Introduction

While linguistic landscape can be understood in different ways (e.g. languages used in a particular place more generally), linguistic landscape (LL) in a more narrow sense concerns the visibility and salience of languages (Landry & Bourhis, 1997: 23) on a range of visible top-down and bottom-up signs within a certain locale. This study explores the linguistic landscape of an enclave called ‘Little Africa’ in ** malls mostly catering for foreign businessmen and traders started to surface in ** (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2001).

Linguistic landscape, as a relatively new and interdisciplinary line of research, can be investigated from (socio)linguistic, political, institutional, religious, cultural, historical, commercial, educational, ideological, and hegemonic perspectives. A close examination of a place’s LL can shed light on such topics and issues as ethnic enclave, globalisation, ethnolinguistic diversity and vitality, superdiversity, multilingualism, language policy and planning, language maintenance, language contact, the dominance of English, and public health and pandemic communication (Ben-Rafael et al., 2006; Buckingham, 2015; Coluzzi, 2017; Gorter, 2006; Huebner, 2006; Lanza & Woldemariam, 2014; Lee & Lou, 2019; Rubdy & Said, 2015) in both developed and develo** countries (Alomoush, 2023; Fedorova & Nam, 2023; Gu and Almanna, 2023; Gu and Manan 2024; Landry & Bourhis, 1997; Lee 2022; Lees, 2022; Song, 2022; Matwick & Matwick., 2019).

Over time, however, there is increasing recognition that the linguistic elements are only part of the picture. And meaning-making is achieved through linguistic as well as a range of various other visual, sensory and spatial components. Gradually, scholars have started to argue that our urban space should be understood as a ‘gestalt’ (Ben-Rafael, 2009) or an assemblage or ensemble that consists of various semiotic modes and discursive modalities (Jaworski & Thurlow, 2010; Pennycook, 2017; Pennycook & Otsuji, 2015), which can include language, colour, design, objects, smell, sound and spatial arrangement in the built environment. This more extended understanding attentive to the whole range of linguistic, multimodal and semiotic elements and resources permits us to better understand a space/place in a more vivid, dynamic, multidimensional and systematic way (Pennycook, 2017). In this study, I will focus on both the linguistic components and the other multimodal and semiotic elements to help understand the (un)making and (re)making of Guangzhou’s Little Africa area over time in a more holistic and comprehensive manner.

Dialogized heteroglossia in linguistic and semiotic landscape: negotiating a dynamic equilibrium between the centripetal and centrifugal

In this section, Bakhtin’s (1981) concept of ‘dialogized heteroglossia’ is incorporated into a linguistic landscape framework. As discussed earlier, a place’s linguistic and semiotic landscape is often jointly shaped by various top-down and bottom-up forces in a dynamic way. The inherently complex interplay between the official top-down forces (e.g. official language policy and ideology prescribing monolingualism) and the bottom-up forces at a grass-roots level (e.g. voices advocating multilingualism and the protection and maintenance of minority languages and ethnolinguistic identity) is commonly found in different societies. As such, Bakhtin’s (1981) notion of ‘dialogized heteroglossia’ is particularly relevant in fruitfully conceptualising such a dynamic, ongoing and negotiated process. That is, for Bakhtin (1981), centripetal force(s) and centrifugal force(s) often co-exist in language. Similarly, by extension, centripetal force(s) and centrifugal force(s) are also visible in language planning and policy-making and the resulting linguistic and semiotic landscape in many ways. Centripetal forces tend to gravitate towards the centre and the official, which often correspond to the more authoritative language ideologies and official prescriptive discourses (striving for order and unity and regulating and controlling what languages are allowed and how they should be used in a top-down manner). In the presence of such seemingly fixed, inflexible and powerful regulating forces, there often exist more bottom-up voices at a grass-roots level. These voices may be viewed as centrifugal forces which pull away from the centre, the official and the prescriptive. This may lead to diversity and fragmentation, thus potentially posing a challenge to the centripetal forces. The co-existence of the centripetal and the centrifugal inherent in most societies can result in a constantly negotiated process (Gu 2023) or a dynamic ‘tug-of-war’ (Gu 2019) between different bodies, stakeholders, agents and actors in the society. From this perspective, Bakhtin’s (1981) concept ‘dialogized heteroglossia’ permits a more dynamic and thorough understanding of the making, unmaking and (re)making of a locale’s linguistic landscape as an ongoing and constantly changing process and also as a negotiated space with many forces simultaneously at work. Such a dialogic conceptualisation of language and linguistic landscape represents a useful addition to existing and more generic LL frameworks, promising to shed light upon the possible grass-roots co** strategies and linguistic creativity and better account for a locale’s LL as a result of such dynamic negotiated processes. As such, where relevant, Bakhtin’s (1981) concept will be employed to help describe and explain the language use and linguistic practices evidenced on ** of the area’s identity against a context of change.

