Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Linguistic landscapes on the other side of the border: signs, language and the construction of cultural identity in Transnistria

2014; De Gruyter; Volume: 2014; Issue: 227 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1515/ijsl-2013-0086

1613-3668

Sebastian Muth,

European Politics and Security

In 1992, Transnistria emerged as a de facto independent political entity, not recognized internationally. Russian emerged as a strong marker of a distinct cultural and political identity and as a powerful tool of separation from Moldova. Officially, Transnistria is trilingual in Russian, Ukrainian and Romanian (Moldovan) written in Cyrillic script, yet Russian is the language of choice for most inhabitants. This article presents a linguistic landscape study that sheds light on language use by institutional and private actors in Transnistria, exemplified by signs in the republic's mainly Russian-speaking capital Tiraspol.