The Linguistic Landscape of ‘Little Portugal’ neighborhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Document Type
Paper Presentation
Presenter Language
English
Research Area
Bilingualism and multilingualism
Location
MBSC Dodge Room 302
Start Date
18-10-2024 3:00 PM
End Date
18-10-2024 3:30 PM
Abstract
Torontonian ‘Little Portugal’ is nowadays a multicultural neighborhood with heritage speakers of many different languages, and less ‘Portuguese’ than the traditional ethnic neighborhood, that it was in the mid 20th century (Teixeira/Murdie 2009). At the same time, the recent migration of Brazilian Portuguese speakers to Canada brought also new speakers of Portuguese varieties to Greater Toronto, including ‘Little Portugal’ (Goza 1999). With this contribution we want to analyze the presence of European and Brazilian Portuguese varieties as heritage languages in the linguistic landscape of the Torontonian neighborhood ‘Little Portugal’. We examine this landscape, going beyond the analysis of the societally dominant language in Toronto (English) and other minority heritage languages of the multicultural neighborhood (e.g., Italian) to shed light on a particular heritage language, here: the Portuguese varieties.
While spoken Portuguese varieties as heritage languages are only highly studied for European or Azorean varieties in Canada (da Silva 2015), there is significantly less research regarding Brazilian Portuguese varieties in Canada, written language, and in particular, visible language in (Canadian) outdoor public spaces, or the linguistic landscape (Leimgruber/Fernández 2021).
Using a corpus of over 400 signs from ‘Little Portugal’, we consider the number of languages and linguistic varieties per sign, the preferred (multimodal) code or dominant language/variety of each sign, and the extent to which the landscape reflects the Portuguese varieties. Overall, our results point to a dominance of European Portuguese and a marginal presence of other varieties, like Brazilian, in the landscape, not only on a top-down-level, but also on a bottom-up one.
The Linguistic Landscape of ‘Little Portugal’ neighborhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
MBSC Dodge Room 302
Torontonian ‘Little Portugal’ is nowadays a multicultural neighborhood with heritage speakers of many different languages, and less ‘Portuguese’ than the traditional ethnic neighborhood, that it was in the mid 20th century (Teixeira/Murdie 2009). At the same time, the recent migration of Brazilian Portuguese speakers to Canada brought also new speakers of Portuguese varieties to Greater Toronto, including ‘Little Portugal’ (Goza 1999). With this contribution we want to analyze the presence of European and Brazilian Portuguese varieties as heritage languages in the linguistic landscape of the Torontonian neighborhood ‘Little Portugal’. We examine this landscape, going beyond the analysis of the societally dominant language in Toronto (English) and other minority heritage languages of the multicultural neighborhood (e.g., Italian) to shed light on a particular heritage language, here: the Portuguese varieties.
While spoken Portuguese varieties as heritage languages are only highly studied for European or Azorean varieties in Canada (da Silva 2015), there is significantly less research regarding Brazilian Portuguese varieties in Canada, written language, and in particular, visible language in (Canadian) outdoor public spaces, or the linguistic landscape (Leimgruber/Fernández 2021).
Using a corpus of over 400 signs from ‘Little Portugal’, we consider the number of languages and linguistic varieties per sign, the preferred (multimodal) code or dominant language/variety of each sign, and the extent to which the landscape reflects the Portuguese varieties. Overall, our results point to a dominance of European Portuguese and a marginal presence of other varieties, like Brazilian, in the landscape, not only on a top-down-level, but also on a bottom-up one.