A Study of Multilingual Tourism Language Landscape in Xi'an under the Perspective of Linguistic Economics—Taking Great Tang All Day Mall, Hui Min Street and Big Wild Goose Pagoda as Examples

Abstract

Linguistic landscape research focuses on the presentation of language on signage in urban space, and the choice of language on signage is often constrained by a variety of factors. From the perspective of linguistic economics, this paper explores the economic factors involved in the construction of the linguistic landscapes of Datang Never Night City, Hui Min Street and Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Datang Never Night City, Hui Min Street and Big Wild Goose Pagoda are representative attractions in Xi'an City, in which the official government language landscape and private language landscape are mainly in Chinese, and bilingualism and multilingualism are common. In this paper, the concepts of linguistic economics, such as cost and benefit, efficiency and equity, supply and demand, are used as analytical tools to explain the economic motivations in the construction of the language landscapes of the Great Tang Nocturnal City, Hui Min Street and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. The analysis points out that the official domain emphasizes the political utility of the signage, while the private owners focus on the economic benefits of the signage, and this difference results in the inconsistency of the language choices on the signage. The analysis in this paper suggests that the economics of language can provide a useful analytical tool for certain language policy and planning studies.