engleski

Language in Space, Space in Language

The author analyses a set of expressions by the globally famous intellectuals, mostly writers, in the context of a middle-sized Mediterranean city in Croatia, well-known for its rich ancient heritage, the same city where James Joyce (22) used to start his English teaching career in 1904. Engraved in different languages (Croatian, English, German, Italian and French) on the white stone benches in a small archaeological park next to the Public City Library and in front of a museum and gallery downtown, they send thoughtful messages about some universal values, also including the main concepts so closely related to the given 2000-year-old city, primarily perceived as the place of books and reading, of culture in general. The place is easily recognized by book lovers at both levels, national and international, due to its annual fair visited, among others, by two Nobel-prize winners so far. This study fits into the language landscape research since it shows the strong power of language (and literacy) in the open space. In addition, it can be seen as an example of discourse analysis, simultaneously confirming that these two areas of research often overlap. The city, therefore, symbolically turns into a book to open and read, and books are discourses. The awareness of language as used and represented in the space, integrated into a landscape, is surely in accordance with the idea of language spatiality. In other words, various locations can be viewed as literacy environments in which people mutually interact while sharing their knowledge and experience.

reading the city, language landscape, discourse analysis

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