ABSTRACT
Studies of the linguistic landscape (LL) are concerned with what has been described by Shohamy and Waksman (2009: 314) as ‘text presented and displayed in the public space’. One of the most prominent approaches to the LL has been developed in works such as those by Rosenbaum et al. (1977), Tulp (1978) and Landry and Bourhis (1997), who have examined the relationship between the public display of language and the everyday use and perceived vitality of languages in the multilingual settings of Jerusalem, Brussels and francophone Canada respectively. Other orientations in LL studies include a concern with language policy and the role of governments in contributing to the LL: here we may note research by Ben-Rafael et al. (2006) on power relations in the LL of East Jerusalem and in Palestinian and Jewish urban districts in Israel, and a review by Backhaus (2009) of formal legislation and guidelines which create contrastive outcomes in the LL of Québec and Tokyo.
