University of Szeged

Institute of English & American Studies

Vrfalvi Nikolett
Multilingualism in the linguistic landscape in the corridors of
the building of the Institute of English and American Studies,
Faculty of Arts, University of Szeged

Szakdolgozat/BA Thesis
Tmavezet/Supervisor
Szab-Gilinger Eszter

Szeged, 2015

Szegedi Tudomnyegyetem University of Szeged

Angol-Amerikai Intzet Institute of English and American Studies
SZEGED, Egyetem u. 2. Hungary, H-6722 Tel/Fax: 36.62.54.42.59.

BA SZAKDOLGOZAT BA THESIS
MSODIK CMLAP SECOND TITLE PAGE
Szakdolgozatr neve (ahogy az ETR-ben szerepel)/Name of thesis writer (as registered in the
ETR): Vrfalvi Nikolett
Szakirny/Study track (alhzand/please underline):
angol szakirny
amerikanisztika szakirny
BA szakdolgozat cme/Title of BA Thesis: Multilingualism in the linguistic landscape in the
corridors of the building of the Institute of English and American Studies, Faculty of Arts,
University of Szeged
I. A szakdolgozathoz kapcsold, ktelezen vlaszthat rk / BA Thesis-related electives:
Az ra megnevezse
Tanr neve
Idpont (v/flv)
Name of elective
Name of instructor
Time (year/semester)
1.Academic Writing
Peckham, Donald, W.
2013/14/I.
2.Bilingualism
3.Second Language
Acquisition

Fenyvesi Anna

2012/13/II.

Peckham, Donald, W.

2011/12/II.

II Declaration on Plagiarism, Language Proficiency, and the Formal Adequacy of the Paper
I declare that this BA Thesis, entitled Multilingualism in the linguistic landscape in the corridors
of the building of the Institute of English and American Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of
Szeged,
is entirely the result of my own work, and that no material is included for which a degree has
previously been conferred upon me. I have faithfully and accurately cited all my sources, including
books, journals, handouts and unpublished manuscripts, as well as any other media, such as the
Internet, letters or significant personal communication.
Furthermore, while I understand that it is permitted to consult another person concerning the
language used in my work, I declare that the language of my work (beyond verbatim quotes) is indeed
my own and faithfully represents my own level of proficiency in English.
Moreover, I declare that the length of my BA thesis is..9577.. words without the abstract, table
of contents, bibliography, appendices and block quotations from the text to be analysed, thus it falls
within the required range of 7,500-13,000 words. I understand that in case the paper does not meet the
formal requirements of a BA thesis (does not fall within the required range of words, does not have the
required number of bibliographical items, does not use the required format for citations), it
automatically fails.
I also declare that the BA Thesis files uploaded on Faculty (Modulo and Institute platforms are
identical and are also identical with the printed copy submitted.
Szeged, 2015.04.22.

Vrfalvi Nikolett....
Szakdolgozatr alrsa / Signature of thesis writer
IV. Declaration on the Availability of the Corpus (Sign if applicable)
I declare that the fieldwork materials, questionnaires, or interview-based data I have used in this paper
are the results of my own data gathering, and I will make them available for inspection at the request
of the opponent or supervisor.
Szeged, 2015.04.22.

Vrfalvi Nikolett.
Szakdolgozatr alrsa / Signature of thesis writer

Contents
Contents ....................................................................................................................................... i
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1
2. Literature review .................................................................................................................... 4
2.1 Public sign as a concept in the linguistic landscape ........................................................ 4
2.2 The notion of private sign within the field of the linguistic landscape ............................ 5
2.3 The classification of proper names in the linguistic landscape ....................................... 6
2.4 The problem of counting signs ......................................................................................... 7
2.5 The problem of the state of literacy and agency in public signage .................................. 8
3. Methodology ......................................................................................................................... 10
4. Results .................................................................................................................................. 12
4.1 Languages on signs ........................................................................................................ 12
4.2 Top-down versus bottom-up signs .................................................................................. 18
4.3 Proper names on signs ................................................................................................... 19
4.4 The font size of the ocular units ..................................................................................... 21
5. Discussion ............................................................................................................................ 23
5.1The presence and relevance of multiple languages in the linguistic landscape ............. 23
5.2 Informational and symbolic diversity on signs .............................................................. 25
5.3 The role of visuality in evaluating multilingual signs .................................................... 29
6. Conclusion and implications ................................................................................................ 31
Reference list ............................................................................................................................ 33

ABSTRACT
Linguistic landscape is a newly emerging area of sociolinguistics which studies signs in the
public space within a given territory, focusing on aspects of multilingualism. In this paper,
after summarizing the basic concepts of this scientific field, the signage is studied and
analyzed in an interior public space, the corridors of the Institute of English and American
Studies at the Faculty of Arts, University of Szeged, an internationally acclaimed university of
Hungary. The collected data is classified based on the type (public or private), function
(informative, warning, indicative), mono- or multilingual nature, and appearance (font size
and style, text positioning) of the signs. The aim of this research is to provide an overview of
the relative status of different languages in this academic setting, highlighting the
informational and symbolic aspects of sign choice and sign use.

Keywords: linguistic landscape, multilingualism, signage, interior public space, University of

Szeged, academic setting, sign choice, sign use

Absztrakt
A nyelvi tjkp a szociolingvisztika egyre dinamikusabban fejld ga, amely a kzssgi
trben lthat jeleket tanulmnyozza egy adott terlet hatrain bell, a hangslyt a
tbbnyelvsg aspektusaira helyezve. A jelen dolgozatban a tudomnyterlet alapvet
fogalmainak sszefoglalst kveten a nemzetkzi rang Szegedi Tudomnyegyetem
Blcsszettudomnyi Kar Angol-Amerikai Intzete folyosinak, azaz bels kzssgi ternek
jelei kerlnek vizsglatra s elemzsre. Az sszegyjttt adatok osztlyozsa a jelek tpusa
(kz- s magnfeliratok), szerepe (tjkoztat, figyelmeztet, jell), egy- vagy
tbbnyelvsge, valamint megjelense (betmret s -tpus, szvegelhelyezs) alapjn
trtnik. A kutats clja, hogy ttekintst nyjtson a klnbz nyelvek egymshoz
viszonytott helyzetrl az adott felsoktatsi krnyezetben, rvilgtva a jelkivlaszts s
jelalkalmazs informcis s szimbolikus szempontjaira.
Kulcsszavak: nyelvi tjkp, tbbnyelvsg, jelek sszessge, bels kzssgi tr, Szegedi
Tudomnyegyetem, felsoktatsi krnyezet, jelkivlaszts, jelalkalmazs

