Linguistic Landscapes: Using Signs and Symbols to Translate Cities (March 5 Deadline)

Deadline: March 5

The Summer School Linguistic Landscapes: Using Signs and Symbols to Translate Cities aims at equipping participants with a comprehensive understanding of modern Linguistic Landscapes (LL) research. This course focuses on the growing interdisciplinary field of LL, which traditionally analyses “language of public road signs, advertising billboards, street names, place names, commercial shop signs, and public signs on government buildings”, as they usually occur in urban spaces. More recently, LL research has evolved beyond studying only verbal signs into the realm of semiotics, thus extending the analytical scope into the multimodal domain of images, sounds, drawings, movements, visuals, graffiti, tattoos, colours, smells as well as people.  Students will be informed about multiple aspects of modern LL research including an overview of different types of signs, their formal features as well as their functions.

Suitable for: current final year Undergraduates (finalists, BA3), MA and MPhil/PhD Students in Linguistics, Sociology, Classical Studies, (Business) Communication Studies, History, Cultural Studies, Political Studies, Translation Studies or any other related discipline.

Read more about 2023 student experiences here.

For further information visit the VIU website or send an email to summerschools@univiu.org

Linguistic Landscapes: Using Signs and Symbols to Translate Cities

June 24-28, 2024

Call for applications: December 1, 2023 – March 5, 2024 via the VIU website

This course focuses on the growing interdisciplinary field of Linguistic Landscapes (LL), which traditionally analyses “language of public road signs, advertising billboards, street names, place names, commercial shop signs, and public signs on government buildings”, as they usually occur in urban spaces.

More recently, LL research has evolved beyond studying only verbal signs into the realm of semiotics, thus extending the analytical scope into the multimodal domain of images, sounds, drawings, movements, visuals, graffiti, tattoos, colours, smells as well as people. 

Students will be informed about multiple aspects of modern LL research including an overview of different types of signs, their formal features as well as their functions.

Continue reading “Linguistic Landscapes: Using Signs and Symbols to Translate Cities”

Interdisciplinarity and International Collaborations

PhD Academy Students and Staff. Copyright Venice International University.

Kensa Broadhurst
University of Exeter

Cross-posted from A Study of the Cornish Language from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century

Last week I was in the very privileged position of attending the PhD Academy at Venice International University. The week long course promised to improve research practice and transversal skills for young scholars, but in reality it offered far more than that. Nineteen PhD researchers from sixteen nations, based in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas and representing the widest possible range of research topics, alongside faculty staff from Italy, Belgium, and Slovenia, came together to both learn from each other and share experiences and ideas. It was a true example of international collaboration between well-established scholars and those just setting out on their research journeys. For me, it was incredible to be at an academic event and be the only representative from the United Kingdom. As such, it allowed me to gain a wide range of valuable insights, alongside getting to know a group of people who are all either leaders in their field, or with the potential to be so in the future. All this, in one of the most beautiful settings in the world (and one which offers many research questions of its own), Venice.

The Grand Canal looking towards the Chiesa della Salute from the Accademia Bridge.

Venice International University is a collaboration between nineteen universities from all over the world. It offers summer schools (such as the one I attended in June on Linguistic Landscapes), the PhD Academy, and opportunities for undergraduates to spend a semester at the university on the island of San Servolo, located between the historic centre of Venice and the Lido. As such, the university is a true example of both interdisciplinarity and international collaboration.

Continue reading “Interdisciplinarity and International Collaborations”

Linguistic Landscapes: Using Signs and Symbols to Translate Cities

June 26-30, 2023

Call for applications: December 1, 2022 – February 28, 2023 via the VIU website

This course focuses on the growing interdisciplinary field of Linguistic Landscapes (LL), which traditionally analyses “language of public road signs, advertising billboards, street names, place names, commercial shop signs, and public signs on government buildings”, usually as they occur in urban spaces. More recently, LL research has evolved beyond studying only verbal signs into the realm of semiotics, thus extending the analytical scope into the multimodal domain of images, sounds, drawings, movements, visuals, graffiti, tattoos, colours, smells as well as people. 

Students will be informed about multiple aspects of modern LL research including an overview of different types of signs, their formal features as well as their functions.

Faculty
Kurt Feyaerts, KU Leuven
Claire Holleran, University of Exeter
Eliana Maestri, University of Exeter
Michela Maguolo, Iuav University of Venice
Luca Pes, Venice International University
Paul Sambre, KU Leuven
Richard Toye, University of Exeter

Continue reading “Linguistic Landscapes: Using Signs and Symbols to Translate Cities”