Lenguas e imágenes en la cartelería comercial: concurrencias en un paisaje lingüístico argentino

Abstract

In this paper we examine the commercial signage of the city of Bahía Blanca, in the Buenos Aires Spanish dialectal area of the Argentina. We deal, in particular, with the one corresponding to ventures in whose denominations the use of Spanish –the communicatively hegemonic language in the area– has been avoided, and the productors have preferred to turn to other languages. We analyze the tendencies evidenced in this last sense in the linguistic landscape of the city and, simultaneously, we examine by what types of images these commercial denominations are accompanied in the corresponding signage. The classification of the images that we propose is based on their relationship with the denominations referred to, with the national or cultural origin of the language they come from and with the ventures’ specialty, and can be transferable to the study of any other linguistic landscapes.