LINGUIST List 19.1584
|
Mon May 19 2008
Diss: Disc Analysis/Socioling/Writings Systems: Curtin: 'Language ...'
Editor for this issue: Evelyn Richter
<evelyn linguistlist.org>
|
To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at
http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.html.
|
Directory
1. Melissa
Curtin,
Language Ideologies on Display: Local, regional & (trans)national identities in Taipei's linguistic landscape
Message 1: Language Ideologies on Display: Local, regional & (trans)national identities in Taipei's linguistic landscape
|
Date: 18-May-2008
From: Melissa Curtin <mlcurtinsiu.edu>
Subject: Language Ideologies on Display: Local, regional & (trans)national identities in Taipei's linguistic landscape
 E-mail this message to a friend
Institution: University of New Mexico
Program: Department of Communication & Journalism
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2007
Author: Melissa L. Curtin
Dissertation Title: Language Ideologies on Display: Local, regional & (trans)national identities in Taipei's linguistic landscape
Linguistic Field(s):
Discourse Analysis
Sociolinguistics
Writing Systems
Dissertation Director:
Bradford 'J' Hall
Maria Dolores Gonzales
Janet Cramer
Ilia RodrÃguez
Dissertation Abstract:
In this project, I examine two main types of public signage in Taipei - one
that sports non-Chinese, 'vogue display languages' and one that features
official signage with varying Romanizations of Chinese - and I investigate
ways in which all orthographies employed serve in indexing residents'
complex negotiations of local, regional, and (trans)national identities.
Using data from a year-long ethnographic study, I first provide an overview
of the functional patterns of non-Chinese display languages and describe
the local interpretive readings and identities conveyed therein. I also
include a semiotic analysis of the prominent role of form of the scripts in
the signification of these locally produced meanings.
I then expand the scope of the project to examine the role of systems of
Romanization (pinyin) of Chinese language in official signage in the
contestation of identities in and of Taiwan. Applying a critical discourse
analysis using news articles, web blogs, government websites, academic
literature, and informal discussions, I present an analysis of the key
social semiotic processes of indexicality and iconicity in language
orthographies in the negotiation of residents' local, regional, and
(trans)national identities. In this analysis, I compare the highly
naturalized meanings of scripts of non-Chinese display languages with the
highly contested significations of the competing Romanized scripts used in
transliterating Chinese languages. I conclude in noting that all
orthographic systems in the multi-script LL of Taipei are ideologically
based and serve important functions in the (re)presentation of Taiwanese
identities.
Systems of pinyin are important in indexing what it means to be 'a
Taiwanese' on local, regional and (trans)national levels, and are
interpreted within - and contribute to - a shifting, ideologically grounded
framework of notions of Chinese and/or Taiwanese ethnic, cultural,
political and national identity. Display languages also index what it means
to be 'a Taiwanese' on local, regional and (trans)national levels, but
these are not interpreted within a framework centering on a
Taiwanese-Chinese identity continuum. Instead, these scripts are largely
interpreted within an economically and ideologically informed framework
that centers on a more local-regional-global identity continuum of what it
means to be a cosmopolitan elite in East Asia today.
Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue
|
|
Please report any bad links or misclassified data
LINGUIST Homepage | Read
LINGUIST | Contact us
While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed
on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.
|
|