1. INTRODUCTION
As multilingualism has become unavoidably present at more and more places in our
globalised world, many communities find themselves facing the challenges generated by the
use of multiple languages. While passing along highways, roads, streets, or corridors inside
buildings, we are constantly exposed to images and signs around us written in several
languages.
The research area that deals with the languages on signs is called linguistic landscape
(abbreviated as LL). Linguistic landscape refers to the social context in which more than one
language is present (Gorter 2006:1). The study of this phenomenon began around the 1970s
but started to flourish later, when Landry and Bourhis published an article at the end of the
1990s, entitled Linguistic Landscape and ethnolinguistic Vitality: an empirical study (Landry
and Bourhis 1997). In Landry and Bourhiss classic definition, the linguistic landscape is the
visibility and salience of languages on public and commercial signs in a given territory or
region (Landry and Bourhis 1997:23). More specifically, the language of public roads signs,
advertising billboards, street names, place names, commercial shop signs, and public signs on
government buildings combines to form the linguistic landscape of a given territory, region or
urban agglomeration (Landry & Bourhis 1997:25).
Ben-Rafael et al. stated that the linguistic landscape refers to linguistic objects that
mark the public space, and further refined the interpretation of the term as the analysis of
any sign or announcement located outside or inside a public institution or a private business
in a given geographical location (Ben-Rafael et al. 2006: 7, 14). This study is based on the
latter, more inclusive definition since it allows for the observation of signs not only in the
open public space, but in more enclosed spaces, i.e. inside buildings and parts of buildings, as
well.
All the visual signs in public space, from the small flyers posted on light poles to the
large flashing digital billboards on building tops, are regarded as linguistic objects that are
important for attracting the publics interest. Most researchers are of the same mind as Landry
and Bourhis whose definition goes further and determines that the linguistic landscape,
besides its obvious informational function, has a symbolic function as well. Thus, the
linguistic landscape acts both as an informative and as a symbolic marker, expressing in its
latter role the relative power, i.e. high or low status, of a linguistic community (Spolsky &

Cooper, 1991). Understandably enough, there are differences between researchers in how
much emphasis they place on the socio-symbolic feature of the linguistic landscape.
Besides studying the informational and symbolic aspects of visual signage, linguistic
landscape has focused, from the beginning of its conception, on analysing the phenomena and
consequences of the co-existence of multiple languages in a given territory. Almost all
linguists use the term in this sense, apart from a few attempts to apply it in a monolingual
manner, like Papen (2012) did in her case study of the changing graphic environment of a
part of former East Berlin. The co-existence of languages inherently offers a challenge for LL
researchers to dissect this complex issue into several answerable questions, including, among
others:
-

What languages are locally present?

Which ones of them are more relevant?

Is their use accepted by the public or enforced by the government or an authority?

Is the representation of the different languages on signs in harmony with the literacy
level of the population of the given area?

Are translations or transliterations available?

An accurate determination of the given geographical area of linguistic landscape

research is crucial if one wants to gain reliable data and results. Although most studies have
been very specific indeed in this respect, the growing interest in the investigation of the
linguistic aspect of visible signage since the late 1990s has focused mainly on the visual
language in exterior urban environments, like the exemplary work done by Gorter and
Shohamy more than a decade ago. However, there has still been little emphasis on the
examination of tokens in the interior of buildings.
My aim, therefore, is to investigate the corridors of the Institute of English and
American Studies in the building of the Faculty of Arts, University of Szeged, to obtain
information about the presence and aspects of multilingualism and visual signage in general,
and examine the private and public signs in an academic setting in particular. As
multilingualism has an ever-increasing presence in everyday life, multiple languages can be
found not only in a wider urban environment, but within the walls of one building as well.
The university as a research site lent itself perfectly to the generally agreed-upon goal of
linguistic landscape research by possibly being the most vibrant of all public places. The
notion of public space is an integral part of the concept of linguistic landscape, which
indicates how important it is to precisely determine the territorial-geographic dimension of the
2

analysis. Not only do monolingual signs exist in this intellectually challenging environment,
but bilingual and multilingual ones, too, so my research questions, accordingly, are the
following:
-

Which languages are present in the linguistic landscape of the selected research site,
namely the corridors of the Institute of English and American Studies, University of
Szeged?

What kind of information do the selected signs tell us about this multilingual
environment?

What can the appearance, the font size, and the placement of the inscriptions
(including the possible differences in size and position between the languages
represented on the tokens) tell us about the tokens themselves?

What kind of facts influence the choice of the languages used on the displayed signs?

What is the role of multilingualism at the selected research site?

My hypothesis is that, after analysing the pictures that I have taken of the signs at the
university, as a methodological element, I will find many more public signs than private signs,
as the aim of the tokens and posters at the university is to inform the students mainly about
university news, language learning possibilities and entertainment opportunities. These
informative public signs are usually on display only for a limited amount of time since they
lose validity relatively quickly, whereas the position of private signs, like nameplates or
names of rooms and lecture halls, is more stable due to their more permanent informative role.
Furthermore, based on my analysis of the location of the languages that are on the signs, the
font size of the letters, the language choice itself, and the characteristics of proper names on
the inscriptions, I expect to see the dominance of Hungarian and English.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 PUBLIC SIGN AS A CONCEPT IN THE LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE
Before discussing the basic concepts of the linguistic landscape, it is important to
clarify the meaning of sign, the object of every linguistic landscape study. According to
philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce, signs are linguistic elements that always take the form of
letters, words, sounds or images. However, Peirce also claims that Nothing is a sign unless it
is interpreted as a sign (Peirce 1931-58, Vol. 8:172). In other words, anything can be
interpreted as a sign, or token, in case it signifies something for someone. Each sign that is
visible at the Institute of English and American Studies, University of Szeged, bears meaning
for those who take a glance at it and give it a thought.
The theory of the great Swiss linguist Saussure also includes the notion of sign,
which is composed of a signifier (signifiant) and a signified (signifi) (Saussure 1983:
67). They are in connection with each other, and do not exist without each other (Saussure
1983:101). Highlighting the meaning of these terms is essential in order to understand the
examples that will be given in this paper. The Saussurean model states that the signifier is the
physical form of a token, that is, something which can be perceived with our sense-organs
(Saussure 1983:14-15). On the basis of this statement, for instance, the word Open on a door
of a shop is a sign consisting of a signifier, the physically present door sign itself, and a
signified, namely the fact that the shop is indeed open for people to enter. A name of a
company attached to the front of a building or institution is a kind of public sign that suggests
that the business-premises or offices of the firm are located in the building. In this example,
the sign itself means the company as a whole, so it can be claimed that the public sign is a
signifier and the company is the signified. So the signified item is always the thing or idea
that is denoted by a sign.
Shohamy and Gorter (2009) proposed the terms top-down and bottom-up to
divide signs into two, easily distinguishable categories.
A public sign, regarded as a top-down sign, is a specific type of semiotic sign which
constitutes an official token provided as information for society by the government or a
similar institution, like a municipality or public agency. Public signs transmit messages of
public interest such as topographic information, street names, directions, public

announcements, warnings, etc. They mainly denote and emphasize existing power relations,
which sometimes includes reminding people of their obligation to abide by the law. In
mercantile contexts, however, like marketing and advertising, their purpose is to call peoples
attention to a service or product (Backhaus 2007:5). In this respect, there is an overlap
between the roles that private signs and public signs play.
Top-down signs, just like bottom-up signs, can be divided into several types according
to the type of institution they represent, for instance, governmental, municipal, cultural,
religious or educational.
In the world of top-down signs, one can also come across indexes, icons and symbols
which provide additional, non-linguistic information. In the category of indexes, there are
arrows and other direction-indicating elements that are utilized to show people the right
direction. Maps can be considered as icons because they provide geographic information. The
study of public signage started a long time ago by Masai Mara in Tokyo and Peter
Rosenbaum in Jerusalem. Researchers are unanimous in their view that every kind of
information can be expressed in signs, whether it is a series of letters or a simple visual sign.

2.2 THE

NOTION OF PRIVATE SIGN WITHIN THE FIELD OF THE LINGUISTIC

LANDSCAPE

A private sign or bottom-up sign is a non-official semiotic sign that is placed by

individual social actors, like private organizations or persons, and is addressed to other private
citizens. Names of shops, street posters, tokens on businesses and personal announcements
can be considered as common forms of private signs. For the sake of giving an example, a
sign on a local shopkeepers window is absolutely bottom-up, since it does not have any
intention to communicate upwards to any municipal institutions or governmental agencies, its
core objective is to attract customers.
Bottom-up signs can be subdivided into different classes according to fields of
category and activity, for instance, food, clothing or jewelry. As multilingualism is present
everywhere nowadays and multiple languages are used within many communities and around
the globe, there is a great diversity of languages in private signs as well. One can find
numerous examples for monolingual as well as bilingual and multilingual private signs at
various locations, not just in an academic setting which is the object of my investigation.

2.3 THE CLASSIFICATION OF PROPER NAMES IN THE LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE

There are many multilingual situations within the linguistic landscape that are
investigated and analysed by virtue of the languages utilized. Tokens often contain proper
names or nouns that claim serious attention and demand to be investigated and classified
(Edelman 2009:4). Proper names belong to the field of semantics and frequently refer to
nameplates, geographical areas, buildings, institutions or organizations (Haeseryn et al. 1997
in Edelman 2009:23); furthermore, proper names can reflect those languages that are used, to
some extent, by the whole community or parts thereof.
As many proper names can belong to two or more languages, it is not easy to
determine the language they are written in (Edelman 2009:71), so the context in which they
occur is very important (Edelman 2009:73). The classification of proper names can be
ambiguous and can cause difficulty in the analysis and methodology within the linguistic
landscape. The major problem is that a proper name can either be considered to be in a
specific foreign language or it is not coded as a foreign language (Edelman 2009, 80). If a
researcher does not regard proper names to be in a foreign language, he or she may come to a
misleading or confusing conclusion concerning the characteristics of the linguistic landscape.
Multiple solutions exist in this problematic field. Loulou Edelman, for instance,
approaches the problem of classification of proper names in several ways. Firstly, she
suggests that proper names could be excluded from analysis but then we would get an
inadequate picture of the linguistic landscape. Secondly, the language of the text surrounding
the name could be taken into account as the original language of the name. Thirdly, like the
majority of researchers, she comes to the conclusion that it is necessary to trace proper
names back to their origins (Smits 2013:13).
In most cases, advertisers or sign-owners in general (Spolsky 2009 in Dgi 2012:
344) use different languages in order to meet the language knowledge of a given social group
or the language traditionalism of an institution. For instance, the inscription UniversitasSzeged on a board at the Institution of English & American Studies, Faculty of Arts,
University of Szeged, contains a Latin word Universitas for University, signalling that the
word university is derived from the ancient Latin syntagm universitas magistorum et
scholarium. This one-sentence analysis demonstrates that the origin of the proper name has
been indicated. Nevertheless, the aim of the proper name is not necessarily to transmit
6

particular information or to make the community understand the languages thereof in each
case but to have influence on peoples emotions. Haarmann refers to this phenomenon as
impersonal multilingualism (Haarmann 1986 in Edelman 2009:71). In our example, the use
of the Latin name for the University of Szeged, definitely suggests that it is a prestigious
institution with a long history of high academic standards and quality. The common
perception about Latin being a highly literary and scholarly language evokes the feeling of
respect from everyone who looks up at the inscription.
While numerous studies seem to indicate that it is important to determine the origin, or
the context, of the proper names on signs in the linguistic landscape to show people a clear
lingual picture around them, some researchers, like Gorter or Ldi, claim that the
classification of the proper names within the area of linguistic landscape has not caused any
difficulty up to the present time (Cenoz & Gorter 2005 in Edelman 2009). As an example,
Ldi did not take into consideration the original language of proper names in his landscape
study in Basel, Switzerland, so he regarded Vgele shoes as English, and he excluded the
German proper name Vgele from his analysis (Ldi 2007 in Edelman 2009:73). We can
hypothesize from the former consideration that the study of Ldi has remained open to doubt
and disagreement.

2.4 THE PROBLEM OF COUNTING SIGNS

Backhaus (2007) delineates in his famous study entitled A Comparative Study of
Urban Multilingualism in Tokyo that counting signs can cause difficulty, as there are
multilingual areas, like shop windows, where it is hard to determine what counts as a sign. In
order to avoid misleading results, it is important to restrict our field of research to a welldefined area. Like Backhaus in his survey a few years ago when he chose only those streets
for analysis that were near subway stations in Tokyo (Backhaus 2007 in Spolsky in Gorter
2009:32), I also restricted my research area to a well-defined location, namely, to the
corridors of the Institute of English and American Studies at the Faculty of Arts, University of
Szeged. Backhaus (2006) also revealed that there are researchers who count only those signs
that are composed of more than one language, but in my study I count monolingual signs as
well. Besides aiming to avoid ambiguity, I have narrowed down my research location to the
corridors of the Institute of English and American Studies and decided not to include the

classrooms and offices, because the paintings hanging on the walls of these rooms belong to
the artistic landscape and not to the linguistic landscape.

2.5 THE PROBLEM OF THE STATE OF LITERACY AND AGENCY IN PUBLIC SIGNAGE
A sociolinguistic approach should definitely include and apply considerations of
semiotics. Being different from traditional linguistics by studying non-linguistic signs as well,
semiotics, i.e. the general study of tokens, puts an emphasis on the state of literacy, which is a
problematic field also within the linguistic landscape. The study of literacy includes different
kinds of items that can serve as objects for analysis, like letters, tickets, signs or even warning
symbols (Spolsky in Gorter 2009:29). In all these cases, the choice of language is really
determining, because if the target audience does not understand the language they are written
in, they can get mixed up concerning the real meaning of the units (Spolsky in Gorter 2009:
30) and, as a consequence, the signs do not achieve the purpose of transmitting the desired
message. Spolsky says that the distinction of private and public signs is a post-hoc guess
(Spolsky in Gorter 2009:31). He is of the opinion that a sign is an end-product of a process in
which there are many agents, namely the sign-owner, the sign-maker, the reader and
the language management authority. Their choice of language always carries a symbolic
value.
Spolsky defines three conditions that are significant parts of the language choice on
public signage. As many spelling and grammatical mistakes can occur in case of tokens
produced in foreign languages, the first condition is that it is necessary to compose a sign in a
language that the individual is familiar with. The second one is the presumed readers
condition. This rule means that one should produce a sign in a language that is supposed to
be understood by the individuals who are expected to read it. Finally, the third rule gives an
explanation for the claim why the language of a token has to be your own (Spolsky 2009:33).
English, being the currently most international language, is often the first choice on
public signage, despite the fact that in many cases it does not fulfill the three conditions
defined by Spolsky. Its use, however, is justified because this is the language that not only
has largely symbolic value, but also carries distinctive connotations. First and foremost it
conveys notions of internationality, success, and Western orientation (Muth 2010)
(Singhasiri 2013:8). In other words, even if it is not fully understood or owned by the target
audience, using English can be perceived as more prestigious and modern than using the
local languages (see also Piller 2001, 2003) (Dgi 2012:354).
8

In his Foreword to the above mentioned Tokyo study by Backhaus, Spolsky

summerizes the dilemma of literacy as follows, [] in much of the world, vernacular
literacy lags behind standard language literacy. Thus, what is sometimes interpreted as
differences in language choice may well be the result of a difference in literacy development.
(Spolsky in Backhaus 2007:x)
As for the present study, I can state that the academic setting I chose as site for my
investigation was indeed ideal because the gap between vernacular literacy and standard
language literacy was much narrower than it would have been in other social settings.

3. METHODOLOGY
The analysis of the utility or, to use the semiotic term, salience of signs with the
methods of the linguistic landscape has provoked many new thoughts and ideas related to
multilingualism (Shohamy 2006:110). Nevertheless, because the linguistic landscape is a
relatively new and currently emerging branch within linguistics, "the methodologies
employed in the collection and categorisation of written signs is still controversial" (Tufi &
Blackwood 2010:197). Differing opinions result in a highly flexible concept and a wide
variety of methodologies (Shohamy and Gorter 2009). It is very important for the clarity and
unambiguity of any research project to decide which of the many approaches we adopt and
determine the specifics of the methodology we intend to follow.
What everybody accepts and agrees on is that, in a methodological sense, linguistic
landscape analysis has to rely mainly on photography, complemented occasionally by other
means of data collection, like interviews with sign-owners or readers. Accordingly, the
present linguistic landscape study is also based on the use of digital photography. The
photographs of the selected signs have been taken only in the corridors of the Institute of
English and American Studies at the Faculty of Arts, University of Szeged, and do not include
any pictures from the classrooms and offices at the same institution since the tokens in the
latter places could not be analysed linguistically, only artistically. Thirty pictures were taken
in total with a camera at the same time on 9th October, 2013 and twenty-six (26) of them were
chosen to be categorized and analyzed to warrant the relevant concepts that were selected in
the literature review. However, only eighteen (18) of them were selected to analysed in
greater detail.
Each piece was regarded as one unit, or token. The tokens were classified on the basis of
-

the type and number of languages used (monolingual, bilingual or multilingual

tokens),

whether they depicted top-down or bottom-up signs,

the proper names on the signs and, ultimately,

the font size of the ocular units.

Beside the above categorization, the tokens were also divided into three groups, based on their
function:

10

The first group consists of posters which in most cases include both textual and
graphic elements and are displayed for university students with the purpose to
advertise and inform about future learning, work or entertainment opportunities, like
study trips, programs seeking multilingual talents, or services provided by local
businesses.

The second group takes into account warning signs that are on display not only for the
students of the institute but for everyone who enters the building; these signs may also
include both textual and graphic elements.

The third group contains nameplates, well-visible signs that indicate names of
professors, offices, and institutional units. Nameplates are formal tokens, often made
of metal, that can be found outside or on the doors of offices and classrooms.

It is important to emphasize at this point that the present research was conducted not
only within a confined space, but also within a limited period of time, so the results thereof
reflect only a snapshot of the changing linguistic landscape of an academic setting. Thus,
because the general conclusions were drawn from results that arise from a limited number of
data, this thesis is based on inductive reasoning.

11

4. RESULTS
4.1 LANGUAGES ON SIGNS

The first aspect of my analysis was concerned with how the different languages appear
on the tokens. I started the processing of the collected data with the investigation of the first
group, namely the photographs of textual posters. Based on the figures, the following results
have occurred:

Table 1. Types and number of languages on posters and advertisements (own source).

Number of languages
Monolingual
Bilingual
Multilingual (including
tri- and quadrilingual)

Types of languages

Pieces of items

English; Hungarian; German

English-Hungarian;
French- Hungarian

Hungarian-English-Catalan

As can be seen in Table 1, the use of two or more languages, appearing simultaneously
on posters, is as common as the use of one language on its own in the corridors of the Institute
of English and American Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Szeged. We can state that the
type of languages used in monolingual and bilingual settings are national languages, namely
English, Hungarian, German and French. It can also be ascertained that the presence of
English is, understandably, high.

12

The following pictures well depict the occurring monolingualism and bilingualism on
posters in the corridors at the Institute of English and American Studies, Faculty of Arts,
University of Szeged:

PICTURE 1. Monolingual advertisement

for a teaching practice program abroad

PICTURE 2. Bilingual poster of a

foreign language certificate program

The one trilingual example was a poster of the Department of Hispanic Studies,
announcing a briefing about their Catalan Minor program (see Picture 10). This poster is an
obvious blend of signage originating from two sign-owners: the Hungarian university
department used the pictures and logo of the Catalan Ramon Llull Institute, whose mission is
the

promotion

of

Catalan

language

and

culture

abroad

(http://www.llull.cat/english/home/index.cfm). The message itself is in Hungarian, the name

of the Catalan supporter of the program is in Catalan, and the slogan in the middle written in
capital letters and probably used in every partner country is in English.
As opposed to the above mentioned national languages, Catalan is a co-official
language of the autonomous provinces of Catalonia within Spain. Even though it is the only
national and official language of the microstate of Andorra, it has not won an independent,
national status in Spain or, for that matter, in international public perception. The presence of
Catalan demonstrates that the language on a sign, besides its primary informative role, may
also bear a symbolic value through which the public's attention can be drawn to the status of
the given linguistic community. At the same time, the fact that the marketing of this minority
language in a non-Anglo-Saxon target country is unimaginable without the help of the worlds
13

number one international language proves the overwhelming dominance of English in the
global linguistic landscape.

