Acceso usuarios
Kreisfreie Stadt Erfurt, Alemania
Based on the methodology of linguistic landscapes (LLs) and semiotic landscape research, this article highlights recent changes in the LL of German cities. The article explores LL data collected by the author in German cities and towns, mainly in the state of Hesse. Additionally, images from social media, especially from groups of Ukrainians in Germany, are also included in the analysis. The presence of Ukrainian symbols (flags and national colors) and language appeared as a reaction of the German society toward Russia's full-scale invasion and the war against Ukraine. Forced mass migration, known also as the Ukrainian refugee crisis, transformed language surroundings in the German big cities as well as in small towns and villages, where refugees are settled. Ukrainian language and symbolics are markers of identity (on the bottom-up level) and support (on the top-down level). They appear in public and semi-public spaces and are constructed by a variety of actors including state organizations, small and middle businesses, non-government organizations, and Ukrainian communities (formed by traditional diaspora, work migrants, and newcomers). Ukrainians in Germany actively form their places of belonging and enhance them with national symbols and language when interacting with German authorities and society, and these processes are reflected in LL tokens
