Ghent University Faculty of Arts and Philosophy MA Literature and Linguistics: English and Scandinavian studies Academic year 2009 – 2010 Multilingual Landscapes and Ethnolinguistic Vitality in the Case of Brussels-Capital: An Empirical Study Master Dissertation Supervisor: Prof. Dr. S. Slembrouck Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of “Master in de Taal- en Letterkunde: Engels – Scandinavistiek” by Mieke Vandenbroucke Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor prof. dr. Stef Slembrouck for his advice and guidance in my research and writing process. Special thanks go to Niels Cuelenaere without whom this would not have been possible, to prof. dr. Jannis Androutsopoulos who acquainted me with the concept of linguistic landscaping, and to my parents. 2 Table of contents Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................... 6 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 6 2. Theoretical framework ....................................................................................................... 8 2.1. Ethnography ................................................................................................................. 8 2.2. Linguistic anthropology ............................................................................................... 9 2.3. Ethnolinguistic vitality ............................................................................................... 10 2.4. Linguistic landscapes ................................................................................................. 12 2.6. Geosemiotics .............................................................................................................. 15 3. Methodology of research .................................................................................................. 17 3.1. Objective of this study ............................................................................................... 17 3.2. Scene and setting ........................................................................................................ 17 3.3. Unit of analysis .......................................................................................................... 18 3.4. Ethnolinguistic vitality analysis ................................................................................. 19 3.5. Categories and subcategories ..................................................................................... 23 3.6. Code preference in multilingual signs ....................................................................... 24 3.7. Qualitative analysis .................................................................................................... 28 4. Brussels-Capital and its linguistic history ........................................................................ 29 4.1. Sociological, historical and linguistic evolution ........................................................ 29 4.2. Present situation ......................................................................................................... 34 4.3. Problematics ............................................................................................................... 36 5. Choice of researched areas within Brussels-Capital ......................................................... 38 5.1. Antoine Dansaertstraat ............................................................................................... 38 5.2. Grote Markt ................................................................................................................ 40 5.3. Elsensesteenweg ........................................................................................................ 41 Chapter 2: Quantitative analysis and discussion ................................................................ 43 1. General landscape results ................................................................................................. 43 1.1. Grote Markt ................................................................................................................ 43 1.2. Dansaertstraat ............................................................................................................. 45 1.3. Elsensesteenweg ........................................................................................................ 47 1.4. Comparative discussion ............................................................................................. 48 2. Code preference in multilingual signage .......................................................................... 56 3 2.1. Results ........................................................................................................................ 56 2.2. Discussion .................................................................................................................. 57 3. Category: international chain commercial spaces results ................................................. 59 3.1. Grote Markt ................................................................................................................ 59 3.2. Dansaertstraat ............................................................................................................. 60 3.3. Elsensesteenweg ........................................................................................................ 62 3.4. Comparative discussion ............................................................................................. 64 4. Category: national chain commercial spaces results ........................................................ 66 4.1. Grote Markt ................................................................................................................ 66 4.2. Dansaertstraat ............................................................................................................. 67 4.3. Elsensesteenweg ........................................................................................................ 68 4.4. Comparative discussion ............................................................................................. 70 5. Category: privately owned commercial spaces results ..................................................... 72 5.1. Grote Markt ................................................................................................................ 72 5.2. Dansaertstraat ............................................................................................................. 74 5.3. Elsensesteenweg ........................................................................................................ 75 5.4. Comparative discussion ............................................................................................. 77 6. Subcategory: bookshops results ........................................................................................ 80 6.1. Grote Markt ................................................................................................................ 80 6.2. Dansaertstraat ............................................................................................................. 80 6.3. Elsensesteenweg ........................................................................................................ 81 6.4. Comparative discussion ............................................................................................. 82 7. Subcategory: immigrant-run commercial spaces results .................................................. 84 7.1. Grote Markt ................................................................................................................ 84 7.2. Dansaertstraat ............................................................................................................. 84 7.3. Elsensesteenweg ........................................................................................................ 86 7.4. Comparative discussion ............................................................................................. 87 8. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 90 Chapter 3: Qualitative discussion of the material ............................................................... 93 1. Combining quantitative and qualitative ............................................................................ 93 2. Qualitative observations ................................................................................................... 97 2.1. Official notices ........................................................................................................... 97 2.2. Creativity as compromise .......................................................................................... 99 4 2.3. Time scales ............................................................................................................... 102 2.4. Axis centre – periphery ............................................................................................ 107 2.5. Non-equivalent multilingualism .............................................................................. 111 2.6. Large and smaller signs within the same façade ...................................................... 114 2.7. Job vacancy signage ................................................................................................