LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE AND ETHNOLINGUISTIC VITALITY - AN EMPIRICAL-STUDY

Linguistic landscape refers to the visibility and salience of language s on public and commercial signs in a given territory or region. It is proposed that the linguistic landscape may serve important informatio nal and symbolic functions as a marker of the relative power and statu s of the linguistic communities inhabiting the territory. Using the th eoretical framework of ethnolinguistic vitality, it was hypothesized t hat the experience of the linguistic landscape by members of a languag e group may contribute to social psychological aspects of bilingual de velopment. Factor analysis results show that the linguistic landscape emerges as a distinct factor separate from other measures of linguisti c contacts. This factor was an important correlate of subjective ethno linguistic vitality representing perceptions of the vitality of the in -group language in various domains. The study also found relations bet ween the Linguistic Landscape factor and degree of in-group language u se, especially in institutional settings, suggesting a ''carryover eff ect'' of the linguistic landscape on language behavior.