local language. It is not a coincidence that it obeys the language policy since many of the activities offered in this neighborhood must be approved by the city council.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Figure 4: Token close-up. Picture taken by the authors on Thursday 20th of February 2020

This linguistic landscape has multiple values. As Landscape Observatory of Catalonia (2020) suggests, it has a productive value because as a commercial sign, it tries to provide financial benefits. However, it also has a social value, since it is intended for community’s social use as it offers the possibility of doing a social activity for a price. Finally, because it identifies the space as a creative and free individual, it projects an identity value.
The fact that three different languages are used on it can be to project the sign. Also, it is evidence of how polyglossic is this token. Catalan is employed to make the advertisement understandable for the majority of the population.
Saying WORKSHOP instead of the Catalan term makes the display more attractive for possible customers. Then, we must highlight the use of English as a second language. As reported by Sayers (2010), English is considered a sophisticated and fashionable language and that is the reason why it has been used in this sign. Also, French gives it an aesthetic outlook, as it is attached to arts and creativity.  Moreover, being written in a bigger font makes the word more visible and noticeable, therefore, more people will see the sign and understand what is being advertised.
La Bohème, the art school's name, is a French term that, rephrasing Kells (2005), was used in the past to refer to all people characterized for being disobedient and different. In short, the term encompasses people who deviated from social conventions.
Formerly, France was considered a rich country because of its art, and, therefore, French was considered the most refined language. If we analyze the token, we conclude the owners of the premises chose the installation's name on purpose because it represents the purpose of La Bohème, a place dedicated to art, and the name in French seem more elegant.
Pinta & Cata is the second prominent font after WORKSHOP. In Catalan, these two verbs are in the imperative mode probably to capture the reader's attention. On the right side of the token, in smaller calligraphy, the price of the activity is advertised. The fact of being placed in smaller calligraphy is nothing more than a strategy so that citizens do not pay much attention to the economic side of a creativity task.

If we analyze the token from an aesthetic point of view, we discover that our token is accompanied by a photograph, so, according to Korhonen (2010), is multimodal (involving image and words).

 The image shows masks and other objects typical from Carnival, a holiday that combines various elements such as costumes or music bands that parades all together in the streets. This image is related to the activity advertised as we can see below on the poster, where it says Special Carnival.

As we mentioned in the previous section, globalization has made English a universal language, especially in the economic and technological fields. Due to its hegemonic and worldwide consolidation, this language has been gaining importance over the years that nowadays, conforming to the British Council (2013), knowing English is essential to be successful in life.  Even though studying this language is compulsory at the schools in Lleida, it is not an official language, however, it appears in several areas. Thus, using English is the consequence of wanting to reach a larger number of clients and having adopted an English culture. Also, our token is an instance of how global languages are used as ‘advertisement’ tokens. According to Eldelman & Gorter (2010) “often the English language is used to associate a product with a social stereotype of modernity, progress and globalisation".
However, this language is not so common among elderly people. The older population of Lleida usually does not know any other language apart ​​from Catalan or Spanish, that is why the Englishasation process is perhaps slower than in other cities.
5. CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Lleida has become a multicultural city and therefore, a multilingual city. We were not aware of the amount of languages that are spoken in the city until we carried out this project. While looking for linguistic landscapes we discovered that Englishisation is becoming commoner, as many store names or signs are in English. Furthermore, English is usually used to stand out people attention in commercial signs, as indexing the professionalism of the establishment. Despite the fact that English is turning into an important language in the city, Catalan and Spanish are still the predominant ones. As we can observe in our token, all the important information is given in Catalan, like for example the workshop price or the day when it took place. English is only used to enhance the client-attraction power advertisement. This leads us to the conclusion that Lleida is a growing city where English is emerging as a powerful language, but still, the official languages prevail. 
From an academic perspective, we should say that linguistic landscape projects of this kind are excellent pedagogical tools. They allow us to explore the field of sociolinguistics from a different point of view. Besides, we are also able to discover the linguistic landscapes that surround us in our own city. Thanks to this, we have noticed that many different languages are in contact and coexist in the same society. This is part of our daily life but sometimes we do not pay sufficient attention to it. So, as a result of this project, we have learnt to be more attentive and inquisitive with what surrounds us.
Also, via TEP (Technology of Empowerment and Participation) we were able to use Google Maps and the blog as tools to share our project with anyone interested in it. This procedure makes our projects public and enables the fact that these linguistic landscapes reach a wider audience. Hence, it is a useful pedagogical tool to be used in sociolinguistic research projects.

As students being knowledge generators that were co-constructing the meaning of the concepts seen in class, we felt we understood better the concepts and, therefore, after the project, we could explain them better.

