Acceso usuarios
Melissa Curtin
While frequently referenced in linguistic landscape (LL) research, the notion of “cosmopolitanism” has generally been under-theorised in the field. This article, in keeping with the call for an ethnographically grounded, multi-centric understanding of different varieties of cosmopolitanism, traces the emergence of a “bona fide cosmopolitanism” in the LL of Taipei, Taiwan. This overarching cosmopolitanism is cumulatively indexed via orthographies employed in several domains of the LL: (1) traditional Mandarin Chinese characters and Romanisation systems thereof; (2) non-Chinese scripts in official and unofficial domains; and (3) graffiti. Furthermore, each domain contributes to several varieties of cosmopolitanism. Drawing upon theorisations of social indexicality, distinction and transgressive semiotics, these varieties have been given the working labels of “presumptive, distinctive and transgressive cosmopolitanisms”. This article thus demonstrates that cosmopolitanism in the LL is best apprehended as multi-centric and recursive, as well as highly situated.
