This edited volume entitled Kieli maisemassa, maisema kielessä – Language in the landscape, landscape in language – is an exploration into texts that surround us and texts that describe our surroundings. It zooms in on the urban linguistic landscape of the oldest city in Finland, Turku, whose vibrant multiculturalism and multilingualism are deeply rooted in its medieval past. Linguistic landscape can be defined as visual or audible instances of language that can be observed in a public space and recorded for research purposes, for example by means of photography. In this volume, our focus is on a wide range of visually observable texts such as commercial shop signs, printed advertisements, digital billboards, texts on product packaging and clothing items, directional, instructive and other informative signs in public premises such as hospitals and museums, event posters, stickers, graffiti and so on. The authors of the volume investigate these texts from a number of different perspectives: some map the full range of texts and languages in a specific area, while others examine the presence in Turku of a specific language such as English, Spanish or Latin, a language variety such as the distinctive Turku dialect or a type of language use such as excessive language. The findings are analysed through the lenses of multilingualism, language functions, language ideologies, interaction, language policy and the social meanings of language. Furthermore, two chapters look back into the distant or more recent past to investigate linguistic descriptions of Turku, examining descriptions of landmarks identifying locations in medieval deeds and mentions of Turku in speeches by members of the Finnish parliament. As a whole, the chapters of this volume highlight the diversity of texts, languages and voices around us and offer insights into our roles as consumers, contributors and interlocutors. Similarly to society in general, the texts in our environment are both stable and in constant flux. This volume demonstrates that these texts can tell us a lot about the structure, power struggles and values of our society, and even change them. Targeted at the general public as well as researchers and students with an interest in linguistic landscape studies, this volume offers snapshots and documentation of a Finnish city at a certain time.

This book is included in DOAB.