Table 2. Types and number of languages on warning signs (own source).

Number of languages

Types of languages

Pieces of
items

Hungarian

English-Hungarian

Monolingual
Bilingual
Multilingual (including triand quadrilingual)

From the warning signs that were photographed on the research site, two were
bilingual and one was monolingual. Making it clear to everybody what procedure is to be
followed in case of fire or emergency is absolutely crucial. Thus, the logical prediction at the
beginning of the data-collection process in this category was that each warning sign would be
(and should be) translated into English. The textual sign on a high voltage transformer box,
however, warns of electric shock hazard only in Hungarian. The message is made
unambiguous for non-speakers of Hungarian by the internationally used graphic sign and the
voltage value next to the text.

14

PICTURE 4. Bilingual warning sign

PICTURE 3. Monolingual warning sign

Table 3. Types and number of languages on name signage (own source).

Types of
languages

Pieces of items

Monolingual

English; Hungarian

Bilingual

English-Hungarian;
Latin-Hungarian

Number of languages

Multilingual
(including tri- and quadrilingual)

The higher percentage of occurrence of bilingual name signs is due to the fact that the
exact identification of services, organizational units, and individuals who belong to and fill
different positions within these units is indispensable to providing guidance, thus ensuring the
chaos-free movement and communication of people in the corridors of the English
Department. On metal nameplates, the Hungarian name is always above the English
translation, and the occasional difference between the two languages in the length of the texts
or the size of the letters is a consequence of the general characteristics of Hungarian and
English, not necessarily indicative of the dominance of one over the other.
A unique phenomenon, which does not occur in many languages other than
Hungarian, is that in Hungarian personal names the last name comes before the first name,
15

therefore it is possible, and necessary, to translate these types of proper names on Englishlanguage signs by changing the order of their components. This is well-exemplified by the
name of the Head of the English Department, in which the original Hungarian word order
Kiss Attila changes in accordance with the rules of the English language to Attila Kiss (see
Picture 11.
In some cases, translations were either inconsistent (i.e. one part was in English, the
other part was in Hungarian), or they were missing altogether, like in the case of Radnti
Kvz. A one-time, non-native visitor would have a hard time locating and identifying this
place based on the name sign on the door, because the Hungarian word kvz may not
necessarily suggest, especially for non-linguists with limited interest in etymology, that it is in
fact the Hungarian equivalent of caf and that both names originate from the same root
meaning coffee. The vertically written Latin name Universitas (discussed in detail in
Section 2.3.) does not require translation, but its obvious meaning and the large size of the
letters, at least in relation to the name and logo of the caf, makes the recognition of what is
behind the door even more difficult.

PICTURE 5. Inconsistency of translation on a bilingual

sign: part of the name of the organizational unit is in
Hungarian, part of it is in English

PICTURE 6. Missing translation: the name of

the catering business unit is in Hungarian only

Even though name signs are more permanent than posters and advertisements, the
photos still depict examples where the names were not engraved on a metal plaque but rather
printed on a piece of paper and pinned up on a notice-board, or stenciled on the surface of a
door. This may be the result of several factors, e.g. an unexpected change in staff or the
expression of the sign-owners taste. The type of material used is, however, usually not the
reflection of negligence or of the level of importance of a certain academic unit or member of
16

staff, but rather the proof that funds at institutions of higher education are often limited,
especially for pure aesthetic purposes.
The aggregate result for the languages on the twenty-six selected signs including
informative, warning and name signage was the following:
Table 4. Types and number of languages on all signage (own source).

Number of languages

Types of languages

Monolingual

Hungarian (5); English (4);

German (2)

11

English-Hungarian (11);
French-Hungarian (2);
Latin-Hungarian (1)

14

Hungarian-English-Catalan

Bilingual
Multilingual
(including tri- and
quadrilingual)

Pieces
items

of

Based on the above data, it can be stated that the total number of monolingual signs
was lower than that of bilingual signs. The languages that were present on the site at the time
of my research were Hungarian, English, German, French, Latin and Catalan. The majority of
the monolingual signs were in Hungarian or English, and two were in German. Most of the
bilingual signs were in Hungarian and English, two were in Hungarian and French, and one
was in Hungarian and Latin. This confirms that my prediction concerning the dominance of
Hungarian and English was correct.
The use of English in this academic environment is not simply accepted, but rather
expected. Displaying the names of the departments and teachers of the university, preferably
in a uniform and organized manner, is probably an official requirement, which is also dictated
by common sense. The more unregulated nature of posters and advertisements explains the
inconsistencies detected in translations, or the lack thereof, as well as in the physical
appearance of the languages on signs.
The co-existence of languages on the signage on the corridors of the Institute of
English or American Studies reflects the multilingualism that prevails among the walls of this
internationally acclaimed university, presumably at other departments as well. If data
collection was conducted at a different time, we would probably see other languages
represented as well, but the official language of the home country of the institution
(Hungarian) and the number one international language (English) would unquestionably be
17

the two most relevant languages. It is all the more so because the research site for this study
was that part of the university which functions as the headquarters of English and American
culture and knowledge.

4.2 TOP-DOWN VERSUS BOTTOM-UP SIGNS

The second step of my analysis was to make a different classification of the tokens,
based this time on whether they belong to the top-down (public) or bottom-up (private)
category of signs. After regrouping the collected data (photographs), I have made the
following findings:
Table 5.Category and class of all signage (own source).

Category

Top-down signs

Bottom-up signs

Class
8 signs offering/informing about official
learning and scholarship opportunities,
both mandatory and optional
1 psychological counseling for students
6 name signs
4 warning signs
5 entertainment and catering services
1 private teaching
1 employment agency

Total
No.

19

Similarly to the language-based classification of the tokens, my hypothesis has proved

to be correct: the number of public signs well exceeded that of private signs.
The public signs were put on display mainly by the University of Szeged, or certain
departments and institutes there are. Other institutions and foundations affiliated with the
University of Szeged also chose to spread their message by appearing in the on-campus
signage, including the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and, last but not least, the Hungarian
representatives of foreign organizations, like Alliance Franaise (a France-based international
network whose aim is to promote French culture and language learning) or ECL (the
European Consortium for the Certificate of Attainment in Modern Languages). The
information transmitted by these public signs included foreign-language training and
certification, teaching practice abroad, mandatory and extracurricular courses, and
scholarships as well as psychological counseling.
18

The private signs were posted both by businesses and by private individuals with the
purpose of advertising services related, on the one hand, to the studies conducted by the
students of the Faculty of Arts, like foreign-language tutoring or foreign-language job
opportunities, and, on the other hand, to everyday needs and entertainment, like restaurant or
caf services, physical or virtual free-time activities (self-defence training, Facebook groups).
The choice of language was clearly influenced by who the target audience was: for
Hungarian students, public and private sign-makers alike created Hungarian-language
messages, while for foreign and Hungarian students together, they designed posters either in
English or in the language of the course or service concerned.

