Oral Presentation Institute of Australian Geographers & The New Zealand Geographical Society Conference 2014

Linguistic Landscape in the Context of Tourism: A Case Study of Macau (15163)

Meng Zhang

As the study of multilingualism through physical space, Linguistic Landscape crosses over disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, cultural and urban geography, urban planning, communication, public relations and advertising. Macau presents itself as a desirable study area in this field for its cultural and linguistic diversity, as a result of its unique history of assimilation between Chinese and Portuguese culture, as well as multicultural communication in the form of tourism. With reference to the frameworks of ethnolinguistic vitality and linguistic ecology, this paper, through filed observation of the road signs, shops, restaurants, etc. and in-depth interview targeting local residents and business owners and tourists, in two typical tourist areas, namely, Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro and Rua do Cunha, made an attempt to identify the factors to the dynamics of linguistic landscape in Macau, especially the competition between traditional Chinese, Portuguese and English, and some managerial implications were also concluded.