ABSTRACT
Like some early research in computer-mediated communication, some of the early linguistic landscape studies are limited in the following two ways: first, these studies are quantitative rather than interpretive, and largely limit themselves to counting the languages used on multilingual signs. This chapter discusses some recent directions in the study of linguistic landscape which open up such analyses to a more fully contextualized approach. It moves beyond the analysis of verbal text to consider multimodal texts which combine verbal and visual elements. Stroud and Mpendukana explores the linguistic landscape of Khayelitsha, a township on the edge of Cape Town, which in a way becomes emblematic of the new 'politics of aspiration' in post-apartheid South Africa. A highly promising approach to linguistic landscape that brings together the various strands discussed in the chapter and also links up with cultural geography, urban planning and other interconnected fields is Scollon and Scollon's 'discourses in place'.
