Construction of Language Landscape in Newly Built Ancient Cities: A Case of Yizhou Ancient City, China

Abstract

Introduction: As China has increasingly ushered in the era of mass tourism, ancient city or town tourism has gained popularity across the country, and a significant number of new scenic spots in ancient towns have been constructed. However, these lovely spots typically rely on conventional tourist and catering. Many tourists focus more on the issue of how to study old cities’ cultural ambiance and internal features on a deeper level, as well as the depth of its connotations. This paper examined the language landscape creation of the Yizhou Ancient City in Linyi, China, to delve into the language landscape building of newly built ancient town tourist attractions. Methodology: The data collection stage was mainly completed through field investigation, using digital cameras to shoot various language signs in the scenic spot. The data statistics stage mainly included random interviews, research objective determination, and data statistical analysis. Results: The results showed that the language signs in the scenic spot were mainly monolingual, supplemented by bilingual signs. There were two languages, Chinese and English, in which Chinese was the priority code, while English was a marginalized code in the language landscape of the scenic spot. The management department of scenic spots played a decisive role in constructing language landscapes. However, the managers of scenic spots and shop operators had not yet realized the economic value of language landscapes. The language landscape of Yizhou ancient City has the following problems: insufficient construction of a diversified language landscape, weak design sense of language landscape, lack of cultural connotation of language landscape, lack of innovation of language landscape construction and so on. Conclusion: It is suggested that the scenic spot management department should pay attention to different aspects in the future. They should pay attention to the potential value of language landscape construction, the unique linguistic landscape brand of the scenic spot should be constructed, and the multi-language needs of tourists.