Signs of/on power, Power on/of Signs: Language-Based Tourism, Linguistic Landscapes and Onomastics on Norfolk Island

Abstract

When one arrives by plane at Norfolk Island International Airport the sign above the baggage collection carousel appears in both Norf'k and English: 'Welkam tu Nor'k Ailen / Welcome to Norfolk Island'. One is immediately made aware of the diglossic language situation on the island and the two languages' struggle for linguistic space within the onomastic environment, or onomasto-sphere. Ronstrom (2009: 179) has posed an island as 'a linguistic archipelago, a world of words'. While the Norfolk archipelago does contain many words, many (micro-)worlds and many names, the way these names and their influence are played out within the historical and social fabric of daily life is far from understood. This chapter attempts to reconcile several of these social and linguistic matters through a methodology of linguistic landscapes (LL). It employs various approaches to understand the power of names and how LL can contribute to a better appreciation of factors involved in the revival of minority and endangered languages. Our approach builds on previous LL research in that we consider an amalgamated corpus of business names and toponyms in both physical and cultural landscapes.