EllViA logo English in the linguistic landscape of Vienna, Austria
[Englisch in der Wiener Sprachlandschaft]

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Principal Investigator [Projektleiterin]: Asst. Prof. Mag. Dr. Barbara Soukup, MSc

Funding agency [Geldgeber]: Austrian Science Fund (FWF), Project No. V 394-G 23

Funding scheme
[Programmschiene]: Elise-Richter-Programm

Run time
[Zeitraum]: 2014-2021)
Elise Richter


Project summary [Projektbeschreibung]:

The project ELLViA is set in the realm of sociolinguistic language contact and multilingualism studies, investigating meaning-making through the choice of English versus German on written public signs in the linguistic landscape (LL) of Vienna, Austria. Crucially, the project focuses on the hitherto under-researched perspective of sign-readers, theoretically modeling and empirically mapping the steps involved between encountering English next to or instead of German on a sign, and interactionally interpreting the message arising from such language use (e.g. signaling of 'cosmopolitanism' and 'modernity'). This undertaking is grounded in a constructionist epistemology that holds that communicative messages emerge in an interactional-dialogic process of anticipation, interpretation, and negotiation between language 'producers' and 'recipients'. Readers of public signage use language choice (variation) as an interpretative cue in this process, 'contextualizing' a text in terms of the social (symbolic) meanings indexed by the chosen language, and deriving messages accordingly. To address the steps involved in the perceptual and interpretative activities that LL sign-readers engage in, the project develops and applies a multidimensional research strategy by which the recipients' essential role in LL-meaning making can effectively be captured. This strategy conjoins methodology and its underlying theory from variationist sociolinguistics, corpus linguistics, interactional sociolinguistics, cognitive sociolinguistics, and the social psychology of language (language attitude study), in what amounts to a highly interdisciplinary approach and toolbox

[Im Rahmen der soziolinguistischen Forschung zu Sprachkontakt und Mehrsprachigkeit befasst sich das Projekt ELLViA mit der Entstehung von kommunikativer Bedeutung durch die Sprachwahl von Englisch vs. Deutsch auf öffentlichen Schildern in der Wiener Sprachlandschaft (‚linguistic landscape’). Zentral ist dabei die bisher wenig erforschte Perspektive des ‚Publikums’: Die perzeptiven und interpretativen Schritte, die RezipientInnen zwischen der Begegnung mit Englisch, statt oder gemeinsam mit Deutsch, auf einem Schild und der Realisierung einer Botschaft (z.B. Signalisierung von ‚Kosmopolitismus’ und ‚Modernität’) setzen, werden theoretisch modelliert und empirisch analysiert. Das Unterfangen gründet sich in einer sozial-konstruktionistischen Epistemologie, die kommunikative Bedeutung als Emergenz eines Prozesses des interaktionell-dialogischen Verhandelns und Auf-Einander-Eingehens zwischen ‚SprachproduzentInnen’ und ‚SprachrezipientInnen’ betrachtet. LeserInnen von öffentlichen Schildern verwenden Sprachwahl (Sprachvariation) als ein interpretatives ‚Indiz’ in diesem Prozess. Anhand dieses Indizes können sie einen Text mit der sozialen (symbolischen) Bedeutung, die mit der gewählten Sprache assoziiert ist, kontextualisieren und entsprechende ‚Messages’ erstellen. Das Projekt erschließt die Schritte, die in dieser Message-Erstellung durch LL-RezipientInnen impliziert sind, in einer ineinandergreifenden Serie von drei Forschungsmodulen, die sich in der Sprachlandschaft Wiens verankern und Theorien und Methodologien der Variationslinguistik, Korpuslinguistik, interaktionellen Soziolinguistik, kognitiven Soziolinguistik und der Sozialpsychologie (Spracheinstellungsforschung) in einem somit interdisziplinären Ansatz integrieren.]







Project activities [bisherige Projektaktivitäten] -> LINK


 





Additional project staff [Projektmitarbeiterinnen]:


Melissa Mujkić, BA (2021)

Sophia Seereiner, BEd (2020, 2021)

Julia Sator, BEd (2020)

Laura Fischer, BA MA (2019-2020)

Iris Vukovics, Mag.phil. BA Bakk. (Werkverträge 2019-2020)

Sophie van der Meulen, BA (2015)

Christina Schuster, BA MA (2015-2016)


Kathrin Dolmanitz, BA BA (2014-2015)


Barbara SoukupKathrin DolmanitzChristina SchusterSophie van der MeulenELLViA team








Project-related publications and presentations [projektbezogene Veröffentlichungen]:


 


Publications



Soukup, Barbara. 2021. Spracheinstellungserhebung mit der 'Linguistic Landscape-Guise Technique': Zur Wirkung von Dialekt und Standard in der österreichischen Sprachlandschaft. Wiener Linguistische Gazette 89, 235-304.

Soukup, Barbara. 2020. Survey area selection in Variationist Linguistic Landscape Study (VaLLS): A report from Vienna, Austria. Linguistic Landscape 6(1): 52-79. https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.00017.sou

Amos, H. Will, and Barbara Soukup. 2020. Quantitative 2.0: Towards Variationist Linguistic Landscape Study (VaLLS) and a standard canon of LL variables. In: David Malinowski and Stefania Tufi (eds.), Reterritorialising linguistic landscapes: Questioning boundaries and opening spaces, 56-76. London: Bloomsbury.

Soukup, Barbara. 2019. Sprachreflexion und Kognition: Theorien und Methoden der Spracheinstellungsforschung. In: Gerd Antos, Thomas Niehr, and Jürgen Spitzmüller (eds.), Handbuch Sprache im Urteil der Öffentlichkeit, 83-106. Berlin: de Gruyter.

Schuster, Christina. 2018.
"Analyzing stickers in the linguistic landscape of Vienna, Austria". MA thesis, University of Vienna.

Soukup, Barbara. 2016. English in the linguistic landscape of Vienna, Austria (ELLViA): Outline, rationale, and methodology of a large-scale empirical project on language choice on public signs from the perspective of sign-readers. Views 25: 1-24.

Soukup, Barbara. 2014. Das Projekt "English in the linguistic landscape of Vienna, Austria" (ELLViA). verbal Newsletter 16(1):12-13.




 


Presentations



- Soukup, Barbara, and Andreas Baumann. 2021. English in the Linguistic Landscape of Vienna, Austria (ELLViA) – A variationist linguistic landscape study project, its methods, and some findings". Keynote at the ELLViA International Conference and Workshop "Quantitative Linguistic Landscape Research 2.0: Variationist Linguistic Landscape Study (VaLLS 2021)", September 24-25, 2021. (conference organizer)

- Soukup, Barbara. 2021. Using the Linguistic Landscape-Guise Technique (LLGT) to elicit attitudes towards language choice in the LL. Paper presented at the 12th Linguistic Landscape Workshop, University of Gothenburg, September 1-3.

- Soukup, Barbara. 2021. Multilingualism in the Linguistic Landscape of Vienna, Austria. Paper presented at the IPRA 17th International Pragmatics Conference, Online/Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), June 27-July 2.

- Soukup, Barbara. 2021.
ELLViA as Variationist Linguistic Landscape Study (VaLLS). Presentation and Discussion Session, University of Liverpool, UK, February 4, 2021. (Online)

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Soukup, Barbara. 2020. Auf der Jagd nach Non-Standard und Fremdsprachen in Wien – Ein app-basiertes Citizen Science Projekt. Poster presented at Österreichische Citizen Science Konferenz 2020 (Online conference), September 14-16.


- Soukup, Barbara. 2019. Variation as Dialogue in the Austrian Linguistic Landscape. Keynote at the 5th LRI (Language, Region, Identity) Workshop for Young Academics: 'Writing and Written Language in Everyday Life', Meran, Italy, June 6-7, 2019.

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Soukup, Barbara. 2018. Exploring language attitudes towards standard and dialect use in the Austrian linguistic landscape with the 'visual matched-guise technique'. Presentation at the SFB "German in Austria" conference "Standard Languages in Europe: Attitudes & Perception", University of Vienna, December 6-8, 2018.

- Soukup, Barbara. 2018. 'Schlussverkauf' oder 'Sale'? Englisch trifft Deutsch in der Wiener Sprachlandschaft. Presentation in the lecture series "Deutsch in Österreich", Department of German, University of Salzburg, October 31, 2018.

- Soukup, Barbara. 2018. Wiens Sprachlandschaften. Presentation in the lecture series "Deutsch in Österreich – Vielfalt- Wandel - Einstellungen", Department of German, University of Vienna, October 24, 2018.

- Soukup, Barbara. 2018. Investigating the dialogical relationship between language use and language attitudes under a mixed-methods logic. Keynote, 3rd Mixed Methods International Research Association (MMIRA) Conference, University of Vienna, August 22-25, 2018.

- Soukup, Barbara. 2018. The stuff the LL is made of: A report from the 'count-all' project 'ELLViA – English in the linguistic landscape of Vienna, Austria'. Paper presented at Xscapes 2018 (10th Linguistic Landscapes International Workshop), University of Bern, May 2-4, 2018.

- Soukup, Barbara. 2017. "Melange zum Mitnehmen" vs. "Coffee to go" - Englisch in der Wiener Sprachlandschaft. Presentation in the lecture series "Deutsch in Österreich", Department of German, University of Vienna, November 8, 2017.

