ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a theoretical and conceptual background to the study. It introduces a brief overview of the geosemiotic framework, which informed the research. Language use is construed as local practice where linguistic choices result from complex interactions between structure and agency. Linguistic landscapes are explored as a pedagogical resource offering rich opportunities for educating learners about the role of multilingualism in ethnic relations. A central question in sociolinguistics of urban multilingualism is how multilingualism shapes social life. Dis-inventing languages is part of a broader scholarly pursuit of decolonising sociolinguistics. Contemporary sociolinguistic research on urban superdiversity, therefore, is informed by the conceptual work of linguistic anthropologists, who have long challenged the notion of language by unpacking the ideological work involved in linguistic differentiation. The development of transnationalism also calls for an ontological shift, as the division between migrants and locals is increasingly becoming blurred.
