Space and place

For this work, space and place are at the core of the research. In this paper, I discuss the visibility of the texts in different languages in various places in a limited geographical area. The texts can refer to that place where the text is located, for example the opening times of a museum written on the door. Or it can refer to the place somewhere else, for example signposts that show the distance to that place. Space and place are not always in the core of the research of the linguistic landscape. Cities and towns are often places where lots of language contacts occur. According to Backhaus (2007, 145):

The city is a place of language contact, as we have said, and the signs in public space are the most visible reminder of this. The linguistic landscape not only tells you in an instant where on earth you are and what languages you are supposed to know, but it contains information going far beyond this. It provides a unique perspective on the coexistence and competition of different languages and their scripts, and how they interact and interfere with each other in a given place

In this section, space, and place, two of the core geographical concepts will be discussed¹. Space and place are basic components of the lived world; we take them for granted. When we think about them;

however, they may assume unexpected meanings and raise questions we have not thought to ask” (Tuan 1977, 3).

Space and place are often used as synonyms in everyday discussions. The fact that these terms are very closely related, explains the confusion. There has been much debate on these concepts in the academic world. Thus, a few words are warranted about these two concepts. In human and political geography, in particular, the place has always held a core position. This can be explained by the history of geography which, for a long time, has been the study of different regions and strongly focused on place. Place can be described as a location filled with human experiences. A place can be a country, a city, a street, or one’s home. A Chinese-American geographer Yi-Fu Tuan (1977) points out that to put it simple, the

1 This subsection is based on my Master’s thesis in University of Jyväskylä

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place can be defined the combination of the location and the meaning; each place has a different meaning to different people. A place has both human and physical characteristics. It can be the result of the human’s activity such as roads, buildings or it can have mostly physical characteristics; an example being rivers or mountains. Very often, however, the place is the combination of these two. Both space and place are essential for human beings. Tuan (1977) discusses a significant difference between space and place:

while space is open, the place is a peaceful center of well-established values.

Tuan notes that “what begins as undifferentiated space becomes place as we know it better and endow it with value” (Tuan 2008, 6). A place encompasses affection and emotions (Herbert & Matthews 2004).

Similarly, Tim Cresswell observes that when people become more attached to space, it becomes a place.

The naming of a place is one example of this process (Cresswell 2004, 10). Naming a place is often part of this process. For example, an owner a restaurant may give to his business a place that is important to him / her. For instance, a restaurant name Da Mario may refer to the owner’s name. Sometimes the name of the company may have a significant impact on the business.

Another major researcher who has had a major impact on the understanding of space and place is Doreen Massey. Her key idea is that space and politics are co-constitutive forces and that they are the results of different ongoing processes. Massey emphasizes the co-existence of space, time, and politics (Featherstone, 2013). The place being an aspect of space, space is constituted by the place. The place can be perceived as a localized aspect of space (Agnew, 2011). It is important to understand multiple characters of places: their different meanings to different people and how a place is perceived at different times. An example of this is a busy city (Western) during the afternoon rush hour and the same city but deserted from people during the Sunday morning with no people on its streets. Moreover, it is important to avoid considering place and space as two separated and exclusive concepts but rather see the interdependency between the two.

Usually, place is fixed and static, but it can also be mobile. For instance, I give a following example: a bus of a famous rock band going on the European Tour can become a place; these people are in close contacts with others for a period of time , and they give to this bus a particular meaning filled with shared experiences and memories. Similarly, for a football team, their bus can become an important place filled with the shared experiences and emotions of joy and disappointment. It is often stated that our society is characterized by “placelessness.” In globalized societies, many spaces become similar to one another.

In international airports, shopping malls, and motorways, one easily loses the sense of place due to the

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lack of local specificities. Marc Augé uses the term non-places (non-lieu) (Augé 2008). More and more public spaces are becoming what he defines as non-lieu. Airports are one of the best illustrations of this.

However, as stated above, places have different meanings to different people. Therefore, an airport which is a non-lieu to many people can be a place with meaning for someone else, for example, who works there or few people whose home is in some international airport. For Friedberg (2002), shopping malls are perfect examples of a space of representation, in which representations of consumption is emphasized. For instance, the latest renovation in the airport of Helsinki obliges passengers to walk through the shops before going to the gate.

British geographer Doreen Massey speaks about the decline of public space in the sense of space that can be used for several purposes by different actors (Massey 2005, 152). As the place is something known for us, it is often associated with the feeling of safety. Traditionally, space has mostly been the domain of geographers. Space is a more abstract concept than a place. (Tuan 1974; Cresswell 2004, 7) Some researchers regard space foremost as a social space, operating without the distinction between the concepts of space and place. One of the major contributions comes from the Frenchman Henri LeFebvre who was philosopher and sociologist. According to him, space is socially produced (LeFebvre 2000). In recent years, the spatial turn has taken place: space is a widely discussed concept in social science today.

