Multilingualism in Australia: A Case Study of the Linguistic Landscape of Springvale, Melbourne

Abstract

In this study, the linguistic landscape of Springvale was analyzed according to Ben-Rafael's (2009) principles. Quantitative and social semiotic approaches were used to examine how the local Asian speech communities were reflected in the area's linguistic landscape. A commercial street was sampled, and 143 signs were examined, with 107 being multilingual and displaying up to eight different languages on a single sign. The remaining 36 signs were monolingual and displayed only three languages. The signs were categorized by business domain, and the results showed that the type of business influenced the language choice of signs. The signwriters presented unique and authentic identities to the public through their signing, constructing various distinctive identities and revealing certain ideologies to potential customers through different modalities and language choices on signs. This study sheds light on the sociolinguistic situation of Springvale, demonstrating the impact of power across ethnicities, how identities are claimed through commercial signage, and how different groups settle in new places through the linguistic landscape. It is an important contribution to the linguistic landscape and multilingualism studies.