Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive All Theses and Dissertations 2017-12-01 Multilingual Trends in Five London Boroughs: A Linguistic Landscape Approach Shayla Ann Johnson Brigham Young University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the Linguistics Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Johnson, Shayla Ann, "Multilingual Trends in Five London Boroughs: A Linguistic Landscape Approach" (2017). All Theses and Dissertations. 6669. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/6669 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Multilingual Trends in Five London Boroughs: A Linguistic Landscape Approach Shayla Ann Johnson A thesis submitted to the faculty of Brigham Young University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts William Eggington, Chair Matthew Wickman Dallin D. Oaks Department of Linguistics and English Language Brigham Young University Copyright 2017 Shayla Ann Johnson All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT Multilingual Trends in Five London Boroughs: A Linguistic Landscape Approach Shayla Ann Johnson Department of Linguistics and English Language, BYU Master of Arts Although multilingualism has been investigated in London, no studies have addressed the multilingual linguistic landscape of this linguistically diverse globalized mega-city. In addition, no previous research has addressed the linguistic impacts of colonialism on the colonizer with respect to signage in the linguistic landscape. With increasing rates of immigration and globalization in London, it is advantageous to fully document and research the nature of the linguistic landscape in order to create a baseline for future comparison. Consequently, aspects of the linguistic landscape of five London boroughs were collected and analyzed in terms of 2,062 signage items. The study noted multilingual signage situations in each borough with respect to the formal top-down and informal bottom-up nature of the signage. The results of this study document the significant impact of colonial and EU languages on London’s linguistic landscape. These findings suggest that Britain’s colonial languages make up the majority of London’s multilingualism, followed by European Union languages. We suggest that future research attempt to track the changes of London’s linguistic landscape by comparing future data to the data presented in this study as immigration laws change. Keywords: linguistic landscape, London, sociolinguistics, multilingual, immigration ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Completion of this research would not have been possible without considerable help. I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. Eggington, for his support, dedication, and guidance from the beginning of this project to the end. I would also like to thank Dr. Wickman and Dr. Oaks for their input and help. I would like to give a special thanks to Graduate Studies for awarding a research grant that made this study possible. Thanks to LoriAnne Spear of the Linguistics and English Language Department for her direction and assistance in bringing this project to a close, and to the students who assisted in data collection and language identification. Finally, I want to thank my family—particularly my parents—for their unfailing support. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE ................................................................................................................................... i ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF GRAPHS ....................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER ONE: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER TWO: Literature Review ............................................................................................. 5 Background and purpose of the LL ............................................................................................ 5 Methodological approaches ...................................................................................................... 10 LL study findings ...................................................................................................................... 14 Top-down and bottom-up analyses ........................................................................................... 17 Multilingualism in London ....................................................................................................... 18 CHAPTER THREE: Methods ...................................................................................................... 22 Location .................................................................................................................................... 23 Location selection ..................................................................................................................... 24 The boroughs ............................................................................................................................ 25 Methods .................................................................................................................................... 27 CHAPTER FOUR: Results and Discussion ................................................................................. 32 Chelsea results .......................................................................................................................... 32 Chelsea top-down, bottom-up results ....................................................................................... 36 Hammersmith results ................................................................................................................ 38 Hammersmith top-down, bottom-up results ............................................................................. 42 Hackney results ......................................................................................................................... 44 v Hackney top-down, bottom-up results ...................................................................................... 47 Southwark results ...................................................................................................................... 49 Tower Hamlets results .............................................................................................................. 55 London overall results .............................................................................................................. 60 London top-down bottom-up results ......................................................................................... 65 CHAPTER FIVE: Conclusions..................................................................................................... 67 Summary of findings ................................................................................................................ 67 Research question one .............................................................................................................. 70 Research question two .............................................................................................................. 73 Research question three ............................................................................................................ 74 Top-down, bottom-up analysis findings ................................................................................... 75 Limitations ................................................................................................................................ 77 Future research .......................................................................................................................... 78 Implications .............................................................................................................................. 80 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 81 APPENDIX ................................................................................................................................... 82 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 83 vi LIST OF TABLES Chelsea language counts ............................................................................................................... 33 Chelsea data breakdown ............................................................................................................... 34 Hammersmith language counts ....................................................................................................