Cover not available

Article In: Linguistic Landscape: Online-First Articles

‘It’s the name of a location, c’est le nom d’un endroit’

Bringing together passer-by perspectives of Rout Bréck in Kirchberg, Luxembourg City

 | University of Sheffield
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
This article foregrounds the passer-by as a central yet underexplored stakeholder in the construction of Luxembourg’s multilingual Linguistic Landscape (LL), examined through different passer-by perspectives of the Rout Bréck–Pafendall tram stop in Kirchberg, Luxembourg City. Drawing on frameworks from geosemiotics, social and cultural geography, and toponymy, it conceptualises space as the combination of lived experiences and perspectives of passers-by, which interweave to give a more nuanced understanding of the objective space around them. Through the collection of approximately 1,600 photos and 21 semi-structured interviews with people living, working, and/or socialising in Kirchberg, the analysis illustrates how passers-by discursively negotiate meaning, revealing tensions between place names, local identity, and everyday multilingualism. By foregrounding passer-by perspectives as central to the construction of LLs and space, this article contributes to developing theoretical understandings of how multilingual urban environments are socially produced, negotiated, and experienced through everyday mobilities.
Abstrakt
Dësen Artikel stellt de Passer-by (Passéant) als en zentraalt awer nach wéineg exploréiert Element vun der Konstruktioun vun der méisproocheger Linguistic Landscape (LL) vu Lëtzebuerg an de Virdergrond. Dëst gëtt duerch verschidde Perspektive vu Passers-by vun der Tramhaltestell, Rout Bréck–Pafendall‘ um Kierchbierg, Lëtzebuerg-Stad, ënnersicht. Mat Hëllef vu Konzepter aus dem Beräich vu Geosemiotics, aus der sozialer a kultureller Geographie, an aus der Toponymie, konzeptualiséiert den Artikel de Raum als d‘Kombinatioun vu gelieften Erfarunge vu Passers-by, déi sech mateneen verflechten, fir eng méi nuancéiert Erkenntnis vum objektive Raum ze vermëttelen. Duerch d‘Sammele vu ronn 1.600 Fotoen an 21 hallef-strukturéiert Interviewe mat Leit, déi um Kierchbierg liewen, schaffen, an/oder hir Fräizäit verbréngen, illustréiert d‘Analyse, wéi Passers-by Bedeitung duerch diskursiv Praktiken aushandelen, woubäi si Spannungen tëschent Uertsnimm, lokaler Identitéit, an alldeeglecher Méisproochegkeet opdecken. Andeems d‘Perspektive vun de Passers-by als zentral fir d‘Konstruktioun vu LLen an de Raum gestallt ginn, dreet dësen Artikel zur Entwécklung vu theoreeteschen Erkenntnisser bäi, speziell doriwwer, wéi méisproocheg urban Ëmfelder sozial produzéiert, ausgehandelt, an erlieft ginn duerch alldeeglech Mobilitéiten.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical framework
  • 3.Case study: Kirchberg, Rout Bréck and the tramline
  • 4.Methodology
  • 5.Perspectives on Rout Bréck
    • 5.1Lara
    • 5.2Luc
    • 5.3Diane
  • 6.Discussion and concluding remarks
  • Note
  • References
References (48)
References
Basik, Sergei (2023). Vernacular place name as a cultural arena of urban place-making and symbolic resistance in Minsk, Belarus. Urban Geography, 44(8), 1825–1832. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bellamy, John & Kristine Horner (2019). Ein Mischmasch aus Deutsch und Französisch: Ideological tensions in young people’s discursive constructions of Luxembourgish. Sociolinguistic Studies, 12(3/4), 323–343. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Belling, Luc & Julia de Bres (2014). Digital superdiversity in Luxembourg: The role of Luxembourgish in a multilingual Facebook group. Discourse, Context and Media, 4/51, 74–86. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ben-Rafael, Eliezer & Miriam Ben-Rafael (2015). Linguistic Landscapes in an era of multiple globalizations. Linguistic Landscape, 1(1/2), 19–37. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2016). Berlin’s Linguistic Landscapes: Two Faces of Globalization. In Robert Blackwood, Elizabeth Lanza & Hirut Woldemariam (Eds.) Negotiating and Contesting Identities in Linguistic Landscapes (pp. 197–214). London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Benros, Deborah (2024). ‘The International Style’ multilingual three-dimensional grammar and hybrid designs. International Journal of Architectural Computing, 22(1), 108–128. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bock, Zannie & Christopher Stroud (2019). Zombie Landscapes: Apartheid Traces in the Discourses of Young South Africans. In Amiena Peck, Christopher Stroud & Quentin Williams (Eds.) Making Sense of People and Place in Linguistic Landscapes (pp. 11–28). London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Braun, Virginia & Victoria Clarke (2019). Reflecting on Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 11(4), 589–597. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dannerer, Monika & Barbara Soukup (2025). Language Attitudes in the Multilingual Linguistic Landscape. In Durk Gorter & Jasone Cenoz (Eds.) The Handbook of Linguistic Landscapes and Multilingualism (pp. 97–111). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fonds Kirchberg (2021a). Assignments and Operations. Fonds Kirchberg, 〈[URL]〉 [accessed 17/7/2025].
(2021b). History of Kirchberg. Fonds Kirchberg, 〈[URL]〉 [accessed 17/7/2025].