PICTURE 7. Public sign offering

psychological counselling in Hungarian

PICTURE 8. Private sign from a

recruitment company offering
multilingual job opportunities in
English

PICTURE 9. Public sign advertising

a four-day interdisciplinary event in
German

4.3 PROPER NAMES ON SIGNS

Among the twenty-six (26) tokens analysed within the present study, eighteen (18)
contained proper names. These proper names were either the names of persons or of
organizations and institutions. The following table shows the distribution of personal and
organizational names in the signage on display at the time of the present linguistic landscape
analysis. Some tokens contained personal and organizational names as well, which I counted
separately, as one example for personal, one example for organizational names. When a token
contained a list of several personal names of the same type, I counted it as one example within
the category:
19

Table 6.Distribution of proper names by type (own source).

Personal names:

Organizational names:

16

Displayed alone:

On posters:

12

On nameplates:

With organizational name: 4

Total number of proper names: 21

The first token from the following two examples for the appearance of personal and
organizational names focuses on the advertised event, not on the name of the department or
the name of the professor who holds the event. These proper names themselves, therefore, do
not constitute the most conspicuous part of the token. On the second public sign, however, the
personal name itself is in the center, which suggests that this proper name and the title
attached to it is the message itself that passers-by are supposed to receive, even though this
nameplate is made of paper, not metal, which is more customary and occurs more
frequently.

PICTURE 10. Personal and

organizational names in one poster in
an unemphasized position on the sign

PICTURE 11. Personal name in an

unorthodox nameplate in an
emphasized position on the sign

As was mentioned above, in Section 4.1 on the characteristics of languages on signs,

the translation, that is, the bilingual representation of names, showed some inconsistencies
(Picture 5). All in all, however, it sufficiently served the purpose of identifying and showing
the whereabouts of the organizational units and their staff to regular and random visitors alike.

20

One dilemma I faced in the course of the categorization of proper names was the name
of a catering unit called Don Quijote Pizzria (Picture 18). Like Ldi (2007), I decided not
to take into consideration the foreign (Spanish) origin of the proper name Don Quijote
because it is well-known and widely used among Hungarian native speakers, and Pizzria,
the head (or stem) of the name of the business unit, although it is an Italian loan word, has
already become part of the Hungarian vocabulary as well, which is also indicated by the acute
accent mark on the original e. Consequently, despite the fact that it consisted of two foreign
elements, in my analysis this proper name was considered to be Hungarian.

4.4 THE FONT SIZE OF THE OCULAR UNITS

The font size of texts on signage and the ocular units thereof is of utmost importance
because it may determine whether a given sign and the message it carries will receive the
expected attention and, as a consequence, get across to the target audience. Font size,
therefore, is perhaps the most essential among the visual characteristics of signage. While the
previous sections were concerned first and foremost with the content of signs, the study of
font size sheds light on the form in which signs manifest themselves in the linguistic
landscape andcomplement the final meaning of the intended message.
The most obvious observation that can be made at first sight is that posters showed a
much wider variety in font size than warnings or name signs. In posters and advertisements,
the differences in font size within one token were a result of the decisions that sign-owners or
sign-makers had made concerning the focal point of their message and, in case of bilingual or
multilingual messages, the relevance of the languages in relation to each other in the given
context. On nameplates and warning signs, similarity or uniformity were more prevalent.
Nevertheless, English was given a slight priority over Hungarian on metal plaques not by
increased font size but simply by the use of uppercase instead of lowercase.

21

PICTURE 12. A poster advertising a

scholarship program. The focal point
of its message is of larger font size.

PICTURE 13. Despite the identical

font size, the priority of English is
indicated by capitalized letters.

Based on the above, the diversification of the linguistic landscape can be easily
demonstrated even from one single aspect, like font size or capitalization. Within the typically
multilingual environment of the selected research site, among the multitude of signs along the
corridors, it is very easy to be in sight and still remain unnoticed. That is why the proper use
and alteration of font size itself can make a big difference in the impact a sign has on its
environment and the target audience.

22

5. DISCUSSION
5.1THE PRESENCE AND RELEVANCE OF MULTIPLE LANGUAGES IN THE LINGUISTIC
LANDSCAPE

Lingusitic landscape studies can be used to identify the linguistic boundaries of a certain
area (Ben-Rafael & Shohamy 2006 in Ryan 2011) as well as to assess the impact and
penetration of multilingualism in a community (Huebner 2006 and Cenoz & Gorter 2006 in Ryan
2011).

The reason for the strong impact of multilingualism i.e. the simultaneous presence of
multiple languages and the outstanding relevance of English in the linguistic landscape of
the selected segment of Szeged University is straightforward: this is that part of the Faculty of
Arts where teachers and students of the Institute of English or American Studies who, of
course, understand and speak English by default frequent on a daily basis. Furthermore,
the messages displayed in more than one language are usually meant not only for Hungarian
students of English but for foreign students as well.
Students, who are the primary targets of the originators of signs in this setting, are
often participants in scholarship programs, like Erasmus, which is a European Union student
exchange program that makes it possible for foreign students to spend a term in Szeged to
pursue English or American Studies, among others. (The program is not only named after the
Dutch philosopher, Erasmus; it is also an acronym which means EuRopean Community Action
Scheme for the Mobility of University Students.) Almost a twin to the Erasmus Program is the
Campus Hungary program (see Picture 12) which, according to its online definition, aims to
enhance international student mobility in higher education, both in terms of having more
incoming foreign students to Hungary and also having more Hungarian students studying
abroad. [] The main goal of the program is to support and facilitate the internationalisation
of Hungarian higher education by initiating and deepening cooperation with foreign higher
education institutions and achieving knowledge exchange. (http://campushungary.org)
It is worth quoting from the mission statement of the program, whose advertisement
had a central position among the posters included in my study, because it grasps perfectly the
essence of multiculturalism and multilingualism that is imprinted on and reflected by the
linguistic landscape. The above statements contain the most frequently used terms of our

23

globalised environment: mobility, internationalisation, cooperation, knowledge exchange.

