ABSTRACT
This study documents the visibility of the multilingual languages on the LL of two big cities in Taiwan and the construction of a particular image of Taiwan’s linguistic sense of place. Special attention is paid to the use of Chinese, English, local languages on official as opposed to nonofficial signs. A total of 2848 visual linguistic signs displayed on public spaces in Taipei and Kaohsiung cities were collected through fieldwork. The data analysis shows that Taiwan’s cityscape displays a high Chinese-English bilingual profile, especially on official signs. However, while the bilingual displays show that the two cities have been symbolically constructed as a place for international visiting and investments, the bilingual profile does not index the linguistic repertoire of the local community. The local languages are rarely displayed on public signs in the two cities. The display of them is kept in “symbolic value condition” which can carry social and cultural indexical values.
