Linguistic Landscape in Scuol als Ausdruck der kultursprachlichen Vielfalt der lokalen Gemeinschaft
Linguistic landscape in Scuol as the manifestation of the culture and language diversity of the local community

Author(s): Lesław Tobiasz
Subject(s): Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Philology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: linguistics; Scuol; culture diversity; language diversity; local community
Summary/Abstract: This work discusses the phenomenon of the existence of different languages in the public space in Scuol, a famous health resort and tourist locality in the Swiss canton of Grisons. The official language of the town is Romansh, but almost all citizens speak fluently German. The author concentrates on the analysis of visible texts in the commercial center of the commune. He analyses also the linguistic landscape in the old historical part of the locality as well the use of different languages at the train station and at the valley-station of the cable car Motta Naluns, both very important places for inhabitants and tourist visiting Scuol. The research shows that German is the most visible language. Romansh appears in the first place in proper names and in the information about the opening times whereas long texts written only in this language are very rare. English is the third most common language in the public space, but it appears relatively rarely taking in consideration the importance of Scuol as the tourist locality. Other languages play practically a marginal role. The relatively weak position of Romansh and the dominance of German indicate that in Scuol the existence of the oldest language of Switzerland is endangered.

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