Traces of Coloniality in Colombia’s Linguistic Landscape: A Multimodal Analysis of Language Centers’ English Advertisements

ABSTRACT: English has spread throughout the world and with it the number of language centers (LCs) selling not just English courses, but also colonial views of English as the language of being, knowledge and power through a myriad of linguistic landscape (LL) resources. Parting from this assumption...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Doris Correa, Carmen Helena Guerrero
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais 2024-11-01
Series:Revista Brasileira de Linguística Aplicada
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Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1984-63982024000200112&lng=en&tlng=en
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Summary:ABSTRACT: English has spread throughout the world and with it the number of language centers (LCs) selling not just English courses, but also colonial views of English as the language of being, knowledge and power through a myriad of linguistic landscape (LL) resources. Parting from this assumption and framed on decolonial and LL theories, this multisite case study set out to investigate the colonial mechanisms and ideological strategies employed by English LCs located in Bogotá and Medellín (Colombia) to present English this way, and how these were actually put in place. Data for the study included pictures of the façades of 15 LCs located in these cities. These were analyzed using Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2001) framework for multimodal analysis. Results suggest that LCs use a series of colonial mechanisms and ideological strategies, such as epistemic violence, homogenization, and legitimation, which are put in place through the use of different semiotic resources.
ISSN:1984-6398