6. REFERENCES and WEBSOURCES
Ajuntament de Lleida (2018). “L’article 14 assenyala que la retolació pública de tota mena s’ha de redactar normalment en català”. Available in: https://www.paeria.es/cat/ajuntament/noticies.asp?Detall=True&IdNoticia=24811&Dia=-1&Mes=-1&Any=-1&IdDepartament=-1&TextCerca=&Consulta=False&PaginaAnterior=/cat/ajuntament/noticies.asp&Pagina=613
British Council (2013). The English Effect. Available in: https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/english-effect-report-v2.pdf

 Edelman, L. & Gorter, D. (2010). Linguistic Landscapes and the Market.In H. Kelly-Holmes & G. Mautner (Eds.) -Language and the Market,(pp. 96-108). London: Palgrave-MacMillan
Gifex (n.d.) Barrios de Ciudad de Lleida. Available in: https://www.gifex.com/Europa/Espana/Cataluna/Lerida/Lerida/Politicos.html
Kells. (2005). Urban Dictionary: boheme. Available in: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=boheme
Korhonen, V. (2010). Chapter 10 Dialogic literacy: A sociocultural literacy learning approach. En Practising Information Literacy (1): 211–226. Elsevier B.V. Available in: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/multimodality

 Landscape Observatory of Catalonia, (2020) Available in: 
http://www.catpaisatge.net/cat/index.php
La Paeria (2012). Butlletí Socioeconòmic de Lleida. Available in: http://paeria.cat/butlletieconomic/2012/03-juliol/06-poblacio.pdf
La Paeria (2014). Butlletí Oficial de la Província de Lleida (2014). Available in: https://seu.paeria.cat/documentPublic/download/2772
La Paeria, Ajuntament de Lleida (2017). Població de Lleida. Available in: https://www.paeria.es/doc/2017/2017.pdf
Sayers, P. (2010). Using the linguistic landscape as a pedagogical resource, ELT Journal 64 (2): 143–154. Available in:
https://cv.udl.cat/access/content/group/1012661920/Part%20A%20Sociolinguistics/Unit%202/Sayers_2010.pdf


Widdowson, H.G. (1998). Review article: The theory and practice of Critical Discourse Analysis. Applied Linguistics, March (19) 1: 136-151

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Tea Bubble: Identi-teas of a local shop”

Image
      "Tea Bubble: Identi- teas of a local shop” by The Bubbletears .   Laura Cañada, Laura Moset & Laura Oller Image 1. Token - Menu of the Tea Bubble Side 1. Picture taken by the authors   (28/02/2020). INTRODUCTION Globalization has become so present in our society that when we see an advertisement, a sign or a banner written in another language we no longer question the motivation the creator had to chose that language. However, as Jaworski and Thurlow (2010a, as cited in Bolton, 2012) suggest, studying these Linguistic Landscapes could give us not only information on the linguistic form of the language and how it is written, but also a much wider range of issues such as the values and the social meanings as well as the political, economic and cultural ones. Our token under analysis can be found in a small tea shop in Lleida called Tea Bubble. The English name of the shop is already a clear example of a LL but it is just the tip ...
Read more

SULTAN DÖNER KEBAB RESTAURANT: The Power of Multilingualism in Commercial Signs for Client Attention Strategies. (Júlia Pernau and Marta Crespo)

Image
SULTAN DÖNER KEBAB: The Power of Multilingualism in Commercial Signs for Client Attention Strategies  By Marta Crespo and Júlia Pernau 1. Introduction The Linguistic Landscape we have chosen is a restaurant sign localized in Cappont’s neighborhood, specifically in the street called “Doctora Castells nº15”. It is of commercial domain as it is used to advertise and show what the restaurant is called and what is dealt in. It consists of a multilingual restaurant sign in which the main language is Turkish in “Sultan” as well as “Döner Kebab”, both Turkish names, and there is presence of English (“fast food”) and Catalan (“restaurant”, which foreigners might interpret it as read in English but not by locals). There is one alphabet used, the Roman alphabet, this is why it is considered monoglossic. 2. Contextualisation The linguistic landscape is localized in “Carrer de la Dr. Castells, 15”. This street is in the Cappont neighborhood, which is located on the left side of the river Segre....
Read more

EXPLORING THE MULTIFACETED ECONOMIC IMPACT OF ENGLISHISATION THROUGH THE CASE OF "MENÚS TAKE AWAY" IN LLEIDA (Inés, Valèria and Georgina)

Image
EXPLORING THE MULTIFACETED ECONOMIC IMPACT OF ENGLISHISATION THROUGH THE CASE OF "MENÚS TAKE AWAY" IN LLEIDA by Inés Larroya, Valèria Ribes and Georgina Vera 1. INTRODUCTION Our linguistic landscape token “Menús Take Away” is a commercial banner or poster located in the neighbour of Cappont, specifically in Avinguda de les Garrigues, 39, 25001. This commercial entity joins three different languages in a multilingual manner: Catalan, English and Spanish (all formal), with Catalan emerging as the foreground one. Embracing commerce, this banner employs a bottom-up production by the owner and only one type of alphabet, so it is monoglossic. What is more, by using different languages, it welcomes individuals from various linguistic backgrounds, including locals as well as international passersby who can read “take away” easily.  2. CONTEXTUALISATION Figure 1: Neighbourhood of Cappont Source: Picture taken from Google Maps  Figure 2: Impoverished zone Cappont Source: photo taken by...
Read more