ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on some of the ways that language forms part of the landscape in German-speaking countries, as well as in other places where German is currently used or was previously spoken, with a particular emphasis on the presence of other languages alongside German. Research on 'linguistic landscapes', a term that embraces all conceivable kinds of linguistic signs, from advertising hoardings through street names to graffiti, has developed into a highly interesting and rapidly growing subfield of sociolinguistics. The symbolic use of Low German here is very similar to the way in which this regional language is used in the tourist industry of East Frisia in the north-western part of Germany. Following the Treaty of Saint-Germain in the aftermath of the First World War, the southern half of the Austrian province Tyrol was ceded to Italy and subjected to a rigorous Italianisation process that involved the changing of place names from German to the corresponding Italian ones.
