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Ideological framing of vernacular type choices in the Galician and Basque semiotic landscape

2015; Routledge; Volume: 25; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10350330.2015.1010316

1470-1219

Johan Järlehed,

Cultural Industries and Urban Development

AbstractThis paper is concerned with the ideological framing of typographic choices in Galician and Basque public space. It builds on an interpretive discourse analytical approach to the enregisterment of vernacular typography as social emblems of Galician-ness and Basque-ness. The paper argues that this process of enregisterment interacts with a layering in the contemporary semiotic landscape of three major ideological complexes: cultural resistance, cultural standardization, and cultural commodification. Each one of these ideologies represents a particular set of beliefs and values related to local culture which is attributed to and expressed by these vernacular typographic forms, thereby contributing to their varied indexicality and use in different locales, domains and genres, and to their potential for having an impact on the general graphic face of Galicia and the Basque Country. The paper points out a shift of orientation in the use of vernacular typography from a marker of nationalist ideologies and politicized identities to metacultural displays of symbolic capital formerly associated with these positions in the context of tourist consumption, urban theming, and place-branding. The ideological tension emerging between these two positions illustrates the central role performed in contemporary minority nation-building by the discursive interaction of pride and profit.Keywords: typographic ideologyvernacular typographycultural standardizationcultural commodificationGaliciaBasque Country AcknowledgementsEarlier versions of this paper have been presented at the Sociolinguistics Symposium 19 (Berlin August 2012), the symposium on Typographic Landscaping (Gothenburg June 2013) and the IKK research seminar at the Linköping University (January 2014). I am very thankful for the comments received at these meetings. Thanks also to Mark Sebba for his comments on a later version of the article. In particular however the paper is indebted to Adam Jaworski and his warm, moral, and intellectual support.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.Notes on contributorJohan Järlehed is a Senior Lecturer of Spanish Linguistics at the Department of Languages and Literatures, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. His research interests cover semiotic landscapes, visual and graphic communication, language ideologies, nationalism, identity, and authenticity. His current research project is concerned with the interaction of nation-building and cultural commodification in Galicia and the Basque Country, and with how linguistic and cultural expressions thereby acquire new forms and meanings.Notes1. The notion of (linguistic and cultural) normalization as developed within the autonomous communities of Spain is complex and debated, as reflected in varied understandings of its value and range. For initiated discussions on this topic, see e.g. Álvarez Cáccamo (Citation2003) and del Valle (Citation2005).2. These figures refer to the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, where the situation of Basque is better than in the adjacent Basque-speaking areas in Navarre and southern France. For detailed descriptions of the sociolinguistic situation, see Beswick (Citation2007) on the Galician case and Aizpurua Telleria and Aizpurua Espin (Citation2005) on the Basque.3. As exhaustively explained by Gray (Citation1986, 221), these features of the A appeared already in Greek inscriptions as well as in Romanesque inscriptions, paintings, and metalwork, and were particularly common in the fifteenth- and sixteenth centuries.4. An early exception to the Basque capitals-only is the typeface Ferrus, designed in the 1930s.5. I have not been able to establish an exhaustive account of the different Galician and Basque typefaces, but there are at least more than 20 individual traditional analog letterforms in the Basque case, plus an increasing number of digital types inspired in the former (Kortadi Olano Citation1994; Herrera Fernández Citation2004). The number is somewhat lower in the Galician case, but there exist an increasing interest and demand among both commercial actors and public institutions (see e.g. the interviews made with Galician type designers by Oscar Otero: http://es.letrag.com/artigo.php?id=8, http://es.letrag.com/artigo.php?id=6, accessed October 23, 2014).6. A similar opening up was at this moment observed in repressed spaces and minoritized contexts all over Spain (see Martí and Martí Citation1978).7. In the culturally loaded design of the head of their website, ESAN uses a digitalized hand-painted variant of this vernacular E together with several other traditional symbols of Basque-ness: the Gernika oak leaf and the map of Euskal Herrria, i.e. the big Basque Country including Navarre and the historical Basque provinces in France, painted with the national Basque flag. In an original typographic mix, the abbreviated name of the union, ESAN, is also rendered with the letter E set in this type and the remaining three letters set in another of the Basque vernacular typefaces (http://www.esansindikatua.com/, accessed October 23, 2014).8. For a discussion of some of the implications of these laws for the configuration of the linguistic landscape, see Gorter, Aiestaran, and Cenoz (Citation2012) on the Basque case and Dunlevy (Citation2012) on the Galician one.9. From 1994 to 2004, the Basque Cultural Institute (EKE/ICB) in Ustaritz was promoting a more extended and standardized bilingual signage in the French Basque municipalities. However, they recommended avoiding what they called "pseudo-Basque" lettering, and also denounced differentiating the Basque and French languages by other graphic means such as cursive or different font sizes (http://www.eke.org/fr/institut-culturel-basque/activites-culturelles-et-projets/eke_argitalpenak/euskara_agerian, accessed October 23, 2014).10. In Galicia, the local savings bank Caixa Ourense deployed an expressive vernacular type in its logotype until its fusion in 1999 with Caixa de aforros municipal de Vigo. The logotype can still be seen on old bus stops around Ourense.11. An earlier standard is still to be seen in some signs. In contrast to the prevalent anonymous one, the former typographic standard for Bilbao's street-names was based on the modernist lettering of the mythic local drugstore Barandiarán. It thereby contributed to the creation of a particular (typo)graphic face of the city, though not recurring to a local culture-specific typeface, but instead celebrating the local commercial heritage.Additional informationFundingThe article has been written with funding from the Center for European Research at the University of Gothenburg (CERGU) and the Swedish Research Council (VR, D0130501).