36.1874, Reviews: The Bloomsbury Handbook of Linguistic Landscapes: Grausum (2025)

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Subject: 36.1874, Reviews: The Bloomsbury Handbook of Linguistic Landscapes: Grausum (2025)

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Date: 16-Jun-2025
From: Leon Grausam [lgrausam at uni-bremen.de]
Subject: Anthropological Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, General Linguistics, Sociolinguistics;  The Bloomsbury Handbook of Linguistic Landscapes: Grausum (2025)


Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/35-3604

Title: The Bloomsbury Handbook of Linguistic Landscapes
Publication Year: 2024

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
           http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/
Book URL:
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/bloomsbury-handbook-of-linguistic-landscapes-9781350272514/

Editor(s): Robert Blackwood, Stefania Tufi, Will Amos

Reviewer: Leon Grausam

SUMMARY
With The Bloomsbury Handbook of Linguistic Landscapes R. Blackwood, S.
Tufi and W. Amos have collected an outstanding display of academics
and topics and managed to concisely assemble a truly multi-purpose
book. The volume consists of 29 chapters, including two introductory
chapters, divided into three parts. The main body of the volume is
comprised of Part II showcasing 19 different topics and lenses for the
study of Linguistic Landscapes (LL). Each chapter consists of small
introductory remarks, followed by an outline on the evolution of the
field, the main research methods and an original study, all summed up
by a short conclusion and recommendations for further readings.
The book caters to an array of possible readers and can equally be
utilized in various contexts. It serves as a valuable collection of
articles by scholars at the forefront of their respective fields and
presenting cutting-edge ideas for the study thereof. With its easy to
follow and very clearly structured outline, the volume can adequately
be used as an extended textbook and introduction to certain subfields
of Linguistic Landscape Studies (LLS), like schoolscapes or online
landscapes among many others. Furthermore, it can serve as a starting
point for established researchers looking for inspiration or a fresh
look at their own work. The volume shows how the area of LL has
started to leave a traditional understanding of ‘language’ behind and
moving towards a “semiotic multiverse” and “complex web of human
communication in novel and original ways” (2).
Chapter 1 by the three editors gives a short overview of the rationale
and outline of the book, accompanied by some general remarks on the
development field of LLS. In Chapter 2, the late author B. Spolsky
narrates the very beginnings of LL stopping at milestone studies and
peeking into various aspects of the early scholarly activity on the
connection of language and landscape.
Part I is concerned with the Approaches and Methods of LLS, touching
on differing understandings and notions of research. Chapter 3 by M.
Shaikjee, S. Mpendukana and C. Stroud on Qualitative Methods describes
how through LL “the human beyond the artifact” (20) is sought after
and situated in context. They introduce how various ethnographic
methods can be applied in LLS. In their two original studies on
autoethnography, they showcase how women are represented in a mosque
and how ethics while conducting research is influencing researchers.
Chapter 4 by B. Soukup and K. Lyons is the complement to the previous
chapter and concerned with Quantitative and Computational Approaches.
The authors emphasize that though LLS has started by simply counting
languages, modern quantitative approaches have moved far beyond that
and started to incorporate variation as a key element through
Variationist Linguistic Landscape Study (VaLLS). These modern
approaches rely on computational data analysis, making it possible to
not only analyze but also gather, annotate and interrelate massive
amounts of data. In their original research, they analyze various
geotagged social media postings within different Viennese districts
showing how those differ linguistically.
In Chapter 5 by R. A. Troyer and T. P. Szabó, the authors demonstrate
how videography is able to expand possibilities in LLS, thereby moving
away from a static picture towards transforming the experience of LL
and ad-hoc thoughts of participants. They also touch upon the arising
problems of data storage and data privacy. In their first original
research, they use the walking interview technique to analyze
attitudes of university students towards the changing of a linguistic
environment in the US. For their second research they had school
children in Finland equipped with an 360° camera, recording them
interacting with the LL and each other.
Concluding Part I, Chapter 6 by C. Purschke tackles the most recent
addition to LLS by looking at digital approaches. In a very successful
way, the author demonstrates how LL research can be a crucial part of
a linguistics of the digital world, coming from digitally assisted
analysis and moving towards analysis of the digital. An important
factor of digital approaches is the possibility to crowdsource data
collection and have society participate, as shown by the author’s own
project Lingscape. In the original research, the author illustrates
how to use digital approaches with the example of projects in Vienna
and Luxembourg, locating key elements for research: methodological
through digital tools, analytical using taxonomies, and practical
through the application of “a multitude of individual perspectives”
(73).
Part II Contemporary Areas of Research, is an alphabetically ordered
array of individual and isolated topics, notions and lenses that are
either a sub-field or a part of LL. Opening with Chapter 7 on Affect
