Linguistic landscape: a comparative analysis of language in the public space in Lithuania, Latvia and Norway

LTThe study of the Linguistic Landscape is a relatively recent development, yet the growing number of publications in sociolinguistics and applied linguistics shows that there is a steadily growing interest in the field. The term "linguistic landscape" was first used by Landry and Bourhis. It refers to the visibility and salience o f languages on public and commercial signs in a given territory or region. According to the investigators, "the language of public road signs, advertising billboards, street names, place names, commercial shop signs, and public signs on government building combine to form the linguistic landscape of a given territory, region, or urban agglomeration". Linguistic landscape serves important informational, linguistic even and symbolic functions as a marker of the relative power and status of the linguistic communities who live in a given country. Therefore, it attracts scholars from a variety of different disciplines such as linguistics, sociology, environmental studies, communication, language policy, etc [p. 70].