Garvin, Rebecca Todd (2010). Responses to the Linguistic Landscape in Memphis, Tennessee: An Urban Space in Transition. In Elana Shohamy, Eliezer Ben-Rafael & Monica Barni (Eds.) Linguistic Landscape in the City (pp. 252–274). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gorter, Durk & Jasone Cenoz (2020). Theoretical development of Linguistic Landscape studies. Linguistic Landscape, 6(1), 16–22. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hawkey, James & Kristine Horner (2022). Officiality and strategic ambiguity in language policy: exploring migrant experiences in Andorra and Luxembourg. Language Policy, 21(2), 195–215. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hesse, Markus (2013). Das « Kirchberg-Syndrom »: grosse Projekte im kleinen Land: Bauen und Planen in Luxemburg. disP — The Planning Review, 49(1), 14–28. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2016). On borrowed size, flawed urbanisation and emerging enclave spaces: The exceptional urbanism of Luxembourg, Luxembourg. European Urban and Regional Studies, 23(4), 612–627. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Horner, Kristine (2005). Reimagining the Nation: Discourses of Language Purism in Luxembourg. In Nils Langer & Winifred Davies (Eds.) Linguistic Purism in the Germanic Languages (pp. 166–187). Berlin: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015a). Language regimes and acts of citizenship in multilingual Europe. Journal of Language and Politics, 14(3), 359–381. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015b). Discourses on Language and Citizenship in Europe. Language and Linguistics Compass, 9(5), 209–218. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Horner, Kristine & Jean-Jacques Weber (2008). The Language Situation in Luxembourg. Current Issues in Language Planning, 9(1), 69–128. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2010). Small Languages, Education and Citizenship: the Paradoxical Case of Luxembourgish. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2051, 175–192. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015). Multilingual education and the politics of language in Luxembourg. In Catharina Peersman, Gijsbert Rutten & Rik Vosters (Eds.) Past, Present and Future of a Language Border: Germanic-Romance Encounters in the Low Countries (pp. 233–254). Berlin: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hurley, Cian (2024). ‘I’m confused, is Kirchberg a commune or is it part of the city?’: An Exploration of Passer-by Perspectives on Space, Place, and Linguistic Landscapes in the district of Kirchberg, Luxembourg City. PhD thesis. University of Sheffield. Available at 〈[URL]〉 [accessed 24/9/2025].
Kallen, Jeffrey (2010). Changing Landscapes: Language, Space and Policy in the Dublin Linguistic Landscape. In Adam Jaworski & Crispin Thurlow (Eds.) Semiotic Landscapes: Language, Image, Space (pp. 41–58). London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kalocsányiová, Erika (2020). At the borders of languages: the role of ideologies in the integration of forced migrants in multilingual Luxembourg. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46(9), 1903–1920. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
State of Luxembourg (1984). Loi du 24 février sur le régime des langues. Journal officiel du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, 〈[URL]〉 [accessed 1/8/2025].
Lim, Shaun Tyan Gin & Francesco Perono Cacciafoco (2023). Naming public transport and historicising experiences: Critical toponymies and everyday multilingualism in Singapore’s mass rapid transit system. Urban Studies, 60(15), 3045–3060. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lou, Jackie Jia (2010). Chinatown transformed: Ideology, power and resources in narrative place-making. Discourse Studies, 12(5), 625–647. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Luxtram (2017). Dénomination des stations tramway. luxtram.lu, 〈[URL]〉 [accessed 1/8/2025].
Madden, David (2018). Pushed off the map: Toponymy and the politics of place in New York City. Urban Studies, 55(8), 1599–1614. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Massey, Doreen (2005). For Space. London: SAGE.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2007). World City. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Neethling, Bertie (2016). Street Names: A Changing Urban Landscape. In Carole Hough (Ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming (pp.144–157). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peck, Amiena, Christopher Stroud & Quentin Williams (2020). Making Sense of People and Place in Linguistic Landscapes. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pennycook, Alastair (2017). Translanguaging and semiotic assemblages. International Journal of Multilingualism, 14(3), 269–282. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pennycook, Alastair & Emi Otsuji (2015). Metrolingualism: Language in the City. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Purschke, Christophe (2021). Cultural representation in Luxembourgish street naming practices. Linguistics Vanguard, 7(5), 1–11. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pütz, Martin & Neele Mundt (Eds) (2019). Expanding the Linguistic Landscape: Linguistic Diversity, Multimodality and the Use of Space as a Semiotic Research. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rose-Redwood, Reuben, Derek Alderman & Maoz Azaryahu (2010). Geographies of toponymic inscription: new directions in critical place-names studies. Progress in Human Geography, 34(4), 453–470. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scollon, Ron & Suzie Wong Scollon (2003). Discourses in Place: Language in the Material World. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shimauchi, Toshihiko (2020). Luxembourg tram system: Catenary-free hybrid technology to reduce visual damage to the historical cityscape. Studies in Science and Technology, 9(2), 141–148.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
STATEC (2025). Population by nationalities in detail on 1st January. lustat.statec.lu, 〈[URL]〉 [accessed 1/8/2025].
Streeton, Rosemarie, Mary Cooke & Jackie Campbell (2004). Researching the researchers: using a snowballing technique. Nurse Researcher, 12(1), 35–46. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Syrjälä, Väinö (2025). Names, Naming, and Multilingualism in the Linguistic Landscape. In Durk Gorter & Jasone Cenoz (Eds.) The Handbook of Linguistic Landscapes and Multilingualism (pp. 177–192). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Trumper-Hecht, Nira (2010). Linguistic Landscape in Mixed Cities in Israel from the Perspective of ‘Walkers’: The Case of Arabic. In Elana Shohamy, Eliezer Ben-Rafael & Monica Barni (Eds.) Linguistic Landscape in the City (pp. 235–251). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ville de Luxembourg Bierger-Center (2024). Etat de la population 2024: Statistiques sur la Ville de Luxembourg’. vdl.lu, 〈[URL]〉 [accessed 17/7/2025].
Weilacher, Udo (2007). Syntax of Landscape: The Landscape Architecture of Peter Latz and Partners. Basel: Birkhäuser.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue