FROM STREET SIGNS TO SOCIAL TIES: ENGLISH IN LLEIDA’S LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE
FROM STREET SIGNS TO SOCIAL TIES: ENGLISH IN LLEIDA’S LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE
Project 1
Rhea Manwani and Vània Sin
3rd of April, 2025
Degree: English Studies
Subject: English Language in Context
Profesor: Maria Sabaté Dalmau
TABLE OF CONTENTS
3.1 Bottom-up language policies
INTRODUCTION
The selected linguistic landscape (LL) token is the storefront sign of Greatness Afro Shop, a small food, cosmetics, and accessories store. The hand-painted lettering and images on the sign render it both an advertisement and a cultural signifier of the shop's connection with Afro-Caribbean and African migrant communities in Lleida. As a bottom-up linguistic landscape, the sign is created by private individuals rather than authorities, thereby reflecting real, everyday linguistic practice and grassroots economic strategy. The dominant language is Spanish, as seen in "Alimentos y Cosméticos. Accesorios." This choice provides accessibility to Spanish-speaking migrants and local residents, prioritizing practical communication over the use of Catalan, the region's co-official language.
The store name, Greatness Afro Shop, appears in English, revealing a globalized branding approach. English lends the store international visibility, potentially appealing to English-speaking African and Afro-Caribbean migrants, students, and tourists (Pennycook, 2010). The exclusive use of the Latin alphabet reflects standard typographic norms in Spain and indicates a general, non-specialized target audience.
This linguistic configuration reveals the polyglossic nature of the setting, where multiple languages coexist and are strategically deployed for different social, cultural, and economic functions (Gorter, 2006). Although Catalan is absent from the sign, its presence in the broader infrastructural landscape (e.g., street names, public notices) reinforces its institutional role, while this sign, in contrast, embodies non-institutional, commercial communication (Landry & Bourhis, 1997).
Last but not least, the sign illustrates the intersection of migration, language, and business, showing how migrant entrepreneurs navigate linguistic resources to assert cultural identity and pursue economic viability in a multilingual, multicultural urban environment (García & Wei, 2014; Canagarajah, 2013).
The shop is located on Carrer Cavallers, 46 in Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. This street lies within the University neighborhood, a central urban area known for its commercial activity and growing ethnolinguistic diversity, often associated with migrant entrepreneurship. According to recent demographic data, approximately 24.16% of the population in this neighborhood are foreign nationals, while 75.84% are Spanish. The neighborhood has a total population of 12,446 residents, with 5,927 men and 6,519 women. (Idescat. Códigos Territoriales Y De Entidades. Municipis. 251207 Lleida, n.d.). This substantial migrant presence aligns with the type of products offered by the shop—food, cosmetics, and accessories catering to Afro-Caribbean and African communities. The presence of such businesses indicates a multicultural and multilingual environment (Gorter, 2006; Blommaert, 2013).
The store likely serves both long-term residents and transient populations, such as international students and seasonal workers, both common in Lleida due to its educational institutions and surrounding agricultural zones.
Socioeconomically, the neighborhood caters to a lower-middle-class or working-class consumer base. As Pennycook and Otsuji (2015) observe, migrant-run businesses in such areas typically provide affordable, culturally specific goods, operating based on community needs rather than luxury consumption. Greatness Afro Shop serves not only economic functions but also social and symbolic ones, acting as a hub of cultural identity and belonging.
A more detailed picture of the social and linguistic geography of Carrer Cavallers can be contextualized using Figure 1, which shows the distribution of neighborhoods in Lleida. The shop is situated in Barri 3 – Universitat, a centrally located area bordered by Centre Històric (1) and Rambla Ferran–Estació (2), both of which report even higher percentages of foreign residents (44.81% and 40.36%, respectively). Therefore, this central cluster of neighborhoods forms a dense and diverse urban zone where migrant presence, multilingual signage, and bottom-up linguistic expressions are likely to be concentrated.
To analyze this LL token on the 20th of March of 2025, at least three field visits would be needed to observe customer interaction, language availability, and changes in signage. These visits form part of an ethnographically informed sociolinguistic approach, which prioritizes close, repeated observation of public spaces to understand how language is used, by whom, and in what social context. Rather than treating language use as isolated data, this method allows for the interpretation of linguistic practices as socially and culturally embedded phenomena. Observing language in its natural environment makes it possible to identify how public signage reflects linguistic hierarchies, cultural affiliations, and patterns of inclusion or exclusion in the urban space.
Comparing top-down Catalan language policies with those implemented in the municipality of Lleida suggests that while Catalan is promoted in institutional signage, its visibility in privately owned businesses—particularly those servicing migrant populations—is more limited. Here, the shop owner's use of Spanish and English seems deliberate, aimed at reaching a broad audience including Spanish-speaking immigrants and English users familiar with globalized commercial branding.
The bottom-up linguistic choices in the shop illustrate how entrepreneurs adapt language to the needs and identities of their communities, rather than simply replicating official language norms. The linguistic landscape surrounding the shop appears to feature a multilingual ecology, including Catalan, Spanish, and possibly other languages such as Arabic or French, reflecting the area's diverse demographic makeup. A more detailed ethnographic language survey in and around the shop could help document the complex sociolinguistic dynamics at play and offer deeper insight into how language functions as a tool of negotiation and belonging in migrant-run businesses.
Source: Picture taken by Vània Sin and Rhea Manwani, 20th March 2025
3.1 Bottom-up language policies
Bottom-up language policies emerge from the linguistic practices, preferences, and adaptations that develop organically within communities, businesses, and social networks. Unlike top-down policies, which are imposed through official mechanisms such as legislation, institutional guidelines, or formal education, bottom-up dynamics reflect how language is used informally in everyday life.