These concepts are unimaginable and unfeasible without the use of multiple languages.
It was conspicuous, though, that the main message on bilingual posters advertising
learning, knowledge exchange, and certification opportunities for Hungarian undergraduate
students in the spirit of the above concepts was consistently in Hungarian, and the only
parts in the signs that were in English were the names of the programs or institutions
concerned (see Pictures 1, 2, 12). This sign-making strategy, classified on the basis of
musicology-inspired part writing types (Backhaus 2007), places our examples in the mixed
category, or, based on Rehs multilingual writing types, in the category of fragmentary or
overlapping multilingualism (Reh 2004 in Backhaus 2007:91).
Moreover, there were three posters among the selected tokens whose makers chose to
omit any Hungarian translation or explanation altogether and transferred their message only in
one foreign language, thus creating monolingual, or monophonic, signs (English and German,
respectively). This suggests that the sign-makers had a specific target group in mind, namely
advanced learners, graduate or postgraduate students, professors and, presumably, native
speakers of the given languages (see Pictures 8, 9, 14).

PICTURE 13. A monolingual (or

monophonic) sign advertising a
Facebook-activity in English.

PICTURE 14. A bilingual (or

polyphonic) sign advertising private
language tutoring.

The more disciplined and uniform nameplates and warning signs were the perfect
manifestations of homophonic bilingual signs or, in Rehs terminology, of duplicated
multilingalism, in which mutual translation was completely available(see Pictures 4, 13).

24

Among the bottom-up signs, in an advertisement offering private language tutoring, I

came across a perfect polyphonic example which, according to Reh, could also be called an
example for complementary multilingualism (see Picture 15).The purpose of not making the
translation of the foreign-language part of the inscription available was to increase the
curiosity and interest of a specific segment of the sign readers: Hungarian students who have
already studied a little French but aspire to be more proficient in it, perhaps pass an exam.
The latent observations above, namely that sign-makers choose the language on their
signs carefully for a targeted group of sign-readers, seems to contradict what, in reference to
Wienolds view on inscriptions, Backhaus calls the basic characteristic of language on signs:
the lack of a recognisable emitter and lack of a specified target group.(Backhaus 2007:8)
Keeping in mind that, in Backhauss definition, language means written language as opposed
to spoken language and it refers to the wording of a message rather than to the choice between
native and foreign languages, we still have to argue with his statement that the originators of
messages deal with a completely unknown readership. (Backhaus 2007:9) It is probably
true in a big-city setting, like Tokyo, whose signs served as the object for Backhauss case
study, but does not really apply to the smaller, interior, academic setting in which I conducted
my study.
Nevertheless, what applies to the use of multiple languages in the linguistic landscape
that I investigated, and what is an undeniably valid approach from Backhauss milestone
book, is that the sign-maker is usually an indistinct larger entity a private or official
organisation rather than an individual person. [] The sign reader has no immediate means
of responding to the transmitted message,and last but not least, languages on signs also
differ from various other forms of written language use in that they require to be read at a
certain point in space in order to make sense. (Backhaus 2007: 9)

5.2 INFORMATIONAL AND SYMBOLIC DIVERSITY ON SIGNS

My research site was a relatively small point in space where a wide variety of
messages are on display either permanently or on a rotational basis, with a higher ratio of
textual elements than what other studies include that cover a more extended geographical
area, like a district in a big city, with signs that address a larger segment of the population.
This increased role of textuality in the public space examined in my study comes from the fact
that the given linguistic landscape actors (Ben-Rafael 2006) represent a relatively narrow
25

layer of society with an above-average level of literacy. Moreover, both the originators and
the readers/translators of the signs may come from different societies of different countries,
hence the diversity of the messages and languages. It follows from the above that, in such a
multilingual environment, deciphering the meaning of signs naturally involves informational
and symbolic components as well.
This complexity is well described in the groundbreaking work by Scollon & Scollon
(1996) entitled Intercultural Communication:the language we use must always be borrowed
from some discourse which is located in time, history, and society, and our listeners hear not
only meaning but also the time, history, and society from which we have borrowed our
language. (Scollon 1996 in Castillo-Ayometzi 2009) This definition, of course, can be
applied not only to listeners but to readers of signs as well.
Besides warnings and the identification of organizational units and staff, the signs in
the corridors of the Institute of English and American Studies cover three major subject areas:
study, work and entertainment. What differentiates them from signs in other public spaces is
the timeliness and specificity of their messages. What is significant and meaningful for the
readers here would be inessential and meaningless for the general public outside the building.
The opportunities for teaching practice, language certification, foreign scholarship, scientific
symposia and specialization (see Pictures 1, 2, 9, 10, 12) would not be of any interest for
casual passers-by.
These posters, however, do not only carry the literal meaning of their textual
components but also reflect the time, history, and society (Scollon 1996) in which they
were created. A lot of these programs would have been unimaginable before the change of the
political system in Hungary at the beginning of the 1990s. The education system itself was
different, too; graduate certificates were not called Bachelors or Masters degrees, so the
abbreviations BA and MA would have looked unfamiliar to most students, even though
students of English would have recognised them as titles used in English-speaking countries.
At the same time, western products advertised in the language of their country of origin would
have appeared just as unfamiliar in this academic setting:

26

PICTURE 16. A monolingual,

bottom-up advertisement displayed
on a vending machine. It would
have looked out-of-place and in the
1980s.

PICTURE 15. A bilingual, top-down

poster that not all readers would have
understood back in the 1980s.

It is no coincidence, therefore, that linguistic landscape as an interdisciplinary branch

of linguistics started to rise to prominence from the 1990s when so many former Communist
countries became democratic and opened their borders towards the West, thus allowing the
bidirectional flow of people, goods, and ideas to become the norm instead of the exception, in
parallel with economic globalisation and the more or less successful democratisation of many
parts of the world.
Taking the historical background into account, one cannot help noticing that Russian,
which used to be the only foreign language mandatorily taught in the Hungarian education
system in the not-too-distant past, was missing completely from the surveyed area of the
university. This proves that multilingualism, if not complemented by public acceptance, can
be enforced by governments or authorities only temporarily.
A linguistic landscape study conducted in Chiinu, the capital city of the Republic of
Moldova, also reinforces the above statement in its chapter entitled Language and politics
by highlighting that Russian dominated in all public domains and was essential to know in
higher education until the declaration of independence from the Soviet Union when the
status of Russian was devalued as well, as it lost its distinguished status as a language on
equal footing with Romanian and became a language of interethnic communication
(Dumbrava, 2003:54) (Muth 2009:3). Nevertheless, the study does not intend to simplify the
situation and paints a more sophisticated picture of the continuously changing power relations
between Romanian and Russian, the two native languages of the country, and the increasingly
important English language when it states that it remains to be seen if the claim that English
27

is entrenched firmly as the globally dominant language (Mair, 2006:10) can be applied to
Moldova as well or if Russian can uphold its status as a lingua franca in the country(Muth
2009:5). This could be an interesting question for future LL studies in Hungary whether
English will maintain its overwhelming dominance or other foreign languages can also gain
(or regain) ground in the multilingual arena with time.
As for the present analysis, the above-mentioned timeliness and specificity are also
manifested in posters advertising work, entertainment, or services that have emerged and
become popular during the past few years and decades. The examples I found included
-

a job offer requiring advanced language skills (Picture 8),

entertainment offers that were either virtual or real, like spending time on Facebook
(Picture 13) or with friends at a pizzeria (Picture 18), and

a service offer aimed at improving quality of life (Picture 7).

