An Investigation into the Linguistic Landscape of 5A Scenic Areas in GausuProvince: A case study of Tianshui Maiji Mountain Scenic Area

Tourism Research ›› 2020, Vol. 12 ›› Issue (5) : 27-41.

PDF(1034 KB)
PDF(1034 KB)
Tourism Research ›› 2020, Vol. 12 ›› Issue (5) : 27-41.

An Investigation into the Linguistic Landscape of 5A Scenic Areas in GausuProvince: A case study of Tianshui Maiji Mountain Scenic Area

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Abstract

The present study aims to investigate empirically the linguistic landscape of MaijiMountain Scenic Area, a 5A scenic area located in Gansu Province. The study has found that more than60% of the signs have used two or more languages and about 40% of the signs solely utilize monolingualChinese. Four languages have been found in the scenic area, including Chinese, English, Japanese andKorean. Chinese appears to be “ preferred code ”, performing informative function, while English,Japanese and Korean collectively belong to be “ marginalized code”, mainly performing symbolic functionand highlighting the “ internationalization” and “ linguistic diversity” of the scenic area. The study hasalso found that the major differences between “ top - down” and “ bottom - up” signs lie in two aspect,including languages contained as well as sign making and designing. Besides, as for the problemsconcerning linguistic landscape construction in the scenic area, four issues have been identified, whichinclude translation quality, nonstandard language use, inconsistency of scenic spot names and lack ofcomprehensive linguistic landscape planning. Based on above findings, it is suggested that the scenicarea management authority should invite experts to investigate and rectify the linguistic landscape onregularly basis; the linguistic landscape should be constructed by considering the diversity of internationaltourists, “ top - down” signs should integrate local cultural symbols and “ bottom - up” signs shouldchange the current monolingual tendency by adding different languages other than merely using Chinese.

Key words

Maiji Mountain Grottoes / world cultural heritage / A - level scenic area / multilingualism / linguistic landscape

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An Investigation into the Linguistic Landscape of 5A Scenic Areas in GausuProvince: A case study of Tianshui Maiji Mountain Scenic Area. Tourism Research. 2020, 12(5): 27-41
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