Comedy Nights
Photograph 1. Token of Nuba advertisement. The picture was taken by the writer (27/04/2022)TITLE IS MISSING!!
1- Introduction
This project aims, through the students of different universities, to localize English in the streets. At the University of Lleida, during the second year of English studies in the subject English Language in Context, María Sabaté Dalmau commissioned this Linguistic Landscaping project for her students.
“The language of public road signs, advertising billboards, street names, place names, commercial shop signs, and public signs on government buildings combines to form the linguistic landscape of a given territory, region, or urban agglomeration” (Landry and Bourhis 1997: 25) this is what we should bear in mind when searching for Lls. NO CLEART LINK BETWEEN QUOTE AND STATEMENT AS AN INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH.
In my case, I chose an advertising billboard for analysis, which is shown in photograph 1, while photograph 2 is the place where it is located, with the only difference being that, as it is a photo from May 2019, the advertising sign that preceded it is different. However, it is odd that despite this, the billboard also contained English, as it belonged to Mister English, an English academy in Lleida located a few meters away from this street.
The billboard is advertising the performance of two comedians at the Nuba.
Nuba African Tavern located at Av. de Les Garrigues, 62, in Lleida, is a drinking establishment set in colonial Africa. WHERE??? This place has the so-called "Comedy Nights" in which they invite comics to perform monologues at night while their audience enjoys their drinks or food. They are open on weekends, and in addition to their " Comedy Nights," they also have different events ( e. i. e. the sessions for football lovers).
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary (AVOID NON ACADEMIC REFERENCES), Nuba is: "any of numerous diverse peoples constituting a loose community in the Nuba hills of South Kordofan believed by some to be related to the Nubians".
Possibly, in order to have more clients, not only nationals, and due to the fact of being a Lingua Franca ( worldwide), its name is written in English rather than in Catalan or Spanish. Another possible cause could be that, given its global nature, as we have already mentioned, it might be more attractive or more striking for potential visitors if it is written in English rather than in any other language, as English is very present in all commercial spheres since it is something that makes sales.
According to the classification of Mooney & Evans (2015, p. 92), this advertisement would be of the commercial type, as they are informing you of ticket sales. Although it is located in a different street from the one where the establishment is located, it is right in the center and close to popular public places such as bars or even the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lleida. With this, they want everyone who sees it to come to the tavern or will search for information on google about it, etc. to get both ticket sales as well as visitors who will consume in their tavern or even go to the tavern after their visit to the Comedy Nights.
The message is written mainly in Catalan, with Spanish as a second language, and the two words "Comedy Nights" are written in English. ADD THE CATALAN AND SPANISH LANGUAGE WORDS THAT YOU FOUND.
The English used can be considered standard as any dictionary contains these two words. It can be considered multilingualism because both Catalan and Spanish share space in this advertisement, and with the expression "Comedy Nights" in English.
The Latin alphabet is used in all three languages, so it can be considered monoglossic.
2- Contextualisation
The LL we are analyzing is situated at Avenida Balmes 19, which is in the Historic Centre neighbourhood of Lleida. In the following image (IMAGE 1), we can see on the map of neighbourhoods of Lleida where the Historic Centre is located.
The Centre Històric de Lleida is a very busy place due to its location in the center of the city, meaning that a large number of buildings have been constructed here. As a result, there are many people working in this area of the city, as well as several people living in this part of the town, and numerous tourists visiting the different shops, lodging in hotels in this zone as well as many other places of interest.
This neighbourhood is called Centre Històric because it is the ancient heart of the city, where we can also find the Rectorat, the campus of the Faculty of Letters of Lleida University, the main library of the city, etc. We also find the Church of Sant Llorenç, the Museum of Lleida, and above all, one of the best places of interest and with plenty of history, the Seu Vella.
According to La Paería (2012), it is a very commercial area with a multitude of bars, hotels, and above all, places that contain the culture of this city. We can visit different hospitals, bars, restaurants, cafes, clothes shops, accessories, mineral shops, etc. As well as food shops such as Mercadona, Consum, Plusfresc, and other small shops.
Rambla Ferran-Estaciò (2), Princeps de Viana-Clot (4), Xalents-Humbert Torres (8), Universitat (3), Instituts-Templers, and Cappont (13) are the different districts close to the Historic Centre of Lleida. (> THIS DOES NOT ADD TO THE ANALYSIS)
It is important to bear in mind that the area of Rambla Ferrán Estaciò is where the train station is located, which allows both people who live in Lleida and those who want to visit the city to travel from and get to and from Lleida. We can also find the bus station in the Centre Històric of Lleida.
