Durk Gorter is head of the Social Sciences research group at the Fryske Akademy/Universiteit van Amsterdam and part-time professor of Frisian sociolinguistics at the Universiteit van Amsterdam. He has published on the sociolinguistics of Frisian, minority languages in Europe, trilingual education and language policy.The articles are written by experts on sociolinguistics and applied linguistics who are all involved in the study of multilingualism in its social context.

Language is all around us as it is displayed in texts on shop windows, commercial signs, posters, official notices, etc. Given a multitude of languages there, it does not come as a surprise that an increasing number of researchers have taken a closer look at languages on signs in the public space. The book reports on studies of the linguistic landscape in cities in countries around the globe: Israel, Japan, Thailand, the Netherlands (Friesland) and Spain (the Basque Country). Their cultural, socio-economic and political circumstances are very divergent. Multimillion cities are included such as Bangkok and Tokyo, but also smaller cities such as Ljouwert-Leeuwarden and Donostia-San Sebastian. Multilingualism turns out to be an important dimension of the linguistic landscape everywhere, as well as the reflection of the process of globalisation, visible through the use of English. The study of the linguistic landscape is applied here as a means to increase our understanding of multilingualism and future directions are outlined.

Contents

1. Introduction: The Study of the Linguistic Landscape as a New Approach to Multilingualism - Durk Gorter (Fryske Akademy, Universiteit van Amsterdam)

2. Linguistic Landscape as Symbolic Construction of the Public Space: The Case of Israel - Eliezer Ben-Rafael, Elana Shohamy (Tel Aviv University), Muhammad Hasan Amara (Bar-Ilan University) and Nira Trumper-Hecht (Tel Aviv University)

3. Bangkok's Linguistic Landscapes: Environmental Print, Codemixing and Language Change - Thom Huebner (San José State University)

4. Multilingualism in Tokyo: A Look into the Linguistic Landscape - Peter Backhaus (German Institute for Japanese Studies, Tokyo)

5. Linguistic Landscape and Minority Languages - Jasone Cenoz (University of Basque Country) and Durk Gorter (Fryske Akademy/Universiteit van Amsterdam)

6. Further Possibilities for Linguistics Landscape Research - Durk Gorter