Semiotic Landscapes

  Introduction       Language surrounds us all in textual form as exhibited on shop windows, commercial signs, posters, official notices, traffic signs, etc. (Gorter, 2006). “Linguistic landscape” consist of any written sign found outside private homes, from road signs to names of street shops and schools (Shohamy and Barni, 2010). It analyzes and interprets the relationships between the sign, the sign-makers, and the sign-readers. Verbal images or linguistic text and items are subjects of analysis and investigation. These linguistic forms are displayed and posted on numerous shop doors, restaurant windows, and street signs found in public spaces. A semiotic landscape analysis, whereby a community or environment’s signage is photographed for linguistic and visual analysis, is a useful means of discovering power relationships within that community’s language use (Kerry, 2017). As we go around to different places, we consciously or unconsciously examine various ...

                                                    Introduction About 1 billion people suffer from mental health issues; and every 40 seconds, a person dies by suicide. (World Health Organization [WHO], 2020).This pressing issue is consistently on the rise around the world. Adversities such as poverty, compromised education, violence, gender equality, ill-health, and other global challenges are the primary causes of the internal sufferings (United Nations [UN], n.d.). And with the recurring fight versus COVID-19 pandemic in the present, more than half ofthe entire population are now in continuous battle against depression, anxiety, stress, and the like. It is expected that the number will continue to increase in the next years and with more vulnerable members in the society to get affected, which can result to drastic consequences. Just as of this month (J...