Bilingualism on display: The framing of Welsh and English in Welsh public spaces

Coupland, Nikolas John Robert 2012. Bilingualism on display: The framing of Welsh and English in Welsh public spaces. Language in Society 41 (1) , pp. 1-27. 10.1017/S0047404511000893

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Abstract

This article develops an interpretive perspective on public displays of bilingualism. Photographic data from contemporary Wales illustrate how public bilingual—Welsh and English—displays are organized in different frames, reflecting historically changing language-ideological priorities and more local symbolic markets. In institutionally driven displays, the Welsh language is framed as an autonomous code in parallel with English, displacing an earlier pattern of representing Welsh subordinated to English norms. In other frames Welsh is constructed as the only legitimate heartland language, or as an impenetrable cultural curiosity. In the most open and least institutionalized frame, Welsh is displayed as part of a culturally distinctive but syncretic cultural system. These framing contests dramatize deeper tensions that surface in attempts to revitalize minority languages under globalization. (Wales, Welsh, bilingualism, language display, language ideology, linguistic landscapes, metaculture)

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	English, Communication and Philosophy
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics P Language and Literature > PB Modern European Languages > PB1001 Celtic languages and literature
Additional Information:	Pdf uploaded in accordance with publisher's policy at http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/issn/0047-4045/ (accessed 25/02/2014).
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
ISSN:	0047-4045
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Last Modified:	04 May 2023 19:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/36596

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