Marcelo Fruits: an insight on the use of "commercial multilingualism" in Lleida
MARCELO FRUITS: AN INSIGHT INTO THE USE OF “COMMERCIAL MULTILINGUALISM” IN LLEIDA
Teacher: Dr. Maria Sabatè Dalmau
By: Paula Calveras Fernández, Glória Guasch Arias & Vladislava Used Ermakova
1. INTRODUCTION
Figure 1: Map of the area where our token in located
Source: Retrieved from Google Maps by the authors (10/03/2026)
This blog post is part of a project titled 'Localising English in Lleida,' which is a key component of the subject 'Language in Context' at the University of Lleida, within the English Studies degree. The project studies the presence, meaning, and concequences of English in public spaces and throughout the city via linguistic landscapes (LL) or public communicative inscriptions, which, as Gorter defined, are the written languages visible in public spaces (Gorter, 2006, 2).
The text typology of the linguistic landscape (LL) is a storefront sign and window display belonging to a greengrocer. The activity domain of the establishment is clearly commerce, particularly within the subcategory related to the food and grocery sector, as its names, including "fruits", indicate.
This LL token could be categorised as a commercial sign according to Mooney and Evan’s (2018) categorisation of sign types, with its main purpose to advertise a business and to attract customers, all of this with the final goal of making a monetary profit. The storefront sign could communicate the identity of the commerce and its main products throughout the name “Marcelo Fruits”, which homogenises a personal name in Spanish and an English lexical item, "fruits".
Concerning the linguistic composition of the LL, the foregrounded language may be English, which is represented by the word “Fruits”. The use of English could function as a symbolic item for advertisement and branding rather than a communicative factor because the world can be understood both by denotation (for English users) and by connotation (by non-English users who can associate "fruit" with "fruites/fruutas"). The background language, both in the surroundings of the sign and the environment of the greengrocer (Figure 2), includes Catalan and Spanish with a communicative purpose, for instance, the majority of the elements found for advertising or selling their products or the informative notes that you can find in the window display are written either in Catalan, Spanish or both. Both languages are also widely used in nearby commercial buildings with a similar purpose and in quotidian social interaction among residents and customers.
From a linguistic perspective, the sign is monoglossic as it uses only the Roman alphabet, but polyglossic at the language choice level as it uses two languages in the name of the shop; it is a sign made up of bilingualism. The token could be interpreted as part of the wider linguistic landscape panorama of the city (Lleida), as it becomes a multilingual element in the urban environment, where Catalan and Spanish are languages that can appear in the same environment, even though due to social constrictions, Catalan is mostly relegated, along with occasional English phrasing used mainly for advertising (see analysis).
In this project, we will examine Marcelo Fruits as a market-oriented LL, emphasising the symbolic and communicative movement of English and how it coexists with Catalan and Spanish in a setting such as a neighbourhood characterised by a vast majority of native Catalan and Spanish speakers rather than migrant movements.
2. CONTEXTUALISATION
Figure 3: Storefront of Marcelo Fruits
Source: Image taken by the authors (10/03/2026)
The fruit shop Marcelo Fruits is a commercial store located at Avinguda Rovira Roure, 28 (25006), Lleida. Its main purpose is to serve as a greengrocer as it sells fruits and vegetables mainly. Marcelo Fruits is also known as a humble convenience store because on its shelves we can also find products of local markets, such as eggs, dates, cheese, biscuits, yoghurt, olive oil, dried fruits, among other items. Marcelo Fruits is committed to local products, supporting farmers, and tries to provide exotic fruits to cater for the tastes of both its local and global clientele.
Avinguda Rovira Roure is one of the main roads in the city and connects several residential and service areas, making it a busy and well-transited street throughout the day. The demographic location of the neighbourhood is Xalets-Humert Torres ( 6 in Figure 4). At first glance, this could be seen as a minor neighbourhood store focused on the daily use of the city by citizens. A more detailed analysis of its name, store signage, and its language choices reveals an important understanding of processes of Englishization, identity creation and the relationship between main global languages and local ones in a Catalan city such as Lleida.
