Spanish in the linguistic landscape of Boa Vista-RR

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the presence of the Spanish language in Boa Vista, Roraima. This discussion is guided by the concept of linguistic landscape (LP), proposed by Landry and Bourhis (1997), which refers to the textual expressions of multilingualism in an urban context. For this analysis, this research proposes six criteria: spatial survey of the LP; identification of spheres of human activities; identification of the spatial scope; tone of writing; degree of ostensiveness and type of support – criteria of the pragmatic, discursive and textual scope. The most general result is the confirmation that one of the migratory effects is the considerable increase in the use of written and spoken Spanish in various contexts in the capital of Roraima. The search for insertion into the labor market is an explanation for this change in the local linguistic landscape in favor of Spanish.