by R. Todd Garvin, the text demonstrates the role of affect and
emotion in shaping and researching landscape. The author argues that
affect and emotion need to be differentiated in authorship and
readership, especially considering intentions and intentionality in
the creation of LL. The author therefore takes a rather broad approach
towards the notion of affect. In the original research the author
investigates the Children’s Holocaust Memorial in southeast Tennessee,
positioning and relating the locality, the researcher and the
surroundings.
Chapter 8 on Art by Y. Guilat and S. Waksman explores how art and
artistic expression can be a representation of LL and its
surroundings. Due to the nature of art, this is a highly contested
area, only highlighting the importance thereof. From the beginning of
the notions of art in LL as something disruptive and non-institutional
(like graffiti and stickers), the field has developed into an object
and agent of language and landscape(s), to possibly exhibit language
artifacts itself in galleries. In their original research the authors
correlate two art exhibitions with LL and showcase how language and
art function as a tool for transition within society and the
re-creation of societal matters.
In Chapter 9 on Bodies, Skinscapes and Autoethnography A. Peck focuses
on a variety of LLS concerned with the body and bodies in the LL. The
author elaborates on the emergence of the body as a textual unit in an
environment and how bodies shape the surroundings. These bodyscapes
incorporate the decorating of bodies with clothing or bodily
modifications like tattoos, reaching beyond written language and
broadening the scope on the perception of bodies. In the original
research the author turns their attention to their private life’s LL
and explores what signs, languages and communicative elements are
being displayed around their own body (underwear, t-shirts, bags).
Doing this, the author showcases the potential usage of the
autoethnographic method and points to the subtle omnipresence of LL.
Chapter 10 by S. Tufi interrelates Border Studies and LLS. With the
concept of border described as an “influential ontological category”
(148), the author problematizes this very concept and opposes it with
linguistic research, while special focus is given to authorship. In
their original research, the author investigates the city center of
Guardia Piemontese in Italy, as a place of multilingual encounters
within a historical setting.
For Chapter 11, A. Pennycook revisits a focal point of LLS by
critically rethinking the city. Although LLS started off in big
international metropoles across the globe, various streams have
started to leave the unit of the city behind, to focus on new
localities. Although the author acknowledges and supports this trend,
they are still convinced that the city as a concept remains fruitful
for further investigations, expanding it into cityscapes studies to
conceptualize the city as an ‘assemblage’. This notion of assemblage
sheds a special light on the complexity of cities and calls for a more
integrative approach. Instead of presenting original research, the
author goes into detail about the notion of assemblage and how it can
help to better understand LLS in the urban context.
With Chapter 12 D. Gorter and J. Cenoz introduce one of the highly
anticipated sub-fields of LLS, namely the area of Education. Opening
with a whole set of understandings of education and LLS. the authors
create a continuum stretching from the application of LLS for
educational purposes – mostly for language acquisition – to the
investigation of educational spaces through LL (schoolscapes). In
their original research the authors present insights into their
classes at the University of the Basque Country in Donostia-San
Sebastian. The participants get to explore their surroundings,
starting to critically re-think the shaping and re-shaping of the LL.
Chapter 13 on Ethnic Spaces by J. J. Lou brings the focus to the
minoritized languages in LLS. The author differentiates three
applications for LLS in the research of ethnic spaces: researching
vitality and representation, marking of boundaries and creating
places, and preservation and revitalization of languages. Often, those
ethnic spaces are overlooked and challenged with superdiverse
contextual surroundings. In their original research the author gives
some insights into London’s Chinatown and how it is created as a
highly frequented ethnic space.
F. Mc Laughlin and K. Ouaras introduce the notion of Extreme
Landscapes in Chapter 14 and apply a new lens on LLS. They demonstrate
how the unprecedented and extreme is something worth examining, as
they provide insights into pandemics, war, and protest. In their
original research they apply this notion to the Algerian
anti-government protests in February 2019, called the Hirak. Within
these protests they illustrate how language and linguistic elements
are (ab)used by reinterpreting and re-shaping.
For Chapter 15, R. Borba and M. Hiramoto investigate the
hierarchization of society by connecting language, gender and
sexuality. The authors call out the very present gender binary in
various spaces and how landscapes are shaped and created through
discursive investment. This can be expanded by applying
transdisciplinary approaches, which the authors exemplify by tackling
the creation of ‘homonationalism’. In their original research, the
authors show how fertility messages are displayed by the Singaporean
welfare organization I Love Children throughout public spaces in
Singapore and the effects on people moving through.
With Chapter 16 D. Malinowski elaborates and expands on what has
already partially been tackled in Chapter 12: Language Learning. The
author explores the potential of LLS for language learning and further
emphasizes the interconnectedness of language learning and the
