A Study On Linguistic Landscape Of 5A Scenic Spots In Yinchuan

The linguistic landscape,as a new research field in sociolinguistics recently,attracts many researchers’ attention.In 1990s,a few foreign researchers began to study language signs at both sides of the street.Based on the research trend abroad and in China,the Three Dimensions Model(Physical dimension,Political dimension and Experiential dimension)put forward by Trumper-Hetch(2009,2010)is applied to the case study of two 5 A scenic spots(China Western Film Studio and Shuidonggou Site)in Yinchuan,Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.This thesis mainly adopts the quantitative research method to study the linguistic landscape in two scenic spots.The language signs in two scenic spots are collected by the author in a form of picture.The language use is analyzed according to implemented policies or regulations.The survey to tourists is done through the E-questionnaire after classifying the pictures.From the view of Physical dimension,there are totally 10 different languages/characters on the signs in two scenic spots.Chinese(In this thesis,Chinese refers to simplified Chinese characters)appears on all the signs and English appears on most of the signs in two scenic spots.Beyond that,there are totally 8 different language combinations in two scenic spots.Most of language combinations do not provide perfectly consistent information.In other words,Chinese on the signs is not translated by other languages/characters word by word.From the view of Political dimension,the use of Chinese and other languages/characters complies with national or regional policies because the national policy regards Chinese as a kind of necessary language in service field.In addition,there is no more specific regulations about the use of foreign languages according to regional policies.As for other languages or characters that have something with the culture of scenic spots,the regional policy suggests that those can be used on the signs in scenic spots based on cultural features and historic environment.However,the use of the Chinese Pinyin does not actually comply with the relative policies.From the view of Experiential dimension,most of informants recognize the phenomenon that Chinese and English appear in the scenic spots.Compared with other language combinations,the language combination with Chinese and English is the most popular one.Furthermore,most of informants think that Chinese and English are two languages that they would like to see most in scenic spots.Based on the above results,some suggestions about the language use on the signs in scenic spots in Yinchuan are concluded at the end of this thesis.For example,Chinese,as an kind of absolutely necessary language,must appear on the signs in scenic spots.English should be considered to put on all the signs based on research results.Other languages/characters need using according to regional policies or cultural and historic background information.