Linguistic Landscape Analysis of La Plaza de Ponchos in Otavalo, Ecuador
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2019
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Swarthmore College. Dept. of Linguistics
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en
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Abstract
Using Google Street View, I examine the Linguistic Landscape of La Plaza de Ponchos, an openair
tourist market in Otavalo, Ecuador to understand linguistic attitudes of Kichwa, a language
indigenous to the region that was largely suppressed 16th century Spanish colonialism and later
Ecuadorian nation building. I consider the lasting impressions of Spanish colonialism at play
with increased globalization and media influence. Through my analysis I look at both bottom-up
and top-down signage as a measure of community attitudes towards Kichwa as compared to the
linguistically dominant languages English and Spanish. My findings suggest that, as expected,
Kichwa does not have a place in settings of commerce as compared to Spanish and English.
These results are comparable to other multilinguistic Linguistic Landscape analyses such as
those conducted in Friesland, Basque Country, and Israel/Palestine (Cenoz & Gortern, 2006;
Ben-Rafael et al. 2008). Later, I evaluate the merits of this study with the knowledge that Google
Street View has not been updated since 2014 and that the landscape has since changed,
concluding that Otavalo is an example of how rapidly linguistic attitudes can change and how
important it is that we as culturally conscious academics devote our attention to this change.