Magister Artium - MA / This study investigates the use of language and signage in and around Parliament of Botswana by drawing from Linguistic Landscapes (LL) found in the area. The main aim of this study is to explore the symbolic and functional values of signs and languages found in and around Parliament of Botswana. Its main objective is to analyse the visual language in display in and around Parliament looking at the visibility and clarity of language and information/ messages on the signage and to interpret the distribution and frequency of each one of the languages in signage. Secondly, considering that embassies, international companies, organizations and one of the oldest and busiest malls are within the vicinity of Parliament, the study explored whether their presence is captured in the LL.Following Gorter (2006), Shohamy and Gorter (2009) and Shohamy, Ben Rafael and Barni(2010), the data used was drawn from the different types of signs in and around parliament and its neighborhood and included signs with municipal and infrastructural discourses as well as commercial discourses. Using descriptive qualitative research and a thematic approach for data analysis, the study captures the distribution, function, composition and size, clarity of intended information or messages of language on multilingual and monophonic signs.The study gives an insight on the dominance of English against other Botswana languages in LL.In terms of language vitality, the linguistic landscape gives the incorrect picture as if English and Setswana are the only languages spoken in Botswana. Interestingly, Chinese is occasionally found in the linguistic landscape. The presence of Chinese in the shops near Parliament, I argue, is a ploy to attract people to ostensibly “cheap” products. The linguistic landscape shows the apparent contradiction in which even monuments of heroes and pictures of past “Dikgosi”(Chiefs) are constructed in English. The study further reveals even where Setswana is used it is always on bilingual signs and the quality of translation is sometimes poor. The study also suggests that most of the signage was constructed in English and then translated to Setswana. It is not surprising then that the information on the Setswana LL is not always as complete as one on English. In some cases, it says something quite unrelated to the intended message. The different signs and discourses analysed clearly show that people are aware of the signs that surround them and the marketing strategies employed. The signage revealed multiplicity and fusion of discourses with types ranging from low budget to the modern visual signs by individuals to established companies. Both the consumers and the authors are aware of the link between the LL and economics. For this reason, signage is placed where it is expected to achieve maximum visibility and for maximum consumer impact. It is not uncommon to find someone placing their LL on someone else’s, and “ambush” marketing is common place. The diversity of signs used in the study have illustrated and given an insight into the contrasting marketing strategies adopted not only by Batswana, but also by foreign investors, all vying for a piece of space in the Botswana landscape.

Magister Artium - MA / The study focuses on the application and use of linguistic landscapes in health institutions. Furthermore, the research is centred on a social semiotic analysis of the healthcare signage at selected public and private hospitals in the Western Cape with comparisons being drawn between Melomed Private Hospital and Tygerberg Academic (Public) Hospital. Access to healthcare facilities in South Africa is a continuing concern in terms of gaining healthcare information and services. Currently, most research in the area of access to healthcare facilities and information focuses on the limitations and challenges of access to the health services and information in rural areas of South Africa. There is limited research that focuses on the influence spatial material in place and linguistic landscapes have on access to hospital facilities within urban areas, in the Western Cape. The research is an explorative and analytic study of the official or formal as well as unofficial or informal signage at a private hospital (Melomed) and a public hospital (Tygerberg academic hospital) in the Western Cape. The research is based on the tenets of social semiotic theory of multimodality and linguistic landscapes and multilingualism theorems. The conceptual framework of the study includes subtopics such as navigation/way-finding, placement of signage, and language diversity and health signage among others. The data for the research project is of a qualitative nature and, is concerned with understanding the process and the social and cultural contexts which underlie the production and consumption of unofficial and informal signage at a private hospital (Melomed) and a public hospital (Tygerberg academic hospital) in the Western Cape Province. Linguistic Landscapes (LL) utilises signs and symbols to communicate messages to the public. Signage are an expected and common feature within both private and public health institutions and are classified in accordance with the message(s) it intends to convey. These signs and symbols are used to communicate messages or directions to the public in the absence of hospital personnel. During the presentation and analysis of the data, the differences and similarities between Melomed private hospital and Tygerberg academic (public) hospital were looked at. The data presented that Tygerberg academic (public) hospital has a vast amount of informal signs constructed in and around its hospital buildings with a mixture of older and new signs displayed, often next to each other. Therefore, it became evident that Tygerberg hospital does not have a uniformed standard when it comes to its LL. In contrast, Melomed private hospital’s signs are constructed from the same grey metallic materials and are displayed with a singular text format. Furthermore, it was discovered that Melomed only utilise one official business language, English, unlike Tygerberg who strives to use the three official languages, English, Afrikaans and IsiXhosa, prevalent in the Western Cape region. Additionally, Tygerberg academic (public) hospital’s irregular placement of signage demonstrated to be another complex facet. This complexity was partially attributed to its complex structural layout and building design. Melomed’s strategically placed signage, as opposed to Tygerberg, led to the conclusion that the placement of signs, symbols and directories at hospitals can impede or aid the navigation and information provision. The impediment of navigation and information provision can cause visitors, patients and staff extra anxiety which can prolong their arrival at their destination. Moreover, the study concludes that no provisions were made at both Tygerberg and Melomed hospitals to adapt to the recent demographical changes in terms of the influx of migrants and foreign nationals and that the geographical locations of health institutions have a major impact on access to its products and services.