Although there are almost half of Spanish and foreigners living in the Historic Centre, according to the Paería (2012), 55.19% are Spanish and the rest, 44.81%, are immigrants. This can be contemplated in image number 2 ABOVE.
According to (Llimós et al., 2021) the entire housing area of the Historic Centre should be demolished in order to build new ones. "In 1996, the old town was left with 4,000 residents. Now, this figure has tripled, especially due to the arrival of an immigrant population in a precarious situation living in old and degraded housing [...] In 1975, 13,000 people lived here. In 1996, there were less than 4,000." There are a significant number of gypsies living here, Moroccans who have shops that are not considered theirs by the rest of the inhabitants, and for this reason, a large part of the commerce has been forced to abandon. In image 3, we observe from google Maps where the token stands and its surroundings. Unfortunately, from this view, we cannot see the advertising banner. Nevertheless, in google street view we can see the billboard in the distance. For reasons I don't know, it doesn't allow me to place myself in the google street view at 19 Avenida Balmes, but this would be perhaps the closest view.
Image 4. View of the surrounding area. Gathered from Google Maps (17/05/2022)3- Methodology
I found this LL token when I was searching for one to use in this project, in fact, the last one I found was the one that most caught my attention and that I saw as the best one for the development of this project. After taking the photograph, I did some research on the internet to take pictures of the street where the token is located and the necessary searches for images and information for the token.
According to (BOE-A-2000-15933 Law 9/2000, of 7 July, on the Regulation of Dynamic Advertising in Catalonia, 2021) "Local corporations must favor, stimulate and promote the use of the Catalan language in all forms of dynamic advertising, in accordance with the measures established in section 2 of Article 37 of Law 1/1998, of 7 January, on linguistic policy".
For this reason, this billboard is mostly written in Catalan, which is the main language of Catalonia, and partly in Spanish as it is part of Spain. We find the word "Comedy Nights" as a way to attract the attention of young audiences who tend to bring English words into their lives, much of this has been promoted by social networks.
When I took the photograph of the token, I could hear mostly Catalan and some Spanish in the surrounding area. I didn't hear any other foreign language, this could be related to the date I took it, as it wasn't holidays I guess, and also to the aftermath of the pandemic, as I haven't seen many tourists in the area of Lleida so far. (AVOID CONTRACTIONS)
In the surroundings where the billboard is located, we can see the Loteria y Apuestas del Estado, which is written in Spanish, and the signs next to it in Catalan. Next to it, however, is a Ramen restaurant known as Shifu, which are words that come from Japanese, and the other billboard a little further down advertises the Merca China, which is written entirely in Catalan.
We can see a diverse linguistic variety in this area of the city where we see references to Japanese, Catalan, Spanish, and even English as in our token.
We also found a Japanese restaurant, this is a clear example of how the culture of other parts of the world and its gastronomy, customs, etc. reaches any part of the world.
4- Results and discussion
Bearing in mind the list of "values" attributed to LL by the Landscape Observatory of Catalonia taken from the European Landscape Convention (Florence, 2000): we can say that the advertising banner has "Aesthetic value of the landscape: Capacity of a landscape to transmit a certain sensation of beauty, according to the significance and cultural appreciation it has acquired throughout history [...] Productive value of the landscape: Capacity of a landscape to provide economic benefits, converting its elements into resources [cash/money]"; and its elements into resources [cash/money]"; and "Social value of landscape: Relating to the use of the landscape by an individual or group with an interest in the community". with an interest for the community".
With this we can point out that the fact that "Comedy Nights" is used instead of "Noches de Comedia" or "Nits de Comèdia" is due to the fact that English is liked, English is attractive and it seems that things sound much better in English. Thanks to new technologies, which have been designed mostly, if not entirely, in English, on any social network or site we visit we are more likely to find information in English than in any other language. MENTION ALL INFO FORM UNIT 4 (ADVERTISING ENGLIKSH, COMMERCIAL MULTILINGUALISM, ENGLISH AS CURRENCY...)
In addition, many English words are being added to the vocabulary of many Spaniards, especially young people, such as expressions like " Qué fashion es este vestido de la Nueva Temporada de H&M", "Dale al play que quiero empezar esta serie", "WTF ¿qué acaba de pasar?", "La deadline para entregar este proyecto es sobre el 19 de este mes", etc. We also find this in different names of social networks such as Facebook, which translates as "libro de caras", or Telegram, which translates as "Telegrama", both of which are used to send messages, make calls with or without video calls, and upload photos, etc.