These practices are shaped by the needs and expectations of individuals, employers, and cultural groups. For example, although not legally required, some businesses may choose to offer multilingual signage or customer service in order to better connect with a diverse clientele. Similarly, immigrant communities often take the initiative to establish language schools or cultural centers to maintain and pass on their heritage languages to future generations. In this way, bottom-up policies highlight how language use adapts to real social conditions, rather than being driven solely by institutional mandates.
Greatness Afro Shop, a business with over seven years of experience in Lleida, serves as a clear example of a commercial space applying bottom-up language policies. The shop prioritizes the use of Spanish in its signage and customer interaction, reflecting the linguistic preferences and practical needs of its surrounding community. Rather than following official linguistic regulations, the language choices made by the shop owner are rooted in day-to-day communication realities and the desire to make the store accessible to a broad migrant clientele, many of whom speak Spanish as a lingua franca. This illustrates how bottom-up language practices arise organically in response to social and economic dynamics, allowing businesses like this one to create inclusive environments tailored to their customers.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The street front sign serves a range of landscape values beyond mere commercial identification (Observatori del Paisatge de Catalunya, n.d.). Its visual importance stems from being hand-painted, and with imagery such as a beer bottle and a banana, it becomes informally but culturally inscribed. According to the landscape glossary, we can identify several key values: the productive value, as the shop provides culturally specific goods not easily found in mainstream supermarkets; the aesthetic value, reflected in the handmade and expressive nature of the sign; the identity value, through the name Greatness Afro Shop, which asserts an Afro-centric diasporic presence; and the social value, as the store functions as a community anchor where shared practices and networks can flourish.
The use of English in the name of the shop highlights the impact of international branding practices. Even in small, migrant-owned businesses, English operates as a tool for commercial multilingualism and advertising, indexing values such as cosmopolitanism, leadership, and open-mindedness (Cenoz & Gorter, 2009). This reflects how English is used to increase visibility and marketability, especially within globalized consumer culture.
On the other hand, Spanish predominates on the sign ("Alimentos y Cosméticos. Accesorios"), reaffirming its status as a lingua franca for migrant populations across Spain. The absence of Catalan reflects a broader pattern in which migrant-owned businesses prioritize accessibility over the promotion of the local language. This raises important questions about linguistic inclusion and whether Catalan is perceived as an operative or useful language within economic interactions in migrant contexts.
Overall, the sign illustrates points of convergence between migration, economic adaptation, and language use in Lleida. It evidences the pragmatic decisions made by migrant entrepreneurs to navigate local linguistic policies while ensuring their signage remains accessible and functional. The case of Greatness Afro Shop sheds light on the dynamic interplay between language visibility, social integration, and the role of minority and majority languages in shaping both local urban spaces and transnational identities.
Figure 4 - LL token
Source: Picture taken by Vània Sin and Rhea Manwani, 20th March 2025
5. CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Linguistic landscape study provides a useful way to probe sociolinguistics beyond the classroom. Observation, analysis, and interpretation of signs like that over Greatness Afro Shop provide an opportunity to get a deeper sense of how language functions in real social and economic contexts. Less a hypothetical exercise, such an analysis invites students to engage actively as knowledge makers, bridging material taught to real life experience in their local neighborhoods. Linguistic landscaping is an important pedagogical tool since it compels students to reflect critically on the complexities of multilingualism, migration, and identity. Through examination of decisions taken in commercial signage, it is possible to uncover larger sociocultural and political processes at play—e.g., language policies, economic adjustment, and social inclusion or exclusion. The experiential learning promotes a greater appreciation for language as a dynamic and context-dependent phenomenon rather than a set system of rules.
Beyond the academy, linguistic landscapes research also finds use in socially engaged ethnography of citizenship (Pennycook, 2010). Through field work and the study of real-world linguistic data, students help inform a greater understanding of how language is negotiated and used in society. This research methodology aligns with others such as TKA (Technology of Knowledge Acquisition) and TEP (Technology of Empowerment and Participation), both of which emphasize the importance of understanding language in context and amplifying the voices of individuals who are often marginalized in language and cultural studies.
For the case of Greatness Afro Shop, this research sheds light on how migrant-owned businesses navigate language hierarchies and social incorporation in a multilingual city like Lleida. It places on center stage how the use of language in business settings indicates not only economic strategies but broader trends of mobility, identity, and belonging. Learning from such instances not only enhances theoretical awareness but also makes students reflect upon their own worlds of language and thus sociolinguistics more tangible and real in terms of their lives.
Ultimately, linguistic landscaping is an effective means of connecting academic research with real social issues. It prompts students to transcend the campus world and critically reflect on the language practices that organize their worlds. In so doing, it instills a sense of power in knowing and constructing linguistic and social processes, confirming that language is not just a tool for communication, but also a marker of identity, power, and belonging.
On a personal level, doing sociolinguistics in the streets was a valuable and eye-opening experience. It forced me to observe and interpret the linguistic signs around me not just as text, but as living artifacts loaded with cultural, economic, and social meaning. Walking through my own city with a critical lens made me more aware of the layers of identity, inclusion, and negotiation embedded in everyday signs. It also helped me connect theory to reality—seeing firsthand how language is not abstract, but something that shapes and reflects real lives. This project gave me a stronger sense of ownership over what I’m learning and made sociolinguistics feel closer, more practical, and relevant to my own surroundings.
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