environment. Additionally, it is shown how LL-centered learning
activities can be beneficial for building awareness towards
language(s). In their original research, the author exemplifies how LL
can be used to build awareness of teachers and linguists towards the
power of language.
Chapter 17 on Language Policy by S. Martena and H. F. Marten
recuperates the importance and relation of LLS and language policy and
planning, highlighting that to a certain extent, LLS is the
investigation of the implementation of language policy and planning,
with modern LLS functioning as a corrective. The authors emphasize
that this static relationship is challenged by a new approach that
moves away from the notion of planning to the notion of shaping
landscapes. In their original research, they present insights into the
language policy and planning of Latvia. Having a complex linguistic
history and a possible even more interesting future, Lativa is
currently shaped by the war in Ukraine and the rising interest on
Latgalian in rural Latvia.
Chapter 18 by E. Shohamy focuses on Linguistic Awareness, Rights and
Activism, situating LLS in the area of critical sociolinguistics and
ideologies. The author highlights the deep interconnectedness of power
and LL and the power of LL, by unveiling subtle power structures,
raising the painful subject of Linguistic Human Rights. LL is
understood as something that is constantly shaped and contested
through various inhabitants of the LL and agents therein. In their
original research, the author further elaborates on neoliberal
motivations of LL manipulation and how highjacking of LL is open to
all kinds of agents within the whole political spectrum.
In Chapter 19 by D. A. Dunlevy on Minority Languages it is shown what
role minoritized languages have been playing and are currently playing
in LLS. The author highlights how the presence of minoritized
languages can be beneficial towards prestige of the language,
resulting in a revalorization and possible even revitalization. This
shows how LLs possess the ability to mobilize people and assist social
change. In their original research, the author explores two regional
languages in the Spanish regions of Galicia and the Basque Country and
explains how a changing perception of language(s) can lead to rising
usage, attested and assisted by the rising visibility in the
landscape.
Chapter 20 on Memorialization by R. Blackwood and J. Macalister draws
the connection between language, history, and identity. As the authors
state, this lens of LL is highly heterogeneous and uses many different
methodological approaches, depending on the environment and research
interest. In their original research, the authors compare the Victoria
Gallery and Museum in Liverpool, displaying iconography of Queen
Victoria, and the Victoria University of Wellington, where a more
complex layering of languages and history can be found..
With Chapter 21 and the topic of Multilingualism M. Sloboda tackles
the core interests of LLS. The author calls for re-specification
through an ethnomethodological approach. Here they demonstrate how a
(multilingual) society is mirrored in LL, especially when looking at
the absence of languages. In their original research, the author
demonstrates that various multilingual spaces in the Czech Republic
are ‘doing’ signs differently and how the notion of multilingualism is
being contested.
In Chapter 22 by W. Amos on Protest and Dissent, the author shows how
interruptions are constituted in the semiotics of public space.
Therefore, they differentiate static and dynamic protest, further
exemplifying the complexity of the field, generally described as
“upsetting of the ‘cleanliness’” (344). The original research focuses
on the post-Brexit debates with the example of the Led By Donkeys
campaign. It shows how the campaign has been and still is shaping the
LL and holding politicians accountable for statements by applying
resemiotization through contextuality.
Chapter 23 by H. Jimaima on The Rural highlights an area that is
generally overlooked in LLS, adding an important voice to the field of
study. The rural is often contested in opposition to the urban and
idealized space of community. The author sees it as a linkage and
shows how language in the rural is being commodified. In the original
research, the author explains how names and naming in rural Zambia is
performatively creating an LL in an environment with less written
signage. They show how the surroundings are narrated and historically
embedded.
With the very recent topic of Touring Warscapes and Chapter 24 M.
Kosatica illustrates how language, war, and space are connected and
shaped by touristic discourse. The author presents an array of
different contextualizations of war and violence: post-war, mid-war,
pre-war, religious encounters, civilians and civil war. In their
original research, the author tours post-war Sarajevo, elaborating on
touristic advertisements, the consumption of war through souvenirs,
and the exhibiting of war. One focal point of this touristic profiting
from war and post-war experiences is the controlling of gaze in such
contexts.
The final Chapter 25 of Part II is focused on (Eco) Tourism by G. Lamb
and B. K. Sharma and how place names are being strategically used to
attract tourist revenue. They show how the commodification of language
and identity is employed by applying discourse analysis to fully grasp
the agents in an area. The first original research is showcasing sea
turtle tourism in Hawai’i and the place semiotics and interactions
within this context. The second original research investigates how
discourses in the Himalayas in Nepal are layered. They show how
Buddhist cultural fragments are contextualized through local tour
guides and how discourses are communicated.
