"ARE YOU TALKING TO ME?": MULTIMODAL SEMIOTIC LENS ON LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE

Linguistic Landscape is accepted to represent “the visibility and salience of languages on public and commercial signs in a given territory or region” (Landry & Bourhis 1997: 23). This paper argues that the Multimodal Semiotic approach to communication based on Social Semiotics Theory serves as a suitable lens for researching Linguistic Landscape. First, the Multimodal Semiotic approach redefines discourse as a socially constructed meaning thus providing the necessary theoretical framework for redefining Linguistic Landscape. Next, it is argued that Multimodal Semiotic Analysis provides necessary methodological tools for researching and analysing Linguistic Landscape on three different levels of multimodal communicative metafunctions. Finally, it is concluded that the above-mentioned interdisciplinary approach to Linguistic Landscape provides opportunities for dealing with specific burning issues in sociolinguistics such as gender, political power, language policies etc. by focusing not only on what is represented in the public signs in a specific territory but also on who these public signs are intended for.