Submitted by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2016-03-24T15:30:05Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Thaís Elizabeth Pereira Batista - 2015.pdf: 6975483 bytes, checksum: dc2cdb669bfa64491e44d463ef78b624 (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2016-03-24T15:31:46Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Thaís Elizabeth Pereira Batista - 2015.pdf: 6975483 bytes, checksum: dc2cdb669bfa64491e44d463ef78b624 (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-24T15:31:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Thaís Elizabeth Pereira Batista - 2015.pdf: 6975483 bytes, checksum: dc2cdb669bfa64491e44d463ef78b624 (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-10-26 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This work is a sociolinguistic research, from the view of the interaction, of the uses of discourse markers by young in two different contexts in the state of Goiás, with the effects of globalization as background (BLOMMAERT, 2010) on supposed differences between the groups. A group of young people is from a urban area of medium sized, the city of Anápolis - GO. The other group of young people is from a quilombo area (remnants of resistant slaves) in a rural area, but with many globalization indexes, including eco-tourism and heritage tourism (HELLER, 2010; JAFFE, 2011). Both contexts are located in area of cerrado biome in the Midwest of Brazil. The scope of this study is discuss how globalization indexes interpose on the linguistic landscapes (BLOMMAERT, 2014), in other words in written and semiotized materials availables in public spaces and how those aspects can affect the interaction. The concern in investigating a field in a urban area and the other in a rural area comes from statements that the sociolinguistic theories of variationist orientation, very propagate in Brazil, make about the differences of language characteristics of the spaces based on this dichotomy. However, the fields selected for the analysis show that the language practices of young may converge in many ways which enabled analysis of linguistic uses based on differences and similarities in interactional patterns. This analysis provides a way of handling fields that considers the differences, but finding points of similarity in the continuous between the two fields. For such research were adopted theoretical tools intrinsic interactional sociolinguistics, based on studies from the perspective of sociolinguistic research in complex contexts, or mobility sociolinguistic (BLOMMAERT, 2010) considering how global elements as complex forms of migration and dissemination of information at high speed through the Internet, for example (BLOMMAERT, 2010; JACQUEMET, 2005) have importance in linguistic practices of the people, enabling those practices great complexity and unpredictability. Concepts such as scales, polycentricity (BLOMMAERT, 2010) and metapragmatics (SILVERSTEIN, 1993) will be used as theoretical tools for the joint analysis of the data generated through images, linguistic landscapes, and the data recorded on audio of everyday interaction (RAMPTON, 2003). / Este trabalho se trata de uma investigação sociolinguística, sob o ponto de vista da interação, dos usos de marcadores discursivos de jovens em dois diferentes contextos no estado de Goiás, tendo como pano de fundo os efeitos da globalização (BLOMMAERT, 2010) nas supostas diferenças entre os grupos. Um grupo de jovens é de uma área urbana de médio porte, a cidade de Anápolis – GO. O outro grupo de jovens é de uma área quilombola (remanescentes de escravos resistentes), em uma área rural, mas com muitos índices de globalização, incluindo turismo ecológico e turismo de herança (Heller, 2010; Jaffe, 2011). Ambos os contextos estão localizados em área de bioma cerrado no centro-oeste do Brasil. O objetivo do estudo é discutir de que maneira índices de globalização interferem nas paisagens linguísticas (BLOMMAERT, 2014), ou seja nos materiais escritos e semiotizados disponíveis nos espaços públicos e como tais aspectos podem afetar a interação. O interesse em investigar um campo em área urbana e outro em área rural parte das afirmações que as teorias sociolinguísticas de orientação variacionista, bastante difundidas no Brasil, fazem sobre as diferenças das características linguísticas dos locais com base nessa dicotomia. No entanto, os campos selecionados para a análise mostram que as práticas linguísticas de jovens podem convergir em muitos aspectos o que possibilitou uma análise dos usos linguísticos com base em diferenças e semelhanças nos regimes interacionais. Esta análise possibilita uma forma de tratamento dos campos que considera as diferenças, mas que encontra pontos de semelhança no contínuo dos dois campos. Para tal investigação foram adotadas ferramentas teóricas inerentes à sociolinguística interacional, pautando-se em estudos sob a ótica da investigação sociolinguística em contextos complexos, ou sociolinguística da mobilidade (BLOMMAERT, 2010) que considera como elementos globais como formas complexas de migração e disseminação de informações em grande velocidade por meio da internet, por exemplo (BLOMMAERT, 2010; JACQUEMET, 2005) têm importância nas práticas linguísticas das pessoas, possibilitando a essas práticas grande complexidade e imprevisibilidade. Conceitos como escalas, policentricidade (BLOMMAERT, 2010) e metapragmática (SILVERSTEIN, 1993) serão utilizados como ferramentas teóricas para a análise conjunta dos dados gerados em imagens, paisagens linguísticas, e dos dados registrados em áudio da interação cotidiana (RAMPTON, 2003).

