#stradilooks

 #stradilooks

by Alba Anyé, Jon Mañanet & Ruben Vaz



Image 1. Token of Stradivarius's window advertisement. Picture taken by the authors (24/02/2021).

1. Introduction

The main objective of this project is to select and analyze a Linguistic Landscape token. As Sabaté-Dalmau (2021, p.7) states, "we approach LLs as a window into the practices of individual citizens, social groups and institutions which unpack political, demographic, socio-cultural and linguistic changes and transformations". The focus of the analysis was set in the city of Lleida, Catalonia, in which the University is located.

In this case, the linguistic landscape we have decided to analyze is an advertising banner. We have taken two photos of the LL tokens. As for Image 1, we intend to highlight the message, and with Image 2, we aim to highlight the place where it is situated as well as the languages that surround it.  



Image 2. Surroundings of the token. Picture taken by the authors (24/02/2021).

The advertising banner belongs to a famous clothing brand called Stradivarius. This brand is contemporary and is pointed to a female audience (within the traditional canons of gender). It was first created in 1994 by a Catalan family but was later sold to Inditex (Inditex, n.d.). This enterprise is owned by Amancio Ortega, a Spanish entrepreneur, and includes other clothing shops such as  Zara, Oysho or Pull & Bear, which can be found near the LL token. The multinational is currently not only selling its products in Spain but also all around the globe. Countries such as Azerbaijan, France or Ecuador, are locations for their shops. Consequently, it targets an international audience.

Although it is of Catalan origins, the name 'Stradivarius' comes from the worldwide known Italian luthier, Antonio Stradivari. His fame originates in his production of handcrafted string instruments. Consequently, a treble clef, a musical symbol used in staves, is the logo of the clothing brand.

The support for the advertisement is a window display. However, it is not located next to the shop’s entrance, but on the back of the establishment. It would be classified as a commercial type of sign, as well as, being commerce its activity of domain, according to the classification by Mooney & Evans (2015, p. 92). Its main purpose is to attract new clients and have a wider spread on social media. In other words, they want to earn profits by displaying the advertisement.

The message is entirely written in English. Thus, it can be considered the main language. Nevertheless, it is not considered Standard English since the term ‘stradilooks’ is not considered a word in the English language. Italian can also be found in the LL since the name of the brand is Italian. In addition, the combination of stradi+looks can be considered multilingual. Therefore, we find two languages: English and Italian, which can both be considered primary. The alphabet used by both languages is the Latin alphabet, so it is monoglossic.

2. Contextualisation

The LL analyzed in this entry is found in Francesc Macià Avenue, 21, in Rambla de Ferran-Estació neighbourhood. As the figure below shows, number 2 would correspond to the area aforementioned. 



Figure 1. Map of Lleida's neighbourhoods. (Gifex, n.d.) 

Rambla de Ferran-Estació is a region vastly influenced by the train station that communicates Lleida with cities all over Catalonia and Spain. Therefore, most tourists find themselves in this area when they first arrive in the city. Consequently, some hotels, such as Hotel Zenit Lleida, can be seen in the area. The train station built in the early years of the 20th century provided the area with greater affluence of transnational and local people. Nowadays, it is considered one of the most transited places in the city of Lleida.

Another important section of Rambla de Ferran-Estació, as the name of the neighbourhood indicates, is the Rambla. This promenade spreads from the train station to the town hall and serves as a connection from the historic centre to the modern areas of the city. Clothing shops or other similar establishments are barely found since the street behind it is Carrer Major. According to la Paeria (2006), it is considered one of the longest commercial hubs in Europe, as well as, the third one with the best quality in Catalonia. Nevertheless, a considerable amount of bars are located in the esplanade. Other important features situated in Rambla de Ferran are the local post office, a community health centre, and the government subdelegation in Lleida.

Centre Històric (1), Pardinyes (12) and Príncep de Vaina-Clot (4), as well as the river Segre, are the sections that surround Rambla de Ferran-Estació. Though, it is worth mentioning that Centre Històric has great influence over the neighbourhood and the LL token analyzed in the project. As a matter of fact, Stradivarius, the shop advertised and to whom the window belongs, is located in Centre Històric, more specifically in Plaça Sant Joan. This neighbourhood is influenced by its commercial nature, due to the fact that Carrer Major is located within its boundaries. 



Figure 2. Citizens of Lleida by nationality and neighbourhood. Taken from La Paeria (2012). Access to link.


Figure 3. Inhabitants of Rambla Ferran-Estació. Taken from Ajuntament de Lleida (2018). Access to link.

To briefly describe the demographic profile of the neighbourhood we will present the following data. As of 2018, 3882 people live in Rambla de Ferran-Estació (Figure 3). According to “la Paeria’s”, which is the town council of Lleida, statistics (Figure 2), whilst 59.64% of the neighbourhood’s inhabitants are Spanish, 40.63% are foreigners. Moroccans and Romanians are the most common groups of foreigners. However, people from Brazil, Portugal, Colombia, and Argelia also have a great representation in the neighbourhood.

Figure five shows a Google Street View dating of May 2019 of the surroundings of the LL token. However, the token cannot be appreciated in the image since the advertisement was put on display at a later date.



Figure 4. Map of the neighbourhood. Taken from Google Maps (17/03/2021).


Figure 5. Street View map of the surroundings. Taken from Google Maps (17/03/2021).


3. Methodology

The first visit to the LL token on the 24th February 2021 was not made on purpose. The author of the picture encountered and photographed the token in question while walking along the commercial area of Lleida. Amongst the authors of the blog entry, a  process of selection was then made that resulted in the LL token "#stradilooks" being the decisive image. Other pictures for the project were then taken in the following visits (11th March 2021 and 17th March 2021).

According to Ajuntament de Lleida (2018) and BOP (2014), the top-down policies in Lleida declare that any banner or sign determined in a public or official place (government, hospitals, police...) must be in Catalan, which is the vernacular language of the territory. Catalan is only considered a co-official language in Catalonia.

The token was found in the following linguistic context. While visiting the location, only two languages were heard; Catalan, for the majority of the passers-by, and Spanish. No interaction in English was heard throughout the process. Nevertheless, this might be because of COVID19, which influenced the tourist sector. A similar case was found when considering the LL tokens surrounding the Stradivarius advertisement. Most of the LL tokens adjacent to #stradilooks are in Spanish (Josa y Guarró) or Catalan (Pelayo Assegurances, Depilació Làser d'alta eficàcia… see image 3). Nevertheless, a LL token was found in English (Bankinter, see image 4).

Having mentioned all this, we can conclude that most of the languages surrounding the linguistic context, in which the token selected sets in, are the ones that people use orally in the same street. However, we saw a few LLs in English, creating a connection with the international role that the use of English is thought to convey nowadays (Backhaus, 2006).



Image 4. Surroundings of the token (Bankinter). Picture taken by the authors (24/02/2021).



Image 5. Catalan tokens. Picture taken by authors (17/03/2021)

4. Results and discussion

There is a consensus among the members of the group about the values (established by the European landscape observatory) of the linguistic token chosen. We agreed that it has both aesthetic and productive values (Florence, 2000). Firstly, it is clear that the advertisement is garish and creative. When combining the name Stradivarius with the hashtag and the word looks, commonly used to tag photos in social media, the designer creates an aesthetic new term. The expression "#stradilooks" provides a sense of youth and innovation since the use of hashtag indexes global connections and internationalisation. Secondly, considering the productive value, the main purpose of the linguistic token is to attract clients in order to gain benefits. By using the hashtag, a client might attract potential new buyers within their followers. Consequently, the spread of the brand would increase and the cost of it would only be accredited to the marketing campaign of the advertisement.

Taking these values into consideration, we can reflect on the reason why the language that was chosen is English. We have agreed that the ad is addressed to a young public, a generation that uses social media the most to publish and share their looks with the rest. Moreover, this group of people is known to be more fluent in English because they have access to it via the internet in which English acts as a (global) lingua franca. Since the ad wants to encourage youngsters to use the Stradivarius looks on social media, it is understandable that English is the language chosen. It is also reasonable that the advertisement addresses youngsters, who normally don’t have a job yet, so they could access the cheap clothes Stradivarius offers.

There is no doubt about the impact English has caused on society through the internet since it was one of the tools that contributed to English expanding around the globe (Backhaus, 2006). For instance, we know that software, the operating information used by computers, is designed and codified in English. Moreover, we can find game words in English in lots of international apps such as “Whatsapp”, which plays with the phrasal verb: ‘what’s up?’ (synonym for ‘how are you doing?’) and then adds the word ‘app’ with a similar pronunciation. Another example of a game word in English is “Snapchat”, a social media service to chat with your friends mainly using photos and videos that are only available to be seen for a limited time. Here, we have ‘snap’ (synonym for quick, sudden cut) and then we have the combined word: chat.

It is highly common to play with English words in the media as well as use them to tag photos through hashtags. Knowing all this, we can almost affirm that English is the language of social media. Therefore, it is completely understandable that the term #stradilooks was chosen instead of #stradiaparences in Catalan or #stradiapariencias in Spanish. English offers the connection to social media that the advertisement wants to reach. Moreover, we can observe the accommodation of English (Backhaus, 2006). English is being accommodated in an Italian word: Stradivarius. It is important to mention that the English word ‘look’ is also understandable by non-English-speakers. For instance, among the Catalan people here in Lleida it is not rare to hear ‘quin nou look eh nena!’. The accommodation of this word in a Catalan sentence seems generally common among the youngsters here in Lleida.

Taking all this into consideration, it is shown how the advertisers had chosen mainly English because of its connection with social media rather than the implication of English as a global language. However, it is undeniable that the usage of English and the power that it has on the media is related to its global internationally whilst it is also being advertised as the global language to sell.


5. Concluding thoughts

This project has allowed us to learn in a practical way outside the classroom. The objective was to help the students to think critically about the multilingual space around them to understand language use in context, in this case by analyzing LL tokens. We consider that this way of working is innovative and highly recommended as it favours problem-solving, the autonomous, and work in group aptitudes. It also fosters critical reflection and social evaluation.

The first step was to take pictures of different LL tokens in the city of Lleida. This step was simple because nowadays we all have a mobile phone with a camera. Then we made an ethnographic analysis and incorporated the information into an interactive map. As students, we appreciate the implementation of technologies in our academic activities such as; ICT (Information and communication technology), TKA (Technology of knowledge), or TEP (Technology of empowerment and participation) technologies (Prego-Vázquez & Zas Varela 2018: 281).  

As we said before, technology has been essential in this project. First of all, we used our phone's camera to obtain an image of the LL token; for later analysis. Then to conduct the study, we used the concepts acquired in class, which have been telematic (theory and non-practice class). Besides, to complement the information, we have consulted bibliographic sources shared digitally. Finally, we have exposed our work on the blogger website, and we have added the LL token in an interactive map visible to everyone.

Also, this assignment has reinforced the participation and collaboration of young people. It had also allowed them to learn how to analyze LL tokens, understand them, and reflect on how Landscapes involve citizenship (Prego-Vázquez & Zas Varela 2018: 292).

Finally, Our example shows us how English is being established in places where it is not an official language. This example is just one of many, and together they represent today's society highly influenced by the American market. Besides, the languages of the population (Catalan, Spanish, and others) have also changed from dealing with only the official languages to knowing or, at least, having a notion of others, with English being one of the several studied languages. 


6. References and Web sources

  • Backhaus, P. 2006. Multilingualism in Tokyo: A Look into the Linguistic Landscape. International Journal of Multilingualism, 3 (1): 52-66.
  • Mooney, A., & Evans, B. (2015). Language, Society, and Power: An Introduction (4th ed.). Routledge.
  • Sabaté-Dalmau, M. (2021). 'Localizing English in town': A Linguistic Landscape for a Critical Linguistics Education on multilingualism. [Unpublished article]








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