The fact that we find so much information in English in a city like Lleida is due to the globalization of this language and how it has reached social networks.
Americanisation has also done a great deal, as many of the products, celebrations, series, books, and things we say come from there.
English is more and more present in our lives day by day, to find a good job and to be able to build a future for yourself you (DO NOT PERSONALISE WITH 'YOU' IN ACADEMIC WIRITNG) need to have even a basic level of this language, otherwise, you will find many doors closed.
5- Concluding thoughts
It's truly fascinating how a teacher's assignment can change your view of the world in such a huge way. Before I started my degree I was already aware of how English was very present in our lives before I started my degree, however not in the same way since I entered university, being able to have a better understanding of why and how it affected, affects and will continue affecting people' s lives.
With subjects as English as a Global Language I became aware of its globality, the fact of being a Lingua Franca and the necessity to speak a minimum of English in today's world. In history subjects you discover how the British came to have all this power as well as what Americanisation is about, so you discover how this American influence is being spread all over the world.
However, in English Language in Context during the second part of the programme, I've never stopped to notice how much English can be found in the streets wherever I'm walking. Sometimes you just simply walk around and you know it's there without even being aware of it, without ever having a look for it. Since I started this whole project, which I have enjoyed enormously, I notice that I can find large amounts of English in almost every street in the city of Lleida. In fact I had travelled to Huesca and Zaragoza while I was doing the project and I also noticed that in these two cities where I have lived and visited for many years there is English in their streets, and not just as a result of being an English academy.
This reinforces and demonstrates even more the strength and power that America and Great Britain still possess over the whole world, being a Lingua Franca, everyone is almost forced to speak this language, at least in a basic level. Indeed, in many cases this can lead to the death of languages, and with them the death of their culture. Therefore, hopefully the power of English will not reach that far and each language of the world and its culture will be preserved and protected with it.
6- References MISSING SOME ACADEMIC REFERENCES (LIKE SOME QUOTE REGARDING THE POWER OF ENGLISH.. AND SOME REFERENCES ARE FAULTY (DISORGANISED OR MISSING INFO)
Ø (n.d.). NUBA – African Tavern. Retrieved May 15, 2022, from http://nuballeida.com/
Ø BOE-A-2000-15933 Ley 9/2000, de 7 de julio, de
Regulación de la publicidad dinámica en Cataluña. (2021,
July 7). BOE.es. Retrieved May 17, 2022, from https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=BOE-A-2000-15933
Ø Floridi, A. (n.d.). The European Landscape Convention (Florence,
2000). The Council of Europe. Retrieved May 17, 2022, from https://www.coe.int/en/web/landscape/the-european-landscape-convention
Ø (n.d). Google Maps (may, 2019) Retrieved May 17, 2022, from ttps://www.google.es/maps/@41.6176745,0.6199705,3a,15y,174.98h,85.07t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sKpEoGWS9Mb5MbDnZR93baQ!2e0!5s20190501T000000!7i16384!8i8192?hl=es
Ø La ciutat de Lleida » La Paeria. (n.d.).
Ajuntament de Lleida. Retrieved May 17, 2022, from https://www.paeria.cat/cat/ciutatlleida.asp
Ø Llimós, A., Iglesias, S., & Planas, M. (2021,
March 14). "¿Quién vendría a vivir al centro histórico de Lleida?" Retrieved May 17, 2022, from https://es.ara.cat/sociedad/vendria-vivir-centro-historico-lleida_130_3900133.html
Ø Nuba Definition & Meaning. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster. Retrieved
May 15, 2022, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Nuba
Ø Nuba Lleida - Home. (n.d.). Facebook. Retrieved May 15, 2022, from https://www.facebook.com/NUBA.LLEIDA/
Ø Sabaté-Dalmau, M. (n.d.). Collective
project: Localising English in Lleida. Retrieved from https://cv.udl.cat/access/content/attachment/101266-2021/Missatges/40d5f65a-95ee-4a68-bff3-71ecf6bf665a/Project%20Information_Assessment_Steps_Outcome.pdf
Ø Sabaté Dalmau, M. (2019-2020). Hand-out_and_Ppt_Unit_2. Campus Virtual UDL. https://cv.udl.cat/portal/site/101266-2122/tool/cb706ad6-70b2-49d8-b75a-65634ff5c6fc
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