In terms of the demographic profile, the surrounding area reflects the broader population of Lleida, as the official general statistics of Lleida’s city hall display the total population at 147,400 inhabitants approximately (Idescat 2026, via paeria.cat). However, the immediate environment around the area is mainly residential and predominantly populated by local Catalan/Spanish residents, who make up around 94.8%, besides foreigners or visitors that are 5.2% (2024). People who pass through the area daily include individuals going to multiple nearby services. The area has a mix of residential buildings, local shops, schools, and healthcare within walking distance. As a result, the pedestrian flow is constant, with many people using the avenue as a part of their daily lives. Streets here tend to be busy but not as busy as other central areas.
Figure 4: Map of Lleida’s neighbourhoogs
Source: Gifex (n.d.)
Unlike more central commercial zones, this area is not characterised by tourism or gentrification. Instead, it functions primarily as a local neighbourhood space where everyday activities such as shopping, walking, working, and accessing services take place. Thus, it emerges as a comfortable middle-upper-class area. The demographic composition of the area tends to include a higher proportion of adults and older residents compared to student-dominated zones of the city, according to the Pla Local de Joventut de Lleida 2022-2025 made by La Paeria. Although people from different cultural backgrounds can be observed in the neighbourhood, the clientele that frequents the fruit shop is made up of predominantly Catalan and Spanish users, according to our observations. Many customers appear to be long-term residents who regularly shop at neighbourhood stores, contributing to a sense of community and familiarity between customers and businesses.
Traditional small Catalan or Spanish businesses such as bakeries, pharmacies and fruit shops form part of the everyday urban landscape (which would be explained further in this study ,at figures 12&13 in results and discussion). The local shop is surrounded by other interesting nearby points, such as Camp d’Esports, El Clot de les Granotes and Zona Alta. The following map (Figure 4) shows the location of the Xalet-Hmbert Torres neighbourhood (number 6 in Figure 4) within the broader urban context of Lleida. A closer street-level view (Figure 5) illustrates the immediate surroundings of Marcelo Fruits and the type of urban environment in which it operates.
Figure 5: A street view map of the surroundings
Source: image retrieved by the authors from Google Maps (11/03/2026)
3. METHODOLOGY
To conduct the analysis of Marcelo Fruits, three fieldwork visits were made to the area where the commerce is located and its surroundings.
The first visit was done on the 27th of February; the visit aimed to identify the LL token and develop a proper documentation of its characteristics. During the visit, photos of the shopfront sign were taken, and a short trip through the neighbourhood was taken. This helped us to identify and better understand the languages present in the area.
The second on the 5th of March focused on the documentation of the surrounding linguistic landscape in the neighbourhood. During this operation, additional photographs were taken of adjacent businesses such as shops, restaurants and other service establishments. This allowed us to identify and compare the language choices other establishments made with those of our token.
The last visit took place the 10th of March and aimed to observe the linguistic practices occurring in the area, which includes the languages spoken by customers and passers-by in Marcelo Fruits market and the neighbouring markets. During this study, we could determine that the most frequently used languages were Catalan and Spanish, which accord with the official languages of the area. On some occasions, other languages, such as Arabic and Romanian, could be heard among groups of passers-by composed of migrant residents.
Lleida is regulated by a hierarchy of official language policies, which were established by the Catalan government of La Generalitat and the local government of Lleida, La Paeria.
In 2006, the Estatut d’Autonomia de Catalunya was published, which established Catalan as the own language of the territory; this official decree transformed Catalonia into an officially bilingual territory where Catalan and Spanish served as official languages. To evade discrimination based on language usage, the Normalització Lingüistica law protected the population’s rights to use Catalan in both private and public environments.
Furthermore, the Lleida government has its own policies regarding the language utilisation, some of these programmes order the use of the Catalan language by the local administration and its constituent parts, as La Paeria expressed in its legislative framework, an example would be the Reglament per a l’ús de la llengua catalana a l'Ajuntament de Lleida (2014). This, following the Catalan government’s rules, establishes that all clients have the right and obligation to be addressed and to address business owners in Catalan and/or Spanish, without precluding the use of foreign languages such as English, for foreign targeted populations.
