A Study Of The Linguistic Landscapes Of Historical And Cultural Block In Wuhan From The Perspective Of Language Planning

As a new research orientation of sociolinguistics and applied linguistics,linguistic landscape research has become one of the hot topics of scholars at home and abroad.The research perspectives involve semiotics,sociology,psychology and other disciplines,which present a trend of interdisciplinary research.The shaping and management of linguistic landscape is related to the construction of national identity and city image.As an important perspective of sociolinguistics,language planning shapes linguistic landscape and is influenced by language practice;linguistic landscape is the subjective expression of language planning.However,most of the current researches focus on the translation of public signs in commercial blocks or ethnic minority gathering areas,language power and minority language vitality research,researches on historical and cultural block from the perspective of language planning are rare.From the perspective of language planning and combined with Trumper-Hecht’s Three-Dimensional Analysis Model and language management theory,this thesis conducts a case study of historical and cultural block in Wuhan,taking the linguistic signs in the historical and cultural block of Jianghan Road and Zhongshan Avenue as the research object.Quantitative and qualitative research methods are adopted,and through the analysis of the picture data and interview data collected from fieldwork,and laws and regulations collected from the Internet,the purpose is to explore the features of linguistic landscape of Wuhan historical and cultural block in the physical dimension,the perception of passers-by in the experiential dimension and the motivation for the implementation of language policy in the political dimension,thus recommendations for improvement of language planning will be pointed out.The thesis attempts to answer the following questions:(1)what are the features of the linguistic landscapes in Wuhan historical and cultural blocks from the physical dimension?(2)what are the perceptions of “passers-by” and possible influencing factors from the experiential dimension?(3)What’s the official attitude and intentions reflected by language planning in Wuhan from political dimension?(4)Based on the research of three dimensions,is the language practice of historical and cultural blocks in Wuhan consistent with language planning?How can language planning and management be improved?According to the research findings,in terms of physical dimension,firstly,for the distribution of sign types,the bottom-up signs occupy absolute predominance,indicating a strong commercial atmosphere of the block,and the main functions of official signs are to carry out cultural promotion and provide public services;as for code combination patterns,Chinese monolingual signs occupy the dominant position,followed by ChineseEnglish bilingual signs.The block attaches importance to the construction of international language environment,but lacks linguistic diversity;Chinese,as the official language,is the dominant code in terms of code preference;as for types of multilingual information,duplicating texts account for the largest proportion,which means most of the bilingual signs provide the same amount of information,and largely occur in official signs;in terms of the function of special language codes,the traditional Chinese characters and pinyin mainly play a symbolic role,which facilitates the construction of the regional characteristics of historical and cultural block,the promotion of Chinese culture,and is a reflection of national identity and cultural confidence.For experiential dimension,most passers-by emphasize the dominant position of Chinese and the setting of bilingual or multilingual signs,reflecting the public national identity and globalization awareness.The perception that official signs are mainly for cultural propaganda,and the diversity of private signs is also consistent with research results of physical dimension;Most of the public can’t sense the historical deposits of the block from the signs;The main factors affecting people’s perception include the function of the sign,the accuracy of text,the aesthetic effect,the degree of harmony with the surrounding,emotional care and personal orientation.For political dimension,the official language policy emphasizes the promotion of simplified Chinese characters.Chinese remains salient for the coexistence of Chinese and English.English cannot appear alone except for special needs,which reflects that the attitude of official language planning is maintaining the dominant position of Chinese and emphasizing national identity.Wuhan local laws and regulations emphasize that the cultural deposits of historical and cultural block can be constructed through the use of traditional Chinese characters,indicating the official attaches great importance to“language resources” to build local characteristics.There is inconsistency between language policy and language practice in this block,such as excessive use of English monolingual signs and pinyin,and mistranslation.Finally,based on the dynamic relation of three dimensions,this thesis attempts to provide suggestions for improving the language planning of historical and cultural block.It is recommended that language diversity be emphasized for the setting of official signs and language resources be actively used to build local characteristics.Such cultural elements as traditional Chinese characters can be employed properly and normatively to create historical and cultural deposits and timely supervision to the establishment of linguistic landscape is equally important.This study analyzes the current situation of linguistic landscape,public perception and the attitude of official language planning of Wuhan historical and cultural block.The research not only enriches the research perspective of linguistic landscape of historical and cultural block,but also provides empirical reference for the improvement of language service,construction of the international language environment and city image of Wuhan historical and cultural block,the protection and dissemination of local historical and cultural characteristics,and the promotion of local tourism and economic development.Additionally,it provides reference for language planning research of other cities,linguistic landscape research of historical and cultural blocks and scenic spots.