Cover not available
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. 269–292

Chapter 10
Languages to buy and sell

Business names and linguistic diversity in a central Peninsular community

| University of Salamanca

This chapter is concerned with linguistic diversity in business names across the Spanish town of Salamanca. Going from the urban center to the periphery, it examines three areas that are relatively differentiated according to average household income and immigrant population rate, among other indicators. The analysis shows that the use of English and other European languages is characteristic of the highly commercially-oriented town center, while the most peripheral area shows the emergence of Arabic and dialectal features of Latin American Spanish, in line with recent migratory flows. Business names in the intermediate area sometimes combine Spanish and English features. The results are qualitatively interpreted as being indexical of three different metaphorical directions of language choice, namely outward, upward and inward.

Keywords: business names, linguistic diversity, Salamanca, Peninsular Spanish, urban landscape
Article outline
  • Introduction: Multilingualism in Peninsular Spanish urban landscapes
  • The community and the three urban areas
  • Methodology and data
    • Names, descriptors, and additional materials
    • The data and their coding
  • The quantitative distribution of languages across the commercial landscape
  • The CS area: Outward diversity
  • The LA area: Upward diversity
  • The GG area: Inward diversity
  • Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 29 July 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.35.10aij
References
Ayuntamiento de Salamanca
(2020) Observatorio de Salamanca. Retrieved on 19 January, 2021 from: [URL]
Blommaert, J., & Maly, I.
(2016) Ethnographic linguistic landscape analysis and social change. In K. Arnaut, J. Blommaert, B. Rampton, & M. Spotti (Eds.), Language and superdiversity (pp. 197–21). Routledge.Google Scholar
Castillo Lluch, M., & Sáez Rivera, D. M.
(2011) Introducción al paisaje lingüístico de Madrid. Lengua y Migración, 3, 73–88.Google Scholar
Cenoz, J., & Gorter, D.
(2006) Linguistic landscape and minority languages. International Journal of Multilingualism, 3, 67–80. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chambers, J. K.
(2003) Sociolinguistic theory (2nd ed.). Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Comajoan Colomé, L.
(2013) El paisaje lingüístico en Cataluña: Caracterización y percepciones del paisaje visual y auditivo en una avenida comercial de Barcelona. Revista Internacional de Lingüística Iberoamericana, 11, 63–88.Google Scholar
Esteba Ramos, D.
(2014) Aproximación al paisaje lingüístico de Málaga: Préstamos y reflejos de una realidad lingüística plural. Recherches, 12, 165–187.Google Scholar
Flores Figueroa, J. J., & Alvarado García, I. N.
(2018) Estereotipo y creatividad en el diseño. Revista del Instituto de Arquitectura, Diseño y Arte, 14, 5–16.Google Scholar
Franco Rodríguez, J. M.
(2013) An alternative reading of the linguistic landscape: The case of Almería. Revista Internacional de Lingüística Iberoamericana, 11, 109–134.Google Scholar
Fundación del Español Urgente
(2013) Símbolo “&”. Buscador urgente de dudas. Retrieved on 19 January, 2021 from: [URL]
García Marcos, F.
(2019) El lenguaje de las rotulaciones de establecimientos comerciales en las ciudades contemporáneas. Los casos de Almería, Łódz y Tarrasa. Signa, 28, 699–732. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gorter, D., & Cenoz, J.
(2015) Translanguaging and linguistic landscapes. Linguistic Landscape: An International Journal, 1, 54–74. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heller, M.
(2008) Language and the nation-state: Challenges to sociolinguistic theory and practice. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 12, 504–524. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Instituto Nacional de Estadística
(2020) Demografía y población. Retrieved on 19 January, 2021 from: [URL]
Järlehed, J., Lykke Nielsen, H., & Rosendal, T.
(2018) Language, food and gentrification: Signs of socioeconomic mobility in two Gothenburg neighbourhoods. Multilingual Margins, 5, 40–65. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kelly, J.
(2014, May 21). Even Ulan Bator has an Irish pub. BBC News Magazine. Retrieved on 19 January, 2021 from: [URL]
Kelly-Holmes, H.
(2014) Linguistic fetish: The sociolinguistics of visual multilingualism. Visual Communication, 4, 135–151.Google Scholar
Lado, B.
(2011) Linguistic landscape as a reflection of the linguistic and ideological conflict in the Valencian community. International Journal of Multilingualism, 8, 135–150. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leeman, J., & Modan, G.
(2010) Selling the city: Language, ethnicity and commodified space. In E. Shohamy, E. Ben-Rafael, & M. Barni (Eds.), Linguistic landscape in the city (pp. 182–197). Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ma, Y.
(2017) El paisaje lingüístico chino-español de la ciudad de Valencia: Una aproximación a su estudio. Lengua y Migración / Language and Migration, 9, 63–84.Google Scholar
Moriarty, M., & Järlehed, J.
(2019) Multilingual creativity and play in the semiotic landscape: An introduction. International Journal of Multilingualism, 16, 1–6. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Piller, I.
(2001) Identity constructions in multilingual advertising. Language in Society, 30, 153–186. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pons Rodríguez, L.
(2011) Hispanoamérica en el paisaje lingüístico de Sevilla. Itinerarios, 13, 97–129.Google Scholar
(2012) El paisaje lingüístico de Sevilla: lenguas y variedades en el escenario urbano hispalense. Diputación de Sevilla.Google Scholar
Real Academia Española, & Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (RAE)
(2020) Diccionario de la lengua española. Espasa Calpe.Google Scholar
Regueira Fernández, X. L., López Docampo, M., & Wellings, M.
(2013) El paisaje lingüístico en Galicia. Revista Internacional de Lingüística Iberoamericana, 11, 39–62.Google Scholar
Senabre López, D.
(2003) Desarrollo urbano y urbanística del municipio de Salamanca en el siglo XX. Scripta Nova. Revista Electrónica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales, 7. Retrieved on 19 January, 20221 from: [URL]
Srhir, A. M.
(2018) Recontextualización sociolingüística y superdiversidad. El árabe en el paisaje lingüístico del barrio de Lavapiés en Madrid. Lingue e Linguaggi, 25, 197–225.Google Scholar
Van Mensel, L., Vandenbroucke, M., & Blackwood, R.
(2017) Linguistic landscapes. In O. García, N. Flores, & M. Spotti (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of language and society (pp. 423–449). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Vandenbroucke, M.
(2016) Socio-economic stratification of English in globalized landscapes: A market-oriented perspective. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 20, 86–108. DOI logoGoogle Scholar