Figure 23
figure 23

Bottom-up sign (top) and mural in English (bottom) emphasising national unity in **aobei

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Discussions and conclusion

As a result of globalisation and the development of Sino-African relations, **aobei or Little Africa represents a barometer of China-foreign trade. Essentially a multilingual, multicultural and inter-ethnic interface in Guangzhou in the world’s factory China, **aobei has been a unique transnational space, which is a particularly fitting place for linguistic landscape analysis. In the midst of Guangzhou’s glittering skyscrapers, a kind of low-end globalisation is taking place. Since the (socio)linguistic aspects of (low-end) globalisation remain little explored, this empirical study investigated the (un)making and remaking of the enclave from the perspective of LL against a backdrop of socio-political, ideological, attitudinal and language policy changes. As recognised by Li et al. (2012), the dynamic relations between the transient global–local nexus, immigration regime, local geography and various other factors can affect the ebb and flow of the ‘Chocolate City’. In other words, the ethnic enclave is far from being static and non-changing, which is constantly responding to the dynamic and changing situations of the global and the local (Li et al., 2012). A locale’s changing linguistic landscape is in many ways a history book which documents the broader socio-political, cultural and ideological dimensions of the place beyond just signs themselves.

Through a comparative and diachronic analysis of the area’s LL in 2013/2014 and 2023, a clear trend of de-Arabization (Bhatt, 2023) is found, where Arabic is backgrounded and religious symbols in Arabic are not allowed. This is the result of a larger top-down effort to SiniciseFootnote 3 and domesticate imported foreign religions (e.g. Islam). In view of the episodes of ethnic and religious issues emerging in recent years, religious symbols (e.g. in Arabic) are viewed as a destabilizing force that may be linked to fundamentalism and extremism. This therefore begs the question as to how identity is constructed in the Muslim enclave, if Arabic and religious symbols are not permitted. The backgrounding of Arabic gave rise to Chinese being (proportionally) more visible. English, as the global lingua franca, continues to be visible in signs in the area to facilitate inter-ethnic and intercultural communication.

In addition to language, other discursive modalities and semiotic elements (Jaworski & Thurlow, 2010) often dynamically combine to help give a sense of a place. These include the extensive use of green and blue colours, various ethnic and culture-specific motifs, patterns, features and themes, images of exotic halal food items such as pilau and portrayals of African and middle eastern men. These together with ethnic minority street vendors, Muslim butchers, local customers, curious tourists and passers-by, African, Middle East and South Asian traders, beggars, Muslim men wearing white caps, Hijab-wearing women, aromatic naans, Uyghur ice cream, Northwest Chinese, central Asian and middle eastern music, and interestingly signs, posters and murals emphasizing harmony, national unity and Chinese-ness all contribute to place-making in the broader built environment. Please see Figure 24 for a more concrete idea of how various linguistic and semiotic elements, the dynamic interactions and movements of people from different backgrounds, the ethnic food etc. may interweave and still give this area a distinct image even without extensively using Arabic. Such interweaving of various inseparable elements and modalities therefore gives **aobei or ‘Little Africa’ a unique and hybridised identity that is different from the rest of Guangzhou, thus ultimately leading to a (re)making of the once highly Arabised enclave. This more holistic multimodal, multidimensional and multisensory understanding involving both the linguistic and semiotic landscape (Jaworski & Thurlow, 2010; Pennycook, 2017; Pennycook & Otsuji, 2015) promises to provide a more accurate and comprehensive account of this superdiverse, dynamic and transnational urban space that is where the local meets the global.

Figure 24
figure 24

The multimodal and multidimensional nature of **aobei with static objects and non-static actors

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Overall, this sociolinguistic study points to the common tension between centripetal forces (top-down prescriptivist language policy) and centrifugal forces (bottom-up linguistic practices on the ground that attempt to enact certain religious and sociocultural identities and achieve certain advertising and marketing goals) that exists in many societies. In the presence of the seemingly powerful regulations and inflexible rules, individual businesses at a grass-roots level may be in a weak position. However, some kind of agency and creativity still can be found and meaning can be constructed through other means using the businesses’ multimodal repertoires. This highlights the dynamic and constantly negotiated nature of meaning-making in linguistic landscape and communication in general. Fundamentally, this empirical study also illustrates how a locale’s LL is jointly influenced and conditioned by top-down policy-making, bottom-up market forces, and the attitudes of people in a society at large within a broader socio-political, economic and historical context. This highlights the sometimes transitory and unstable nature of such transnational spaces. This study adds to a growing corpus of scholarship on ethnic enclaves and diaspora communities in Asia and beyond (Amos, 2016; Gu, 2023; Guinto, 2019; Izadi & Parvaresh, 2016; Karolak, 2022; Lee & Lou, 2019; Lou, 2016; Wang, 2022; Woldemariam & Lanza, 2015; Wu et al., 2020; Yao, 2023; Zhang et al., 2023).