Aktivistinen kielimaisema: pilottitutkimus

Urban linguistic landscapes consist of various kinds of signs in different languages, together transmitting a myriad of messages to the people living in, visiting or passing through the city. Official authorities are the authors of some signs, e.g. street names and tourist information, while businesses operating on a local or global level are the authors of other signs, e.g. advertisements and information about opening hours. In addition, individual persons or groups of people give their input to the urban linguistic landscapes, e.g. by attaching a sticker to a bus stop or writing a slogan on a park bench. The current article explores this third, unofficial layer of the urban linguistic landscape, and the topics, discourses and ideologies it encompasses. Through a pilot study of the activist linguistic landscapes at two railway stations in Helsinki, the article discusses the methodological underpinnings of this kind of linguistic landscape research.