Linguistic Landscape Westernization and Glocalization: the case of Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan
Marina Solnyshkina – Aliya Ismagilova
DOI: 10.18355/XL.2015.08.02.36-53
Abstract
The article describes the process of acceleration of the linguistic landscape’s changes in Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, identified the role and place of the state (Russian and Tatar) and Western European languages in shaping the structure and composition of the studied phenomenon. Peculiarity of the situation in the Republic of Tatarstan is that the linguistic landscape of the republic based on the Russian (Slavic, inflected) and Tatar (Turkic, agglutinative), has incorporated many borrowings from western (English, German, French, Spanish and some other) languages. Modernization of the present Kazan linguistic landscape is in its westernization: protected by the Republican legislation public signs in Russian and Tatar are surrounded by advertisements with texts in a West European language or transliterated texts. Glocalization of Kazan linguistic landscape is manifested in the increase of ethnic (most of all Tatar) traditions and the use of language as a means of protecting the national and ethnic interests.
Key words
westernization, glocalization, the linguistic landscape, ergonym, language policy, globalization