El paisatge lingüístic d’un entorn rural: El multilingüisme i els valors de la llengua pròpia a la Llera del Ter (Girona)
The Linguistic Landscape of aRural Environment: Multilingualism and the Values of Local Language in La Llera del Ter (Girona)

Summary/Abstract: Research on linguistic landscapes has predominantly focused on urban and cosmopolitan settings, often overlooking rural areas, although they are equally subject to the forces of globalization in late modernity. This article examines the linguistic landscape of the Llera del Ter, a newly emergent cultural community composed of villages situated between two major tourist poles: the city of Girona and the Costa Brava. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data— primarily collected in the villages of Celrà and Sant Jordi Desvalls—the study explores the presence and hierarchy of languages in the public space, as well as the symbolic and commercial values attributed to them in a context shaped by rural tourism that seeks authenticity in territory and heritage. In the Llera del Ter, Catalan emerges as the hegemonic and “unmarked” language. Nevertheless, emerging forms of visibility in other languages—such as Spanish and English, but also Italian, Romanian, Arabic, or even Latin—are observed in spheres like commerce, tourism, and private initiatives. The article offers a critical reflection on the contemporary redefinition of the boundaries between urban and rural worlds, examining how suburbanization, mobility, and processes of heritage-making contribute to new forms of linguistic and visual identity in the peripheries of contemporary Catalonia.

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