To conclude, both governments establish that Catalan should be used in the public extension of the city, including the commercial signage. However, it’s not mandatory, although it could be recommended in order to promote the local language. In addition, these regulations do not exclude or prohibit the use of other languages, raising awareness in the linguistic diversity of the area and preserving the civil rights of the citizens. Therefore, the sight of LL with top-down policies across the city demonstrates the impact of language choices, avoiding the isolation of other linguistic or cultural demonstrations.
Despite the institutional instruction, the shopfront signage of Marcelo Fruits exemplifies a bottom-up linguistic choice. Since the establishment is a private business created by a particular individual rather than a public institution, this is why the owner can make use of English, too.
In this case, the choice of English for the word “fruits” may illustrate a marketing strategy planned to transmit a modern and appealing commerce. The choice of “fruits” is not aimed at facilitating the comprehension of native English speakers, since the target population would be relatively few in such surroundings. The true purpose of its use is to perform as a trendy, modern, fresh and global shop (Cenoz & Gorter, 2009); this is a conscious decision with an important symbolic value in contemporary commercial culture. This symbolic feature of English is reinforced by the way it can be interpreted by different people. The English-speaking citizens would recognise its denotative meaning, while non-English speakers would interpret it through connotation, associating it with the Catalan word “fruites” or “frutas” in Spanish. Meantime, Catalan and Spanish in the surrounding signage (Figure 2) would fulfil the communicative necessities of local customers, accentuating a functional distinction between symbolic and instrumental users within the same LL.
Figures 6,7 & 8: Images of near commerce
Source: Image retrieved by the author ( 10/03/2026)
Figures 9 & 10: Images of near commerce
Source: images taken by the authors (10/03/2026)
The linguistic surroundings of the LL tend to contain a combination of Catalan or Spanish as the dominant language in the area, with an English exposure in some cases; for example, Central Pa Artesanal Bakery, Kiara’s cafe, Inlingua or Autoescola MotoCar, all of them include an occasional English lexical item on their signage, through ‘advertising English’ (Cenoz & Gorter, 2009). On the other hand, there could also be found some monolingual representations such as: Black Berry, Flex by Distar, NewClass, Aloha Poke or Burger King; these other examples manifest the successful and lucrative use of English for commercial purposes.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Our LL token, analysed in this study, which corresponds to the storefront sign of Marcelo Fruits (Figure 10), can be interpreted through several landscape values, according to the categorisation established by the Linguistic Landscape Observatory, 2026).
Figure 11: A close-up image of the storefront sign
Source: Picture taken by the authors ( 27/02/2026)
Firstly, the productive value is the most evident feature of the sign. The main purpose of the storefront is commercial: to identify the business and attract potential customers who pass along the avenue. As defined by the glossary, productive value refers to the “capacity of a landscape to provide financial benefits, converting its elements into resources”. In this case, the sign functions as a visual tool that allows the shop to be easily recognisable by pedestrians and drivers in a busy urban area. Since Avinguda Rovira Roure is a street with constant traffic, the visibility of the shop's name plays a crucial role in attracting regular local customers. Secondly, the token also conveys identity value. This value refers to the symbolic meaning that certain landscape elements can have for local people, creating a sense of familiarity. In the case of our token, the sign represents a typical neighbourhood fruit shop that forms part of the commercial area. Unlike larger supermarket chains, small fruit shops often maintain closer relationships with their customers, who are mostly residents. In the neighbourhood, the fruit shop has become an integral part of the locals' identities, which mainly consist of local and migrant customers, and they present themselves as both locally and globally engaged.
The shop and its surroundings also could hold social value; fruit shops, such as Marcelo Fruits, are everyday meeting points where people interact while purchasing fresh products. The store contributes to their social lives by providing an accessible place where residents can buy basic food products and maintain routine interactions. The constant pedestrian traffic reinforces this social function. Although the shop is not a relevant meeting point in the city because its main purpose is to solely provide a basic service such as shopping. However, when such interactions are repeated with long-term regular customers, they form the basis of lasting social relationships (Hungan & Klemsdal, 2024, p.16).
