PAH 310 Multilingual Cities

Instructions

Visit or order take out at a restaurant where the use of multiple languages and other semiotic resources is common. Carefully observe and analyze staff, cashiers, cooks, and other restaurant workers, and pay particular attention to their language use. For this assignment, you are examining and analyzing the totality of the linguistic resources used by staff and cooks. In a linguistically rich and diverse setting like a restaurant, how do staff and cooks communicate? How does multilingualism work in this environment? What other semiotic resources (i.e., symbols, gestures, music, art, designs, etc.) are used? Be sure to include relevant concepts, ideas, and quotes from your readings and integrate them into your writing. Make sure to show evidence that you have patronized the restaurant by taking a selfie or taking a picture of the food you’ve ordered, along with the menu.

If you order take out, make sure to examine the establishment’s signs and menu. How do the signs and menu reflect a linguistic landscape? How does the use of multilingualism in this establishment reflect the people in your local context? How does it reflect migration patterns over time?