The schoolhouse is a place in which messages for student consumption are typically found with classroom lectures, text, and activities. As with any social setting, however, the communication is not confined to one space but extends, in this case, to hallways, common spaces, and exterior of the building. One of the most common practices for the delivery of messages to students within the schoolhouse is through visual signage. Visual signage can traverse disciplines encompassing concepts from the fields of communication, semiotics, language, literacy, and even interior design. In an effort to understand the impact these signs have on student populations this dissertation asks the question: How are signs within public high schools produced, consumed, and influential to persons in contact with intended messages that are presented in public school spaces? The study utilizes ethnography to describe the production, consumption, and influence of fixed signs in the interior hallways and common spaces at three public high schools in Texas. At each campus, student volunteers, one from each grade level, provided their individual course schedule to follow their daily route from class to class at their particular high school. Post these observations these students engaged in focus groups to discuss the various signs displayed on their campus. In addition, faculty/staff members from each high school volunteered to participate in a separate faculty/staff focus group to discuss the use of signage in schools and the observations made by both the students and myself during the observations. The data suggest that district directives and social happenings guide the production of messages for each campus. The consumption and influence of these messages though is far more complex as a variety of factors contributed to the student and faculty/staff consumption, or lack thereof, and influence to action. As ethnography, this dissertation sheds light onto these complexities revealing that a host of external and internal issues dictate the messages displayed through school signage within the individual schoolhouse.

Denna studie syftar mot att få ytterligare kunskap om lingvistiska landskap i en skolas miljö genom att undersöka hur flerspråkighet gestaltas i fysiska miljöer. Undersökningen har gjorts i en skola i norra Sverige och byggs upp av det sociokulturella perspektivets föreställning om språkets betydelse gällande elevers individ- och kunskapsutveckling. Vidare har skolan plats för cirka 700 elever, vilket har medfört att undersökningen koncentrerat sig på miljöer för elever i årskurs F–3. Studien ramas in av visuell etnografi som handlar mer om en kunskapsproduktion snarare än att endast samla in data. Totalt producerades 53 fotografier från skolans lingvistiska landskap som har stöttats upp av skriftliga fältanteckningar. Kombinationen av visuella och skriftliga fältanteckningar har använts för att skapa bredd i materialet. Den visuella etnografin är beroende av hur bilden används och tolkas för att synliggöra betydelser inom flerspråkighet. Därmed användes kvalitativ innehållsanalys med en konventionell ansats. Detta medförde att koder, etiketter och kategorier växte fram ur data. I det resultat som framställts visar det lingvistiska landskapet indikationer på fokus, underförstådda budskap och tankesätt om flerspråkighet. Studien påvisar att det växande forskningsfältet lingvistiska landskap kan medvetandegöra värdefull information om språkliga och sociala aspekter med bäring på elevers lärande. / This study aims to get further knowledge about linguistic landscapes in a school's environment by examining how multilingualism is shaped in physical environments. The study was conducted in a school in northern Sweden and is based on the socio-cultural perspective's idea of the importance of language regarding pupils' development both in terms of identity and knowledge. Furthermore, the school was built for about 700 pupils, which has meant that the study concentrated on environments for preschool class to year three. This study is framed by visual ethnography, which focus more on a knowledge production rather than just collecting data. The material consists of 53 produced photographs from the school's linguistic landscape combined with written fieldnotes. Likewise, the visual ethnography depends on how the image is used and interpreted to make visible meanings in multilingualism. Thus, qualitative content analysis with a conventional approach was used. This meant that codes, labels and categories emerged from the data. In the results presented, the linguistic landscape shows indications of focus, implicit messages and ways of thinking about multilingualism. The study shows that the growing research field of linguistic landscapes can raise awareness of valuable information about linguistic and social aspects based on pupils' learning.