Mapping Signs of Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in Mexico City

• In Event: Mapping the Megalopolis: Making an Atlas of Mexico City

Abstract

Mexico City has been home to diverse languages and cultures for many centuries. More than ever before, it is a globalized, internationalized city where people from around the world pursue their dreams of finding economic and educational opportunities. As newcomers bring their communicative resources and language varieties to Mexico City, neighborhoods become spaces where linguistic and cultural diversity are made visible. Based on fieldwork conducted in Mexico City during summer 2015, this paper explores linguistic and cultural diversity in Mexico City through the study of signs. I employ the principles of ethnographic linguistic landscaping (Blommaert, Pan Lin) and geosemiotics (Backhaus) to document and analyze language on signs in public spaces around the city. Linguistic landscaping offers insight into the frequency and density of multilingual signs around the city, and the changing demographics of the city. Geosemiotics refers to the context-dependence of signs and the relationship between sign and place. Drawing from these conceptual frameworks and methodologies, this paper demonstrates how signs have the ability to transform spaces into places- as complex semiotic systems that vary in appearance, function, visibility, and placement, they also convey a great deal of information about a city and its inhabitants. Thus, this project contributes to the Mapping the Megalopolis project by demonstrating how diverse populations in Mexico City engage in the construction of place through the production of publicly visible signs. It will contribute a detailed map of signs accompanied with photos, audio, and written analyses featuring detailed field note observations.

Author

• Karen Velasquez