A social semiotic analysis of mini-bus taxis as mobilescapes in Cape Town

Abstract

Linguistic Landscape (LL) is a rapidly growing area of investigation that concerns itself with the attention to language, cultural objects and images displayed in public spaces. Prompted by caveats of the earlier traditional studies which included counting the visibility of languages, the fixity of signs, coupled with methodological issues that lacked data triangulation, new approaches emerged. In this present study, framed as A Social Semiotic Analysis of Mini-Bus Taxis as Mobilescapes in Cape Town, specific inquiry about the emergence of language use through an analysis of the evolution of messages that are inscribed on taxis that transport people within Cape Town and between Cape Town and other cities around South Africa is made to disentangle these caveats.