IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v11y2024i1d10.1057_s41599-024-04236-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Agency and structure in the linguistic landscape of the communities in Beijing, China: a discursive frame and geosemiotic analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Mengli Zhang

    (Beijing Foreign Studies University)

  • Tianwei Zhang

    (Beijing Foreign Studies University)

Abstract

This article examines the linguistic landscapes (LL) of two communities in Beijing, China, to investigate the agency and structure embodied in them. A geosemiotic and discursive approach is employed to the collected data based on geosemiotics and discursive frame. It reveals the LL in the surveyed communities in Beijing can be mainly divided into three discursive frames: the civic frame, the promotional frame, and the livelihood frame, each with its own exclusive geosemiotic characteristics of agency and structure. A separate examination of each frame reveals the specific representations of and interactions between agency and structural factors within each one. Furthermore, a longitudinal analysis of these three frames indicates the existence of a concrete dynamic equilibrium relationship between agency and structure. It can be summarized that one of the existing landscape construction modes in the communities in Beijing is characterized by the balanced agency-structure dynamics, which can serve as a reference for LL construction and research in other regions.

Suggested Citation

  • Mengli Zhang & Tianwei Zhang, 2024. "Agency and structure in the linguistic landscape of the communities in Beijing, China: a discursive frame and geosemiotic analysis," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-17, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:11:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-024-04236-2
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-024-04236-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-024-04236-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-024-04236-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:11:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-024-04236-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.