Martin and Miller observe “that spatial perspectives illuminate the connections between daily life experiences and broader social, political, and economic processes” (Martin & Miller 2003, 143).

A lot of the political discussion has to do with space. Places are also full of regulations and rules (Creswell 2004, 35). We are not allowed, for instance, to enter into another person’s home, or we cannot go into local a supermarket after its closing time, or travel without a ticket in a local transport. According to Cresswell (2004, 28) a strong link exists between different practices and a particular place. Conflicts with authorities arise once people start to behave “out-of-place”. Often, the security aspects are emphasized in discussions of the political dimensions of space. Furthermore, the use of public space is often the matter of a debate on who is allowed to use it and who is not. Similar logic applies to place naming: who has right to name a place and who does not have.

One approach to space is dichtotomy between absolute and relational space. In an absolute perception of space, space emphasizes distance, fixes coordinates, and space is seen as a container. On the contrary, in the relational understanding of space, multiple heterogeneous relations make space (Murdoch 2006).

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Relational space fits well in our discussion about the linguistic landscape where speakers of different languages share the same space.

The idea of relational space originates from post-structuralist thinking (Murdoch, 2006, 3-4). Some typical features of post-structuralist thinking can be discerned: one characteristic feature being the multiplicity of meanings. The new geographies of resistance in the end of the 20^th century emphasized multiple perspectives, multiple spaces, and multiple spatial relations. Murdoch (2006, 14) continues that many studies that focused on marginal and/or oppressed groups, such as post-colonial studies or feminism were in the forefront to promote this new approach to space. In the post-structuralist geography, struggles provide opportunities for change: they may bring new spatial openings as well as “new forms of spatial identity as well as new forms of social practice”(Murdoch 2006, 18).

Space is a concept that has changed in recent years. It has become even more important in the global world and the economic sector. In her book, for space, Doreen Massey presents a revised understanding of space. In Massey’s view (Massey 1991), space is widely seen as being political. Much of Massey´s work deals with labour and uneven development in different regions. One of the main critiques of the argument proposed by Massey is that these globalist discourses do not take into account local differences and their different stories.

As Massey points out:

it is a sense of place, an understanding of ‘its character’, which can only be constructed by linking that places to places beyond. A progressive sense of place would recognise that, without being threatened by it. What we need, it seems to me, is a global sense of the local, a global sense of place. (Massey, 1991, 29)

Globalization can be understood as a vision of free space in which mobility takes place without boundaries (Massey 2005, 83). Massey argues that an important spatial dimension exists in globalization.

According to Massey (2005) very often space is used as something commonly understood, but in reality, there are various interpretations of space. Massey (2005) did write about the global sense of place, and she argues that instead of the local, we need a global understanding of a place where different identities are mixed. Moreover, Massey (2005) has analyzed London as a case study of the impact of global flows in a city and she is critical of the debates in which London is seen as a success story. She does not disagree with the success but emphasizes the fact that this achievement produces poverty and exclusion while it

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should decrease it (Massey 2005, 157). Space has recently gained prominence in the discussions of globalization, yet. Massey criticizes many scholars writing about what she terms aspatial globalization (Massey 2005, 81-89). According to this view, all cities from Bamako to Beijing follow a similar path to globalization. However, globalization has a different impact in different areas. Massey observes that:

The imagination of globalization in terms of unbounded free space that powerful rhetoric of neoliberalism around ´free trade´, just as was modernity’s view of space, is a pivotal element in an overweaning political discourse. It is a discourse which is dominantly produced in the countries of world’s North (though acquiesced in by many a government in the South). It has its institutions and its professionals. It is normative; and it has its effects. (Massey 2005, 83)

However, to study different spatial dimensions in an international or a global scale is not a recent issue.

To Gramsci, spatial differentiation was an important concept (Morton 2013). Gramsci was interested in labour migration as a form of cosmopolitanism and internationalism. He studied various connections between Italian workers and the non-Italian world (Featherstone 2013, 75). Another space-politics relation that Gramsci studied was the relationship between urban and rural areas. Gramsci emphasized the role of cities in the construction of Italian society (Kipfer 2013, 83-103). Finally, a concept that is useful in this research is the spatial repertories. This concept is useful because it aims to show that the use of a language is not only an individual act but it emerges from spatially ordered interactions (Pennycook & Otsuji, 2015).