All three areas were developing and growing simultaneously with the political and economic
transformation of the country: jobs requiring multilingual skills or restaurants offering
foreign food were rare previously (the word pizzeria Italian restaurant itself is a relative
newcomer in Hungarian). Psychological counseling has recently become more acknowledged
as its wide international acceptance became evident. Facebook, the online social networking
service, did not even exist a few years ago.
The internet, which plays a central role in connecting people from all over the world
and fostering globalisation and multilingualism, has an overall presence and impact on the
linguistic landscape as well. We can find website addresses in every category of the tokens
examined in this study, the only exception being the warning signs.
The examples above prove that each token can be analysed on the basis of its literal
meaning and the information it intends to transfer to the target audience within a delineated
area. Nevertheless, each token can be analysed with its history and symbolism in mind as
well. Linguistic landscape research, therefore, should be concerned not only with the spatial
determination of the survey areas (Backhaus 2007:65), but also with the temporal
determination thereof. The interpretation of both the informational and the symbolic aspect of
signage may change with time.

28

5.3 THE ROLE OF VISUALITY IN EVALUATING MULTILINGUAL SIGNS

As was pointed out in Section 4.4., font size and style are probably the most essential
among the visual characteristics of signs, but it is not the only criterion that determines how
efficient sign makers are at addressing their readers and making them zoom in on the focal
element of their message. In the case of bi- or multilingual signs, it is especially interesting
which words and languages are given positions of prominence or indeed positions of
obscurity. (Smits2013:3) A language on a sign is considered to be more prominent if it is
larger, in a more eye-catching font or in a position which makes it superior to another. (Ryan
2011:10)
In my selected research site, the representation of two or more languages on one sign was
usually quite balanced, especially in the case of warning signs and nameplates, the difference
being mainly in the use of lowercase and capitalization, not in the positioning of the languages
(see Sections 4.3. and 4.4.). Besides the conspicuous contrast between lowercase and uppercase

fonts, one more tool that sign makers applied to achieve the desired result was underlining the
central part of their message (Picture 15).
The posters, in general, show more variability, but they do not create the impression that
they would give prominence or preference to one language over the other. Even if no word-forword translations were available, the different parts of the texts complemented each other,
occasionally supported by non-textual images as well.
In Picture 2, for example, in a bilingual poster of a foreign language certificate

program, the name of the host institution is on the top in English, accentuated with a striking
red background colour, but because the Hungarian slogan in the lower part of the poster is of
the same size, and the Hungarian-language description of the program is much longer than the
two English-language title lines, the reader does not have the feeling that one language would
be superior to another. The international significance of gaining the advertised certification is
further emphasized by the outline map of Europe in the background.
A similar balance of letter size and positioning can be seen on the poster of Alliance
Franaiseas well, in which the upper half of the sign is occupied by photos and images and
lower half is shared evenly by French and Hungarian textual elements (Picture 17).

29

PICTURE 17. A bilingual poster

with a balanced French-to-Hungarian
and text-to-image ratio

PICTURE 18. A monolingual poster

using text effects

On the poster of the pizzeria (Picture 18) mentioned in Section 5.2., text effects were
also applied: the informal questions that are supposed to address potential customers directly
are not only larger than the answers but all the letters are outlined and shadowed as well. The
name of the catering unit is sticking out of the text block with its yellow colouration, and the
message is accentuated by a non-textual component, the recurring photographic clich of the
face of a smiling customer.
Smiling faces and text effects were applied on other signs as well, sometimes not too
successfully: in Picture 8, for example, the chaotic mix of visual tools, like font alternation,
shadowing, italicizing, colouring, and capitalizing resulted in a rather confusing end product.
This token demonstrated perfectly how important it is to present a message in a harmonious
overall appearance; it does not matter how well-worded the text is on a sign if the improper
use of visual tools makes the message fall apart.

30

6. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

The purpose of the present paper was to provide a brief but comprehensive picture of
the linguistic landscape of a high-traffic area, namely the interior of the Institute of the
English and American studies at the University of Szeged, and, on the basis of the collected
visual data, draw conclusions concerning the status and role of the different languages on
signs in an increasingly multilingual environment.
Following the review of the founding ideas and concepts of the linguistic landscape,
which is an emerging branch of linguistics with strong interdisciplinary features, the focus of
my research was to take stock of the co-existing languages in this academic setting, determine
their relevance and ratio of representation with regard to the higher-than-average literacy level
of the majority of the actors in this academic setting, sign makers and sign readers alike. The
methodology I applied, despite its limitations, was suitable for the intended purpose of this
study, and the results I obtained confirmed the validity of my hypothesis about the prominent
status of the Hungarian and English languages and the dominance of public signs over private
signs.
Since the visual features of communication are in the center of linguistic landscape
studies, the present paper put the emphasis not only on listing the available languages and
classifying the tokens, but also on examining of the appearance, size, and position thereof.
The main finding of my work was that, despite the inconsistencies in providing or
omitting to provide translations, there is a natural and balanced coexistence between
languages in this academic environment, maybe even more so than in other public spaces. It
comes from the multilingual nature of the selected signage that the message it transfers carries
informational and symbolic elements as well, packed with political-cultural-sociological
allusions.
These findings could be well complemented with data from future studies. It would be
a challenging task to contrast an updated and expanded set of data from my survey area with
results originating from non-language-oriented departments or faculties of the university. Due
to the constant flow of students, guest lecturers, and visiting professors and also to the
international language requirements in the area of research and higher education further
studies would probably prove that multilingualism is becoming more and more prevalent,
which does not only have an impact on the development of linguistics in general, and
31

landscape studies in particular, but also on other branches of science and aspects of social,
economic, political, and everyday life.

32

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Nira.2006. Linguistic landscape as symbolic construction of public space: The case of
Israel.In Durk Gorter ed. Linguistic Landscape: A New Approach to Multilingualism.
Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 7-30.
Castillo-Ayometzi, Cecilia. 2009. Some Issues of Intercultural Communication and
the Work of Ron and Suzanne Scollon.eVox. Washington, DC: Georgetown University. Vol.
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