Abstract：The use of minority languages is one of the recurring themes in linguistic landscape studies. Based on empirical data, this paper explores the linguistic landscapes of two streets in Lijiang’s Old Town in northwest Yunnan province. It is found that multilingualism is an eminent characteristic in the linguistic landscapes of the two surveyed streets. Out of the two streets, Xinhua Street is a commercial district and tourist spot, thus displaying higher degree of multilingual characteristic of intensive use of more languages than that in Fuhui Road, where some government offi ces are located. Specifi cally, in the area that is densely inhabited by ethnic minorities, Chinese still manifests itself as a dominant language and fares higher percentage and salience. But what is more signifi cant is that, as a cultural symbol, the endangered hieroglyphic Dongba script is capitalized as a tourist resource through highlighting it on the top of the order of appearance among other languages, although not as prominent as Chinese. In addition, English as an international language is widely used in the local linguistic landscapes. The fi ndings obtained from the investigation provide an authentic portrait of the linguistic landscape in a multicultural context like Lijiang, which is a well-known international tourism destination.
Backhaus, Peter. 2007. Linguistic Landscape: A Comparative Study of Urban Multilingualism. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Barni, Monica and Carla Bagna. 2015. The Critical Turn in LL: New Methodologies and New Items in LL. Linguistic Landscape 1 (1/2), 6-18.
Ben-Rafael, Eliezer. 2009. A Sociological Approach to the Study of Linguistic Landscape. In Elana Shohamy and Durk Gorter (eds.), Linguistic Landscape: Expanding the Scenery. London: Routledge.
Ben-Rafeal, Eliezer, Elana Shohamy, Muhammad Hasan Amara, and Nira Trumper-Hecht. 2006. Linguistic Landscape as Symbolic Construction of the Public Space: The Case of Israel. International Journal of Multilingualism 3 (1), 7-28.
Bruyel-Olmedo, Antonio and Mari Juan-Garau. 2009. English as a Lingua Franca in the Linguistic Landscape of the Multilingual Resort of S’Arenal in Mallorca. International Journal of Multilingualism 6 (4), 386-411.
Cenoz, Jasone and Durk Gorter. 2009. Language Economy and Linguistic Landscape. In Elana Shohamy and Durk Gorter (eds.), Linguistic Landscape: Expanding the Scenery. London: Routledge.
Coluzzi, Paolo. 2009. The Italian Linguistic Landscape: The Cases of Milan and Udine. International Journal of Multilingualism 6 (3), 298-312.
Landry, Rodrigue and Richard Y. Bourhis. 1997. Linguistic Landscape and Ethnolinguistic Vitality: An Empirical Study.
Journal of Language and Social Psychology 16 (1), 23-49.
Moriarty, Mairead. 2014. Contesting Language Ideologies in the Linguistic Landscape of an Irish Tourist Town. International Journal of Bilingualism 18 (5), 464-477.
Scollon, Ron and Suzie Wong Scollon. 2003. Discourses in Place: Language in the Material World. London: Routledge.
Selvi, Ali Fuad. 2016. English as the Language of Marketspeak: Reflections from the Linguistic Landscape of Turkey. English Today 32 (4), 33-39.
Shohamy, Elana and Eliezer Ben-Rafael. 2015. Introduction. Linguistic Landscape 1(1/2), 1-5.
Spolsky, Bernard and Robert L. Cooper. 1991. The Languages of Jerusalem. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Van Mensel, Luk, Heiko F. Marten, and Durk Gorter. 2012.
Minority Languages through the Lens of the Linguistic Landscape. In Durk Gorter, Heiko F. Marten, and Luk Van Mensel (eds.), Minority Languages in the Linguistic Landscape. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
