Sarita Monjane Henriksen, Semiotic superdiversity in an urban linguistic landscape: A case study in Mozambique, University of Jyväskylä, Finland, 16 September 2024, 17:00 EEST (Online).
One of the most defining features of African countries has been their multilingual and multicultural nature, with citizens being mostly bilingual or plurilingual and proficient in a variety of languages. However, as a result of increasing mobility and migration, European countries — once perceived as relatively homogenous in linguistic and cultural terms — now also display growing levels of superdiversity. This raises challenges regarding language management in schools and classrooms, and in society at large.
This paper looks at Mozambique, one of the most highly linguistically diverse countries in the world, with its official language Portuguese co-existing alongside various languages of African origin, and other European languages such as English and French, as well as Asian languages. The paper analyses societal and education language policies and practices through an ethnographic semiotic lens. Key foci include people’s perceptions and views on existing languages, official discourses on languages, discussions of language hierarchies, and the role of language in education and development. Further issues of linguistic human rights in education and society are also covered. Altogether this highlights the key insights brought about from a thorough analysis of semiotic superdiversity in an urban landscape in the global south.
This is one of the University of Jyväskylä Online English Seminars for 2024-25. The event will be live-streamed online with interactive Q&A after the talk. All are welcome to attend.
Center for Intercultural Dialogue 