NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: EJ1468780
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1479-0718
EISSN: EISSN-1747-7530
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Celebrating Local Heritage While Marginalizing Local Language: The Multilingual Linguistic Landscapes of Seongsu-Dong in Seoul
Tae-Sik Kim1; Jong-Soo Ahn2
International Journal of Multilingualism, v22 n2 p517-535 2025
This study analyses the multilingual linguistic landscapes made up of languages, visual materials, and built environments in Seongsu-dong, where old industrial sites and new commercial places are indiscriminately juxtaposed. This study focuses particularly on (1) how languages are associated with different built environments of new commercial places and old industrial sites, (2) how the local industrial heritage is visually mobilised by new commercial places in 'the pursuit of visibility', and (3) how remaining industrial sites are both linguistically and visually marginalised. The languages, built environments, and visual materials, along with the users of the spaces, create contrasting semiotic aggregates. These aggregates expose the hierarchical tension between the commercial and the vernacular landscape in the neighbourhood. The commercial places highlight the local industrial heritage as globally trendy visual components, achieved through well-designed Roman alphabet letters or minimally inscribed Korean letters. This creates a cosmopolitan commercial landscape. In contrast, old industrial sites are filled with banal industrial texts in Korean, resulting in a vernacular landscape. The visual representation of the trendy industrial heritage, the use of Western-originating languages, and their cosmopolitan values combine to form a semiotic aggregate that reveals the underlying aspiration embedded in the town's nickname, the Brooklyn of Seoul.
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: South Korea (Seoul)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1School of Arts and Social Sciences, Monash University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 2Institute of Globalization and Multicultural Studies, Hanyang University, South Korea