Furthermore, the storefront has an aesthetic value. Although the design is simple and functional, the visual elements of the shop, such as the name of the shop and the display of fresh fruit outside the entrance, create a recognisable and attractive image. This aesthetic dimension is common in small food shops, where the visual presentation of the product is an important element in attracting customers. The vibrant colours (blue and white letters) and shapes of the fruits themselves, nicely placed looking at the outside of the place, become part of the identity, contributing to the pleasant and familiar atmosphere of neighbourhood commerce, transmitting proximity and openness.
Regarding the linguistic dimension, the token mainly reflects the local linguistic context of Lleida. In everyday commercial environments such as this one, Spanish and Catalan are the most commonly used languages, as they correspond to the linguistic repertoire of the majority of the population in the area. Although, as previously mentioned, Catalan tend to be backgrounded in commerce. This is explained by the increasing number of migrant people in the city. A study made in 2024 by the Consorci per la Normalització Lingüística de Lleida (CNL) provides a statistic that shows how in the last 7 years the use of Catalan in commerce decreased a 17%, according to the Segre newspaper. Unlike businesses that target international tourism, local neighbourhood shops tend to prioritise clear communication and local customers. Therefore, the linguistic choices in the storefront sign primarily serve a practical communicative approach. However, the surrounding environment of the avenue also reflects the multicultural reality of the city. People from different cultural backgrounds can often be seen passing through the area, which reflects the demographic diversity present in many Spanish cities nowadays.
Marcelo Fruits reveals a sign of Englishisation, as commercial signage. This behaviour is closely tied to the demographic movement and the usual consumer practices, with a display of shops trying to adapt to the new world and attract new clientele through globalised market trends. In this manner, English becomes a visible marker in urban spaces, indicating both the power of commerce and the sociolinguistic dynamics of the city.
Figure 12 & 13: Pictures of near commerce
Source: Picture taken by the authors (10/03/2026)
From our point of view, this LL token represents a clear example of everyday local commerce; unlike other globalised businesses, the sign does not rely heavily on English or other international languages to attract customers. This highlights an important aspect of LL’s, not all urban signage reflects globalisation or Englishization. In many residential areas, local languages remain dominant, reinforcing the connection between small businesses and their communities. It perfectly illustrates how small neighbourhood businesses contribute to the linguistic and social landscape of the city, which may appear simpler, but it represents the linguistic practice of the community that inhabits this part of Lleida.
5. CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
The project highlighted how language actively shapes the world. Echoing Luisa Martín Rojo insight, the space selects the language, and the language transforms it. Meaning that in a world of constant change, language has a major impact on society as we observe how linguistic practices evolve in response to social stimulus. This type of research allowed us to become more aware of how language influences quotidian life, both in academic settings and in our private lives.
At first, it was very common for us to walk around the city without noticing anything particularly interesting about Lleida, but after this research, we gathered enough information to help us see these signs in a completely different light. Linguistic Landscapes taught us how to look, think, and analyse when looking at any sign, letter, or establishments.
When comparing Marcelo Fruits with other stores, we could notice how it was focused on being more of a local business than anything huge. Their aim was for a simple store with regular customers, and their entire distribution and priority use of local languages rather than English shows their main target: to connect more with local customers here in Lleida. Despite being such a small business, we learned to appreciate how it had enough with its regular customers to stay afloat.
More broadly, this research was performed as a practical and engaging pedagogical tool for the study of sociolinguistics through the analysis of linguistic landscapes in our city. By investigating real-life signs, shopfronts, window displays, and advertisements, we were able to examine language use in actual contexts beyond purely theoretical discussion. In this sense, the project also encouraged us to participate in a form of socially engaged citizenship ethnography disposed of with the TKA/TEP framework proposed by Prego and Zas. Throughout this process, we acted as knowledge generators (Sayer, 2010), constructing our own observations and interpretations about language use in public spaces by assembling our newly acquired knowledge in this project while learning both inside and outside the university classroom, within the social environments that form part of our daily lives.
Ultimately, the LL of Lleida reflects the active interaction between local traditions and global cultural and social influences. The coexistence and the mixture of Catalan, Spanish, and English reflect how language continuously shapes the world in social, economic, and cultural ranges. Overall, this project gave us more insight into the use of language and aesthetics throughout the city and how much it has impacted society.
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