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Part of
Linguistic Landscape in the Spanish-speaking World
Edited by Patricia Gubitosi and Michelle F. Ramos Pellicia
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 35] 2021
► pp. 183–214

Chapter 7
The Escondido swap meet

A place of covert resistance

| California State University San Marcos

The Spanish-speaking community in North County San Diego, a community comprised mostly of Mexicans, Mexican Americans, and Chicanxs, but also of Guatemalans, Salvadorians, and Nicaraguans, are using language as a tool for resistance in the linguistic landscape of the Escondido swap meet. In this work, I consider how linguistic practices in the landscape are strategically used and how they compare to what it entails to be a speaker of a language that is considered undesired and has been racialized, but it is at the same time an asset to the local Spanish-speaking community, as it is used to maintain their linguistic roots, and resist linguistic oppression.

Keywords: linguistic landscape, Spanish, linguistic resistance, linguistic oppression
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Background
  • Questions motivating this work
  • Theoretical background
  • Methods
  • The landscape of the Escondido swap meet
  • Conclusions
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 29 July 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.35.07ram
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