Diverse Name-semiotic Landscape of Rimaszombat/Rimavská Sobota

Abstract

The study of visual language use is a growing field of linguistics. Linguistic Landscape is seen among the mechanisms that transmits ideology into language practices. The most important factors shaping the linguistic landscape are the state (administration), local governments, the business sphere, and the civil sphere. The investigated town, Rimavská Sobota has a Slovak dominant linguistic landscape with nests of bilingual, Hungarian and other signage. International and governmental signs are exclusively in Slovak. My intention was to show how the linguistic landscapes are manifested in this town. My aim was to introduce the usage of proper names in the city, more precisely the types of writings that can be found in the city and what proportion can be found in the Hungarian language. The research was primarily carried out around the towns, including taking documentary photographs of the inscriptions containing proper names. I had categorized the documented signages into groups, based on which I concluded how and to what extent is the minority language present in town signages.