Part III labeled Future Directions in Linguistic Landscapes, is the
final part of the volume and concerned with areas of study that are
more contested, have been generally less researched, and have a
pioneering character. Opening with Chapter 26 on Literature and
Creative Arts by C. Forsdick, the author includes cultural artifacts
and artistic forms in the study of LL. Focusing on the creation of LL
in, around and throughout creative arts. In their original research,
the author investigates the constitution of LL in travel literature,
poetry, and through urban journeying.
Chapter 27 by K. Gonçalves and E. Lanza is focused on Familyscapes,
Multilingualism and Family Language Policy. The authors take the
(traditionally) public area of interest in LLS into the sanctity of
the private homescape, elaborating on the power of family language
policy in a multilingual society. In their original research the
authors display the family life of their multilingual home(s) in
various countries and how children’s upbringing is shaped and
simultaneously shaping the LL of the home.
With Chapter 28 on The Offline-Online Nexus J. Androutsopoulos
introduces the study of virtual, digital, and online landscapes. The
author showcases how “reciprocal connectivity” (442) is shaped and
shaping the LL offline and online. The ever-growing blurring and
fluidity of context and meaning of signs is changing, leaving behind
an entanglement of offline and online practices, leading to the
creation of secondary LLs that are re-contextualizing spaces. In their
original research, the author analyzes anti-vaccine activist and
counter-activism spaces during and after the COVID pandemic,
exemplifying how digital practices and spaces are discursively
co-created to the ones offline.
Chapter 29 on Settler Colonialism and Acts of Decoloniality by D.
Kroik, K. Huuva and T. M. Milani, is the final chapter of the volume
and incorporates settler-colonial studies as a different focus from
the area of indigenous studies in LLS. They illustrate how coloniality
is created through occupying languages and how those are contested by
(indigenous) acts of decoloniality, highlighting the notion of agency
in the creation of LL and LLS. In their original research, the authors
explore indigenous Sami landscapes in Sweden. Building on the
(historical) segregation and assimilation politics of Sweden, they
illustrate how colonial regimes are reproduced as a “cultural terra
nullius” (465), while being contested through indigenous activism.
EVALUATION
The handbook is a massive collection of ideas, approaches, and
conceptualizations covering a plethora of methods and research. The
consistently structured chapters help the readers to easily navigate
each topic and quickly gain access. With the alphabetical structure of
the main body, the editors have – as I conclude – successfully
eradicated any hint of hierarchization of topics, which unfortunately
also leads to sudden changes in ways of approaching and thinking about
LL and LLS, as each chapter very much stands on its own. Experienced
readers in the area of LLS will probably not be bothered by this
potpourri of ideas, but as the potential of this volume clearly lies
in the broadness of potential readerships, a streamlining of chapters
into sub-fields or methodological approaches could be beneficial to
less experienced readers.
The topics touched upon by each chapter successfully introduce new
ways of thinking, while simultaneously reporting on the evolution of
the field. Each chapter does not lack critical thinking and
re-thinking of traditional LLS sources. Nevertheless, from time to
time, readers might be surprised by the ratio of the original research
to the rest of the chapter’s content, as some chapters seem to be
merely preparing readers for the respective author’s original
research. Even though those chapters by no means lack relevance to the
general rationale of the book and always fit well, they do sometimes
feel slightly displaced in a handbook and might be a better fit for
other types of publication.
With LLS being a quite young scholarly discipline, the authors are
drawing on the same theoretical basis, quoting largely from the same
sources. As interesting as the differing dissemination of singular
texts through different lenses is, many authors do equip their texts
with similar foundational ideas. As this is perfectly fine and nothing
but an homage to the groundbreaking work done so far, (again)
additional structuring could have aided further streamlining of
research objectives and targets.
To conclude, the volume is an outstanding collection that brings
together the most influential academics in the field of Linguistic
Landscapes studies and combines it with modern and critical
approaches. The chapters vividly show how alive and diverse the field
is, clearly moving from LL as a method to a discipline of its own. The
Bloomsbury Handbook of Linguistic Landscapes serves as both a source
for practical research and as a space of its own to return to and
reflect on any possible connection of language and space.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Leon Grausam is a research associate and doctoral candidate at the
University of Bremen’s Faculty of Linguistics and Literary Studies.
His research explores the intersection of language activism, language
ecology, and postcolonial language policy, with a particular focus on
the sociopolitical dynamics surrounding indigenous and minoritized
languages. He examines how language ideologies shape linguistic
hierarchies and inform policies in postcolonial contexts, often
engaging with questions of linguistic justice, resistance, and
revitalization. He has held teaching positions at several German
universities, including the University of München, University of
Mainz, and the University of Düsseldorf.



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