- Soukup, Barbara. 2017. An Interactional Model of 'Doing' Variation in the Linguistic Landscape.
Invited presentation at the conference "10 Jahre Perzeptive Varietätenlinguistik", Department of Romance Studies, University of Vienna, December 8-9, 2017.

- Soukup, Barbara. 2017. English in the linguistic landscape of Vienna, Austria (ELLViA) – Das Projekt, seine Methodologie und erste Ergebnisse. Presentation and workshop, German Study Abroad Program of Emory University (USA), Vienna, June 16, 2017.

- Soukup, Barbara. 2016. 
Methodologien in der variationistischen Sprachlandschaftsforschung (Variationist Linguistic Landscape Study).  Invited presentation at the Department of Romance Studies, University of Vienna, May 2, 2016.

- Soukup, Barbara, and Christina Schuster. 2016. 'Transgressive' signs in the LL of Vienna, Austria. Paper presented at the 8th Linguistic Landscapes International Workshop (LL8), University of Liverpool, April 27-29, 2016.

- Amos, H. Will, and Barbara Soukup. 2016. Towards a canon of variables in quantitative LL research. Paper presented at the 37th International LAUD Symposium "Linguistic landscapes and superdiversity in the city: Foundational questions, new directions and expanding methodologies", Landau/Pfalz, April 4-6, 2016.

Soukup, Barbara. 2016. Variationist LL research and the question of the survey area: a report from the project 'English in the linguistic landscape of Vienna, Austria' (ELLViA). Paper presented at the 37th International LAUD Symposium "Linguistic landscapes and superdiversity in the city: Foundational questions, new directions and expanding methodologies", Landau/Pfalz, April 4-6, 2016.

- Soukup, Barbara. 2015. 'English in the linguistic landscape of Vienna, Austria (ELLViA)': Outline, methods, status, and implications. Presentation, Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU), November 5, 2015.

Soukup, Barbara. 2015. English in the linguistic landscape of Vienna, Austria (ELLViA) – Presentation of the project, its rationale, and methods. Presentation and workshop, German Study Abroad Program of Emory University (USA), Vienna, July 14, 2015.

- Soukup, Barbara. 2015. English in the linguistic landscape of Vienna, Austria (ELLViA) - outline and rationale of a new project. Paper presented at Linguistic Landscape 7, University of California at Berkeley, May 7-9, 2015.

- Soukup, Barbara. 2014. Das Projekt English in the linguistic landscape of Vienna, Austria (EllViA). Poster presented at the 41st Österreichische Linguistiktagung (ÖLT), Vienna University of Economics and Business, December 6-8, 2014.

- Soukup, Barbara. 2014. How Speaker Design shapes linguistic landscapes: A Viennese case study. Paper presented at the Sociolinguistics Symposium 20, University of Jyväskylä, Finland, June 15-18, 2014.

- Soukup, Barbara. 2013. Investigating Austrians' differentiation of 'English' vs. 'German' via speech perception elicitation. Paper presented at the conference 'Language and Super-diversity: Explorations and interrogations', University of Jyväskylä, Finland, June 5-7, 2013.




 


Science-to-public


- "Downtown Vienna Anglicism Hunt". LL Walking Tour with students of English at Webster University Vienna. Vienna, June 10, 2021.

- Interview for the article "lokalmatador_in no 476 - Vegane Kuchen auch to go" for the street paper Augustin, by Uwe Mauch, March 22, 2021.

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Interview for the article "Helio Tower und Kirschblütentraum" by Ingeborg Waldinger, Wiener Zeitung, January 30-31, 2021.

- "Kaffee to go oder zum Mitnehmen?". Interview-based article about my research project "ELLViA", written by Cornelia Grobner, Die Presse, September 12, 2020.

- "'Don't let your Hunzi brunzi': Sprachforschung. Eine Germanistin findet auf Wiens Straßen so manche Ungereimtheit und nicht alles lustig." Interview with me by Uwe Mauch, Kurier, July 23, 2020.

- "Vegane Kuchen – auch to go". Report on the project ELLViA by Barbara Wohlsein, uni:view (research newsletter of the University of Vienna), July 15, 2020.

- "ELLViA - English in the Linguistic Landscape of Vienna, Austria: Ein DiÖ-Satellitenprojekt stellt sich vor" - Blog entry for the SFB DiÖ ('Deutsch in Österreich') / Citizen Science Project 'Iam DiÖ', February 15, 2019.

- "Auch der Mistkübel 'spricht' Englisch". uni:view (research newsletter of the University of Vienna), March 16, 2016.

- "Anglizismen: WTF?" - Blog entry by Stefan Schallert on 'Schrödingers Katze', July 11, 2016.








 
Inofficial project title song:
L'Via L'Viaquez by The Mars Volta