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77902-01 - Forschungsseminar: The Multilingual City: English as a Lingua Franca in Linguistic Landscapes (4 KP)
| Semester | Frühjahrsemester 2026 |
| Angebotsmuster | unregelmässig |
| Dozierende | Thomas Messerli (thomas.messerli@unibas.ch, BeurteilerIn) |
| Inhalt | Urban spaces today are shaped by mobility, global and local cultural influences, and complex forms of multilingualism. As a result, the contemporary city has become a particularly productive site for studying English as a lingua franca (ELF), not only in spoken interaction but also in public written communication. Shop fronts, menus, signage, advertisements, street art, and digital displays routinely mix languages and semiotic resources, and English appears in these environments in ways that reflect and reshape local linguistic practices and identities. In this seminar, we explore how the linguistic landscape (LL) of cities offers insight into language contact, commodification, authenticity, and the symbolic functions of English within multilingual ecologies. While linguistic landscape research has expanded rapidly in recent decades, studies focusing specifically on ELF in public signage remain comparatively rare. Yet the LL can be analysed with the same theoretical and methodological tools used in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis and pragmatics. We will therefore approach multilingual written environments through topics such as language ideologies, indexicality, place-making, and the politics of visibility. At the same time, we will consider how the role of English in these settings differs from its role in spoken ELF interactions and how LL data can complement interactional research. After an introductory session on key concepts including linguistic landscape studies, ELF, and multimodality, the semester will be structured around a strong empirical component. Students will develop practical skills in LL research by documenting and analysing signs and language in the streets and neighbourhoods of Basel. The aim is not only to familiarise ourselves with existing theories, but to contribute our own empirical insights into the work written English does in the city and how multilingual resources are used locally. Throughout the term, students will work individually, in small groups, and collaboratively as a class to build a shared dataset, compare neighbourhoods, and reflect on Basel as a linguistic and semiotic space. Fieldwork, photographic documentation, and iterative coding sessions will form the core of the seminar, allowing us to link theoretical debates to our own observations of Basel’s multilingual landscape. By the end of the seminar, students will be able to connect theoretical approaches to concrete urban data and develop a nuanced understanding of how English shapes and is being shaped by Basel as a multilingual site. |
| Lernziele | By the end of the course, students will have learned about and worked with theories and methods from linguistic landscape studies, sociolinguistics, pragmatics, and discourse analysis. They will have revisited core theoretical works on multilingualism, English as a lingua franca, and urban semiotics, and will have applied these frameworks to the study of public written communication. Based on these insights, students will conduct their own linguistic landscape fieldwork in Basel and reflect on the functions, meanings, and ideologies indexed by English and other languages in the city. Drawing on both theoretical and empirical work, they will have developed a deeper understanding of multilingual urban spaces and of the methodological possibilities and limitations of LL research. Students will have analysed data collaboratively, contributed to a shared dataset, presented their findings in brief presentations, and discussed their observations and interpretations in relation to the topics of the course. |
| Literatur | All obligatory reading for the course will be made available on ADAM. |
| Weblink | ADAM |
| Anmeldung zur Lehrveranstaltung | Please register for this course on services unibas.ch. |
| Unterrichtssprache | Englisch |
| Einsatz digitaler Medien | Online-Angebot obligatorisch |
| Intervall | Wochentag | Zeit | Raum |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Dienstag | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
Einzeltermine
| Datum | Zeit | Raum |
|---|---|---|
| Dienstag 17.02.2026 | 14.15-16.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Dienstag 24.02.2026 | 14.15-16.00 Uhr | Fasnachtswoche |
| Dienstag 03.03.2026 | 14.15-16.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Dienstag 10.03.2026 | 14.15-16.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Dienstag 17.03.2026 | 14.15-16.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Dienstag 24.03.2026 | 14.15-16.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Dienstag 31.03.2026 | 14.15-16.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Dienstag 07.04.2026 | 14.15-16.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Dienstag 14.04.2026 | 14.15-16.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Dienstag 21.04.2026 | 14.15-16.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Dienstag 28.04.2026 | 14.15-16.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Dienstag 05.05.2026 | 14.15-16.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Dienstag 12.05.2026 | 14.15-16.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Dienstag 19.05.2026 | 14.15-16.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Dienstag 26.05.2026 | 14.15-16.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Module |
Modul: English Linguistics (Master Studienfach: Englisch) Modul: Forschungspraxis und Vertiefung (Master Studiengang: Sprache und Kommunikation) Modul: Research in English Linguistics (Master Studienfach: Englisch) Modul: Sprache und Gesellschaft (Master Studiengang: Sprache und Kommunikation) |
| Prüfung | Lehrveranst.-begleitend |
| Hinweise zur Prüfung | regular and active participation; preparatory reading; oral presentation plus handout; written task (around 1’500–2’000 words) |
| An-/Abmeldung zur Prüfung | Anmelden: Belegen; Abmelden: nicht erforderlich |
| Wiederholungsprüfung | keine Wiederholungsprüfung |
| Skala | Pass / Fail |
| Belegen bei Nichtbestehen | beliebig wiederholbar |
| Zuständige Fakultät | Philosophisch-Historische Fakultät, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Anbietende Organisationseinheit | Fachbereich Englische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft |